Revelation 4-5 'God is control of history'

The writer, G. K. Chesterton, once wrote that it is better to live in the valley than on the mountain top.  On the mountain top we look down and everything seems small, but in the valley, we look up and we feel small.  Studying Revelation makes us feel small as we see the magnificence of our eternal God.  It gives us the right perspective to live by!

The readers of Revelation, in the Roman province of Asia Minor, and John, who receives this revelation, need to see the mountain of God.  They were being put under pressure by the Emperor Domition, who was a cruel man who burned Christians at the stake, threw them to lions and tied them between two wild horses so that they would be torn in two. 

So, God gives John a glimpse behind the scenes.  Things are not as they seem.  Whatever your current situation, remember that there is an unseen reality.  It may not seem like it, but God is on the throne.

What an invitation John receives!  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven!  And the first voice, which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this”’ (4:1).  John is being invited to take a look at the command centre of all history.  Do you want a look?

It is not the Caesar who reigns, our God reigns (4)

John sees one seated on a throne.  The idea of the throne is at the centre of this chapter (mentioned fourteen times) and of the whole book of Revelation (mentioned forty-six times).  Our God reigns. 

But who is this God who controls history? 

He is beautiful—he had the appearance of jasper and ruby (3a).  God has a beauty that glows.  It glows out of his character.  It is inner beauty. 

He is merciful—around his throne is a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald (3b).  The rainbow is a reminder of the promise God made to humankind after the Genesis flood.  Even though people were wicked, God promised that he would not send another flood to wipe them out.  There is a lot in the book of revelation about judgement, but we don’t understand the nature of our God if we don’t see that he longs to show people mercy. 

He is gracious—there are twenty-four elders surrounding the throne, they are sitting on thrones, dressed in white and have crowns on their heads (4).  These twenty-four elders probably represent all of God’s people.  The number twenty-four is thought to be made from the twelve tribes of the Old Testament and the Twelve apostles of the new.  They are washed in white because their sins have been cleansed.  The only people that God accepts as his people are sinful people, but he does not leave us in our sin.  He washes us in the blood of the lamb (Revelation 7:14).  They have crowns on their heads, because although in our natural state we can do nothing to please God, in grace God gives us a new heart to live for him and he sees every little thing we do for him and he stores up heavenly reward.  We have thrones in heaven for in some way that goes beyond my understanding, we will reign with him (Revelation 20:6).

He is just—from the throne comes thunder and lightening (5).  If God did not judge wickedness, he would not be a good God.  If he looked at human wickedness and was not angered, he would neither be holy nor loving.  He would simply be indifferent.  He would look at the wrong done against you and simply shrug his shoulders and say, ‘so what’.  In our hearts we know that we want a God of justice.  Who of us, as a child didn’t scream, ‘it’s not fair!’?  We are wired for justice to be done.  We are rightly angry when judges pass down sentences that are overly lenient.  The only problem with our thirst for justice to be done, is that it causes us to confront the wickedness that we see in our own heart.  We will see the answer to that in the next chapter.

He is perfect—there are these four creatures around the throne.  Each has a different face, and each face speaks of a different characteristic of God.  The face of a lion speaks of royalty—our God is the King of all kings.  The face of the Ox speaks of strength—and this mighty God has done battle to rescue us from the slavery of sin.  The face of man speaks of wisdom—his great wisdom being shown through the cross of Christ.  The face of the eagle shows his ability to react swiftly. 

The four living creatures cry out day and night, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come’ (8).  The twenty-four elders lay their crowns before his throne and say: ‘You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created, and have their being’ (11).

They cast their crowns before them.  Who are we to think anything of ourselves when we think of the God of the universe?  By his will you were created and have their being—who are people to say that God is irrelevant, he is the one who gives us our every breath? 

I want my friends to come to Jesus because I believe that life is meaningless without him.  I want my friends to come to Jesus because I don’t want them to experience the punishment our sins deserve.  We should also want to see them come to Jesus because we long for them to praise God as they ought.          Jesus taught us to pray, ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.  In heaven people delight to praise God, we long to see that replicated on earth.

Just one more thing to notice before we move on to chapter five.  Notice that there is a sea of glass, like crystal.  When is a sea as still as glass?  When all is quite and still.  Down on earth God’s people were facing many storms, but in heaven all is calm.  Our life may be up in the air, but God is in control.  You may be hated for your faith, but God has not fallen off his throne.  You may be going through turmoil, but God can be trusted.

Caesar is not Lord, Jesus is Lord (5)

The focus of chapter five is on a lamb and a scroll with seven seals.  This scroll is a legal document.  It is full, having been written on both sides.  This is God’s will for the world written down.  In chapter six and seven, as each seal is opened and more of the scroll is read, events take place in the world.  This scroll contains God’s plan for the salvation and judgement of the world. 

