John shows us Jesus in His power and glory. Beholding the face of Jesus Christ is the most life-giving thing a human being can experience. This is what John brings us in this powerful and enlightening book. 

Further, from a practical standpoint, Revelation is a book for people who are struggling to have hope in their present experience. It is for people who need to hear about the power and glory of the Triune God, particularly God’s sovereignty over all things and His unstoppable plan to wipe every tear from our eyes. While we may experience consternation on our journey, Revelation teaches us that a glorious consummation awaits us. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Well, let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've delivered to us a testimony of your Son that is so powerful and beautiful that should calm every fear and help us to see your glory in the midst of all of our own trials. Lord, we thank you for it. We thank you for being so kind to show us such a powerful vision of your kingdom. Amen.

Okay, so the the book of Revelation. John brings a powerful and Okay, so the book of Revelation. This, John brings a powerful and enlightening look at Jesus Christ himself. He makes it very clear that Jesus Christ rules over all things in all of history and that it is a vision of Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 verse 1, This is stated.

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you're confused about what the book of Revelation is about, if you wonder about how to interpret all this, it's really actually very easy. It's a revelation of Jesus. That's what Revelation is. No longer should anyone be confused about how to interpret the book of Revelation.

Now there are some mind-bending things that are in the book of Revelation, but if you can keep your head straight that you're seeing a revelation of Jesus Himself, then the book becomes far, far easier to understand. You know, I preached on this book when I was about 24 years old, and I preached on it, you know, back in the days of Hal Lindsey and the world is going to come into in 1985 and things like that. And so my views have changed, but one thing has not changed at all. When I preached through it when I was 24 years old, I recognized the beauty and the power of Jesus Christ and I did preach it that way even though I had a little bit different understanding about the nature of the book but it's it's a very very important book It's a book that every Christian should be familiar with, very familiar with. And there are many reasons.

You know, one reason is this. Do you know the end of the story of your life? Do you know where it's all going? Do you want to know how it'll all turn out? Like for you if you believe in Jesus Christ or even if you don't.

But you know considering your failures in the past, considering the questions and the fears that are in your mind today, what will be the result of it all? How will God roll it all up? And what we learned first of all in the book of Revelation is that Jesus Christ is the ruler of everything in no uncertain terms. And secondly, that when all is said and done, in your life, if you believe in Jesus Christ and mine, is that He'll wipe every tear from your eyes. That's where it's all going.

All of history moves toward the wiping away of all of your tears. Isn't that remarkable? And that's what you see. It's a way of beholding the face of Jesus Christ, which is the most life-giving thing a human being could ever do. You know, a friend of mine called me this morning from a faraway state and we prayed together at the end of the call and we prayed about how much we wanted to behold the face of Jesus today.

That's what we really prayed about And that is the most life-giving thing that we can ever experience. Paul stated it in 2 Corinthians 3 18, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord. This is the most wonderful experience in the world is to behold the face of Jesus. It is a seemingly difficult book. Revelation is thought of as the most difficult book in the Bible to interpret as a result of the apocalyptic and figurative language that we find there.

You know, somebody said that this is the book that most people want to be taught but most pastors want to avoid. I think there's some truth to that but in reality it is a most rewarding book and there's a promise of blessing to all those who read it. We'll read what that promise is later on. I've noticed also over the years that many people call this book Revelations. Have you ever heard anybody refer to the book like that?

Well, it's actually Revelation, not Revelations. So if you're one of those people who've used the word Revelations to talk about this book, just recognize it's the Revelation. You know, there are various approaches to Revelation that you find among Christians. There are those who just ignore it because it's unfamiliar. There are dragons, there's flames of fire, there's thrones.

What in the world is that all about? Then there are those who are obsessed with trying to find timelines in the book of Revelation and then there's there those who just radically vehemently dogmatically rail against anyone who holds a different view, which is to them ridiculous, okay? And I just think we have to be really careful when we're dealing with apocalyptic literature that's full of figurative language. Be humble. Approach it that way.

