The Importance of the Revelation

Transcript

GR 1976
09/25/2016
The Importance of the Revelation
Revelation 1:1
Gil Rugh

We sang At Calvary by William R. Newell and he wrote a number of profitable commentaries, one on Romans, one on Hebrews and one on the book of Revelation. And I recommend them to you for your reading, you will find them profitable and helpful. And I want to direct our attention to the beginning of a new book study, to the book of Revelation. As I contemplate on what we should look at next, the book of Revelation has been on my mind, we have studied it before. Some have asked me how long it has been. It has been about eight years and we did it on a Sunday evening. And time goes by and I thought it was time for us to revisit the book. I have sometimes said I may come to the point where I just do the book of Romans and then the book of Revelation, then the book of Romans, then the book of Revelation, then the book of Romans, then the book of Revelation and the rest of the teachers will fill in.

I think the book of Revelation is under-appreciated and the whole subject of prophecy, I am concerned sometimes is put as less important. But I think the Bible puts in it on a level of great importance. I have an article one of you drew my attention to a while back. As I was thinking about the book of Revelation, I called it up on the internet. Just share a little bit from it that reflects to me a minimizing of the importance of eschatology that can characterize Bible-believing evangelical Christians. He is talking about the period of time in which we live and it is difficult and the church has to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And this is all true and we would agree with it, I would agree with much of what this man has to say.

He goes on to say today's Christian faces the daunting task of strategizing which Christian doctrines and theological issues are to be given the highest priority in terms of our contemporary context. This applies both to the public defense of Christianity in the face of the secular challenge, and would indicate there he is going to go a little different direction than we would about getting involved in what he calls the public sector. The secular challenge of going out on the public scale. We have had less involvement in that political and social issues, but he says that is something we face and the internal responsibility of dealing with doctrinal disagreements. Neither is an easy task but theological seriousness and maturity demands that we consider doctrinal issues in terms of their relative importance.

I think we have to be careful about that, and I’ll say more about that in a moment. God's truth is to be defended at every point and every detail but responsible Christians must determine which issues deserve first rank attention in a time of theological crisis. You get the idea if you are not on track with what he is going to say, you are not a responsible Christian. Responsible Christians must determine which issues deserve first rank attention at a time of theological crisis. I would say we are not in any more of a theological crisis today in the evangelical world than we have been since the days of Paul. You read the letters of Paul, you get the idea there was a theological crisis going on. He didn't write a letter to the churches of Galatia because there wasn't a theological crisis, he just was writing. That's true of the Scriptures, period. Old and New Testament, the truth has always been opposed and under attack. Sometimes it is more public, as he would talk about the public forum.

His solution is something he learned from a trip he made to the emergency room of a hospital. They have a discipline known as triage, which comes from a French word that means to sort, and they sort out cases. In other words if you have emergencies, maybe multiple people have been injured in some way, they have to determine, sort out what deserves first attention, what deserves second and third. What is most important, what has to be dealt with as a priority. We can appreciate the truth in that. There has been a serious accident, obviously a person who is in danger of dying will get priority treatment over someone who just has bumps and bruises. So he wants to apply this to the theological realm.

A discipline of theological triage would require Christians to determine a scale of theological urgency that would correspond to the medical world's framework for medical priority. I would suggest three different levels of theological urgency, each corresponding to a set of issues and theological priorities found in doctrinal debates. His first level are doctrines that are the gospel, essential to the Christian faith. And I would have no problem with that. Until you have heard and believed the Gospel there is not much else to talk about. We focus on the proclamation of the Gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ, those things. So that's true. When Paul went to Corinth he said, “I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” When you come to talk to unbelievers, there is only one central issue that they need to be confronted with, that's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So those that are essential to the Gospel.

The second order of doctrines are distinguished from the first because now we move into the realm, those who have heard and believed the Gospel. They may disagree now on some doctrines, and that certainly is true, and this disagreement will create significant boundaries between believers. So when you get organized into a local church or on a broader level, a denomination, then these differences will become important. Second order issues would include the meaning and mode of baptism. Now this writer is a Baptist. From having been a Baptist in my past background, I can appreciate the Baptist emphasis on baptism, and particularly the mode of baptism by when they mean you must be immersed. Sprinkling doesn't count, pouring doesn't count. There is one mode of baptism and that is immersion. So if you are going to be part of a Baptist church, then that would be a dividing element. If you won't be immersed, then you won't be a member of our church.