But there is a problem!  There is no-one worthy to break the scrolls and open the scroll.  Does this mean God’s will for the world will not come to be?  What will happen to God’s plan of salvation and judgement?  John begins to weep.  But then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed.  He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals’ (5).

The lion of the tribe of Judah refers to a prophecy made in Genesis, when Jacob spoke over his son Judah and said, ‘the sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his’ (Genesis 49:10).  Jesus was the promised king from the tribe of Judah, like king David, but he is not only a descendant of the great king, but he is the root of David—he is the one David called Lord (Matthew 22:45).

John looks to see a lion and instead he saw a lamb.  Then I saw a lamb looking like it was slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders (6).  The title of lamb for Jesus is mentioned twenty-eight times in Revelation.  Jesus is the Passover lamb whose blood was shed to rescue his people from slavery.  He is the one of whom John said, ‘behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’  He is the suffering servant spoken of in Isaiah 53, who was led like a lamb to the slaughter.  He is the lamb spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah, who said, ‘I had been like a gentle lamb led to the laughter’ (Jeremiah 11:19).

This lamb, Jesus, is looking like it had been slain.  We are going to spend all eternity thinking of how Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross.  This is an unusual lamb—he has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth (6).  Jesus will execute God’s plan for all of history with complete knowledge (as seen through those eyes) and endowed with the Holy Spirit.

Look at the golden bowls of incense that the elders are holding.  These are the prayers of God’s people.  What an incentive to praise and pray our God.  When we cry out to him in love it produces an aroma in heaven!

The four living creatures and the twenty four elders sing: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood your purchased for God people from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You made them a kingdom of priests to serve our God and they will reign on earth’ (9-10).  I once heard a church minster complain about ‘bloody songs’, he didn’t like all those old hymns about the blood of the lamb.  But we praise the lamb who was slain.

Then the elders are surrounded by a multitude of angels that no one could count, and they are saying: ‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise’ (12).  Then John heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be praise and honour and glory and power for ever and ever!’  The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshipped!’

Before we wrap us, just one final thing to note about chapter five.  Jesus is the object of worship.  That is significant.  In the last chapter of Revelation John gets caught up in wonder at all that he has seen.  He falls down to worship the angel who was delivering this message to him.  The angel says, ‘Don’t do that!  I am a fellow servant...Worship God!’ (Revelation 22:9).  The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was not God, but the archangel Michael.  Only God is to be worshipped.  Jesus is worshipped in heaven.  Jesus is God the Son the second person of what we call the Trinity.

Conclusion

When life feels like chaos, we must place ourselves in the valley and see the mountain.  We must see that we are small, and that God is big.  We must see that the sea is calm in heaven.  The lamb has been his slain, and so God has taken care of our biggest fears around dead, sin and hell.  Jesus is on control and he has proven his trustworthiness.

That is what John needed to hear as he worked in the quarries on the island of Patmos, where he had been exiled for his faith, in his old age.  That is what the churches in Asia Minor needed to remember, as the suffered under the rue of Domition.  This is what we need to remember, no matter what we are facing.    

Love in a time of Corona

In Café church we are working our way through the book of Revelation.  It made me uncomfortable a couple of weeks ago to be studying chapter six.  Here we read that Jesus is in charge of history, and part of God’s plan of judgement and mercy on this world is that he releases pestilence upon the earth.  Could God really be responsible for the Coronavirus?  How does that square with his love?  How are we to show his love in a time of Coronavirus?

The book of Revelation was given to the apostle John at the end of the first century.  John is now an old man and he is in exile on the island of Patmos.  He is probably having to work in the quarries.  Here was a man who is known as the beloved disciple and yet his circumstances would put into question if Jesus really did love him.

Through this revelation Jesus gives messages to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (now in Turkey).  They are living at a time when the Emperor Domitian is venting his hatred against Christians.  They know what it is to be persecuted.  Their circumstances would put into question if Jesus really loved them.

John is invited into the throne room of heaven.  There he sees the throne of God and the lamb who was slain.  Remembering that Jesus is the lamb who was slain should dispel any fears that God does not love us.  In an earlier letter John had stated, ‘this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid done his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our life for our brothers and sisters’ (1 John 3:16).

In the control room of heaven John sees a scroll.  This scroll contains God’s plan of blessing and judgement for the world.  The scroll is sealed with seven seals, and only Jesus is worthy to open the seals.  As each seal is opened history comes into being.  But don’t think of these seals being opened at some distant time in the future.  The things that are spoken of as the first four seals are opened focus on what takes place now and until Jesus returns.

