The
Promise Fulfilled: Introducing Revelation
A sermon by Coty Pinckney, Desiring God Community Church,
Charlotte NC, 2/6/2005
“The
book of Revelation.” What comes to your mind when you hear
those words?
Do you think: “Oh, that confusing,
frightening book at the end of the Bible, with locusts and a dragon and beasts
and bowls and trumpets! Someone tried to explain it to
me once, but my head was just spinning.”
Or do you think: “Oh, great! Now we’ll
find out when Jesus will return!”
Revelation is, in one sense, the most
popular book in the New Testament and, in another sense, the least popular. The
“Left Behind” series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye,
a fictional account of the fulfillment of Revelation, has sold more than 62
million books. Other novels based on Revelation have sold hundreds of thousands
of copies. Non-fiction books giving particular interpretations of Revelation
have also been popular.
Yet in our country’s churches, sermons
on Revelation are relatively rare.
Indeed, how many sermons have you heard
on Revelation in your life? Revelation is about one-fifteenth of the New
Testament, but I’ve heard fewer than a dozen sermons from this book.
My experience is not unusual. One major
online site has links to over 42,000 New Testament sermons. Controlling for the
length of the book, Revelation has fewer sermons listed than all other New
Testament books except 2 John and Philemon. Furthermore, most of those sermons
are on chapters 1-5 and 20-22. Adjusting for length, there are fewer sermons
listed on Revelation 6 to 19 than any other section of the New Testament.
So there is much interest in Revelation
but relatively few sermons preached on it. Why?
One reason: There are major
disagreements about the proper method of interpretation of this book.
You
may ask, “So what’s unusual about that? There are huge differences in our
understanding of, say, Matthew 1, the story of Jesus’ birth. Some pastors
believe Jesus was born of a virgin, while others don’t.”
Yes.
But Matthew 1 is absolutely clear in saying that Jesus was born of Mary before
she had sexual relations with a man. The only question is: Does the preacher
believe what the Bible says? In Revelation, two preachers who both believe that
the Bible is true, that it is the word of God, can differ markedly in their
understanding.
How does this affect preaching? Pastors
may be confused themselves, not being sure where they stand on the debates.
Furthermore, they know that in their congregations there are likely to be
differences of opinion about the right method of interpretation. Some listeners
might get angry if the preacher propounds a viewpoint differ from theirs. Some might
leave the church. And so many pastors avoid preaching on it, or preach only on
those sections where there is more agreement about interpretation.
So you may wonder: What about you,
Coty? Are you confused about this book?
I certainly don’t claim to understand
all the images. And I imagine in a congregation this size we also have a range
of opinions about the right way to interpret this book.
So I have the same qualms as many
pastors. Why choose it?
In part, because of 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, fully equipped for
every good work.
All Scripture is God-breathed –
including Revelation. All Scripture is profitable for us. All Scripture is part
of God’s equipping of His people so that they might become like Him.
That’s our starting
point. That’s the conviction that characterizes all of our preaching at DGCC.
But how will
this particular book equip us?
Today I want
to give you an overview of the book and its themes to whet your appetite. I
pray you will be excited to come back to hear the details.
I also encourage
you to read the book on your own, just looking at the text, avoiding
commentaries or notes in a Study Bible. If possible, read through the book in
one sitting, and ask yourself: What is John emphasizing? Amid all the wild
imagery, what points of application are clear as can be?
This morning,
four questions will serve as our outline:
·
Who is
Revelation from and to?
·
What is the
structure of Revelation?
·
What are
some guidelines for interpretation?
·
What are the
major themes of Revelation?
Who is Revelation
from and to?
In the first
century, letters began by stating the author, then stating the recipient. We
see that, for example, in all of Paul’s letters.
Knowing that
convention, look at the beginning of Revelation:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave him to show to his servants the things that must
soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
So Revelation
is first and foremost from Jesus.
Then
consider verses 4 and 5:
John to the seven churches that
are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to
come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the
faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
This is a
more standard beginning of a letter. John, after all, is the person writing
this letter down. But John is a conduit, the person Jesus uses to publicize His
message. The message is from Jesus Himself – as emphasized in verse 1. This is
particularly obvious in certain sections, such as chapters 2 and 3. But these
opening verses tell us the entire
book is the message from Jesus through John.