Is there another path to approaching the book? Absolutely yes, and it is found in the very clearly stated purpose for the book, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Okay, that's pretty simple, isn't it? It is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and the book should be read as a way of understanding Jesus himself. The word revelation means unveiling, So what you find is an unveiling of Jesus Christ.

You'll see him in his glory in the working of history. And, you know, I think Revelation, at least for me, it's a book for people who from time to time struggle for hope in their present experience. You know, people who are struggling to need, people who are struggling and they need to hear about the power and the glory of the Triune God, particularly God's sovereignty over all things and His unstoppable plan to wipe away every tear from your eyes need to hear this book. You might be uncertain about where your life is going, but the power and the glory of Jesus Christ are certain. He is going to return.

He will save all of His people. At the same time, Revelation doesn't deny suffering. It does picture the people of God's suffering. You should expect that, and there are many scenes in the book of Revelation of death, brutality, rejection, slander, there are all these things. In one place the streets are filled with blood.

There are martyrs, there are losses that the Saints experience in this world, but that's not the end of the story. The reading of it is very important. There's a very clearly promised blessing. Chapter 1, verse 3, Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near." So the blessing is for those who read and for those who obey, those who read and then take action as a result of what they've read. There's a very special blessing.

We're going to get into more detail about how to interpret it in a few moments, but here is... I'll tip my hand right here. Here's my recommended interpretive grid. This is the way that I read the book of Revelation, that the events of the book and their dates is not as important as the one who is controlling the events. Can we understand this book?

Yes we can. I like the way that Vern Poithras has stated it. He says, here's what we can learn from Revelation. God rules history and will bring it to completion. When you read Revelation, consider that all the way through it because I really do believe that every chapter bears witness to that that fact and it's for people who want to know the blessings of Jesus Christ by understanding more of Jesus Christ this book is designed to teach you more than you know of him now.

He is the Savior of the world. You know, he is the Lamb of God. When you read the Gospels, you see such a marvelous vision of Jesus Christ. Here's another one just as important as the Gospels, And in it is a revelation of the things about the world as it is and about the things to come in the world to come. In chapter 1 verse 5 we learn that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth and so no one should ever be afraid of a king or really anything else.

Revelation I believe is a marvelous completion and a companion to the Gospels. In the Gospels, of course, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and in the Gospels you see what kind of lamb he is. He's gentle. He's humble in heart. He comes, he comes and lays aside his heavenly glory, and he is, he's the ruler who serves, and he serves his people, and he is he's humble and he's holy.

In the book of Revelation, you find that all of these qualities are not the end of the story at all. He's called the Lamb of God many times in the book of Revelation. In fact, most of the references to Lamb of God in the Bible occur in the book of Revelation. But when you encounter the Lamb of God in the book of Revelation, He's high and He's lifted up. He is Almighty.

Nothing stands in His way. In the Gospels, you see a different vision of Jesus. In Revelation, you see Him in a different light, not in a contradictory light at all, but you see both of these qualities of Jesus Christ as the humble and holy Lamb of God and also the high and lifted up Lamb of God. Let's talk about authorship. The authorship of Revelation is that it was written by the Apostle John.

He is the disciple whom Jesus loved. You read that phrase in the Gospel of John. He wrote the Gospel of John, he wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. John was banished to the island of Patmos when he was in his 80s. By that time, the rest of the Apostles had been martyred, but we don't have a record of John being martyred.

He was boiled in oil and he survived and was banished to the island of Patmos. I've been to the island of Patmos. It was a place of exile for prisoners. It had mines in which they were quarrying marble and quite likely John was working as a slave in the marble quarries having been banished to the island of Patmos. Apparently he wrote this book from a cave.

People think that you can go to that cave. I went to the cave that they said he wrote the book of Revelation. Whether he did or not, no one knows for sure, but over time people in history have thought that he wrote it from that cave overlooking this beautiful landscape of the Mediterranean Sea below. But we believe that it was written by John. Let's talk about the genre of literature.

