What the Book of Revelation Is Actually About

Well, good morning.

My name is Tony.

I'm one of the pastors around here, but one thing I've probably never told you before is that I'm also an artist.

And the reason I've never told you that is because I'm not.

So, but I did I did do a thing here, and I actually want to begin by just doing an activity with you.

When you came in, there were some uh half sheets of paper on your seats.

If you're watching online, just grab a sheet of paper, uh fold it in half so you have the right kind of shape.

You want like this shape right here.

And uh, if you want to go ahead and grab that, there should be ink pens in the seat backs.

Uh if you don't have one, maybe you grab a pen out of your purse, maybe your lipstick, I don't care what you use, just use something to draw with.

Uh, here's what's gonna happen.

I'm going to uh describe to you this piece of art that I've created.

Uh, you are going to try to replicate that on your piece of paper.

So go ahead and hold it uh vertical orientation, and let me uh do my best to attempt to describe to you what is here, and we'll see who's really good at replicating my work.

You ready?

Okay, in the bottom right hand corner, uh you're gonna have it's kind of like a squished circle.

Think of like an egg with the big end on both sides, you know what I mean?

It's just a little bit not exactly a circle, and that's gonna be completely shaded in.

It's not gonna fill up a quarter of your page, but maybe half of a, maybe half of a quarter, if that makes sense to you.

And it's laying on its side.

Go ahead and and and draw that circle there and and and shade that in with whatever writing utensil you have.

Those of you online, join in with us.

Okay, as you as you kind of kind of complete that, the next shape is gonna be over to the the left.

And this is like a it's kind of a rectangle with rounded corners that's coming onto the page.

It's not all the way on the page, it's coming onto the page.

So, so like that left side doesn't exist.

It's over here somewhere.

So we're ahead and draw that.

It almost gets to the bottom of the page, but not quite to the bottom of the page.

It's also shaded, but not the same way.

This is more of a a scribble that goes vertical in the shape and kind of fills it in that way, but not completely filled.

There's a lot of white space in there, in there too.

All right, so now that you have, you should have two shapes on your paper at this point.

Now kind of toward the upper left, but kind of center upper left, if that makes sense.

There's a large square, and that square is is completely shaded in.

It doesn't go off the edges and doesn't touch one of the other shapes.

It comes somewhat close to the rectangle shape, but not to the other, not to the circle.

So go ahead and draw that large square and shade that.

I'll give you a second, because that's the biggest shape that we've had to draw.

So give give you a second to shade that one in.

Now here's the trick, and and there's a there's a there's a triangle.

It's a it's a right triangle with a hypotenuse on the left.

So if you're in school, maybe you know what that means.

If you don't, I don't.

I think I'm right.

So that's the and it kind of overlaps the the lower right part of that square.

So go ahead, and the hypotenuse kind of kind of cuts off a section of that lower corner of that square.

So go ahead and draw that triangle.

It's probably about the same height as your square is, but it's it's lower than the square.

And this is shaded in too, but not completely.

It's kind of the same as the try, the rectangle.

It's just like a kind of a scribble, but they're diagonal scribbles.

There's two sets of scribbles that fill in, that fill in that one.

Now I know you're probably like, Tony, I've nailed it.

I've got it all figured out, it's perfect.

Uh, let me real quick just run through the shapes you should have on your on your picture.

There should be the um sort of egg-looking circle shape that's fully shaded in in the bottom right.

There's the the rec or the yeah, it's called a rectangle.

It's a rectangle that's coming onto your page with the rounded corners.

You've got a big square, kind of kind of center but up left, all shaded in with a triangle, a right triangle, uh, kind of covering up that last corner, and it's got a kind of a scribble shading.

Here's what I want you to do, real quick.

Now that you probably have yours done, I want you to just compare yours to the person seated next to you.

Just compare those and and and see how accurate you guys are to one another.

Does anyone, is anyone seated next to someone that you're like, man, we nailed it.

We had the exact same picture.

