The book of Revelation was not written to create confusion for the Christian, cause division in the church, or promote speculation about the coming of Christ. In this message on Revelation 1:1–8, Pastor David Platt reminds us that the purpose of Revelation is to point us to the coming Christ. Revelation was written to give unshakeable hope to suffering Christians, encourage unwavering holiness in a seductive culture, refute deception in the church, and fuel mission among the nations. Historically, Christians hold to three different views of Revelation.
The book of Revelation was not written to create confusion for the Christian, cause division in the church, or promote speculation about the coming of Christ. In this message on Revelation 1:1–8, Pastor David Platt reminds us that the purpose of Revelation is to point us to the coming Christ. Revelation was written to give unshakeable hope to suffering Christians, encourage unwavering holiness in a seductive culture, refute deception in the church, and fuel mission among the nations. Historically, Christians hold to three different views of Revelation.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt. Alright, if you have a Bible and I hope you do I invite you to open with me to Revelation, chapter one. Revelation chapter one. And while you're turning there, let me go ahead and invite you to also turn to Daniel, chapter two. I'm going to reference Daniel chapter two pretty early on, and so it'll be helpful to go ahead and have that ready. So just kind of have both places marked Revelation at the very end of the Bible, revelation chapter one, daniel chapter two near the end of the Old Testament. But feel free to use your table of contents to find Daniel chapter two. We'll be in verse 28 of Daniel chapter two in just a few minutes. But you look at your notes and you can probably tell that I have not preached here the last few weeks, trying to make up for a little lost time. But I cannot express to you how excited I am for us to study the book of Revelation. So, truth be told, I've been hesitant, even a little bit nervous, because of what a challenging book Revelation seems to be, and it can be a challenging book. I read somewhere that Revelation is the book that people in the church most want to hear taught, because they don't understand it. At the same time, revelation is the book that preachers in the church least want to teach, because they don't understand it either. And it can be tough to just sit down and you start reading. You know, go through your quiet time in the morning, you find yourself meditating on an apocalyptic monster and you're thinking I don't know what good this does for me today, like not sure how to apply this monster to my morning, but it can be challenging At the same time. This week I found myself just humbled on my knees in this text and overwhelmed to the point of tears by the things that we're about to study. This book is glorious and its message is breathtaking and I want you to hear it, I want you to see it, I want you to feel the wonder of God's word in the book of Revelation. I want you to feel the wonder of what it means for your life and our church. So today, tonight, what we're going to do is a good bit of introductory material to kind of set the stage for the whole book. So I'm going to go ahead and warn you from the very beginning. It's going to feel a bit technical, especially here at the start. So hang with me. I really want to set the stage where we're going. I think there's some necessary things that need to be covered at the start and we're going to have to go pretty quick. So I'm talking secret church style fast tonight. So get ready, here we go. What is the book of Revelation? What I mean by that is what type of book is it? So? The Psalms are poetry, the Gospels are narratives. Matthew that we studied earlier this year is the story of Jesus. New Testament epistles are letters. So what is Revelation? And here's my attempt to sum it up the book of Revelation is a series of apocalyptic visions. Now let's pause here. There are three key words, slash phrases that I want you to see in the very first verse of Revelation that are absolutely critical for understanding this book. You might underline them in your Bible. So the first word slash phrase is Revelation, verse one, chapter one, the Revelation. So underline Revelation there. That word is apocalypsis, obviously the word from which we get apocalypses. It's literally an uncovering or revealing of truth. Second phrase I want you to underline is, later in that same sentence in verse one, things that must soon take place. So this is a revelation of something that is either happening or is going to happen soon. Third thing I want you to underline in that verse is made it known. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, john. So underline those words, those phrases, and then step back and let's think about what we've got here. What we've got is a revelation and uncovering of something that is either already happening or about to happen, and this book was written to make known what it means. Now there is one other time in all the Bible where those three words and phrases appear together, and I want to show it to you. That's why you've got Daniel, chapter two, verse 28, open. So Revelation is saturated with Old Testament references Over 400 different references and allusions to the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. It's all over the place, and the first one is here in verse one, pointing us to Daniel, chapter two. Let me give you a little background on Daniel, where Revelation is pointing us to. In Daniel, chapter two, daniel is interpreting a dream of vision that King Nebuchadnezzar had, and as he begins to share with Nebuchadnezzar, speak to Nebuchadnezzar, he uses the same words that we just saw in Revelation, chapter one, verse one, he uses the word for apocalypsis A word apocalypsis five different times. He talks about something that's going to come to pass three times and he talks about how it's being made known two times. All the phrases, words we saw in Revelation, chapter one, verse one, are all over. Daniel, chapter two, verse 28 through 30. Just listen along as I read this passage. Daniel, chapter two, verse 28, says there is a God this is Daniel speaking to Nebuchadnezzar in heaven, who reveals mysteries, and he has made known King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days and the days to come. And the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these to you, o King. As you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what it is to be. But, as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me not because of any wisdom that I have within all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the King and that you may know the thoughts of your mind. So here's a vision that Nebuchadnezzar had that is revealing, making known what is going, something that is going to happen in certain days, and what happens after this is Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He tells Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was, exactly as it was, and I want you to see the climax of that interpretation in verse 44. So he describes Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which the dream is filled with all kinds of symbols and images of iron and gold and silver and bronze, all these different symbols, and Daniel's interpreting it. And you get to verse 44. And this is the climax of that interpretation. Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever. So catch this. In Daniel, chapter 2, god uses a dream, a vision, to reveal, to uncover the reality that one day God was going to set up a kingdom that would never, ever be destroyed. And so when John opens up the book of Revelation, the very first thing he does is he points us back to all places in the Bible, the day when God revealed, through a vision, how his kingdom would be established and would never, ever be destroyed. That is what the book of Revelation is all about. This book is a revelation, uncovering through a vision of how God's kingdom is being and will ultimately be established, and it will never, ever be destroyed. So, just like with Nebuchadnezzar, god is giving a vision to John that is filled with all kinds of symbols and images. There's a predominant use of symbols all over Revelation. You read this book, this is less like a systematic theology and more like a picture book. Pictures everywhere, and it's designed that way. This book is designed to communicate truths through visions, signs, symbols, pictures. In fact, some translations come back to Revelation, chapter 1, when it says he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John. Some translations actually say signified, instead of make known there, because that literally means to communicate through the means of symbols or signs. These are symbols that are supposed to be shown here in verse 1. In verse 2 it says this is a book about all that John saw. Now, the reason why that is so important is we need to realize from the very first book, in first verse in the book of Revelation. We need to realize that not everything here in the book of Revelation is intended to be understood literally. Some people try to read it this way, looking for literal fulfillments of everything that's mentioned here. But John is telling us from the very beginning this book is intended. It's written to be understood symbolically, figuratively. It's a vision filled with symbols to signify the coming of God's kingdom on earth. That doesn't mean that every single verse in Revelation is symbolic. There are some places where John is clearly telling us to take something literally, but for the most part the thrust of the book, the whole framework of the book, is symbolic. That's the kind of book it is. It's a series of apocalyptic visions revealing, visions filled with symbols and numbers. Certain numbers are used over and over again throughout this book as symbols of various things. You might write some of these down Twelve and its multiples, like 144,000. The numbers used to symbolize God's people. Ten and its multiples, like 1,000. Those to describe complete amounts of time. The number seven is used all throughout Revelation to symbolize perfection and completion. Here, in verse four, we've got the Holy Spirit described as the seven spirits, a picture of the perfect spirit of God. Revelation is written to seven churches that are in Asia, but there were many more than seven churches in Asia. This is a picture of the entire church, not only here in Asia but around the world. We're going to read in the book of Revelation about seven letters, seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls, all of which together symbolize God's complete judgment. The number four also symbolizes completeness, particularly in the world. The earth is described in four parts, with four corners and four winds, and sometimes four and seven are used together. We read about four series of seven judgments on the earth. Various names of God and Christ are used either four or seven times. The seven spirits are mentioned four times. Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God 28 times, which is seven times four, and seven of those times Jesus is referred to as the Lamb right alongside God, the Father. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, aren't you reading a little too much into this? Doesn't somebody have a little too much time on their head to count up all the numbers? But that's part of the beauty of this book. Is it possible that some of these numbers mean nothing? Sure, but once you see these things over and over and over and over again, you start to wonder is there somebody behind this book? And you start to see this picture unfolding in the history of redemption and you start to realize there is nothing haphazard or coincidental or incidental. Here, everything in the unfolding history of redemption is purposeful and planned. There is someone behind this thing. So we've got a series of apocalyptic visions with the predominant use of symbols, filled with prophetic pronouncements. So you look down at verse 3 and you see John Wright, blessed, is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. So this is also a prophetic book in the line of other prophetic books in Scripture, like Daniel, ezekiel, isaiah, zechariah, others, all of which are alluded to in Revelation. So there's a sense in which Revelation is the climax of all prophecy in Scripture because, unlike all the Old Testament prophets, revelation is not announcing the coming of God's Kingdom. The message of Revelation is that the Kingdom of God has come and will soon be consummated, and this is also huge to understand. The book of Revelation is not ultimately about a coming Kingdom. The book of Revelation is ultimately about a King who has already come and who reigns right now. Just like John the Baptist announced in the Gospels as a prophet, the Kingdom of God is near. John, the Revelator, here in verse 3, is announcing the time is near. That's not just a reference to the future, that's a reference to the present. John is saying the King who is prophesied all throughout the Old Testament has come and he is ruling and reigning at this moment. We'll talk about that more in a minute. So this is a series of apocalyptic visions, revelation through symbols, filled with prophetic announcements and written as a congregational letter. So you get down to verse 4 and this book just starts