The third order issues are doctrines over which Christians may disagree and remain in close fellowship, even within local congregations. I would put most of the debates over eschatology in this category. Now that's my point. We trivialize what God has said is so important. Stop and think, how much of the Bible addresses the subject of baptism and its mode? How much of the Bible addresses eschatology, prophetic matters? There is no comparison. Why do we say your view on eschatology wouldn't be divisive in a congregation, you can believe any variety of views on eschatology and still be part of the congregation. But if you don't believe the same way as we do on the mode, you will have to go to a different congregation.

In that way that kind of thinking begins to pervade thinking among Christians. This has to do with future things, we can talk about them but they are not that important. But they are important. One of the ways they sort things out is, are you going to be getting involved in political and social issues in the world or not? If you think Israel and the church are the same, you will be getting involved in social justice, in political activity. Israel was a political organization as well as a theological one. You will be using different hermeneutics. The principles of hermeneutics, you decide that regarding future things we will not be interpreting the Bible literally. But of course on those foundational issues you have to interpret the Bible literally. And all of a sudden we have two different sets of principles being used. And then somebody has to decide just where we will be literal. The differences are huge. To me the issues over baptism and its mode are trivial. You can belong to Indian Hills and have been sprinkled. Baptism should occur after you have become a believer, you are truly testifying to your faith in Christ. We have not made an issue of the mode of baptism, but eschatology is an issue. The principles of biblical interpretation are foundational. We have some more to say about these elements when we study the book of Revelation, particularly when we begin the future part of the book, which begins with Revelation 4. And some of these things we will talk about there. Sometimes the book of Revelation is not appreciated as much as it needs to be for its practical value.

Let me read you a quote from G. Campbell Morgan. G. Campbell Morgan was a Bible teacher from a past generation, I don't remember the date but he died somewhere around 1940. He was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London before Martin Lloyd Jones was the pastor there. He has written on the book of Revelation. There is no book in the Bible which I have read so often, no book which I have tried to give more patient and persistent attention. There is no book in the Bible to which I turn more eagerly in the hours of depression than to this. Do you think of the book of Revelation as a book you turn to if you are depressed, discouraged? Lately I go to Psalms. Campbell Morgan said that's the book I go to most often, Revelation, when I'm depressed or discouraged. The book of Revelation is intended to have practical impact on us. This is addressed both at the beginning and end of the book, we'll see that as we move along.

The book of Revelation is God's final word to man. Think about it. The Apostle Paul has been dead for close to 30 years when the book of Revelation is written. Tradition says that Paul, along with Peter and many others, died under the persecutions of Nero. Nero himself died in 68 A.D. The book of Revelation was written around 95 or 96 A.D. so Paul has been dead for almost 30 years. We don't know what other portions of Scripture may have been written during that time. Some, like the book of Hebrews, a little harder, perhaps, to distinguish. But we know the book of Revelation is God's last word. And what it does is bring together the rest of Scripture. Without the book of Revelation you don't have clarity on how things will progress and end. Now you do have much information on that, but it's the book of Revelation that finally puts it in order for you. It's the book of Revelation, how what God began at creation will finally be realized according to His perfect intention. So what begins in Genesis finds its completion in Revelation. And if you are confused on Genesis and don't understand how it begins, the rest of the Bible is going to have more confusion. If you don't understand how God is going to bring it to an end, you'll be out here floating in confusion. So the book of Revelation is crucial and important in its importance. It puts everything together, and it makes things clearer for us.