All right, none of you.

Great, awesome.

This is great.

So so now you get to compare it with my masterpiece.

All right, so I'm gonna turn this around and you're gonna look at yours and look at mine and see how close they are to one another.

So here is the masterpiece.

All right.

How many of you got close?

How many, some of you were close.

Did anyone get up perfectly?

Okay, no one got up perfectly.

So, so it's really hard for me to look, these are simple shapes, right?

Like we all know these shapes.

It's really hard for me to describe to you a picture that I see and that you don't.

And it was hard for you to be able to draw on your piece of paper exactly what it was that I was trying to describe, wasn't it?

Welcome to the book of Revelation.

This is the probably the most often read yet most misunderstood book of all of Scripture.

Some of us have read it and we've been super confused.

Some of us have read it and we've been scared.

Some of us have never read it because we've heard other people say about it.

Some of us have read it and we're like, man, we're so excited about it.

You've gone down, you've gone down some crazy rabbit holes.

If you want to go down a rabbit hole, just go to YouTube and search Revelation.

There's all kinds of craziness on there.

Our goal over the next nine weeks is to help you understand the heart of the book of Revelation.

And I'm gonna challenge you that maybe the heart and the purpose and the intention that John had when he wrote this was actually different than what you may have been told or what you may have thought.

So let's begin today by just kind of understanding in general what this book is about.

We actually don't have to go very far to begin to figure it out.

We actually begin to figure it out early on in the first few words when the author says the apocalypse from Jesus Christ.

Now you hear that word apocalypse, and you're like, oh man, it's doom and gloom.

There's a movie called Apocalypse Now, never seen it, don't know, it seems scary.

But you've heard the word.

With the word apocalypse, like it feels like doom and gloom and war and battle in the end and torment and torture and like all these really bad things.

But if we look at the Greek word apocalypse, rightly defined, apocalypse means disclosure or or a revealing, or dare I say, a revelation, hence the name of the book.

It's a revelation.

Because that in its Greek meaning is what actually apocalypse means.

It is a revelation from Jesus Christ.

So if you're in Revelation chapter 1, it begins by saying the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

So we stop here for a moment just because I want you to understand that this book is not only a picture of what will happen, this is also a revelation, a revealing, a disclosure to you and me about who God is.

So as we make our way through the book of Revelation together, and as you read it on your own, one of the things I want you to be just acutely aware of as you make your way through the text is asking the question: what does this tell me about God?

Like, what do I learn about the character and the attributes of God through this text?

Because this is a revealing or a disclosure, not just of what will soon take place, but also of who God is.

So only a few verses later we begin to learn a little bit more about this book.

In verse 9, it says, I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance.

So his name is John.

We know that about the author.

There are some scholars that would argue that this is not the Apostle John.

Most scholars would say, This is the Apostle John, the one that wrote the Gospel of John, 1 John, 2nd John, 3 John.

We're going to assume that that is true because the evidence kind of points that direction.

That it's the Apostle John, the disciple of Jesus, the one who wrote the gospel for us, now writes the book of Revelation.

But where is he when he writes it?

The patient endurance that are ours in Jesus was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

So now we know his location.

He's on this island called Patmos, and the reason he's there is because Patmos had a prison on it.

John was in prison because he was sharing the gospel of Jesus with people.

He was being persecuted and experiencing tribulation in his own life as he was in prison.

And it's from prison that he actually begins to write this letter.

Now, crazy thing.

From a window in the island of Pamos in the prison, he could have looked across the waters and saw the land of what we now know as Turkey.

They called it Asia Minor at the time.

Listen to the rest of the text.

On the Lord's day I was in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said, Write on the scroll what you see, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

All those are seven real churches that happened to be in the area of Turkey, we know as Turkey, Asia Minor at the time, but look at the location of Patmos.

There's a likelihood, we don't know this for sure, that John was able to look out a window from prison and look at the land to the churches in which he was riding.

These are real churches that really existed during that time.