to sound like an epistle from Paul. John is writing a letter. Seven churches in Asia Minor, which is Eastern Turkey today, the seven churches who represent the global church, not just them, but all throughout time. You follow the progression from verses 1-3. You see this revelation comes from God in Christ, through an angel to his servant, john, for the church, and don't miss the last part of verse 3. Or he writes this is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear. So follow this. Get this picture. Imagine this scene. You've got churches in the first century that would receive this letter. They would gather together for worship and someone in the worship gathering would read this letter to them. They would read the book of revelation. It was intended to be read aloud from start to finish. Someone else in the church sat and just listened to what it said. Now think about why that's important. This letter was written in such a way that members of the church in the first century could hear it read in a church service and understand what was being said and even be able to apply it to their lives. They keep what is written in it, so what that means is we've got to be very, very careful not to overcomplicate this book. First century hearers, many of whom didn't even have enough education to be able to read it for themselves, were able to hear this book once, understand it and apply it to their lives. They didn't have charts in their hands to fill out. No commentaries, as if they could read those anyway. No Bible search software they just listened to the word. It's part of the reason why, during this series, we're asking different people to just read the text at a point during our worship gatherings, even separate from the sermon. You might wonder why is that not enough for us? How can we get just listened to the text and understand it that easily? This is the challenge of Bible study, because the reality is we're not members of the church in the first century. There are images here. There's a writing style here that would have been easily understandable to them that is not so easily understandable to us. Think about it this way Most of us in this room probably don't do a lot of poetry. If I were to preach my sermon every week as a poem, well, number one you would think that I am weird. And then number two, and if you got past that you'd probably have a hard time following what I'm saying. But when you look and Old Testament prophets and they're preaching, that's exactly what they did. Old Testament prophecy is filled with poetry and the Israelites understood it, but they were living in a different time with a different understanding. So our goal whenever we study the Bible, it's not just to hear what the Bible says, but to get into the shoes of the people who were first hearing it read. And the purpose of commentaries part of the purpose of commentaries, resources and insermons, I hope is to help us get into their shoes. But even with all that said, we need to remember, brothers and sisters, the only thing we necessarily and ultimately need to understand the book of Revelation is the spirit of the living God, and this is huge. I want you to be encouraged by this. Some of you look at this book and you think I just cannot understand this. But if you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit of God inside of you and even if you do not have enough education to even be able to read this book, simply by hearing it, by the supernatural power of the Spirit of God, you are able to understand this book and apply it to your life. So we go into this with confidence in the Spirit that he will help us to understand this. This is a unique letter filled with apocalyptic visions and prophetic announcements. Now that leads to one of the most controversial questions surrounding Revelation when will these prophecies and revelation be fulfilled? When will the words of this prophecy come to fulfillment? And basically, in the history of Christianity over the last 2,000 years? You have four different interpretations, four different answers to that question. Now this is where we are going to get, admittedly, somewhat technical, but I want to give you a brief overview, because the way we approach and understand this text is very important. So, first way that people have interpreted Revelation is the preterist interpretation, where people have said that these prophecies were fulfilled in the first few centuries of Christianity. So basically, some people believe that everything that is written here in Revelation was fulfilled not long after it was written. Some people believe that Revelation is prophesying the fall of Jerusalem in the first century and everything was fulfilled in the first century. Other people believe Revelation is prophesying the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and once that happened, that's everything that was prophesied in the book of Revelation. Now, the good thing about that interpretation is that it takes seriously the original readers who are hearing this and how that might be applied to their lives. The bad thing is that that interpretation seems to ignore the clear illusions to final judgment, not just for Israel but for all the nations of the earth. And you've got others who have taken what's called a historicist approach saying that these prophecies have been and are being fulfilled in the course of Western Christian history. So it's been common this is more than the last 500 years or so for Christians to read predominantly Western Christian history into the pages of Revelation. During the Protestant Reformation, for example, many believers, many reformers, believed that the Pope was the Antichrist. So the Roman Catholic Church was the false prophet. And then, in generations since then, people have labeled Hitler this or Napoleon that, or Mussolini this. In the 1980s it was the Soviet Union led by Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Mark of the Beast was that thing on his head. Like all kinds of different interpretations that people have come up with, in Western Christian history, particularly after the last 60 years, once Israel became a nation, there's been a heightened intensity with this interpretation, where people see every detail of Revelation through the eyes of current events in the Middle East, and the problems with this are many. The focus is almost exclusively on Western church history. There's all kinds of speculation that's involved in trying to find contemporary parallels, and then you have to rework it for every new period in world history. And on top of this, this interpretation makes the book of Revelation virtually irrelevant, for its original. Here is this is not a message that, when they heard it, made them think about