Come back to Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2 gives a beautiful picture of the coming reign of Jesus Christ over all the earth. Verse 2, “It will come about in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord.” And in biblical prophecy a mountain symbolizes a kingdom. We've see that in prophetic studies, we'll see some of that as we move in our study. “It will be established as chief of the mountains, it will rule over other kingdoms,” other nations. “It will be raised above the hills, all the nations will stream to it, many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob that He may teach us concerning His ways, that we walk in His path. The law will go forth from Zion, the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations, will render decisions for many peoples. They will hammer their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, never again will they learn war.” This is in Isaiah 2 and then he'll refer to this again in Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 11. But do you know what happens when you are in Isaiah 53 for example? You have that great prophetic chapter on the suffering and death of the Messiah. So you can't say just start in Isaiah 1 and read through to the end and you'll see how events all fit together. You will have information on the events, but it won't put them in order for you. There will be passages and places where there are pieces of order. It's the book of Revelation that puts it all together and will weigh out. Now we can read from the book of Revelation from the beginning and we'll read through and there is progression, culminating in the eternal kingdom.

Come over to Daniel 12. We studied Daniel not too long ago. And it is a great prophetic book of the Old Testament and there is much information that is very helpful. But you know when the book of Daniel is done, Daniel says, I don't understand a lot of this, I can't understand what you have revealed to me, Lord. Daniel 12 opens up talking about a future time which will be the subject of most of the book of Revelation, time of judgment. The verse opens, “Now at that time Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise.” We'll hit this event in Revelation 12, war in heaven. And then there is a resurrection and so on. Verse 4 says, “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the time of the end.” That means it is closed, it won't be understood with any fullness. Down in verse 8 Daniel says, “As for me I heard but I could not understand. So I said, my lord, what will be the outcome of these events? And he said to me, go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed until the end time.” Wasn't God's intention that they have any kind of clarity and fullness of understanding? There is some insight here, Daniel explained some of it about the kingdoms that would come and you start getting into any kind of detail, it's concealed. And Daniel says, I don't understand this.

Now you come over to Revelation 22 and as you come to the conclusion of the book here, verse 10, “And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” Don't seal it up. This is God's final word and it will shed light on what He has revealed before and bring a clarity about His future plans that is not found elsewhere. Now we're going to find as we move through Revelation that much of what is said was revealed before but it was revealed concealed from the standpoint you have the pieces but they didn't all fit together, the details of it. That's why Peter wrote and said the prophets of the Old Testament couldn't understand what they were saying because they prophesied the Messiah will rule and reign, as we saw Isaiah did. And then they prophesied that He would suffer and die. Well, it's both in the Old Testament but you don't get the unfolding. Daniel prophesies about a 3½ -year period about Michael and war in heaven. I don't understand, Lord. The book of Revelation brings final clarity.

You think about it, 95 A.D. this is given to John. God has not spoken to man since, this is the final revelation. There have been men and groups that claim new revelation, additional revelation. We'll see that the book of Revelation closes the door on that.

Come back to Revelation 1 in your Bibles. We come to the book of Revelation, it is a book to be understood. Now it's a book that can only be understood by believers. We have to go to one more passage, 1 Corinthians 2, because there will be some that I cannot explain the book of Revelation too because they have no ability to understand. And you realize this when you do. I was glancing over my library earlier today, I have 60 commentaries on the book of Revelation. Some of them don't have much insight, better to say many of them don't have much insight. Some of them just didn't have any idea what they were talking about. When an unbeliever writes a commentary on any portion of the Bible, they can gather a collection of facts, but the understanding of those facts eludes them.

Look in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul says at the beginning of the chapter, “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That is foundational. He is coming into a Greek city who had not been exposed to the Gospel yet. What is he going to do? Engage them in wisdom that they would admire, talk about the teachings of Socrates and Plato and other great Greek philosophers and interact and show the superiority of the wisdom . . . No, he said “I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Verse 4, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom.” We are off track if we got to think, now how can I convince them and show them. We think if we had the right arguments . . . That's not the issue, the issue we're dealing with is people who are spiritually blind, spiritually dead. “My words were in demonstration of the Spirit and power so your faith would not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” But I was speaking wisdom, but it's God's wisdom, that's verse 6. “We speak wisdom among those who are mature,” those who have become believers in Christ and now have the Spirit, as he is going on to say. But it's a wisdom not of this age. We think the world, we think if the world comes to an appreciation of the standards of Christianity and the Bible . . . That's not where the world is. Now sometimes there is external conformity in greater ways, sometimes less ways. But the reality is “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, and the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.” Nothing has changed. That was written 2000 years ago by John in his first epistle, and yet it is true. That is what Paul is saying.

So “we came and preached Christ crucified.” The rulers of this world didn't understand it. If they understood it they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. That's what he says in verse 8. “But just as it is written,” verse 9, “things which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, which have not entered the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” The world doesn't see these things, they don't really hear with any understanding. But note verse 10, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit.” Verse 9 is not talking about things we'll get to know when we get to glory, it's talking about the reality of now. Those who have been made alive in Christ had their spiritual eyes and understanding opened by the power of God, understand things that God has said. God has revealed them through the Spirit. And we're going to talk about part of that revelation when we start the book of Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

“For to us God revealed then through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Who among men knows the thoughts of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him.” That's right, you are sitting next to someone now who is not listening to what I am saying. He's thinking about something else, but you don't know that. Now if he is watching the game on his phone you do. But we don't know what is going on in the mind of the person next to us, the spirit within that man knows. That's a penny for your thoughts, you'd have to up it today but the idea is unless you tell me what you are thinking I really don't know. So it is with God. Unless God chooses to make Himself known, you can't know Him. The Spirit of God reveals God.

Now verse 12 is the key, “We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.” If you don't have the Spirit of God you can't know the things of God. We say that sounds pretty narrow. It's not pretty narrow, it is narrow-narrow, That's it. If you don't have the Spirit of God you can't know the things of God. “Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom but words taught by the Spirit., combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” The point is Paul, like John with the book of Revelation, is one that God has made His truth known. And He makes it known, as we'll see in the opening verses of Revelation, so that His people can know. That's the process.

But the only ones who can know . . . “The natural man,” verse 14, we get words soul from this word. It's the soulish man, it's the man who does not have the Spirit of God, that person. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised or discerned. But the one who is spiritual can discern all things. Yet he is discerned by no one.” That means the world doesn't understand us. That's not saying we are better than the world. No, we are just like the world except by God's grace we have been the recipients of the salvation He has provided. You say, oh, you think you are special. No, you can have it, too. These are things freely given by God. The free gift of God is eternal life with His Son, Jesus Christ. You can have it for free.

So that's why we don't begin with the unbeliever by trying to argue. We are not trying to conform our country to some kind of biblical standard. Of course it is nice when many people have a general veneer of Christianity and there is at least superficial agreement. But it is not better. It wasn't better with the Pharisees and their error and corruption. So we just want to be clear, if you don't have the Spirit, the book of Revelation makes no sense to you, but the reality of it is most of the Scripture doesn't make any sense to you. Doesn't matter if you were raised in a Christian home, doesn't matter if you have Christian parents, doesn't matter if you have come up through Sunday School and everything here. If you are not a believer, you are in a world of darkness. You think you are doing your own thing, you think I've fooled people. You are what you are. Salvation comes through faith in Christ, with that salvation comes the Spirit of God who indwells us now as believers.

Come back to Revelation; now we are really going to start. At this rate this may be my last study because we'll be doing it when the Lord comes, hopefully. It's “the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His bond-servants.” It's for a special group of people. Didn't say to show to the world. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ. What he is going to do is put the picture together. We started in Genesis, God created everything in Genesis 1 and created man as male and female to rule over everything. In Genesis 2 we have clarity on how God created man as male then as female, then brought them together in a marriage relationship. In Genesis 3 it all comes apart because man sins and the relationship with God is broken. And from Genesis 4 on the Bible is about the results of sin and the grace and mercy of God in providing redemption for undeserving sinners. We get a glimpse of it when God replaced with animal skins the clothing of Adam and Eve that they had made out of leaves. And God is going to require a sacrifice because the wages of sin is death. He had told them that, “if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die.”

What happens, we move to Genesis 4 and we already have the two sons, Cain and Abel, one sacrifice is acceptable, one is not. One is a blood sacrifice, one is not. We move through the rest of Scripture, they are closed out of the Garden and they can never go back to that beautiful retreat, that place of peace and harmony with God. They can't eat of the tree of life. You know what happens when we come to the book of Revelation, where we are going to end in Revelation 22? We are in the eternal kingdom now and the chapter opens up, “He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life.” Back in the opening chapters of Genesis an angel with a flaming sword prevented Adam and Eve from ever coming back into the Garden of Eden. Now here it is and the tree of life is “bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing,” or the health, “of the nations. There will no longer be any curse.” And God has finally fixed what was broken, He has brought it back to where He intended it to be at the beginning. God's plans and purposes have not been frustrated, by His grace they are now realized. So the book of Revelation shows God bringing to fulfillment what He planned at the beginning of creation.

So back in Revelation 1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” The word revelation, the Greek word, apocalypse. So when you hear people talk about the apocalypse, sometimes depends on how familiar you are with Scripture, it comes from here. It is the apocalypse of Jesus Christ. It's a word that means to uncover, to reveal, to move the cover away from something. So it is to reveal it Isn't it amazing, people think the book of Revelation is a difficult book, it is a confusing book, it is a book that is hard to understand. Well, he starts out saying it is an unveiling, it is a revealing. And that tells you its importance also. He is making known what had been concealed. And much of this information in the pieces was like the pieces of a puzzle. Until you have them put together you really don't know the picture. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And I think in this context he is talking about the revelation that comes from Christ. “Which God gave to him.” So this is the purpose now of God the Father, to reveal through God the Son who has provided for the restoration of the creation to His original purpose, this material.

God gave it to Him to show, to make it known to His bond-servants. Our hyphenated word bond-servants is simply a translation of the Greek word dulos, plural. His slaves, that's what the word means, dulos. It's a slave, and these are His slaves. To show to His slaves, those who belong to Him. “He has purchased them for Himself.” We will see this as we move down further into the opening verses in our future studies. He paid the price to redeem us from our sin, its penalty, its power by His death on the cross. Now we are His slaves. You are not your own, you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

This was to show to His slaves “the things which must soon take place.” And He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant, John. We just get the overview of this here. God the Father gives it to God the Son, God the Son gives it to His angel. Come down to the end of the verse, “sent and communicated by His angel to His slave John.” Bond-servant again, the word dulos, slave. “To His slave John,” then back up earlier, “to show to His slaves.” So you have a summary. “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to His slaves,” those who belong to Him, “the things which must soon take place.” So how did He do this? Well Christ passed it on to the angel who passed it on to John who then has passed it on to us. This was intended for us who are believers in Jesus Christ, who have been purchased by Him, who now belong to Him. This ought to thrill us, God wants to tell us where it's all going, how it will all end. Give us greater confidence and assurance and understanding. No wonder G. Campbell Morgan said, this is the book I go to when I am depressed. Why? I see through all that is coming and all these things will pass away. And some day we will be in a city of splendid glory and so on, so we can know. This is what God wants us to know, it's a revelation, it's something that is no longer concealed.

“God gave it to show to His slaves,” and right up front because this will become important as well when we move into the letters to the churches. They are not functioning in obedience to the master. Something is wrong, we are His slaves. Now what an honor is ours but we live under His authority. “The things which must soon take place.” This word here soon, we get the English word, we use it like a tachometer, the tach in a car. It measures speed, the revolution per minute of your engine, to summarize. It also can mean soon, quickly, soon. I think here he is talking about soon because he'll say at the end of verse 3, “for the time is near.” And that's the emphasis. These are things which will happen soon, the time is near. You say John wrote this in 95 A.D., we're talking in round numbers, coming up at 2000 years. That doesn't seem very soon, very near. But you understand this is the completion of God's revelation to man. This is the last word, no more. So from that standpoint these events now are imminent. God has nothing more to say and in that sense they could happen. We'll say more about this as we move into the prophetic portion in Revelation 4. The rapture could occur tonight and the events of the seven years could begin tomorrow. The rapture could occur, it won't occur at 11 o'clock but it could occur at 11:30 because 11 o'clock is already past on our clock. The point is it's soon, it is imminent. There is no more from God to be said and so we live on the brink, if you will. These are things that those who belong to Christ are to know, not just so we can know about the future and it is fun to talk about the future, then talk about what is going on in the world. These are things to shape the way we live, this is where he is going to take us. People think prophecy is not that important, it is a determining factor in how we live. These are things which will soon take place, the events are coming up.

Come over to Revelation 22 again. What happens, the first eight verses of Revelation 1 are the introduction to the book and then when you come over to Revelation 22, as I mentioned in summary earlier, when you pick up with verse 6 you have the conclusion of the book. And what he does is go back and pick up some of the things he said in the introduction now and ties it together with the conclusion. So in Revelation 22:6, “He said to me, these words are faithful and true and the Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel.” So you see, do you remember what he said in Revelation 1? God gave it to Christ who gave it to His angel who gave it to His slave, John, who gave it to the rest of the slaves. “The Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show to His bond-servants,” slaves, “the things which must soon take place.” That's the expression we have back in Revelation 1—these are things which must soon take place. “And behold I am coming quickly.” And basically our word again, I am coming soon. “Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Down to verse 10, “The time is near,” at the end of the verse. Verse 12, “Behold I am coming quickly,” or soon, in our translation they have translated this word two ways, sometimes soon, sometimes quickly. The word near at the end of verse 10 is a different word—eggus, some of you are taking Greek. Different, the word quickly and the word soon as we had it back in Revelation 1 are the same basic Greek word. They just translated it differently because it can mean soon, it can mean quickly. But I think you get the picture more here because as you have it at the end of verse 10, “the time is near;” verse 12, “Behold I am coming soon.” That would fit with near. “My reward is with Me.” In other words everybody better be ready, this is the final warning, this is all God has to say to us.

Down in verse 20, “He who testifies to these things says yes, I am coming soon.” We have it translated quickly, tachu. That's how we are to live. This begins the book and ends the book, it will shape how we look at things. We talk about the imminent return of Jesus Christ, well we ought to understand that's what he is saying. I am coming soon, the time is near. Doesn't that help put life into perspective? I am expecting the Lord at any time. You know you do other things, you have someone you've made an appointment with, they are coming to see you and it's important. Some other things come up and you say I can do that but I am expecting so-and-so. That sort of governs the other things that are going on. And that's what Christ is saying, that's what this revelation begins and ends with reminding us. There are other things you are doing that are going on, I am coming soon; the time is near. And the writers use similar language—“the judge is at the door” as James said; Paul said “now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.” All expressing this same idea but now this puts it together when we see how the events will unfold. And this is God's last word.

Since this was given to John, God has had nothing else to say to man, the revelation is complete. That's why the book of Revelation says don't add anything or take anything away. This is my last word. We have religions that have been founded on the basis of additional revelation. Well for those who believe the Bible, they know it is false because God has given His last word here.

Now do we live in light of it? If we are believers we can come to this book, thrilled to look and see. We should never tire of it, you've studied it a hundred times and you look forward to studying it the hundred and first time. Now here God is making known to me what He is going to do and ultimately He is doing it all for me. This is to be revealed to His servants, His slaves, those that He has purchased for Himself. You understand judgment is coming but for a believer we are looking for the blessing. And like I say often, we've read the last chapter. I've read Revelation 20, 21, 22, I know how the book ends. The things in between now I can appreciate in light of the overall picture. I've read the opening chapter of Genesis, I know how it began. What a terrible thing sin was, what an impact it has had over the millenniums of time, but sin and Satan don't win. And God has provided for us to enter into the victory He provided in Christ Jesus. That's the most important decision you have to make. Have you been purchased by the blood of Christ? As the song says, have you been to Calvary? Have you recognized your sin that necessitates judgment? Recognized that Christ took your place? Bore your penalty? Paid your price so that if you believe in Him you can belong to Him and have all the promises that He gives to those who are His children.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, what a great blessing is ours to have this Word, to have it complete, to know the beginning and know the end and have You put it all together for us. Lord, we want to be a people who just don't know about the Word, but live in light of the Word, live out the truths of the Word day by day, knowing all that You have promised. Bless the day before us, use us to be a testimony of Your grace. We pray in Christ's name, amen.