This was a letter that was written.

Here's what I want you to know.

Before this was scripture, this was a letter.

It was a letter that was written in seven churches, and it was a circular letter.

So it was taken to one church, read to them, taken to another church, read to them, taken to another church, and read to them.

That was the primary audience for John.

And that's really important for us to understand.

But let me pause for a second and back up a little bit.

Here's the words that the voice said, the voice like a trumpet.

Write on the scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches.

So John's mission is to take this vision that he's about to see and describe it to the seven churches.

It's very similar to me trying to describe to you an artwork that you've never seen before.

And asking you in your mind to picture it accurately and appropriately.

Because here's what's happening to John.

Imagine this is the realm of our consciousness.

This is what we understand.

It's our worldview, it's our understanding, it's our experiences.

Everything we know about life and the world is held within the human consciousness.

John is being pulled into what we call a vision consciousness.

John is going to see things and witness things that are really hard to describe.

Which is why when you go through the book of Revelation, there are over 500 references to the Old Testament.

That averages out to about 22 per chapter for 22 chapters.

And these aren't super long chapters.

Time and time again, John points back to the Old Testament.

Why?

Because when you step out of the human consciousness to the vision consciousness, and now I have to describe it to those who haven't seen it, the only way I can do that is to tap into the pool of imagery that you already have.

So 500 times he references things from the Holy Scriptures that his hearers and readers would have understood.

And we're gonna do our best over the nine weeks to point some of those times out, those moments that he he references, pools of images from the Old Testament that you and I may be at a disadvantage in because we are not as well, we don't know them as well.

But he also points to Rome.

He talks about falling Babylon throughout the book of Revelation, and many times he'll reference Rome, but but not directly.

He'll reference Rome in a way that they would have understood, but because you and I aren't under the persecution of Rome, sometimes we miss.

We'll try our best to point some of those out along the way.

He he will often use the word like or as.

So imagine for a moment uh you hadn't you have someone in your life who has no concept of a giraffe, like it's never, like has not entered their realm of human consciousness before.

They don't know what a giraffe is, and they're like, Well, tell me about this this thing called a giraffe.

You would probably say, I don't know, it's kind of like got a uh a body like a horse, and its skin looks like kind of, I don't know, like a leopard, and and its neck is like a it's like a tree.

It's like as big as a tree.

It's none of those things.

But the only way you can describe it is when you tap into the pool of imagery that that person already has.

This is what John does all throughout the book of Revelation.

He taps into that pool of imagery.

Why?

Because he has stepped into a vision that you and I haven't seen, and he's trying to describe it to us in words and pools of images that you and I would understand.

So time and time again, he references Daniel and Ezekiel and Genesis and Exodus, like always referring and referencing to things that people would have understood.

So, in order for us to understand Revelation, it's important for us also to understand the Old Testament.

Because without that pool of imagery, I think we miss a lot of what John's actually trying to say.

I mean, he's gonna come up with, there's gonna be a creature here in a few chapters that he says looks like a locust, but it had a lot of body parts that weren't a locust.

There's a scorpion tail, all kinds of crazy stuff.

And the reason he says it was like a locust, because he's looking at this thing, like, I don't know how to describe this.

Here's what they would understand.

Kind of like a locust.

Was it a locust?

No, but it was like a locust, and that's an image that they would have understood.

So as we as we navigate our way through, just keep that in mind.

We'll do our best to point those things out.

Um, in the for the book of Revelation, there are uh like four like primary ways of understanding and interpreting the book.

And I would be remiss if I didn't at least pause and and mention those.

So I think we have a chart.

The first one is the preterist view.

The preterist view thinks that the majority of the events in Revelation have like happened early on.

That basically the majority of revelation has already taken place.

The futurist view thinks that like from the time of writing, they were gonna happen in the far distant future, and most of the revelation haven't yet happened.

The historicists would see the book, I should say, more like a timeline, and it's a series of events that happened throughout history, and we're just on that timeline.

