December 23rd

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to On the Way with Tony Chris. Each weekday, Dr. Chris will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Chris.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Chris, and this is the 365 Bible reading plan. Today is December the 23rd, and we're beginning the book of Revelation with Revelation chapter one. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his messenger, his angel to his servant John. Now we're going to stop there simply because I'm going to give you an outline for the book of Revelation that will help you to understand it better, because we're only going to do just a few chapters throughout the book as we end this year of the three hundred and sixty five Bible reading plan. I pray it's been a blessing to you and this book of Revelation, if you read it and you read it in the way that I give it unto you and give you an outline, then you will better understand it, I think better than you ever have before. You see, we have a problem with the book of Revelation because it does not read as a storyline. Actually it does, but not as we're used to, because it is written with a series of digressions. Some would say seven, some would say eight. Now digression is a backstory. It is giving you a story behind the story as the plot thickens and as you go along. This is the way that many dramas, especially investigative dramas, are shown on TV today. So there's a double plot going on. And what we're going to see in the book of Revelation is that there is a plot in heaven and there's a plot on earth, and there is one person, God Almighty, who is directing it all. He controls what is going on in heaven, and he controls what is going on on earth. And he gives us glimpses of both. And sometimes, as he is telling the story all the way through about the future and what's going to happen, then there is a subplot that's going on either in heaven or on earth. And so what we're going to do is begin to pull back the curtain. You see, the word revelation is the word apocalypse. It's our modern English version of it. Apocalypto is the word, and it is apo, away from or from, and then calupto, which means to veil or to cover. Apocalypto or apocalypse, as we would say, is the drawing back of the curtain. It's the unveiling. It is pulling off the cover, so to speak, so that we can see what is behind the curtain. And so this is what Jesus is doing to John while he was on the island of Patmos. As we go through this, I pray that you'll have the time or make the time at some point to read through the entire book. So I want to give you the outline of the book, which is given in Revelation chapter one and verse 19. In other words, God gives the outline clear and plain in verse 19. And he says, John, I want you to write down the things which you have seen. That's everything that takes place from chapter 1 and verse 1 all the way through the first chapter. Those are the things that John has just seen on the island of Patmos. Then he says, I want you to write down the things which are. Now we know those things which are are found in chapters two and three. But the way that we know that is because of where the last and third section begins, the things which will take place after this. That's the Greek phrase meta met a tauta, ta-u-t-a, meta tauta. Now that phrase meta tauta does not appear again until Revelation 4.1, what we label Revelation 4.1, and then it starts and stops the sentence. He says, after these things, meta tauta, this is Revelation 4.1, and then he goes in to talk about being caught up from this earthly existence to a spiritual realm. And he says, I'm going to show you the things which will take place, meta tauta. So he uses the word twice in one sentence in what we call Revelation 4.1 after he addresses the seven churches of Asia Minor, which would be modern-day Turkey. And so that's why we conclude that the material in Revelation 2 and 3 are the things which are. They were the churches that were in the present-day country of Turkey, but they were called Asia Minor then. John was very familiar with them, and Jesus sent them letters, real letters, to the pastors, to the messenger of the church, so that he could share with the church what Jesus had said about that particular church. And so those were things that were going on simultaneously while John was on the island of Patmos. Now again, you must remember there are no chapter-verse divisions in the original apocalypse or the book of Revelation. And so we have to follow linguistic keys. And that's why I can tell you that the beginning of the third division or the third part of the outline, Roman numeral three, if you were outlining in our system, would begin at Revelation 4 1, because we leave this earth and we are taken into heaven to see the great judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb that will be coming at a later point. All of this is before us, and so I don't want us to get bogged down. So Revelation chapter one in its entirety is the things which John was witnessing on the island of Patmos, the things he had just seen. Revelation two and three are the things which are, and then the things which must take place after these things begins at Revelation chapter four, verse one and goes all the way through the end of the book. And so as we start through the book of Revelation, chapters four and five deal with a scene in heaven where there is a great worship service going on, there is a judgment that's taking place, and then in chapter six, through an entire series of events, you have the opening of the sealed judgment. It would be like a scroll that would be unrolled after you unseal it to start with. And as you go back through the scroll, there would be another seal, then another seal, there would be seven of those seals. It goes all the way through chapter eight and verse one, and when there is the seventh seal is open, you're introduced to seven trumpet judgments. And then as you go through the book, you're going to see that when the seventh