What about
the recipients? Verse 4 tells us the recipients are “the 7 churches,” and we
later get a list of the names of those churches. They are in real cities in what
is now Turkey.
But verse 1
says Jesus is showing “his servants the things that must soon take place.” Who
are His servants? All believers!
So is
Revelation written to these 7 churches, or to all believers?
Think more
deeply about “7 churches.” In the entire Bible, but particularly in Revelation,
numbers are important. They are often symbolic. Seven is the number of
completeness. So seven churches might be a way of saying “the
complete church.”
Furthermore,
look at verse 3:
Blessed is
the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who
hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
Note that at
this point in the book, the 7 churches have not even been mentioned! The promise
of blessing is to whoever reads and hears and keeps what is written in it – no
matter what century they may live in. So that includes you. You too are an intended recipient of this letter.
It is rare
in the Bible for a particular book to include a promise of blessing to those
who read it. It seems that God knew we would be tempted to neglect this book – and
so He gives an explicit promise of blessing.
So the book
of Revelation is ultimately from Jesus to the entire church of all ages. Its
intent is to bless the church and to teach lessons for us to keep.
What is the Structure
of Revelation?
Let’s walk through
the book quickly, pointing out its major sections:
·
1:1-8 The introduction to
the letter.
·
The rest of chapter 1: John sees Jesus; Jesus
commissions His apostle.
·
Chapters 2 and 3: Seven letters from Jesus to the 7
churches. These are real churches, with real issues. But they are also seven types
of churches that are present in all eras.
·
Chapters 4 and 5: John’s vision of the throne room
of God. Jesus, the Lion and Lamb, is the only one worthy to take the scroll of
history and open its seals.
·
Chapters 6 through 8:1: Jesus opens seven seals of the
scroll of history, leading to judgment on the earth.
·
Revelation 8:2 through the end of chapter 11. Seven
angels blow seven trumpets, leading to judgment on the earth. Note: Seven
churches, seven seals, seven trumpets.
·
Chapters 12 to 14: Satan’s attacks on God’s people,
his beastly allies on earth, and God’s judgment.
·
Chapters 15 and 16: Seven bowls of God’s wrath are poured
out on the world. “With them the wrath of God is finished” (Revelation 15:1).
·
Revelation 17:1 through 19:10: Judgment on the
Great Prostitute, Babylon, and the marriage supper of the Lamb and His Bride.
·
Revelation 19:11 through the end of chapter 20: The
end of the world as we know it: Final judgment on God’s enemies. Jesus is
portrayed as the conquering king who defeats Satan and his cohorts.
·
Revelation 21:1-8 The
beginning of the new heavens and new earth, and the first vision of New
Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ. The previous sections have emphasized God’s
judgment. From here through the end, the book emphasizes God’s everlasting grace
to His people.
·
Revelation 21:9-22:5: Details of New Jerusalem.
·
The rest of chapter 22: The conclusion of the book,
emphasizing the imminence of Jesus’ return.
Let’s turn now to examining what guidelines the book itself gives
us for interpretation.
First: We’ve seen that Revelation begins with a promise of
blessing to those who keep the words of the prophecy. The promise is repeated
at the end of the book:
"And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the
one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." (Revelation 22:7)
How does
this help us to interpret the book?
However we
interpret Revelation, it must be relevant for all of God’s people across the centuries, those living in 95 AD,
1600 AD, and today. All must receive a
blessing through reading this book. All must
receive instructions here that they should keep or heed.
One of my
main goals in preaching through this book is to bring to the forefront the blessings
that have been available to every generation, and the lessons that each
generation must keep. For Jesus promises us they are here in the book.
Second guideline:
Revelation is not chronological.
Some books of the Bible
are chronological, others are not. For example, in the book of Acts, the
succeeding chapters of the book generally describe what happened later. Just so with the book of Exodus. Jeremiah, on the other
hand, does not follow a chronological pattern. The book often shifts back and
forth in time. Most obviously, the events described in Jeremiah 44 are the latest
chronologically, but there are eight more chapters in the book.
