Day 37: 40 Days Through The New Testament

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to 40 Days Through the New Testament. This podcast is led by Pastor Rusty Small at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia. Listen as he guides you through all 27 books of the New Testament in preparation for Easter. Get your Bible ready. Here's today's message. Well, we're going to spend three days here in the book of Revelation. And the book of Revelation, for some, is a book that is overwhelming. And for others, it's a place sometimes of fanciful speculation. So what we want to do here in our brief time together is to try to establish some guardrails of good interpretation. When we think about the Book of Revelation, the Book of Revelation does indeed speak of the future, but the main text that the Book of Revelation has in mind when it talks about the future and explains events of the future are often cast in the images of the Old Testament. Now, it may surprise you that there is no quotation of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation, but almost every single verse is full of Old Testament illusions. So oftentimes when we run upon an interpretive issue, that oftentimes the best place to look is the Old Testament to try to have a sense of what did that image mean in the past and how does that shed insight into the future. Additionally, the Book of Revelation can be read in different ways and good people disagree on how the Book of Revelation is written and here is the main difference. Some people will read the book of Revelation like myself, more literally. Now, what does that mean? It doesn't mean that I'm unaware of issues of genre. You clearly read a poem different than you read a newspaper article. So there are issues of genre that have to be taken into account. But what I believe is that the book of Revelation actually describes future events. And there are things that will happen in the future, namely the tribulation, a seven-year period of distress that God pours out His judgment on the earth, and a literal future millennium, a 1,000-year reign of Christ on the earth that is prior to the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation 21 and 22. So, You'll see that in my commentary that I will approach the book of Revelation more literally, namely that there is a actual literal future tribulation, which is a seven year period of distress where God poses a judgment on the earth that has not yet happened, is still in the future, and that there's a literal 1000 year millennium where Christ rules and reigns on the earth. That is really a major point of disagreement among biblical scholars. This position that argues for a literal tribulation and a literal millennium is called, here's the word, premillennialism. There are others who say, no, no, these events are not to be taken literally, but to be taken spiritually, which means there is no actual future fulfillment of these issues. And so some people will say, There isn't a seven year tribulation at the end of human history, rather there is generalized suffering of all Christians since the ascension of Jesus, which has been a while ago, 2,000 years, and that on one level, Christians suffer and that all that is meant by the language of the millennium is Christ reigns. Well, As far as the spiritual interpretation goes, I don't have a problem with the fact to say that Christians have indeed suffered throughout church history. That's an indisputable fact. And I also don't have a problem with saying that Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father and currently reigns. Yes and amen to that. But I think that the book of Revelation reveals an intensified time of suffering that has never happened in church history. And I think the reigning of Christ from Jerusalem in the millennium has clearly not happened. And that precedes the new heavens and new earth, what we call the eternal state. So those are some of the main boundary lines. Good people disagree and so be it. There are five major events that you need to have some type of knowledge of if you're going to be conversant on the end times in the book of Revelation and here they are. Christ's return, that's number one. All Christians, all Orthodox Christians believe in the return of Jesus. Then you have the tribulation and millennium, that's two and three out of the five. We've already discussed those, whether they're literal or spiritual. And then also all Orthodox Christians believe in a final judgment. And then the fifth one is the new heavens and new earth. sometimes also called the eternal state. Like what is it at the end of human history when God wraps it all up? And we'll want to keep our eye out for those five things and to have some type of coherent understanding of Christ's return, tribulation, millennium final judgment, and new heavens, new earth by the time we get to the end of the book of Revelation. Well, let's notice the first five chapters. Actually, the first five chapters in some ways, Don't talk about any of those issues. They don't really address Christ's return, tribulation, millennial, final judgment, our new heaven's new earth. Actually, in some ways, the book of Revelation begins with seven letters to seven churches. So we open Revelation chapter one, John is on the island of Patmos, which is about a three hour boat ride. I've taken it from Ephesus. It is a rock out in the Aegean. I affectionately call Patmos the ancient Alcatraz. It's the place you sent people where you just kind of wanted to stick them on a rock and wait for them to die. Well, while John has been exiled to Patmos Island, he is moved by the Holy Spirit to write about the future. And what he sees initially is Jesus dressed as a priest And Jesus has a word for his church. Now John had been living in Ephesus. Actually the ancient burial site of John is in Ephesus. And up and down the coast of Asia Minor, which is Ephesus, modern day Turkey, there are seven churches that John would have likely interacted with. And now Jesus has a word for those churches. What are the churches? the church at Ephesus who had lost its first love, the church at Smyrna that was poor and persecuted and yet was the one church that gets no correction. In the context of persecution and suffering, often God purifies his church. The church at Pergamum who had tolerated false teaching. And John in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, they shouldn't, thy a tyra. Again, tolerating immorality in the church. Asardists, they had a reputation for life but were spiritually dead. Philadelphia, they had a little power left and an open door, and the church at Laodicea, unfortunately, was lukewarm. Often in these churches, there's a word of praise, a word of correction, and a call to repentance. You'll see that as you read the seven letters to the seven churches. Chapters four and five kind of set the tone for the rest of the book. because chapter four, we ought to note that John is in the throne room of heaven. Christ is reigning seated on the throne. John sees it. This is not, Revelation four is not the future, ladies and gentlemen, it's the present. Christ is reigning at this moment. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty is the reality in the throne room of heaven. And we ought to note that the praise of God in Revelation four is the praise of God the Creator. But then in Revelation chapter 5, John sees a scroll and the scroll is the unfolding events of history. Who will open the scroll? Who will see the future? Who will bring all things to culmination? And there is a moment in heaven it says no one is worthy to open the scroll. John burst out crying because no one's able to open the scroll and then They say, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah is able to open the scroll. When John looks to see the lion of the tribe of Judah, guess what he sees? Not a lion, but a slaughtered lamb. And then the hymn of praise. The greatest praise in heaven is not the praise of God the creator. It is the praise of the lion who is the lamb, who is the redeemer. and reconciler of all things. Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory. Why? Because through him every tribe and language and nation and people will be redeemed. This is the opening vision of the book of Revelation that sets the tone for the rest of the book. Thank you for listening to this podcast, A Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. We pray that this is an encouragement to study God's Word and that you will join us for the next episode.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention