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PREPARE!!

Get Ready for the next message by reading the section we'll be talking about!

For Nov 26/27 Read Revelation

19-20

CLICK HERE FOR Pastor Steve's Speaker Notes

A TRAIL GUIDE FOR REVELATION

THE BIG PURPOSE:

To inspire faithfulness to Jesus

in the midst of overwhelming persecution and temptation

In the midst of all the graphic visions, speculations and predictions, remember that Jesus gave John this vision so that we would "read...listen...and obey" (Rev 1:3). We are blessed if we "obey the words of prophecy written in this book" (Rev. 22:7)

Not a secret code to decipher the timetable of end times

There's nothing wrong with studying and trying to figure out what God's time table might be. But we miss the whole point of Revelation and other Biblical prophecy if our sole focus is to figure out the sequence and timing of end times events.

Apocalypse: To Unmask, Unveil - Revelation will:

-unmask evil

-unveil Jesus: Jesus has won, is winning, will win...

The actual word for Revelation is Apokalypis. That word has come to have all kinds of foreboding overtones to it. But really, it simply means to unveil - to pull back the curtain and show us what's REALLY going on, both in the future AND right now!

...But, things are not as they seem

Jesus is risen and Jesus is king (not just will be someday - RIGHT NOW!)

However, we live in a world where that just doesn't feel true most of the time. In fact it feels just the opposite. It often feels like evil is unstoppable and unbearable. Revelation will constantly beckon us to see things differently in spite of how awful and overwhelming it might be.

It’s what John saw next, not necessarily what happens next

Revelation is not a sequential narration of end times events. Over and over again, it says, "then I saw..." and it jumps all over the place historically. The first several chapters seem to be future judgments. Then we get to chapter 12 and it's clearly a graphic vision flashback to the first Christmas when Jesus was born.

It cannot mean for us what it could not mean for them (the original first century audience)

Jesus doesn't just give John graphic visions and prophecies to be recorded. He tells him that these visions are not just about some far off distant future. They are for people living in specific cities at the end of the first century. So it has to be more than just predictions about events in the far off future.

Almost everything should be seen as symbolic, not literal

This particular type of literature is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic Biblical and other literature is filled with graphic images that almost always mean more than just the event, creature or numbers being described. They are full of meaning and symbolism. The intent of this kind of literature is to move and inspire our souls - not just describe the details of events and creatures.