So we should not
simply assume that Revelation is chronological. What can we discern from the
text?
There are a few
clear cases of events not being in chronological order. Consider, for example,
Revelation 7:2-3. Here one angel commands four other angels who have power to
harm the earth and the sea, telling them not to do so until all God’s servants
are sealed on their foreheads. So the earth is not yet harmed in 7:2. Yet we read in 6:12-14
that, upon the opening of the sixth seal, the earth (and the sun, the moon, the
stars, and the sky) are harmed. Thus, the events described in 7:2 do not occur after
the events described in 6:12-14.
So: The sequence of chapters in Revelation describe the sequence
that John receives the vision. But we cannot assume sequence in John’s
vision implies sequence in the fulfillment of the vision.
Third
guideline for interpretation: Consider again the opening verse of the book:
The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants the things that
must soon take place.
The word
translated “show” is an unusual word, used only 6 times in the New Testament as
a verb. It means “to picture, to signify.” For example, Jesus uses this word in
John 12:32-33:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind
of death he was going to die. (emphasis added)
By using the words “lifted up from the
earth,” Jesus gives a verbal picture of how He will die.
John also frequently uses the noun form
of this word, referring to Jesus’ miracles as “signs,” pictures, pointers to
who Jesus is (see, for example, John 2:11, 3:2, 4:54, 9:16, and 12:37).
The use of this word in the opening
verse shows that Revelation is a book of pictures – pictures of Gospel truths
that help us see those truths in a new light. As one commentator puts it:
Jesus has
given [the Revelation] to us as a sacrament of the imagination, to quicken the
pulse and set the soul aflame over the gospel which all too often we take for
granted. (Wilcock, 222)
Some of the pictures are defined for
us. For example, in chapter 1 the lampstands are said
to be churches, and in chapter 19 the fine linen clothing the Bride is said to
be the saints’ righteous deeds.
Other descriptions don’t make literal
sense: Chapter 1 describes Jesus as having a sword coming out of His mouth. The
point is not that Jesus looks really strange. Our job as interpreters is to
answer the question: What does this picture signify
about Jesus and His word?
Similarly, the numbers in Revelation
have significance. We’ve seen that “7 churches” may mean the “complete church.”
Some other numbers that seem to be symbolic include the size of New Jerusalem,
described in 21:16 as a cube 12,000 stadia to a side. That’s 1380 miles! A huge
square on land, with each side longer than the distance from Charlotte to Minneapolis
– but then also 1380 miles high! That’s more than 4000 times the height of the
highest building on earth, 250 times the height of Mt Everest – and four times
as high as the orbit of the Hubble telescope!
I don’t think John’s point is simply that
this city is really, really big.
We need to ask: What is the point? What is the picture? What
is being signified? One possible clue: 12,000 is 12x10x10x10, and each of those
numbers appears elsewhere. So we should delve into what 12x10x10x10 might mean.
Note: My point is not, “God couldn’t make a city that big. And Jesus couldn’t have a
literal sword coming out of His mouth.” Of course, anything is possible for God.
But Jesus tells us right in the first sentence of the book that that He is “signifying”
things. Our job is to discern the truths we need to heed, and to be moved and
changed by the truths being pictured.
So throughout this series, we’ll use
these guidelines: The applications must be relevant for all believers of all
time; sequence in John’s vision does not necessarily imply sequence in
fulfillment of those visions; and the book is a series of pictures signifying important
truths.
There are
many themes we could highlight, but today we’ll focus on three:
First: God’s sovereignty:
Revelation presents God as the one who controls
all things. John’s visions go back and forth between earth – where all seems to
be chaos, where God’s enemies, indeed, seem to be in control – and the heavens,
showing that God is in control even of the evil acts of his opponents on earth.
In this regard, consider Revelation 17:17, which refers to 10 kings and the beast, allies of Satan:
For God has
put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and
handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are
fulfilled.
They are God’s
enemies, but they carry out His
purpose.
John shows God’s sovereignty also
through his frequent use of the passive voice when speaking of God’s enemies.