The idealist would say it's not actually a timeline at all, it's more about a description of different types of events that will happen throughout history and maybe even multiple times, but there's a lot of valuable lessons for us to learn and glean from the book of Revelation.

Here's the deal you may look at that and be like, oh, I know which one I am.

Great.

You may look at that and be like, I have no clue, and I'm not sure I care.

Great.

Like it may not be the most important thing because the most important thing is not necessarily the timeline that we view, but the message of radical discipleship.

So I got four warnings for you as we as we make our way through this text that I want you to keep in mind.

Warning number one, don't, if your note taker, write these down.

Don't forget that this was a circular letter.

That John did not sit down and write this with the intention of it being the final book of the Bible.

God may have, but I don't think John did.

John wrote a letter to seven churches, which means this.

As you interpret the book of Revelation, it must mean something to those seven churches.

This is not a book that only means something for us 2,000 years later.

Does it mean something for us?

Absolutely, it does.

It had to have meant something for the seven churches.

So when you interpret and read and understand the book, understand that when they received this letter, it meant something for them too.

Here's a second warning.

Avoid headline interpretations.

Headline interpretations is the temptation that we have to look at a headline and immediately shoehorn that into revelation.

Like every time the Iran war pops up, we saw people do it.

The Russia-Ukraine happened, we we saw people do it, the persecution of Christians, we saw people do it.

Like we see these things happen all the time, and we always say, where does that fit in Revelation?

I'm not saying that the book of Revelation doesn't speak to some events that happen in our lives.

What I am saying is the book of Revelation doesn't directly mention everything that happens in our lives.

So just because something hits the news doesn't mean you're gonna find the exact telling of that event in the book of Revelation.

Here's the third thing.

Uh avoid the hyperfocus on searching for the mark of the beast and the Antichrist.

These are great conversations to have, they're fun things to talk about, but when we hyperfocus on those things, we actually begin to miss the point of the book.

But we'll talk about the mark of the beast later on.

We have a message specifically geared toward kind of unpacking that.

The interesting thing about the Antichrist, never mentioned the book of Revelation.

The word Antichrist is only used in 1 John and 2 John, same author, but every time he uses the word Antichrist, he's referring to people of that day.

People who were Antichrist, shockingly.

And actually, in 2 John, he uses it in the plural, which means there's many of them.

Like I don't think John ever pointed, like, hey, there is a person 2,000 years from now who's going to be the Antichrist.

But yet for 2,000 years, we've been searching for who that person is.

I mean, so much so that there are a number of people that think it's this guy.

There's a number of people that think it's this guy.

And then there's this guy.

And don't forget about him.

And then there's this guy.

And then there's this guy.

And oh yeah, this guy here too.

And a lot of people thought this guy was, Napoleon.

But I think we can all agree it's probably this guy.

Low-hanging fruit sometimes, my friends.

So again, again, those are great conversations to have, they're fun conversations to have, but at the end of the day, if we're so hyper-focused on trying to figure that out, we're actually missing the point.

Because I don't think John's point was for you to figure out who that guy is or that person is or exactly what that mark is.

John's mission is to help you figure out how you should live your life as a faithful follower of Jesus.

And if we miss that, I think we've missed the entire intention of John.

Here's the final warning for us.

Avoid us-centric interpretations.

You might remember when the was it two or three years ago that we had the uh the eclipse went through uh Illinois, Indiana, Ohio.

My my wife and kids went down to see it.

I know we had some staff members that went like into the Toledo area, whatever, to go to go see the eclipse.

Do you remember that there were groups of people that thought the world was going to end?

Like this was a sign of the end times.

I don't know if you know this or not, but around the world, we have anywhere from two to five eclipses a year.

There is a total solar eclipse every 18 months.

But what happens was now it happened where I live.

And because it happened where I live, the world must be ending, even though it was probably the third one of the year that year.

Right?

This is this is the danger that we have is that we want to interpret things for our own context only.