What kind of literature is this? There are three elements to the type of literature this is. First of all, it is apocalyptic literature. You know, you always need to understand what kind of literature you're reading. Are you reading a history?

Are you reading a poetic book like the Psalms or like Ecclesiastes? Are you reading a didactic book like the book of Romans? Or are you reading apocalyptic literature? And apocalyptic literature is symbolic in its nature. It is prophetic and symbolic.

And in many portions of the Bible, most of the books of the Bible are to be read literally and taken at face value, but not with revelation. The numbers are symbolic, not arithmetical. There are colors, there are animals, and they all bear witness to particular things. We may not know exactly what they bear witness of, but they are symbols of other things. So it's apocalyptic literature.

Secondly, it is a vision. It is the language of seeing, not just to write about what would happen, but to show a picture of what would happen. That's what John does. Zechariah does the very same thing. He gives a vision.

The words, and I saw, are repeated. John saw these things. He was seeing a vision. In the rest of the Bible, we hear, hear the word of God. Here, it's see the Word of God.

So you have these visions that bear witness to the message, and John is using color to describe Jesus. He's using various images to describe Him, but in the book of Revelation you do not hear, you see, and so it is a vision. That's the second element of the literary genre that you experience, the first being that it's apocalyptic literature. The third element of the genre of literature that is the Revelation of John is that it is prophecy, and much of it is fulfilled prophecy. It is said that 70% of the verses in Revelation are allusions or direct citations, quotations, from the Old Testament.

And the reason that is is that the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ. Some have said that there are over 500 direct references or allusions from the Old Testament embedded in the book of Revelation. Most of the books of the Old Testament are either quoted or phrases are alluded to. And it's remarkable in that way. One way to get to know Old Testament prophecy is to read the book of Revelation because you'll always be going back and you'll and you'll be able to say oh I see this in John chapter 4 this is that which was quoted in the prophet Isaiah you go to another chapter this is that which is quoted in the prophet Zechariah.

So there are fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy, or at least allusions to Old Testament prophecies in in the book of Revelation. So in the genre of literature you have to recognize three things. It is apocalyptic literature. Secondly, it is a vision. And thirdly, it is prophecy, much of it fulfilled prophecy.

Greg Beale, the Old Testament scholar, says this, no other book in the New Testament is as permeated by the Old Testament as is the book of Revelation. He says that you will find many, many references to the Old Testament. I recommend his commentary. He identifies many of them there. Let's talk about the audience.

Who is this written to? I think we should think of it in terms of two audiences. Now this was specifically written to the seven churches which are in Asia. If you have your Bible open and you can see chapter 1 verse 4, it's stated very clearly, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, and he's writing to these seven churches. My understanding of the book of Revelation is that these are representative churches.

These are seven representative churches that represent all churches in all ages, and His coming is announced to those churches, and he tells these churches that his kingdom and glory and dominion is forever and ever. That's chapter 1 verse 6. And then he says in verse 7, Behold, he is coming in the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those even they who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty." So who is this written to? The seven churches and, I believe, to all people in all other churches from that time forward. This is a letter to the churches in Wake Forest. It's a letter to Hope Baptist Church. It is designed to guide and to instruct and to encourage and to inform the churches throughout history.

Let's talk about the time of writing here. It's written in a time of tribulation without question, Probably during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian while John was exiled on the island of Patmos. And in verse 9 in chapter 1 we read these words, I John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So he wrote it while he was on the island of Patmos. He had companions who were in the midst of the tribulation as well, a terrible tribulation, and it was for the Word of God.

It was because they loved and preached the Word of God that landed them in that tribulation. John was banished at the age of 80 years old, if you can imagine that, because of the Word of God. He was preaching the Word of God into his senior years, and this is what men should do. They should preach the Word of God until they're dead. That's what John was doing, and this revelation happened on the Lord's Day.

Verse 10 in chapter 1, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet. So he is in a time of great tribulation with his brethren. That's when he wrote it. He wrote it on the island of Patmos and he seemed to write it on the Sabbath day. He had set aside the Sabbath day.

It says he was in the Spirit. What does that mean? I suggest to you that it means that He was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit, do not be drunk with wine. And I believe that John was filled with the Holy Spirit in the way that every every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit from time to time.

But there was a very special message that God had for him to deliver to the churches. And so he heard a voice behind him and he began to record what that voice said and then out flows this entire testimony of Jesus Christ. Now we've talked about the time that it was written and that seems to be very clear in the book, but when do these events occur? Generally some say that they happen in John's own day exclusively. Some say that these events happened during the whole of church history before the Second Coming, but Jesus says here, I'm coming soon.

What does soon mean? That's a really critical matter for you to understand. What does soon mean? Well, as it turns out, soon can mean different things. He says he's coming soon four times in the book of Revelation, And you know, what we learn from this is soon to God may not be soon to us in light of eternity, and I'll give you an example.

When John was writing 1 John in chapter 2 verse 18, he compares these last days to an hour and so my perspective is that soon in the book of Revelation means that it is a relevant moment for all of time for all Christians throughout history. It is these are the kinds of things that happen in the contemporary time of Christians and you know as one day as a thousand years to the Lord we realize that God's timeline is often far more elongated than our timeline. So soon, I believe, is these things that happen, you know, soon after this time that John is writing up to the end of the age. Okay, so let's talk about the purpose of the book, and I would like to divide the purposes of this book into two purposes. And the first is stated, you know, with great clarity in verse 1.

And of course, the primary purpose of the book is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The unfolding of Jesus Christ. And to help you to behold the glory of Jesus Christ. In chapter 17, we also recognize that it's written to a suffering church to give them a revelation of Jesus Christ. When you're suffering, what do you need the most?

You need a revelation of Jesus Christ. Remember when Stephen was martyred in Acts chapter 7? Do you remember what he saw when he was dying? He saw Jesus Christ. And so this is written to a suffering church.

The secondary purpose of Revelation can be really derived by reading it and seeing what's there, but it secondly is a revelation of an invisible but real world. It is a revelation of an invisible but real world which shows the power of God, the vanquishing power of the Lamb of God in the face of a grisly, satanic power that's at work in the world. The central force of Revelation is to reveal the glory of Jesus Christ in the face of the raging powers of darkness. And so I don't feel it's wisest to read the book to try to figure out, you know, when or how the events of history are connected to contemporary nations or historical moments. This is a revelation of history, but I think it's broader than that.

It explains the life of the church in the midst of a wicked and a perverse generation. Now, you find lots of symbolic language. You know, you have numbers, many numbers. You have the number 7 and the number 12 and the number 24. You know there's seven trumpets and spirits and bowls.

There are 12 tribes, there are 12 foundations, there are 12 kinds of fruit. And most people believe that the number seven indicates completeness or the number of perfection that something is finished, that you have a complete view of it. You know there are seven churches, there are seven seals, there are seven trumpets, there are seven bowls of plagues, there are seven angelic appearances. So you'll see these sevens. What do they mean?

I want to suggest that they have a symbolic meaning. Let's talk about some of the specific interpretive views of the book of Revelation. I'm going to name them. There's no way we can unpack them all here, but I at least want to give you some different ways to see the book of Revelation. The first view is the Preterist view.

Preter means past, and this view argues that all of Revelation happened in John's day before he died, or at least in that season of time. So the Preterist view says that all of this has happened. One of the real problems with that is that Jesus Christ actually comes back again in the book of Revelation. So in order to take that view you have to say Jesus has already returned. I view that as a very wrong view.

Then there's the historicist view, and this view argues that Revelation presents a precise outline of the church from the resurrection to the end, and it is symbolically a letter to the church about its dispensations. Now the historicist asks this question, where do you think we are now in the timeline of this book? That's what the historicist asks. Are we in chapter 5? Are we in chapter 19?