They are permitted, or are allowed, to do something. But who is allowing them?
Surely God!
For example, look at Revelation 13:5-7
And the beast was given a mouth
uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise
authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies
against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in
heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer
them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and
language and nation,
God is the
one who allows His enemy to exercise authority for a time. And God ends that
authority, destroying the beast at the appropriate time.
So this is
the first major theme: God is in control. Even the evil powers arrayed against
Him are limited by Him; ultimately, His enemies are under His authority.
God exercises His sovereign authority in order to fulfill all His
promises. He brings about the completion of His plan to create His bride from
all nations on earth.
Recall what we
learned from Genesis 3 several months ago. After Adam and Eve dishonor and
disobey God by eating the fruit, God makes a great promise while speaking to
the Serpent:
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)
Satan
strikes Jesus’ heel on the cross; Jesus crushes Satan’s head, fulfilling this
promise finally and completely, in Revelation 20.
And remember
the promise to Abraham in Genesis
12? God says, “In you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed." Jesus, the descendant of Abraham,
blesses those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and they give
Him glory and praise in Revelation 7:9-12. God fulfills the promise to Abraham.
And then remember
the promise to David? God speaks through a prophet:
And your house and your kingdom
shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
(2 Samuel 7:16)
Much of the book pictures the state we are in today: The Kingdom of
the promised descendant of David has been inaugurated in the life, death, and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is among us but has not yet come in its
fullness. So we live in tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” That’s
why we pray, and the believers in much of the book of Revelation would be
praying, “Your Kingdom come!”
This
promise, this tension, is pictured at the beginning of the book, when John
writes,
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and
who is to come. (Revelation 1:4)
The promise is as yet unfulfilled.
He is yet to come.
But then Revelation 11:15 records the fulfillment of
the promise, in the words Handel uses as the text for the Hallelujah Chorus:
The kingdom
of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall
reign forever and ever.
This same
verse emphasizes the fulfillment of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your
kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Two verses later, we read,
We give thanks to you, Lord God
Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to
reign. (Revelation 11:17)
Notice that God is no longer described as the One “who is to come.”
He has come. The Kingdom is here in its fullness. The promise is fulfilled.
So Revelation emphasizes that God is sovereign, and He thus fulfills
His every promise.
John introduces this theme in the
opening verses of chapter 1:
To him who loves us and has freed us from our
sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even
those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-7)
Two groups: Those whom He loves, those
whom He makes a kingdom of priests. And those who will wail
on account of Him.
Elsewhere Revelation pictures the two groups
as differentiated by marks on their foreheads. In 13:16, those who follow Satan
and the bests get a mark on their forehead, while in 22:3-4, God’s servants,
the Lamb’s servants, have His Name on their foreheads.
In the end, God’s people dwell
with God. He wipes every tear from their eyes, and ends all mourning,
all pain (Revelation 21:3-4). But the others – “the cowardly, the faithless,
the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,
and all liars” – are all thrown in the lake of fire, experiencing the second death.
There is no intermediate group.
All mankind experience either the wrath of the Lamb, or tender love of God for
His people.
In conclusion, consider this last theme
seriously. In our world, we see many shades of opinion about Jesus, which we
might lay out on a continuum. On one end are those who are really on fire for
Jesus, who lay down their lives for Him – our Christian heroes. On the other
end are those who hate Jesus and all He stands for, who murder believers. But
in between are most of the people we know – including ourselves.
But Revelation tells us: In the end, there
is no continuum. All end up on one end or the other. All will have either the
mark of the beast or the Name of God. All will experience either the wrath of
the Lamb or the tender love of God.
Where are you? All depends on the
answer to that question.
In Revelation 22:17 the Spirit and the
Bride make a final appeal:
"Come!"
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free
gift of the water of life.
That offer is available today. It won’t be available forever. At
your death, it will be too late. Or when Jesus returns – He will come in
judgment, not in mercy.
So will you wail at His return? Or will you rejoice?
Jesus redeemed those from every tribe by his blood, regardless of their
past. He offers you that redemption as a gift – freely.
Today is the day of salvation – but the
opportunity does not last forever.
So come to Him!