REVELATION (Letter 66, Larry Crabb’s 66 Love Letters)

The Promises Kept: Happiness Forever: Revelation

Rain With the Lamb Now, and You Will Sing When the Lion Roars!

If you insist on lightening up God’s story, don’t read Revelation.
Dorothy Sayers said it well, “If you want your own way, God will let you have it. Hell is the enjoyment of your own way forever.”

Revelation 1:3 – Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.

Francis Schaefer wrote “People often cry out for the work of the Holy Spirit and yet forget that when the Holy Spirit works, there is always a tremendous cost to the people of God, weariness, tears and battles.”

In The Diary of a Country Priest, Bernanos thought it significant that Jesus did not say, “You are the honey of the world”, but rather “You are the salt of the earth”. Honey makes everything sweet. Salt bites as it heals and preserves from further decay.

This letter was written to sustain us through hard times with a vibrant awareness of what Christ is doing right now and what He yet will do.

Things are not as they seem. Evil, though widespread, is not winning. Faithfulness, though costly, is not futile. Affliction, though continuing, will end. The Lion’s roar will soon be heard. Until then, reign with the Lamb. Live to love, not control.

To Ephesus, and to maybe to us, He says you serve Me, you believe Me, but you do not love Me, not as you first did. Your love for God has grown cold.

To Smyrna, and to maybe to us, he says stay faithful until His kingdom fully comes.

Two Pergamum, and to maybe to us, he says you do good things everyday but you accommodate the godless culture around you in ways that you refuse to examine and confess.

To Sardis, and to maybe to us, he says you’re religiously busy, but you’re spiritually empty. Your church programs feel like your ego. You look alive, but you are dead..

To Philadelphia, and to maybe to us, He says you have not denied My name. You have kept My Word. You are strong. Walk through the door I open for continuing service.

To Laodicea, and to maybe to us, he says self-obsession drives what you do. You believe you’re doing well. Nothing matters more to you than that you feel good about yourselves. You nauseate me.

Give up control. Sacrifice your well-being for a greater cause.

Demand justice no longer. Expose justice, but reveal love. It’s a new way to live, the way of the Lamb.

Never live in fear of the devil! Recognize him. Resist him. But know that Christ’s power is greater than his. His doom is as sure as your life is secure.

Demand nothing now. Endure everything now. He will come again, soon. Wait. Persevere. Hope.

Francis Schaefer was right. When his spirit works, there was always tremendous cost to his people living in this time. But the cost can’t compare with the gain. And the end is near. Keep looking. Keep seeing. Keep listening. He will see us soon!

REVELATION: From Ray Stedman

Click here for entire Bible Summary from Ray Stedman

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

The reason many have difficulty in understanding this book lies not only in interpreting the symbols, but also in failing to take note of the suggestions that are given in the first eight verses.

The title of the book is the first line: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him … {Rev 1:1a RSV}
Notice that it is not “the revelations,” plural. The book is all about Jesus Christ.

The purpose of it is in the next line: … to show to his servants what must soon take place; {Rev 1:1b RSV}

This book was written by the Apostle John when he was a captive on the island of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea, and it dates from about 95 A.D., toward the close of the 1st century. John beganrevelations given to him by the Lord Jesus through an angel – of things which must shortly come to pass, so it is clearly a predictive book.

Then you have the method by which the book was given in the next phrases, and this is very important: … and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, {Rev 1:1c RSV}

Then we have the destination of the book: John to the seven churches that are in Asia: {Rev 1:4a RSV}

Then the subject, the general theme of the book, is introduced: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. {Rev 1:7 RSV}
This is a book about the second coming of Jesus Christ; how it will be accomplished, what will happen on earth that will produce these events, and what will be the result after he comes.

There are three divisions of the book of Revelation: the things John saw, which occupy Chapter 1; the things which are (which existed in his day) – the seven churches, which occupy Chapters 2 and 3; and then, beginning with Chapter 4, there is a long section which deals with things which are “hereafter.”

First there were the letters to the seven churches:

1. The letter to the church in Ephesus, for example, is about a church which is outwardly successful, but was beginning to lose its first love, that underlying motivation that is so necessary for Christians.
2. The next church is the church in Smyrna, which means “crushed,” which exactly describes this church. And persecution would hang over the church during the general period from the 2nd century to the time of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome, in 320 A.D.
3. Smyrna is followed by the church in Pergamum, which means “married.” The trouble in this church was that the church had married the world. And this well reflects that period in church history from the rise of Constantine, who made Christianity the popular religion of the day, up to the full rise of the papal church in about the 7th century.
4. That is followed by the church in Thyatira. In this church spiritual adultery was going on, and the letter is a very accurate description of what is now called the Dark Ages of the church – the period when the church lost its zeal, its purity, its doctrines, became infiltrated with a great deal of superstition and paganism, and lost most of its power. This dark age lasted from the 7th century to early in the 16th century, and the time of the Reformation.
5. Then there is the church in Sardis, which is a picture of a church which has recovered much of its truth, but seriously lacks in vitality. This is a picture of the period of the Reformation. Although the Reformation churches began in a flaming fire of zeal, they soon died down and whitened to the ashes of a dead orthodoxy.
6. This is followed by the church of Philadelphia, of which the Lord has nothing evil to say, nothing to correct. He commends it because it is true and faithful to the word. It has a little strength, he says, and this pictures the church age of the 19th century, when the church is awakened and thrust out into the far corners of the earth in the great missionary movement of the last century.
7. The last church is the church of Laodicea, the rich church, the church that says, “we don’t need anything from God at all. We’ve got money, influence, power; that’s all we need.” And God says, “You blind fools! Don’t you know you don’t have anything; that you are wretched and poor, pitiable and blind? I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire.” And he pictures himself standing outside the door of the church, knocking for admittance. If, as I have suggested, these letters outline the record of history, then it appears that we are in Laodicean times.