Hitler or Mussolini or the Pope or Benjamin Netanyahu. That then leads to the futurist interpretation, which says that these prophecies are largely unfulfilled, basically that once you get to chapter four through the rest of the book, these prophecies are awaiting fulfillment in the future. There's different versions of this view. Some people believe that these prophecies will be fulfilled literally in the order in which they were listed in the book of Revelation in the future. Others believe that these prophecies will be fulfilled, not quite as regular, literally, or strictly chronological, as they're described here in Revelation. Again, one problem here is that it caused this interpretation caused into question what application this book would have had for its first century years if the majority of the book was talking about things that haven't happened in 2,000 years since then. And then it leads to a lot of speculation about how these prophecies will literally play out. Well, finally, there's the idealist interpretation, which says that these prophecies are being, and have been fulfilled symbolically throughout the history of the church. So basically, this interpretation views Revelation as a symbolic portrayal of the conflict between God and Satan, christ and His church battling the forces of sin and evil, a conflict that is reflected in every age in the church, a conflict that will one day culminate in the conquering of Christ and His church over ultimate triumph of Christ and His church. So this interpretation obviously avoids some of the speculation that's common in some of the others. But at the same time this interpretation seems to downplay some of the literal historical realities that are represented by certain symbols in the book of Revelation. So which one is right? Are you ready? I'm obviously not going to say I've got this one figured out, and 2,000 years of church history has been waiting for me to come on the scene. I will say that there's a reason why all of these perspectives have been held by Christians in the past and the present because there's some good in all of them. Like the Preterist view, we need to seriously consider how these words spoke and applied to the very first people who read or heard them. Like the Historic's view, we need to think about how the cosmic war between Christ and Satan is indeed planning out in every age in the church. Like the Futurist view, we need to think about how Revelation is pointing to a coming reality when the Kingdom of God will be consummated in a new heaven, a new earth and the future Final judgment, final redemption. And then, like the Idealist view, as we've already seen, we need to seriously consider symbols in this book and what they represent, not read too much literal into them when that ends up skewing the meaning of the text. So you've got good in each one of these I think more good in some than others. But then you go okay, so we've got four different interpretations of Revelation. Then you add on top of that three different views of the Millennium. So Revelation, chapter 20 talks about a thousand year reign of Christians where Satan is bound and peace spreads. And Christians have debated for centuries what that is and how that relates to the return of Jesus. You've got three millennial views Premillennialism, which sets the Jesus for return before the Millennium. You've got post-millennialism, that says Jesus will return after the Millennium. Then you've got amillennialism, which says the Millennium is the present age and there is no other future Millennium to come, before or after Jesus returns. So basically, a thousand year reign that we call the Millennium is really just a symbol for the times that we're living in now. And then I didn't put it on here, but there's some people who would call themselves panmillennialists, who just say that everything's going to pan out just fine in the end, however God determines Now, like I said, this doesn't even come up in Revelation until chapter 20, but the reason I mention it here is simply to point out that there are different views held by sincere followers of Christ on different things in the book of Revelation and we must be careful not to let those differing views divide us. This is key. So there are some doctrines that are first order, of primary importance in the church, that should divide us, the humanity and deity of Jesus Christ, his substitutionary death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave. These are things that divide Christians from non-Christians and when you just come together, whatever you want to believe about those things, no, you're not a Christian if you don't believe those things. Those are first order. We live and we die for those things. Then there are second order doctrines that divide different churches in healthy ways. So think about baptism. Baptists believe in the baptism of a believer by immersion. Presbyterians believe in the baptism of infants by sprinkling. Are they both Christians? Absolutely, though I believe in a Christian's baptism by immersion, I love and respect and I honor Presbyterian brothers and sisters like we have at Briarwood or Oak Mountain or Covenant. A couple of pastors from these churches have actually worshiped with us this summer and I honor them. I just think they are wrong and they think I'm wrong on baptism. So can we partner together in the spread of the gospel in this city? Absolutely, are we going to be in the same local church? Probably not. I have biblical convictions that would keep me from baptizing an infant. They have what they would call biblical convictions that warrant them baptizing an infant and it's good that we don't compromise on those convictions. So that's more of a second tier doctrine. But then there's third tier doctrines and beliefs that even Christians in the same church, the same family, have differences on, and this is where views on the millennium or on Revelation fall. Some of you have studied Revelation and you have convictions about how to interpret this book, how to understand the millennium. That will be different than what I teach as we walk through this book. So does that mean that we need to divide or to break fellowship with one another over that? Absolutely not. Someone once said the millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians like to fight about. That's not good and it cannot be the case here. So as we walk through this book, you have an opportunity and your small groups discuss different things. I put resources online that you can reference. I put resources from different perspectives online. My goal is not to say, week by week well, obviously here is the way it is. No, my goal is for us, week by week, to open up the text and to look at each text within its context. Now, two important texts in particular. This applies to all Bible study, but it's particularly important here in Revelation, because we need to look at every text within its specific historical context. So basic rule to remember when we're interpreting the Bible is this a text can never mean what it never meant, which means that, just like we were talking about earlier, we've got to put ourselves in the shoes of the first people who read or heard this book and, as best as possible, understand what it was saying to them. Then, and only then, can we begin to cross the bridge of time to understand what it is saying to us. So this is so important because here in Revelation, these Christians in the first century would have understood all these symbols and images. So we've got to try to get in their shoes and think about things from their perspective. So let's start tonight. We are Christians living in the first century and one of these churches is specifically addressed in Revelation. We're living in a day when it's not easy to be identified with the church, much less to proclaim Christ. We face danger on every side Jewish persecution, roman persecution. There are members of our church who right now are imprisoned in dark dungeons. Some of the members of our church have been crucified, others have been thrown to the beasts. Many of our brothers and sisters in this area have been beheaded. John is writing this letter to us from an island where he's been exiled. And every single day you are facing pressure to bow down and worship the Roman emperor, and if you don't, you may lose your job, you may lose your family or you may lose your life, and all signs are pointing to the fact that things are not getting better. They're only getting worse. Those are the shoes that we must stand in when we open up this book week by week over the coming days. It's not that Revelation doesn't speak to us and our shoes, but we can't understand what God is saying to us in this text until we first understand what God was saying to them. So we've got to look at each text within a specific historical context and then in the overall biblical context. This book is the climax of the New Testament. Then it contains, already mentioned, over 400 different references and allusions to the Old Testament. So wherever we encounter obscure, difficult passages in Revelation, we've got a whole Bible that's ready to help us understand those passages. This is another good principle for studying the Bible Always move from the clear to the obscure, not the other way around, from the clear to the difficult, meaning you start with what you know in Scripture, what's abundantly clear in God's Word, and then you move to what you don't know, what's more difficult to understand in God's Word. If you start with what's more difficult, what's more obscure, then what you end up doing oftentimes is twisting what is clear, what is absolutely short. You start twisting in order to make it fit something that you're not really sure about over here. So here's the deal. My goal is not to say tonight, all right, so here's the interpretation we're going with and here's the millennial view that I'm behind. No, my goal is for us, week by week, to walk through this Word in its specific historical context, an overall biblical context, and, as we do, ask the question, what seems to be the clear, plain, straight meaning of this passage. And when we do this, I've got a feeling that we're going to realize that the point of this book is not to lead us to one of these position's points of view. Anyway, one significant reminder this book was not written to create confusion for the Christian cause, division in the church or promote speculation about the coming of Christ. Now, that might catch some of you off guard, but let me say it again Revelation was not written to create confusion for the Christian. Chapter one, verse four. This book was written to bring grace and peace to us. It was also not written to cause division in the church. We've talked about that. And then revelation was not written to promote speculation about the coming of Christ. Now, that's what many people think the purpose of this book is. The purpose of revelation is to drive us to charts. We can map out the end of the world, speculating and debating about how this or that is going to take place. That is not the purpose of this book. In fact, I would go so far as even say I don't believe the purpose of revelation is primarily to address the future. In the first place. Does it speak about the future coming of Christ at the end of the world? Yes, but that's not the primary purpose this book was written. So why was it written then? This book was written to give unshakable hope to suffering Christians in the present. John is writing. God is revealing truth to the hearts of brothers and sisters who are suffering in the first century and the world seems to be falling apart all around them. The church is under attack, christians are losing their lives and they're wondering what is going on. Does God see our tears? Does he hear our prayers. Why are our enemies prospering while we are suffering? And God gives John a vision for the church to make it clear Church things are not what they seem. You may think that things are out of control as you see this beast come up out of the abyss to make a war with you and persecute you and kill you and leave you for dead in the streets. But take heart. Christ has conquered death and Christ has conquered hell and Christ has conquered Satan. Christ is in control and he does see your tears and he does hear your prayers and he will raise you up to reign with him forever and ever and ever. John writes this book to give unshakable hope to suffering Christians, and this is where I want you to begin to feel the wonder of this book in your life. You and I may not be experiencing persecution today like the first people who heard these words, but we are all familiar with suffering in various ways. Studying this text this week, while I was sitting in the waiting room of a hospital where our global disciple Megan Pastor Jonathan had been rushed to the emergency room because of a seizure After a journey, he swalked over the last year and a half through brain tumor and surgery and serious infection To have a seizure and get rushed to the hospital, thankfully found out it was not more serious than it was. His CT scan was clear. The doctor said it was a breakthrough Seizure, no seeming long-term effects. Jonathan was back on his feet the next day or two. We didn't know that in the emergency room that day. So I'm sitting by a bedside with tears and we're praying God, why? Why does this continue? Things were going so well. Why are we back at this point? Is this ever going to end this? On top of two of our staff members whose dads have died unexpectedly over the last couple of weeks, a brother and his sister and their families wondering how, why did this happen? And their cries are echoed in thousands of ways across this room. Why cancer in me, god? Why is my marriage struggling like it did? What is happening in a son or daughter's life? Why did I lose my job? Why did I feel so lonely In both worship gatherings today just talking with people immediately afterwards? People coming up One man coming up and telling me about his wife who is bedridden and cannot get out of bed, who is physically in pain Every moment of every day. Another wife who comes up to me and shares with me about her husband who nine months ago had an unexpected heart attack and died, leaving her with her 15, 12 and 9 year old. Another who had an accident at work, who now has amnesia every day, wakes up, thinks it's a day in February where this happened, can't remember anything, won't remember the fact that we had this conversation after the worship gathering today. Others who are walking through difficult struggles in their families. Cries are represented all across hearts and lives in this room and the book of Revelation is written to say to every single suffering Christian all across this room Christ is in control and Christ has conquered. And Christ is raining now, at this point, not just in the future. He's raining now and he hears your cries and he sees your tears and one day he will return it and he will personally wipe every tear from your eyes and all your pain and all your hurt will be gone If the old will be gone and the new will come. Let the book of Revelation over the coming weeks give you unshakable hope In the middle of suffering. If you're walking through great times right now, let the book of Revelation just store away in your heart Unshakable hope for whatever lies around the corner. This book was written to give unshakable hope to suffering Christians and then, at the same time, so keep going here to encourage unwavering holiness and seductive culture. These first century Christians were tempted to turn away from Christ. In the middle of all these things, they were tempted to compromise in order to save their jobs and their families and their lives, and there were even teachers in the church who were saying they should compromise. Then, in addition to the threat of persecution, there was the lure of pleasure in the Roman Empire. There was sex and success and money and materialism. Some of these supposed Christians were falling away, giving themselves over to the seductive power of worldly pleasures, and so God, through John, caused them to holiness. Ten different times in Revelation Ten a number of completion we see the people of God urged to keep the commands of God. It's interesting. When you get to the end of this book, you'd expect, if it's just about the future and the end of the world, you'd expect that the end with a vision of heaven. Close the book, that's it. But that's not how this book ends. This book doesn't end with a vision of heaven. Yes, we've got a picture of New Heavens and New Earth. Revelation, chapter 21, and the first part of Revelation, chapter 22. But the last part of this book, out of the last 15 verses, eight of those verses are calling God's people to obey, to stay faithful. There are repeated exhortations to holiness. That's why, instead of the very beginning, blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in this book, who keep it, who obey it. Revelation as a whole is filled with promises of blessing for the faithful who walk in the Word. Seven blessings, picture of perfect blessing. The first one's here in verse 3. Blessed is the one who reads, blessed is the one who's here. Follow this, keep what is written in it. Do you see this? The purpose of this book is not to promote speculation about the end of the world. The purpose of this book is to call people to obey Jesus today. That's the point. So put the charts away, brothers and sisters. Don't look at the charts. Look at your life. Are you following Jesus? Are you walking faithfully with Jesus? Are you slipping, giving in to the ways of this world? Revelation is filled with promises of blessing for the faithful and it's filled with warnings of judgment for those who are falling away. This book gives us some of the most frightening, most terrifying pictures of the wrath of God in all of Scripture. And you know what's most scary about that? This book was written for the church. The clear message of Revelation is that there were men and women in the churches of Asia Minor who claimed to be Christians for were wandering from Christ and denying Christ and compromising with Christ and running after the world. And so God gives them visions of wrath to warn them, to choke them awake and warn them of impending judgment. This book is a serious, somber warning to false Christians who were faking it in the church, but by their falling away, god is calling them to repent and turn from their sins. So, church, let this book be a wake up call to all of us. Sin is not to be toyed or trifled with. Disobedience to God is damning. Turn from sin, run from the ways of this world, for Christ is coming back to bring blessing on the faithful and judgment on those who have fallen away. That's the point of the book. You can explain every single phrase here. You can identify every single allusion to the Old Testament. You can trace every single connection in Revelation to the rest of the Bible. You can uncover every single mystery that is here. Yet if you are still lured by money and possessions and sex and success and safety and security and the comforts of this world, then you will miss the entire point of the book. You'll miss the whole thing. Long these lines, revelation was written to refute deception in the church as we will see if we're false teachers who were leading the church astray, and Revelation addresses them and warns Christians the danger that these teachers pose to the church. And then Revelation was written to fuel mission among the nations. There is a decided emphasis all throughout this book on the glory of God in Christ being exalted not just among the people of Israel, but among all nations, tribes and tongues on the earth. This book is about a Savior who has purchased people for God from every people group on the planet. And God is strengthening his church, not just so that they can survive amidst persecution, but so that they can thrive in mission. After all, you don't get persecuted if you don't proclaim the gospel. It's only as they proclaim Christ that they were persecuted as Christians, and this book was written to give them boldness and their proclamation of the gospel to all peoples, even at the cost in their lives. So again, put away the trance. Put the speculation aside and let the book of Revelation compel you to share the gospel with your neighbor or coworker or other people on the other side of the planet. That's the point of the book. Now, how is all of that accomplished? So how does this book give hope, like this, and encourage holiness like this? How does this book refute deception and fuel mission? In two primary ways, and this is where we'll close quickly. One through a grand portrait of God's greatness. This is how those four purposes are accomplished. One through a grand portrait of God's greatness, chapter one, verse four grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. Chapter eight only one of two times in the entire book where we see God speaking directly. He says I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come. The Almighty, oh yes, behold your God. He is sovereign over all history. Oh, I love this. John's opening greeting to the church, and versus four through eight is bookended by a declaration of God's eternal sovereignty Verse four, verse eight. And notice how it doesn't go chronologically. We would expect it to go. We would expect it to say God, who was and is and is to come. So we would think, but instead it's God who is and was and is to come. So don't miss it. The emphasis in the book of Revelation, from the very beginning, is on the present Suffering Christian. God is. God is with you now, not just in the future, the one who has existed forever in the past and the one who will come to rescue you in the future. He is with you now and he's in control over the now. He's sovereign over it all. He's the Alpha and the Omega. First letter of the Greek alphabet, last letter of the Greek alphabet, god, saying I control the beginning, I control the end and I control everything in between. He's sovereign over all history and he is supreme above all things. He is the almighty. Oh, mark this down from the start of this study. We're about to read stories about the cosmic battle between God and Satan and good and evil. But this is not some dualistic battle between two equal but opposing forces, brothers and sisters. This is not dualism, this is domination. It's not Star Wars, good and evil. How's it going to turn out? We know how it's going to turn out, because God is almighty. He has all power over all forces of evil. So see it. Do you see how this grand portrait of God's greatness gives hope? Suffering Christians in the middle of challenges? Suffering Christian and this room? How do you know that one day you're hurt will turn to happiness? How do you know that one day your pain will turn to joy? How do you know that death is not the end? One brother was weeping on my shoulder this morning over his mom passing away recently. How do you know that's not it? How do you know death is not the end? Here's how you know, because God is the almighty and he has power over death. He has power over sin, he has power over evil. The one who is and was and is to come is in control. Second way Revelation encompasses purposes. We mentioned is through glorious pictures of God's gospel. Oh, it just gets better. So in verses four through eight you've got bookends portraying God's greatness and then, sandwiched in between, you've got the gospel, which I want to propose tonight is the primary theme of the whole book. After all, it is the primary theme of every other Bible book. It is the theme of the Bible. So why would we not expect the gospel to be the center of Revelation? One commentator, michael Wilcox, said Now John was again to receive a genuine message from God which in due course would be read aloud in church meetings. Like other inspired scripture, it would in a sense be nothing new, simply a recapitulation of the Christian faith he possessed already. But it would be the last time that God would repeat patterns of truth, and he would do so with devastating power and in unforgettable splendor. This is the theme of Revelation, verse five Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth, to him, who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priest to his God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That's what I want to show you in the book of Revelation over the coming weeks. I don't want to show you charts and speculations and opinions and ideas and current events. I want to show you Christ. Another great commentator, revelation, dennis Johnson, said we need to see Jesus to meet his blazing eyes of heart, searching holiness, to wake up to the trumpet blast of his voice, to respond to his jealous demand for exclusive and passionate loyalty, shocked and sensible by the impact of his splendor, we need them to hear his words of compassionate comfort, quelling our fears and quaking our hopes. Every congregation, whatever its struggle at its post on the battlefront, needs to fix its eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. So, church the book of Revelation back inside to look first, not to the future, but to the past. Revelation is not just about future, not just about a coming kingdom. It's about the king who has already come. Look to the past. John tells us from the start Jesus is the conquering savior who redeems the faithful witness, who persevered all the way to the cross and he died. The sovereign lamb of God was slaughtered for our sins and then he rose from the grave, the firstborn of the dead. He is resurrected. He is the conquering savior and looked like defeat, but it was victory. Look to the past, oh, especially if some of you have come in here tonight and you're not a follower of Christ, coming for a variety of reasons. Maybe tonight just come along with a friend or this or that and you feel like you've walked in on the apocalypse in this room. What is all this talk about? This and that, amidst all the stuff, more than anything else, just hear this. You and we have sin in our hearts that separates us from God, who is holy. He's holy and he's perfect, and we, in our hearts, are rebelled against him and we are separated from him as a result of our sin forever. But God has sent his son to pay the price for your sin, to experience the separation that you are due to die for your sin. He has died on a cross and then he has risen from the grave in victory over sin and death, so that everyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be reconciled to God forever, to enjoy him. Forever and ever and ever. So I invite you tonight to look to the past to see what Christ has done on behalf of sinners and cry out for him to save you, non-christian and Christian. Look to the past. This is the central moment in all of history. It's the cross. It's not something that's yet to happen in the future. The cross is the center of it all. It's the cross that makes hope possible for suffering Christians right. It's the cross that makes holiness possible in a seductive culture. The cross is the center of it all. Look to the past and then look to the present. Jesus is the cosmic Lord who rules, conquering Savior who redeems, and the cosmic Lord who rules Verse 5 is the ruler of kings on earth. Get this, mark this down. Don't forget this. The message of revelation is not that Christ is coming to rule one day. The message of revelation is the Christ rules. Today, this century, christians experience persecution, experiencing persecution under the Roman emperor. Remember this Jesus holds that emperor in the palm of his hand. He has Matthew 28, 18. At this moment, jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. It's been given to him. He rules today. He holds the kings of the earth today in the palm of his hand. Jesus is ruling the world right now for the good of his church and the glory of his name. Unshakable hope in that reality, not just something that's happened in the future, in the past, in the present. And then, yes, okay then, in light of Christ's redemption in the past, his rule in the present, then look to the future. He is the coming king who will reign forever, absolutely. Now, don't miss it. Jesus is not coming to do some new work or some different work. He's coming to complete. He's coming to consummate the work that he's already begun in the past and the work he's doing in the present. So see Christ, look to the past. See Him as the conquering Savior. Look to the present. He's the cosmic ruler. Look to the future. He's the coming king. See Christ, see Him and feel His affection for you. So what does John say? He loves us. He loves us Present tense, suffering Christian in the first century. He loves you, suffering Christian in the 21st century in this room. Jesus, the conquering Savior, cosmic ruler, coming king, loves you. Let that just soak in right where you're sitting, not just the person beside you, in front of you, behind you. He loves you. Are you hurting? He loves you. Are you in pain? He loves you. Are you confused or worried? Are you tired or weak? He loves you and just feel His affection for you in the present, this moment. That experiences liberation of you. He has freed us from our sins, not just forgiven us, but freed us. Jesus has set us free from sin. Live in that Experience that, by His grace, Leave sin behind, you're free. You're free. You don't have to run after all the stuff in the Roman Empire or in materialistic American culture. You don't have to run after all the things that this world promises you as pleasure. You're free from that. You're free to enjoy God in Christ. Live in that. Experience His liberation of you, feel His affection for you. Experience His liberation of you. It just keeps getting better. Realize your position in Him. He has made us a kingdom. Now what does that mean? It made us a kingdom One sense, obviously. We know that Jesus is our king. We are His people. But that's not all that this picture is showing us here. Revelation 5.10 uses this same phrase. We'll see it in a few weeks. Here John writes that we have been made a kingdom and priests to our God, and then he says and we shall reign on the earth. This will flat out blow you away, church. We are not just people under His rule, we are participants in His reign. We have been raised up with Jesus resurrected, with Jesus visioned to seated in the heavenlies, with Jesus exercising rule, with Jesus advancing a kingdom, with Jesus a kingdom and priests to His God and Father. We have access to God through Christ. What Old Testament saints longed for, what only a few select priests had imperfect experiences of. You and I have the privilege of experience on a moment by moment, day by day basis Access to God. But get this. We not only have access to God, we're now ambassadors of God. As priests, we serve God. We represent God to the ends of the earth, proclaiming Him to the peoples of the world. Help realize your position in Him, feel His affection for you, experience His liberation of you. In line of all that, give your adoration to Him. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The revelation of Christ leads to the worship of Christ. Revelation needs to adoration and exaltation. So, at significant points, all throughout the book of Revelation, we're going to hear and see myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands of angels and heavenly hosts Seeing the praise of God. We're going to see multitudes of men and women for every people group on the planet joining with countless creatures all over the world, giving glory to God. So, church, as a result of studying this book, let's join all the more in that heavenly chorus. May this book lead us to sing louder in the days ahead and lift our hands higher. May hearts of praise be set on fire by this study. Then, then, in line of all this, live with anticipation of Him. Verse 7, behold, he's coming with the cloud, and every eye will see Him, even though he appears to Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail in account of Him. Even so Amen. I wish we had time to study the Old Testament allusions here. We don't, so just write down these two verses Daniel 7, verse 13,. Daniel 7 13, and Zechariah 12 10. Daniel 7 13 and Zechariah 12 10. Daniel 7 13 prophesies the coming of the Son of man and the clouds of heaven, with glory and honor and dominion over all tribes and tongues and peoples. And then Zechariah 12, verse 10 prophesies a people who are mourning, who are wailing in sorrow over their sin in light of one that they have pierced. So here in Revelation, what we see is vision of all the tribes of the earth mourning or wailing in sorrow over their sin in light of the Savior they have pierced. So obviously we are not all physically present at the cross of Christ. We did not pierce His side with a physical spear. The picture here is men and women from every tribe on the earth, men and women just like you and me, who realize that they are our sin, led our Savior to His cross and that reality brings us to our knees in humility, to use the language of this text humbly wail over your sin, christian, christian. Weep over remaining sin in your life. Weep over continuing disobedience in your life. Do not be satisfied with sin, do not be casual with compromise in your life, non-christian. Let tonight, let tonight be the moment where, for the first time, you express sorrow over sin before God and receive the love over of your Savior in Christ. And then, by His grace, let's rise. Let's rise by His grace and let's live for His glory, and, as we do, let's patiently wait for His return. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit radicalnet.