The first four seals focus on what have been referred to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  What you find with these four horsemen is military destruction, civil disorder, bloodshed, social breakdown and death.  This is not a pretty picture.

The first horse is white, and its rider has a bow, a crown was given to him, and he comes out conquering and to conquer.  White signifies a spirit of conquest.  The bow was a symbol for military power.  John’s first readers would have seen the might of the Roman empire as it dominated their world.  There have been many empires bent on dominating other peoples since.

The second horse is red.  It is the colour of blood.  Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and make men slay one another.  To him was given a large sword.  While the white horse represents invasion from without, this second horse seems to focus on civil war.  Between A.D. 68 and A.D. 70 there were four different emperors on the throne.  The people of the Roman world knew all about civil unrest.   God takes his restraint off the destructive instincts of human beings and they express the hatred and violence that lurks within each of our hearts. 

The third horse is black.  Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.  This is not the scales of justice.  These are the scales of trade.  There is inflation here.  A quart of wheat was what one man would eat.  But a day’s wages would only give him enough to feed himself, not his family too.  He could have reverted to the cheap stuff, the barley, but that would only have given him enough to feed three.

The fourth horse is pale, the colour of a corpse.  Here the rider is named death and Hades follows close.  They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth (8).  Once society began to break down in those days the wild beasts began to take over.  The Coronavirus is not the first time the world has been hit by pestilence.  There have been many times of pestilence.  The Black Death of the fourteenth century wiped out a third of Europe’s population.

So, is God responsible for the Coronavirus?  There is a sense in which we have to say yes.  God is in control of history.  Jesus opened the scroll and war, violence, scarcity and pestilence were realised on earth.  These are uncomfortable words.  This is part of living in a world that is subject to both God’s judgements and blessings.  But how do we reconcile this with a God of love?

Coronavirus is God’s wake-up call

The first verse that came to my mind in thinking about this is from Lamentations.  There Jeremiah tells us that, God ‘does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone’ (Lamentations 3:33).  In other words, God releases his judgements on our world with reluctance.  He is showing us his anger against a world in rebellion against him.  He is also acting in love.  His purposes include waking people up from spiritual sleep.

All around us people try to live as if the inevitable will not happen.  They don’t like to talk about death.  They don’t like to think about it.  But all of us will die.  Times of pestilence remind us that death is very real.  There is something far worse than death itself, that is to die without Jesus.  To die without Jesus will bring you to hell.  The Coronavirus is God’s wake up call to tell us to be ready to die.

In Luke’s gospel Jesus is asked to comment on two tragedies of his day.  ‘Were the people killed in those tragedies worse than everyone else that they died in this way?’  ‘No!’ he answered, ‘but unless you too repent, you too will perish’ (Luke 13:3,5).  The people of Wuhan were not necessarily more sinful than anywhere else that they became an epicentre of this disease, but take note of what is happening, if you do not repent and turn to God you will perish in your guilt.

Coronavirus can grow our faith

God is allowing the Coronavirus to wake people up to the reality of death.  He is also allowing Coronavirus to grow his people in their faith.

Thankfully the mortality rate from the Coronavirus is relatively low.  But I cannot promise you that none of you will get it.  God’s will for his faithful people can include sickness.  The apostle Paul was directed to Galatia because of an illness (Galatians 4:13).  In the Old Testament, the great prophet Elisha, died of an illness (2 Kings 13:14).  But God’s people know that to die is to go to be with the Lord, which is better than the best life has to offer (Philippians 1:23). 

You don’t have to pretend that you are not afraid, for there is power in being real with those who are around us.  But we can bring our anxieties to the God who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).  As we pray, God can give us a peace that transcends understanding (Philippians 4:6-7).  I read one article on the Coronavirus that said, ‘remind yourself continually: it takes the same amount of energy to worry as to pray.  One leads to peace, the other to panic.  Choose wisely.’  It may be that as we face this crisis with our trust in God, our friends may ask us to give a reason for the hope that we have within us (1 Peter 3:15).

The Coronavirus may yet give us the opportunity to show God’s love in action.  In the ancient societies of the first century, religions were not known for their care of the sick and dying.  Christians who risked their lives for their neighbours offered a radically different lifestyle than anything that was known at the time.  In ancient Rome, it was common to abandon the sick and the dying.  In Rome, sick and elderly slaves were routinely left to waste away on Tiber Island.  If a father decided that the family could not afford to feed another child, that child was left in a public place on its own.  Defective new-borns were cast aside.  We often forget how Christianity has changed the world!