I'm not saying it doesn't speak to you.

All I'm saying is it doesn't just speak to only you, and you're not the center of the book.

Jesus is the center of the book.

So any interpretation we have that makes us think that, oh, the timeline must revolve.

Can I just just in all honesty?

I've talked to a lot of people who have these views, different various views of revelation.

And it seems like every time there's an interpretation of some sort of timeline, we're always like at the end of it.

You ever notice this?

Like we're never, we're never like halfway through, we're always at the end because the end must happen when I'm alive, because it must revolve around me.

Again, look, I'm not saying the end isn't tomorrow.

What I'm saying is when we begin to interpret everything around us, we actually miss the point.

There's this fascinating prophecy in the book of Daniel.

Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has this dream.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

Daniel interprets it.

I won't go into super detail, but basically the dream is about four different kingdoms.

And the fourth kingdom was a kingdom of iron.

It was strong, it was resilient, it was enduring.

But that fourth kingdom would be overthrown by the king of kings, the prince of peace, like the final kingdom that would endure all time, was being ushered in, and that kingdom would be overthrown.

In chapter 7, Daniel has a dream.

He has a vision of his own.

He describes that that vision in a kind of a similar way, only this time it's with creatures.

That's also imagery that Revelation will use.

These creatures to define these four different kingdoms.

And again, the fourth kingdom is identified by iron because it's strong and it's enduring, also imagery that the book of Revelation will use later on about iron.

And that kingdom is overthrown, and this is the way he describes it.

Chapter 7, verse 9 says, As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the ancient of days took his seat.

His clothing was as white as snow, the hair of his head was white like wool, his throne was flaming with fire, and his wheels were all ablaze.

A river of fire was flowing, coming up.

Out from before him, thousands upon thousands attended him.

Ten thousand times, ten thousand stood before him.

The court was seated and the books were open.

There's at least five times that Revelation points back to some of the language here.

But we see this picture of the ancient of days has taken his place on the throne.

The kingdom has been ushered in.

Verse 13.

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

Remember that imagery.

He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.

He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power.

All nations and peoples of every language worshipped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Nice powerful vision.

And it's an amazing vision.

The crazy thing is, when John is sitting in prison in Patmos writing this letter, this book of Revelation, there are a number of people that believed that Rome was the fourth kingdom.

That Rome was that kingdom of iron that will be overthrown.

So there were people who were actively trying to overthrow or at least expedite the fall of Rome, because when Rome would fall, the king of kings would usher in his kingdom.

They were doing 2,000 years ago what we try to do today.

Predict the end times, predict the moment, and help even usher it along.

And again, not saying those are bad conversations, not saying it's not happening.

What I'm saying is I don't think that was John's point.

Then maybe he paints a picture for us of what the end times might look like and how they might arrive, but he's actually painting a better picture of how you should live your life.

Listen to what he says in verse 8, chapter 1, verse 8.

This is kind of still the introduction.

He hasn't even gotten into anything yet.

He says, Look, he is coming with the clouds.

We just read that in Daniel.

Like he's tapping into imagery that people had in their minds already.

He's coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him.

So shall it be.

Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

In verse 7 and 8, we get a taste, we get a taste of what's to come.

Like we see that the kingdom is finally going to be ushered in, that there is an end coming, and John is already pointing it out to us in verses 7 and 8, something he's going to describe later on.

And we all long for it.

Because you and I know something.

The world is not as it should be.

Like what John wants you to understand is we live in a current reality.

And that current reality is that the world is not as it should be.

You know it and I know it.

Every child who falls down and scrapes his knee cries because he knows the world isn't as it should be.

Every widow who grieves the loss of her spouse does so because she knows the world is not as it should be.

Every time you sit with your family and you cry and you grieve and you weep because of a cancer diagnosis, you do so because you know the world is not as it should be.

Every child who dies prematurely, we mourn and we grieve because we know the world is not as it should be.

But John wants to give us a picture.