In chapter 4 the scene shifts now from earth to heaven. What John saw here is a remarkable vision of the powerlessness and the weakness of man, but the greatness and the might of God. John saw a throne, and then he saw a Lamb standing in front of the throne, a Lamb that had been slaughtered. And somehow, as John watched, that Lamb turned into a Lion, and John saw that the Lion, who was the Lamb who had been slaughtered, was also the King of all.

As the scroll unfolds, we see that there are seven seals.

1. In Chapter 6 we read about the beginning of this period of seven years which, the prophetDaniel tells us, is going to be the culmination of history, toward which all the events of our present day are moving. That seven years will be introduced by a worldwide preaching of the gospel (as we learn from our Lord’s talk to the disciples on the Mount of Olives). I believe the church is caught up to be with the Lord prior to the period of seven years’ tribulation, and that the first event of that age is the worldwide preaching of the gospel, symbolized by the first of these seven seals:
2. The second seal means war; John said, And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and he was given a great sword. {Rev 6:4 RSV} Might not that great sword symbolize the terrible power of the nuclear bomb, released upon humanity?
3. This is the second thing to come, John says, followed immediately by the third horseman, symbolizing famine, which is inevitable in the wake of worldwide war.
4. The fourth horseman is calamitous death – death by four means: And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. {Rev 6:8 RSV} Death was on the horse, and Hades followed with the hearse, right behind.
5. The fifth seal is an expression of the inward power of mankind, the prayers of the martyrs.
6. This is followed by cosmic disturbances. The final event previewed here in the sixth seal, is always marked by the great earthquake, hail, and fire. This will happen just before the return of Jesus Christ with his church back to earth.
7. The seventh seal summarizes the events of the last half of this seven-year period, unfolded in Chapters 10 and 11, where we again encounter the earthquake when the seventh trumpet sounds:

Chapters 12, 13, and 14 introduce to us the great actors in the scene on earth:
First of all, a woman who is recognizable as Israel brings forth a manchild, whom history has already informed us is the Son of God. Against him in a great conflict are arrayed the angels of the devil and the great dragon called Satan.

As John watches, a beast rises up out of the sea, and John was given to recognize that the beast was a form of human government, the fourth great world kingdom spoken of by Daniel.

Associated with this beast out of the sea is another beast, or religious leader, which rises out of the earth and whom many link with the antichrist.

Chapters 14, 15, and 16 by and large contain the description of the vials of the wrath of God, which are exactly the same as those terrible judgments of which Jesus spoke when he said the sun would be darkened, the moon turned to blood, and God’s wrath would be poured out upon the earth.

And in the latter part of Chapter 16 and continuing on through Chapters 17 and 18, you find the judgment of the great religious harlot called “mystery Babylon the great.” Now, Babylon wasthe source of ancient idolatry, and it is a picture of what we might call religious godlessness – that which looks godly but in its essence is actually godless; a religion which outwardly commands the power and attention of men, but which inwardly is devoted to trying to exercise political power by use of religious authority. Wherever you find anyone acting religiously, trying thereby to gain political power or authority, you have Babylonianism, and it is found in all churches.

And in Chapter 19 you have the harvest, as described in Chapter 19, when Jesus Christ returns to earth.

By this time all the nations of the earth have gathered together in that battlefield called Armageddon, in the land of Israel, and it is there that the son of God appears with the armies of heaven.

The book closes as the Son of God sets up his kingdom on earth, as he had promised. After the judgment of the dead there comes a new heaven and a new earth, and the city of God coming down out of heaven, where God makes his habitation with men. Remember the prayer? “Thy kingdom come, … on earth as it is in heaven,” {Matt 6:10 RSV}.

C. S. Lewis has written these significant words:
God is going to invade this earth in force. But what’s the good of saying you’re on his side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, something it never entered your head to conceive comes crashing in. Something so beautiful to us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love, or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down, when it’s become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not. Now, today, in this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever; we must take it or leave it.

REVELATION – David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: God has a plan for the future and for eternity. Regardless of what happens in life — no matter how depressing or difficult the news — life in Christ has a happy ending for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Key Verse: And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. Revelation 22:3

Key Action: And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17