As we go through this crisis we are to demonstrate God’s love to a panicking world, as we pray for a cure, as we co-operate in taking precautions, as we ask God to wake people up to the shortness of their lives and as we seek the opportunity to tell people of how Jesus experienced death on a cross for our guilt so that we could know his acceptance and forgiveness and one day go to a place where there will be no more crying, sorrow, death or pain (Revelation 21:4).

Conclusion

Things are not out of control.  God is on his throne.  His people are safe in his care, even though they could die of this virus.  In the next chapter of Revelation, we see God sealing his people—as they live in a world subject to God’s blessings and judgements nothing can separate us from his love.  Even death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55)!

The book of Revelation ends with an invitation: ‘The Spirit and the bride [which is the church] say ‘Come!’  And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’  Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life’ (Revelation 22:17).  May God even use these difficult events to gather many people into his kingdom at this time!

‘Revelation 1 ‘Things are not as they seem’

Our society doesn’t pay too much attention to the church.  The church is seen as being on the decline and outdated.  In this city only a small percentage of people will have been at a Bible-believing church on any given Sunday.  I am not sure that our society even wants us to be here.  On Shannon bridge there are Munster rugby flags hanging or Limerick hurling flags and Rainbow flags, but no one would suggest putting up flags to celebrate that there are evangelical Christians living in this city.  To be an evangelical is to be accused of being homophobic, superstitious, narrow-minded and irrelevant.

Our situation is a little like that to whom the book of Revelation was originally addressed to.  They were small groups of people in the mighty Roman empire.  Seven churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (which is now in modern Turkey).  They were considered despicable and irrelevant.  They were persecuted by the mighty Roman emperor, Domition.  How can they claim to be on the right side of history?

It has always been God’s way to choose that which the world sees an irrelevant.  In the Old Testament God did not make a covenant with the superpowers like the Assyrians, Babylonians or Greeks.  He made his covenant with the Hebrews.  Nobodies!  The apostle Paul tells us that God chooses the things that are not to shame the things that are.  Not many of us are noble and wise.

Revelation tells us that when we are tempted to see the church as the world sees the church, we are seeing things from the wrong perspective.  Things are not as they seem!  It is not any Caesar who rules the world, it is God who sits on the throne.  We are his beloved people.  So, don’t give up hope.

Just one thing, before we begin to study revelation.  This letter was written in the last decade of the first century about events that would soon take place.  We can read this book as being fulfilled at that time in the Roman world.  We can also see things here that are related to the time in the future when Jesus returns.  But the book of Revelation is not only about the past and future, it is about today.  The realities and patterns that happen in Revelation or our realities.  Similarly, while this letter is addressed to seven churches in particular cities, it should be noted that the number seven is the number of completeness.  These seven churches are representative of all churches at all times.

1.     

 The God of history loves you (4-8).

Revelation opens with the words ‘Grace and Peace.’  This is not unusual.  The apostles Paul and Peter open their letters with the same greeting.  Grace is God’s undeserved and unmerited favour.  Peace is really about peace with God—we were his enemies, but he has made peace with us through the cross.  Grace and peace come ‘through him who loved us and has freed us from our sins by his blood’ (5). 

What comfort to be loved by Jesus!  I heard the story of a teenage boy who is involved with an evangelical church in Spain.  His parents are divorcing.  They are having a custody battle over him.  But this custody battle is not fought in a desire to have him, but in an effort to make the other parent responsible for him.  What does he need to know more than anything else?  Nothing is more relevant to him than that Jesus loves him.

You will notice as you work your way through Revelation that there are many references to the fact that Jesus has been crucified.  I once read a blog by a minister who claimed that ‘the death of Jesus is not the crux of the Christian faith.’  That is utter rubbish.  If the death and resurrection are not at the centre of your faith, then your faith is not the Christian faith!

The Jehovah’s witnesses deny the divinity of Jesus.  In fact, they say that Jesus was the archangel Michael.  But the book of Revelation is full of evidence that Jesus is not only the Son of God, he is God the Son.  We see this through the use of titles that apply to both Jesus and God the Father.

In this chapter we read that God is the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  In chapter twenty-two we read that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega (22:13).  Here we read that Jesus is the first and the last (17) and in the book of Isaiah (44:6) God is the first and the last.  The carpenter who hung doors on frames also hung the stars in space.  The man who had nowhere to lay his head fills the whole universe.  Domition may be the Caesar but it is Christ who rules over history.

2.     

Jesus is in control (9-20)

John was one of the twelve disciples, who was known as the beloved disciple.  But where is the evidence of God’s love for him now?  He is now an old man and he has been exiled for his faith to the island of Patmos (twenty-four square miles).  He has probably got to work in the quarries of that place.  He is their companion in suffering.  The normal Christian life involves taking up or cross.  When Jesus tells someone to follow him, he is inviting us to die.  He faces his hardships with patient endurance.  As one commentator puts it, ‘an active manly endurance rather than negative resignation.’