But while we live with this current reality, there is a future reality.

A future reality where the world is as it should be.

And he gives us a picture of that in Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

This is the next to last chapter of the book.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things is passed away.

He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new.

Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

He said to me, It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

To the thirsty I will give water without cost, from the spring, the water of life.

Those who are victorious will inherit all of this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death.

John paints a picture for us that tells us that yes, there is an end.

And yes, it will come.

But it wipes away all the grieving, all the mourning, all the despair, all the pain, all the heartache.

Because yes, we live in a current reality that tells us the world is not as it should be.

But the book of Revelation gives us hope.

Because one day Jesus will return.

And when he does, the world will be set right.

Everything will be as it should be.

It's a warning.

The book of Revelation is a warning.

It is a warning to all those who are seduced by the allure of this broken world.

And it is a book of hope for those who are persecuted by it.

The question is which one will you be?

All throughout this book, we're going to show you what it looks like to be a part of this, what we'll call the new covenant community, to align yourself with Jesus.

We will also show you what it looks like to be a part of what we'll call fallen Babylon, the brokenness of this world.

All throughout this series, for nine weeks, we're going to show you how you can live your life to ensure that you've aligned yourself with Jesus so that when that end comes, I don't know when.

And when he does, he will do exactly what he said in the gospels he will do.

He will separate the goats from the sheep, the righteous from the unrighteous, those who are victorious, and those who are liars and idolaters and sexually immoral, cowardly, vile, practicing the magic arts.

He will separate those, and there will be those of us who live in that world as it should be, and those of us who have embraced a world that is not as it should be.

The question today, as we just begin this journey, is where do you align?

Is this for you a book of warning?

Or is this for you a book of hope?

Have you aligned yourself with the new covenant community, those who have found salvation and hope in Jesus?

Or have you aligned yourself with fallen Babylon and the brokenness of this world?

Because I can assure you, one thing this book will show you time and time again is that fallen Babylon will fall.

This broken world will be ended.

And we will be left with a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem, a new covenant community.

The question is today, very simple for you.

Where do you want to align?

As we enter time for next steps, this is an opportunity for you to take whatever next step it is that God has for you.

We have communion tables around the room, some in the back, some in the front, some in the corners, I believe.

Leaders are getting those ready for you right now.

This is where you can receive the grace of Jesus in a powerful way, the body and blood of Christ broken and shed for you.

That has created a pathway to eternal life for you.

We have prayer team members around the room with their light-up lanyards.

We'd love to have a conversation with you and pray with you.

They'd also love to have a conversation with you about baptism.

That maybe for you, what you've been kind of, that the fence you've been sitting on for quite some time is your alignment.

Will you align yourself with this world that the Bible tells us will end?

The brokenness will end.

Or do you align yourself with Jesus, the victorious King, who will reign for all of eternity and will share that victory with you?

As we go to our next steps, I don't want you to like rush to do anything.

We got a couple songs coming up.

I don't want you to just get up and run to grab communion.

Just pause for a moment.

Pray.

Receive what the Holy Spirit has for you and just be responsive to what he's calling you to.

What step is he giving you?

And maybe, maybe today is your alignment day.

It's the day for the first time you said, I want to align myself with Christ and not the brokenness of this world.

Did you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, I'm so thankful for you and your grace.

I'm thankful for this book.

This book that gives us a picture, a picture of what it means to follow you.

But Lord, today we have to make a decision.

We have to make a choice.

Our roadmap is going to be given to us.

We're going to see a picture of our reality all throughout the book of Revelation.

Will it be with you or will it be with the brokenness of this world?

Lord, we're going to see it clear as day because you've lined it out for us.

You've showed us what this could look like for us.

So I pray that we just simply receive you today.

So, Holy Spirit, move in this space, move in our lives, moving our hearts and our souls.

And would you show us what our next step is?

Show us what it is that we should do right now to align ourselves with you.

What does it look like for us right now in this moment to choose you?

It's in Christ's name we pray.