Where are we in the book? The futurist says that most of the book belongs to the future. Everything from chapter 4 happens in the far future at the very end, You know, so the dispensationalist says the church has been raptured from chapter 4 on, and that everything after chapter 4 is really kind of irrelevant to life on earth, and you know, most fundamentalists hold this view. J.N. Darby, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Chuck Swindoll, John Hagee, Tim LaHays, these are some of those that hold that view.

Then there's the idealist view that contends that it's not a history of past or future events but it's relevant for everyone. This view holds that John is not predicting specific events in history or timelines of history, but He's revealing the things the church needs to know for their blessing. And with this view, nothing after chapter 3 has literal historical connection except in sort of a broad sense. And this view holds that Revelation is composed of figurative language that points really to the power of Jesus. And then the eclectic view sort of takes some of the idealist view and embraces some of the strengths of the other choices.

Many modern Reformed theologians take this approach. They view it as symbolic and historical to a degree. And so they would say, well, Revelation does not prophesy at the end of the age, it's a message that's practical for all eras but it also reveals particular things that might happen throughout history. Some say that the churches, the seven churches, represent several seven historical periods in church history. You know, the first church that Jesus speaks to represents the first few hundred years of church history, and the second book a next, you know, segment history, and the next book a next segment history.

Then there are other approaches regarding the coming of Christ, the return of Jesus Christ. There's premillennialism that Jesus comes back before the millennium. There's post-millennialism Jesus comes back after the millennium. Then there's amillennialism. The amillennialists say that the number 1, 000 millennium is symbolic.

It's not exactly a thousand years, just like The seven isn't exactly seven. In other words, there's this idea that it's a representative, and there are many who wonder, is there really a millennium and literal 1, 000 year reign of Jesus Christ? So Those are the basic views. Now you see an outline in front of you and I'd like to just sort of work through the outline. I've divided this into eight segments in the outline and I really recommend when you read this book to follow the outline.

It'll help you understand what's happening as the scenes change. The first three chapters, the first section, are the letters to the seven churches. This is the clearest section, and each letter has personal relevance to every Christian. Every Christian should ask, where am I in this letter? So that's chapters 1 through 3.

Then the second section is in chapters 4 and 5, and this is a vision of heaven and the throne of God. This is remarkable. This is an amazing section. The third section is in chapter 6 through chapter 8 verse 1, and this speaks of the seven seals of judgment. And then The fourth section begins in chapter 8, verse 2, and goes to chapter 11, verse 19.

And this section explains what happens when the seven trumpets are blown. And then the fifth section is in chapters 12 through 14 and this section shows you a battle. And the sixth section, which is found in chapters 15 and 16 shows seven angels and the seven bowls that are pictured. And then the seventh section is chapter 17 through chapter 19, and this is the final destruction of Babylon, the destruction of the beast and the false prophet. Remarkably beautiful and terrifying section in the book of Revelation.

And then, eighth, the final section is in chapters 20 to 22 where Satan and his demons are thrown into the lake of fire. So that's the flow of the book of Revelation. You know, it's the only book in the Bible that begins and ends with a promise of blessing to those who read it. In chapter 1 verse 3 is the blessing to those who read and obey and then there's a blessing in chapter 22 verse 7 and they include both reading and hearing and keeping the prophecy. It begins and ends with a blessing.

That's one reason why you should read the book of Revelation and know it. You know, in preparation to come and talk about this, I've listened to it in the audio just while I've been driving and walking and things like that. And I've found my soul fortified by reading it, and of course obeying it is in a whole other matter, but there are blessings for it. So okay, let's walk through the letters to the churches in Revelation. This is chapters 1 through 3.

There are seven specific churches that are listed here in the book, and they're found in modern-day Turkey, and he praises and corrects and warns these churches, and you can go to, you know, some of these the locations of these churches today in modern-day Turkey and in fact we you know we support a missionary in Izmir Fikrit Bocek who Izmir is Smyrna and the Church of Smyrna was there, and his church is in Smyrna, and we pray for that church all the time in our Wednesday night prayer meetings that God would bless them, But you know, it's when we when we pray for Fikret and the church in Smyrna, it you know, it ought to bring us back to these seven churches. And they are going through a tribulation, and you know, in this tribulation you read these words where the Lord lays His right hand on him and says, do not be afraid. This is how churches who are in the midst of tribulation should respond. They should not be afraid. And Jesus would call us not to be afraid.

And so then in chapters 4 and 5, heaven and the throne of God are revealed, and you find this great dilemma that there's no one worthy to open the scrolls, but then there is one who is worthy, and it's Jesus Christ Himself. He is the one who opens the scrolls. And then you have the seven seals of judgment in chapter 6 through chapter 8, verse 1. And here you find what happens when Christ opens the seals, and here you find a picture of the beast in the Antichrist who represents the false teachers, and the 144, 000, which I want to suggest is the total number of the Saints. I don't believe it's a literal number.

I don't believe there are only 144, 000 Christians. I think it's a representative number and it's a number of completion or perfection and the message is this, not one is missing, that He has carried His people all the way to the end, and they're all there. He hasn't left one behind. Even the weakest one He took with Him. And then the seven trumpets in chapter 8 verse 2 through chapter 11 verse 19, and this kind of restates what was happening in chapter 6.

I don't think it's a new event, but the final trumpet announces the final judgment, and so you see this picture of final judgment, and then you have the battle in chapter 12 verse 14, and here you have the male child is pursued by the devil, but here's the reality. The devil is unsuccessful in killing him. He can't kill him. It's interesting that it doesn't seem that the devil fights against God in the book of Revelation. He fights against the woman and the seed of the woman.

He fights against the saints, but there are no battles with God. He doesn't battle with God. That would be very unwise. And so there really are no actual battles with God. You know, the enemies gather, but there's no contest against God.

And the reason is there is no contest against God. The only mechanism the devil has is to hurt the Saints and battle and wage war against the Saints, but he doesn't dare wage war against God, lest his time would come to an end quicker. He knows in the book of Revelation you learn he knows his time is short. Look for that phrase. The devil knows his time is short, And he does seem invincible, but he's not invincible.

People are seduced by his power, but it's only a surface victory because God is the one who vanquishes the devil. And then there are seven angels and seven bowls in chapters 15 and 16. There are seven seven plagues very much like the Egyptian plagues. Now you're going to encounter angels all over the book of Revelation. Angels are mentioned 81 times in the book of Revelation.

It's astonishing, and the angels play a pivotal role in redemptive history. The Bible tells us that they revealed the law on Mount Sinai when Moses gave the law, and so here, you know, they do many things. They sound trumpets, they hand John a scroll, they're very interested in the story, the angels are involved in the story. But God has given angels the role of delivering the message. And here's how it takes place.

God gave the vision to Jesus Christ the Son. Jesus gave it to the angels and the angels gave it to John who gives it to the church and you see this in verse 1. I'll read it to you. You'll see how it works. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show His servants the things which much shortly take place and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John.

So that's the progression of the message. It comes from the angel to John to the church. The angels are very important. They are trumpeters, and they trumpet the Word of God. Then you have the final destruction of Babylon and the beast and the false prophet in chapters 17 through 19.

Babylon is not a literal city. It's called spiritual Babylon. Many have thought this was the Roman Church. I think it's broader than the Roman Church. You know, it is that philosophy that does not love to obey the Lord.

That's Babylon. And any time you have, you encounter someone who hates the obedience of God, you have encountered Mystery Babylon. Babylon wants to make a city for its own glory. Babylon wants to have all of its pleasures in its own city. But Babylon, all of Babylon's pleasures are going to be gone.

All of their industry will be gone. It'll go away in an hour. The economy will fold. No one will buy their goods anymore. And we learn that that mystery Babylon and her people are rich, but they're not rich forever.

They lose everything, and they lose everything quickly. And then finally, Satan and his demons are thrown into the like of fire in chapters 20 through 22, and we hear the cry of the church the suffering church and what are they crying come Lord Jesus come quickly that's what the church is saying it's right to say that in a time of suffering okay conclusion Let me give you a few bullet points just in summary of how to interpret this book. Number one, are you ready? Look for Christ. He's the one you need.

Now look for the power and the glory of Jesus Christ. Notice what He's doing. Notice how He does it. Notice that if He's your shepherd, this is what you are the beneficiary of. Next, read with an obedient heart, thinking about how each chapter might affect your heart and your behavior.

You won't find, you know, very many specific commands to the believer, but you will read about things that you should apply, things that should affect you. This prophecy is meant to shape your life. Knowledge of him should change us and you know whether it's looking forward to the coming City of God or recognizing that he's gonna wipe all your tears from your eyes. Whatever it is, look for ways that you might adore Him and obey Him, you know, in the things that you read there. You know, letting Jesus Christ's victory have an influence over the hour that you exist in and to recognize that His victory, His marvelous plan is really designed to influence you.

It's influence your thinking and your emotions and how you experience every day of your life. Let this revelation Cause your experience in this very hour to be modified by it so that you're really affected by this power of Jesus that you see there. Here's another application. Have patience with God's timeline in your life. He knows what He's doing.

He knows what you're doing. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. Watch. Watch Him. He's the one you need to watch, but be patient.

You don't know where your life is going, but guess who does? Well, in the big picture we know that your life is on a trajectory to wipe every tear from your eyes. And so have patience with God's timeline. The next application is this, expect persecution during your stay on this earth. Don't lose hope.

It will come to an end and there will be a new beginning and you might cry out how long, but recognize that that cry is not going unheard. He will experience persecution in this world. And then the next application is to be warned. Judgment is coming. Everything that contradicts the kingdom of heaven will be destroyed.

Anyone who does not love Jesus Christ will lose everything and worse, and they'll experience an eternity in a lake of fire. And you know, to love the little things of this world is so unwise, And Revelation makes that clear. So be ready. Jesus is coming. Behold, He comes with the clouds and every eye shall see Him.

That's chapter 1, verse 7. And then, you know, apply this by being a part of building up the body of Christ. The seven churches are representative of your church, and be a blessing to your church. Every church has its maladies, their fevers and diseases, and the people of the church need to pour the pure water of the Word and the loving kindness of Jesus Christ into that church. Recognize that you're part of these seven churches, and try to see yourself there, but also ask, how might I be a blessing to this church that God has put me in.

You know, the other thing is that you can see here that Jesus is present with His church in all of our troubles. He's always present until His return. In Chapter 1, Verse 13, we see Jesus, and He's in the midst of the lampstands. In other words, He's walking among the lampstands. He's walking through the churches.

He's there. He's present. He sees every song that's being sung. He watches every interaction in the fellowship of his churches. He hears all the preaching and he observes the relationships in that church.

Jesus is present in his church. You know, he said in Matthew 18 20, lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. That means many things, but one thing it means is that he's walking among the lampstands. You know, when Our church gathers, He's there. He's witnessing everything.

He's piercing the heart of every person, knowing their every need, and He has them there for a particular reason, that he might glorify himself. You know, when you read Revelation, you can never forget that he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. And what is he doing? What's he doing with you? Well, He's taking you to a place where He's going to wipe every tear from your eyes.

That's what He's doing. You want to know the history of your life and where it's going? You want to know where it's all going to end? That's where it ends. How about that?

He's so kind. He's such a wonderful Savior. Well that's who you see in Revelation. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for sending your word through your angels to John and then from John to us so that we would see the power and the glory of your kingdom and oh Lord we pray that you would you would give us the blessings of this book that we would read it and that we would obey it Lord that you would help us with those things.

We praise you for your power and your glory. We want to behold it. And so help us Lord as we read this book. Amen.