trumpet sounds in Revelation chapter eleven, when it is sounded, there is a series of digressions. And then you do not have the third series of judgments starting until chapter 15. Those are the bold judgments, sometimes called the vial, V-I-A-L, like a vial in a laboratory where you're pouring out plagues on something. And so you have three series of judgments. You have the seal judgments, and when the seventh seal is open, it opens up seven trumpet judgments that are introduced with trumpets. And then when the seventh trumpet sounds, you have seven bold judgments or plagues that are poured out upon the earth. And then the Lord Jesus comes in chapter 19. In chapter 20, Satan is bound for a thousand years. At the end of chapter 20, you have the great white throne judgment. Chapter 21, you have the new heaven and new earth. In chapter 21 and 22, you also have the new Jerusalem and the delights of the new Jerusalem, which is part of God's new creation where we'll spend eternity forever and ever. But there are several digressions. I'm going to just list where those digressions are. If you take out these digressions, you were just reading through the book of Revelation. If you take out these digressions, then you would have a story that would begin with an introduction, words to the churches, and then you would have two chapters of the great worship center in heaven, and then you would have seven seal judgments when the seventh seal is open, seven trumpet judgments, when the final trumpet is blown, the seventh one, then you would have seven more judgments which are called plagues or pestilences that would be unleashed on the earth. Now, in between those, just like if a teacher or professor, many times I have said in lectures when I wanted to tell them a parenthetical idea, something that would explain what is going on before I make my next point, I will say I digress. And so this is what happens. God is telling us while He is, for instance, the first digression is in chapter seven, verses one through eight, where you have six seals open, and before the seventh seal is open, God seals a hundred and forty-four thousand Jews that will be his flaming evangelists throughout the earth. He also talks about the salvation of the Gentiles in chapter seven and verses nine through seventeen. And then in chapter eight, what started in chapter six, verses twelve through seventeen, if you just took out that seventh chapter and started with chapter eight and verse one, then you could go right on unabated, just like you were reading. But God gives us chapter seven, where there is a digression to tell about the sealing of the 144,000 Jews. Then you have chapter 8 and chapter 9, where you have trumpet one, trumpet two, trumpet three, trumpet four, trumpet five, trumpet six, and then in chapter 10 and chapter 11, the first part of 11, 1 through 14, you have the digression of the little book. That's what it is. It's talking about as a little book you'll have to read to see what it is. And uh the fourth digression uh is the two witnesses. Then in chapter 11, verses 15 through the end of the chapter, verse 19, you have the seventh trumpet judgment. There's war in heaven and on earth. And then you have in chapter 12, uh the first six verses, the story of the man child, which is another digression. And then the remainder of chapter 12, there's war in heaven and war on earth, just like he started at the beginning of chapter 11. And then chapters 13 and all of 14 is the digression talking about the beast and the false prophet, praise for the lamb and the call for the harvest. And then in chapter 15, he picks up again without any more digressions and goes through the all seven bold judgments. As the last trumpet sounds, the bold judgments are poured out upon the earth, blows them soars, break out on people, the sea becomes blood, fresh water becomes blood, there's great heat, there's darkness, the Euphrates is dried up, there's great hail on the earth. Those are the seven pestilences that will come upon the earth in the end of time as we know it. And then you have the mystery of Babylon explained, religious Babylon and commercial Babylon in chapter 17. Then in chapter 17 and 18, really, and then in chapter 19 you have the second coming of Jesus Christ, that is, his return to earth, when he will set up his kingdom. He will bind Satan for a thousand years in Revelation 20, 1 through 10, and then beginning in chapter 20, verses 11 through 15, is the great white throne judgment when all lost will be raised out of torment to be judged, and they will be cast into the lake of fire, which the Bible calls hell or outer darkness. That is the final judgment. Then there is the new heaven, new earth, there is the new Jerusalem, and then the book of Revelation ends with the epilogue in chapter 22, verses 6 through 21. Now I know that's a lot to digest. If you would like a copy of the outline of the book of Revelation, just a couple of years ago, I redid it from scratch, went all the way through the book, translating verse by verse out of the Greek text, and came up with this outline that I pray will be a blessing to you. It's only two pages. I'll be delighted to email it to you if you ask me to do so. All you have to do is write drisp at TonyCrisp.org, dr crisp at TonyCrisp.org, and I'll be happy to send it to you, and I pray it'll be a blessing to you, and you can use it in reading through the book of Revelation. I know I have given you a lot in a short period of time, and I pray that as you read through the book of Revelation, the chapters that we have for you, that's what I'm going to do a podcast on, that they will be a blessing to you. God bless you, and I pray that as you read through these closing chapters, that indeed the blessing of God that He promises in the first chapter of the Book of Revelation in the first two verses will be a blessing to your life in Jesus' name. This is Tony Chris. This is on the way.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Chris. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.