It is on the Lord’s Day (the first day of the week) and John was in the Spirit.  He heard behind him a voice and when he looked, he saw seven golden lampstands.  We will be told that these lampstands are the churches (20).  Our calling is to bear the light of truth and grace in a world that is dark and hostile.

Among the lampstands there was someone like the son of man.  Son of man is the way that Jesus describes himself most often in the four gospels.  It is a term that goes back to the book of Daniel: ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. 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 worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (7:13-14).        

John writes that his hair was as white as snow.  Again, he is giving Jesus as divine description.  In Daniel we read of the Ancient of Days (who is God) as having ‘hair white like wool, white as snow’ (Daniel 7:9).  His voice was like the sound of rushing waters (15)—Ezekiel speaks of God’s voice being like the roar of rushing waters (Ezekiel 43:2).

‘In his right hand are seven stars’ (16a).  Again, we are told that the seven stars are the angels of the churches (20).  There is a lot of debate about who these angels are.  I think they may actually be representative of the churches.  In a hostile world Jesus holds the church in his right hand.

On having Jesus unveiled before him, John falls to the ground.  Yet Jesus places his hand on him and says, ‘Don’t be afraid!’  Many people find the book of Revelation as scary book.  I want you to remember the love of Christ as you read it.  There may be judgement here, but there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!  As you read this book, ‘Don’t be afraid!’

Conclusion:

There are very few Bible believing Christians in this city of one hundred thousand people.  We may seem irrelevant and even be unwelcome.  It was the same way for the churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor at the end of the first century.  As we suffer hostility for our faith, we might be tempted to think that God has abandoned us.  Surely John could have felt the same way.  But Jesus loves us.  His death has proved it.  And if you are tempted to wonder if he is in control, remember this: the mighty Roman empire has long since fallen but the church remains.  Despite what people may say, we are on the right side of history! 

Revelation and the church

The word translated 'church' in the New Testament means 'an assembly' .  Church is people rather than place.  Church is community not buildings.  The New Testament never speaks of the house of God but does speak of the household of God.  Look around at the Christians gathered here this morning and you see church.  Look around at the walls and roof of this place and you see the rain-shelter in which the church meets.

This morning we are looking at the church in Revelation.  The first thing that we see is that the church consists of people who are loved by Christ (1:5).  Yet in the world not everyone shares Christ's passion for his people.  The book of Revelation speaks of satanically-inspired enemies of the church. The church will be persecuted in the world.  But we do not lose hope because we are journeying through this world to a wonderful home.

1.  The church needs to listen to Jesus (1:9-3:22)

In 1997 I went on a holiday with my parents.  We visited the sites of the towns mentioned in the first three chapters of this book.  They were in the Roman province of Asia which is now in modern Turkey.  Ephesus and Pergamum are still amongst the most amazing places I have ever been to.

While the church is made up of every Christian it consists of local groups of believers meeting together.  Jesus addresses seven of these local churches.  It is worth noting that the number seven is symbolic of completeness and that there were at least ten churches in Asia at that time.  Therefore it is safe to say that these churches are chosen representatives and that these words are for every church at every time.

When we read these letters to the churches we should ask:  Are we like the church at Ephesus, with its sound theology but lack of love?  Are we like the church at Thyatira, which was hard working but tolerant of immorality and compromise?  Are we aiming to be like the church at Philadelphia, who kept Christ's word and would not deny his name?  Are we wanting to be like the church at Smyrna, which was materially poor and spiritually rich (unlike Laodicea, which was materially rich and yet spiritually poor)?

While these letters to the churches call for community repentance notice that they finish on a note of individual repentance (3:20).  'If anyone hears by voice ...'  The church is not made more beautiful by members pointing to the faults of others.  A critical spirit never made the bride of Christ more lovely.  Revival of the church begins with individual Christians repenting, opening themselves up to more of the influence of Christ, and inspiring others to do likewise.

2.  The church is persecuted in the world (4:1-20:15)

I believe the book of Revelation has a message for every generation of the church.  While the beast-like powers, of chapters thirteen and fourteen, may have a particular fulfilment in the period immediately preceding Christ's return they have their equivalents throughout the ages.  The first hearers of Revelation would have had no trouble relating these figures to the government of the Roman emperor Domitian as he presented himself as being divine and persecuted those who would not worship him.

The beast from the sea represents religious or political ideologies that oppose the gospel.  This beast delights to see us keep our mouth shut about Jesus.  This beast would have us deny that Jesus is the only way to God.  This beast would have us water-down a gospel that proclaims the desperate need all people have to be forgiven and restored to God.

The beast from the land represents political regimes and economic structures that persecute the church.  This beast delights when he sees us compromise for financial gain.  This beast would enjoy seeing Christians distort their tax returns and work outside the tax system.  This beast would approve of unethical business practices and the black market.

Ultimately the beast from the land and the beast from the sea want our total allegiance.  They will stop at nothing to get their way.  The powers that be will kill to get their way.

Why does God allow the church to suffer in this world?  He allows the church suffer in this world because as the church stands firm she is being refined and made beautiful.  In this world the church is a bride being prepared for her wedding day.

Will we survive all the tribulations we face in this world?  Christians may die but they will remain faithful.  Tribulation, persecution, danger and sword can not separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8).  Christ has sealed those who are his (7:4).  God will keep us firm to the end.  Those who love Christ will face the allure of materialism, the pressure to compromise, the temptations of affluence, and the danger of spiritual complacency.  But we will show that we are his as he gives us the power to overcome.

3.  The church is on a pilgrimage to a land of love (Chapters 21-22)

While the church faces pressures in this world she looks with anticipation to what is to come.  The final chapters of Revelation show us Christ's people gathered together in a world of love.  In the 1700s, referring to the closing chapters in Revelation, Jonathan Edwards wrote: “The glorious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens [the sky] in a clear day, fills the world with light.” (Rev. 21:23).  “All the saints in heaven love God for his own sake, and each other for God’s sake, and for the sake of the relation that they have to him, and the image of God that is upon them.”

While pride and selfishness hinder our love for God and his people in this world in the New Heaven and New Earth all such barriers to love will have been torn down.  Even now the love we experience for God and his people gives us a taste of what is to come.  “That which was in the heart on earth as but a grain of mustard-seed, shall be as a great tree in heaven.  The soul that in this world had only a little spark of divine love in it, in heaven shall be, as it were, turned into a bright and ardent flame, like the sun in its fullest brightness, when it has no spot upon it.”

“And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this!  Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory — joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its perfection!  Love is always a sweet principle; and especially divine love.  This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness; but in heaven it shall become a stream, a river, an ocean!"

Conclusion

I remember listening to a speaker who asked what our favourite picture of the church was.  I think I said mine was the bride of Christ.  In Revelation we see that the church is a people loved by Jesus.  He allows us suffer in this world but gives us the grace to endure.  In this world the church is being prepared as a bride for her wedding day.  The pressures we face purify and refine us.  Like every bride we look forward to the wedding.  For we are on our way to a world of love.  We are going to join Christ forever.  The book of Revelation finishes with a reminder of our evangelistic task.  We see the bride of Christ issue an invitation to all.  'The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price' (22:17).

The Gospel and Revelation

I am sure that you have all heard about twitter.  Twitter is a social media site where you post your opinions in one hundred and forty characters or less.  A number of years ago a controversial Christian leader decided that he would post his understanding of the gospel in a tweet.  He wrote: "The gospel is the counterintuitive, joyous, exuberant news that Jesus has brought the unending, limitless, stunning love of God to even us".  I don't see anything wrong with that except for the fact that it uses big words and lacks content.

A better tweet came from a friend of mine who wrote: "The gospel is the news that God, in great love and at great cost, has provided the effective means of rescue for a world that is doomed" (David Blevins).  I like another tweet of the gospel which points out that "our sin is so serious that nothing but the death of God's own Son could deal with it; which is what God has done for us" (adapted from Randy Newman).

How would you tweet the gospel?  You might look to the book of Revelation for help.  For Revelation is a gospel book.  We are going to look at the gospel in Revelation and then try to write a tweet about what we have learned.

'Tell me the old, old story'

'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'  Humankind has a special place in this creation, we are uniquely made in the image of God.  God put the first two humans in the Garden of Eden and lived in relationship with them.  So we can speak of God's people, in God's place enjoying God's blessing.  But this human pair rebelled against God.  Now sin separates us from God, we no longer live Eden, our world is under God's curse and we are subject to death.

However God set about restoring what humankind lost.  He made a promise to a man he would call Abraham.  This promise spoke of a new people, who would live in a new place and experience God's blessing.  Indeed he promised that through Abraham's seed all the nations of the world would be blessed.  The whole of the Old Testament is the outworking of this promise.  We see a chosen people, trying to live in a promised land and enjoy relationship with God.

Like Adam and Eve that Old Testament people continued to sin.  Like Adam and Eve they were kicked out of he promised land.  Yet God was not finished with his promises.  At just the right time he sends Jesus who gathers a new people and brings them into a new creation.  We see the fulfilment of this in the book of Revelation.  Here we read of a new heaven and new earth and see God's people, in God's place, enjoying God's blessing.

We hear echoes of Genesis in the book of Revelation.  The heavens and the earth become a new heaven and a new earth.  The tree of life is there (22:2).  We see that God has undone the curse that followed the fall, there is no longer a curse (22:3).  While death followed the initial rebellion in Revelation we read 'blessed or those ho die in The Lord (14:13).  God had promised he would bless the whole world through Abraham's seed; in Revelation we see a multitude gathered from every tribe and tongue (7:9).

The first part of our tweet: 'God restores what humanity lost.'

'Nothing but the blood of Jesus'

I once read a blog post where the blogger was giving out about all those hymns that are obsessed with the blood of Jesus.  But the blood of Jesus is essential to the gospel.  

The first announcement of the gospel comes immediately after the fall.  In cursing the serpent, which Revelation tells us is the devil, God says 'And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel' (Genesis 3:15).  A descendent of the woman will be bitten by the devil and yet will finish the devil off.  Just like the whole of the Old Testament is a working out of the promises to Abraham it is also a great search for this serpent-crusher.

In Revelation we read of the strike and the crushing.  On the cross, wicked people, inspired by the devil, crucify God's beloved Son.  Yet that apparent victory signals defeat for the devil.  For Jesus is the one 'who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...' (1:5).  It is only a matter of him before the devil is thrown into the lake of burning and tormented day and night for ever and ever (20:10).

So we continue our tweet: 'God restores what humanity lost. His Son dies freeing us from guilt.'

'Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place'

We should all know that becoming a Christian is all about what God has done for us not what we do for God.  We are told that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, so no person can boast.  We see this portrayed in Revelation.  There we read about being freed from our sins by Jesus' blood (1:5b) and of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14).  But while we are not saved by good works we are saved for good works.  God's Holy Spirit dwelling within us brings inevitable change.  Our changed lives serve as proof that we have been rescued from sin.  

'And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life.  The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books' (20:12).  On one hand we will stand on the day of judgement simply because of the mercy of God.  He has put our names in the book of life and washed away all our guilt by the blood of Jesus.  On the other hand we will be saved because our lives demonstrate the transforming power of the Christ's indwelling presence.

'Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city' (22:14).  We are people who been sinful and yet we have been forgiven.  'Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood' (22:15).  It is not just notorious sinners who are left outside.  Jesus equated lust with adultery and hatred with murder.  The apostle Paul called greed idolatry.  It is is not that Christians never fail, the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7).  But if we don't take God's call to be a holy people seriously and if we refuse to let him tell us how we should live our lives then we are demonstrating that we have never been born again.

So we continue our tweet: 'God restores what humanity lost. His Son dies freeing us from guilt.  Transforming our lives in the hope of eternal joy.'

Conclusion

I would want to finish our explanation of the gospel in Revelation with an invitation.  Revelation invites us to repent.  The gospel calls us to repentance.  It tells us to turn around and place our trust in Jesus.  This book contains two of the most open and gracious invitations in the whole of the Bible.

So our tweet of the gospel according to Revelation is: 'God restores what humanity lost. His Son dies freeing us from guilt.  Transforming our lives in the hope of eternal joy. So repent and live.'

Jesus and Revelation

A. W. Tozer writes, 'I warn you that it is entirely possible to turn the Revelation into a source of blight to your soul.  On the other hand, it is possible to find in this Revelation a great source of light and blessing'.

Some people read Revelation to speculate about how it might fit together with world politics.  Often they end up feeling proud of themselves for seeing things that the rest of us are ignorant about.  Time always proves their speculations wrong.  They have read this book to the blight of their soul.

Other people read Revelation to see Jesus and to learn how to be faithful to him during times of tribulation.  For them Revelation is a great source of blessing, and God uses it to prepare them for heaven.  

Our first look at this book seeks to see something of what it says about Jesus.

Jesus: the divine and human lord (chapter one)

'The revelation (or unveiling) of Jesus Christ ...' (1:1).  Jesus is both the one who is revealing and the one who is revealed.  He is the central theme of this book.   The opening chapter gives us a resplendent picture of Christ.

Christians are called to be witnesses in the world as we imitate the one who is the faithful witness.  Christians have hope in the world because Jesus is the firstborn of the dead (we will be raised in him).  Christians have confidence in the world because he is the ruler of the kings of the earth (even though the first hearers of Revelation were subject to the emperor Domitian they needed to realise that he was subject to their Lord).  Christians have joy because Jesus is our saviour who loves us and has freed us from our sins by our blood.  Christians look forward to the end of time because Jesus is set to return.

John, who was imprisoned on the island of Patmos, hears a voice and turns to see Jesus.  In Revelation we see that Jesus is fully human and yet fully God.  

Jesus is called the Son of Man.  The Son of Man was a glorious figure in Daniel who was both a human person and a divine person.  I think that is mind blowing to think that Jesus is still human.  He took on flesh and was born as a baby, he was raised from the dead with a glorious human body, and now he sits at the right hand of the Father.  And what are the only manmade things in heaven?  The scars of his crucifixion which are still visible to see.

The Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you that Jesus is only an archangel and not God the Son.  The Unitarians deny that Jesus is truly divine.  Revelation proves otherwise.  Look at the title given to The Lord God in verse eight: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega'.  Now turn to the title given to the Son in chapter twenty-two verse thirteen: Jesus says, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega'.  Right throughout the New Testament we see Jesus being given titles that belong only to God.

Another pointer showing that Jesus is God the Son is in the fact that he receives worship.  I find it quiet amusing that on a couple of occasions John gets overcome by what he sees and falls down to worship the angel who is explaining the vision.  John gets rebuked.  The angel says, 'You must not do that!  I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets ... Worship God!' (22:9).  Yet in the book of Revelation we clearly see Jesus being worshipped.

In chapter one we see Jesus' royalty as he is clothed in fine robes with a sash around his waist; he is the King of kings.  He is infinitely wise, as is shown in his white hair (the ancients knew that wisdom should come with age).  He has eyes like flaming fire that same see beyond any facade; thank God that the one who knows us better than anyone else nevertheless loves us better than anyone else!  He knows our sins and yet has freed us from them by his blood.  He has feet of burnished bronze that will trample upon those who continue to resist him. But his people need fear nothing because he hold the keys of death and hell.  

Jesus: the one foretold in the Old Testament (chapters four and five)

A friend of a friend gave me a book that he claimed had changed his life.  It was an exposition of chapters four and five of Revelation.  My friend's friend was right.  Seeing the splendour of God, portrayed so amazingly in these two chapters, should turn our world upside down.

We are given a picture of heavenly reality.  The focus on chapter four is on God the Father and then chapter five turns to God the Son.

The Son is called the Lamb.  Why?  Because the book of Isaiah spoke of a lamb that would be lead to the slaughter and be sacrificed for the sins of his people.  “You are worthy to take the scroll ... you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Rev. 5:9).

He is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah; in Genesis (49:8-12) Jacob had promised his son Judah that one of his descendants would be an eternal king.  A line of descendants went from Judah to king David, and king David was promised that one of his descendants would be the eternal king.  Jesus is the root of David - not only is he the Messiah coming from David's line, he is the source of David's rule.

Some people are impressed by the preacher who speculates about the book of Revelation and identifies figures in this book with political leaders.  But the teacher to be impressed with is the one who can take this book and show how it relates to the Old Testament.  For this book is filled with quotes, echoes, titles and allusions from the Old Testament.

Jesus: the conquerer (chapters six to twenty-one)

What follows from beginning of chapter six to the beginning of chapter twenty-one are a series of visions revolving around the number seven - for example there are seven seals opened, seven trumpets blown, seven bowls of wrath poured and seven woes pronounced.  I believe that these various scenes give portraits of what it is like to live in the time between Christ's first and second coming.  We live in a time characterised by famines, war, death and opposition to the truth.  Yet in all this Jesus is with us.  This portraits generally end with Jesus defeating all his enemies.

 'I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and wages war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.  “He will rule them with an iron sceptre.”  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords' (19:11-16).

Some students in a Christian college in America were having a hard time trying to figure out how to understand the book of Revelation.  They decided to take a break from their studies and have a game of basketball.  There in the corner of the hall was the elderly caretaker reading.

'What's that you're reading Joe?', one of the students asked.

'The book of Revelation,' he replied.

'Oh, you can't understand that,' the patronising student responded.

'Yes, I can,' said the caretaker, 'it's quite simple: Jesus wins!'

Jesus: the focus of eternal joy (chapters twenty to twenty-two)

The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon taught, 'If we are to overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by looking to Jesus.’  Whatever opinions you have on the book of Revelation remember that it is primarily an unveiling of the person of Jesus.  Look to him and ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to rejoice in him.  For you were made to delight in the three persons of the Trinity forever. 

Near the close of Revelation Jesus establishes his new heaven and new earth where he will be worshipped eternally.  If he is not your delight then heaven will never be your home.  John Piper asks, 'Can we really say that our people are being prepared for heaven where Christ himself, not his gifts, will be the supreme pleasure?  And if our people are unfit for that, will they even go there?'

'Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see the beauty of your character that we might be ready to enjoy you now and always'.  Amen.