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It Is Written Canada

The Beatitudes of Revelation

Chris Holland

The Beatitudes of Revelation- Do You Hear What I Hear?

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

I would like to begin today by asking a question.

I'm not talking about some shallow pan frying or a little saute oil in a pan.

You know in my younger years I worked at many restaurants and even worked at McDonald's and I've done my fair share of deep frying.

Now once while working at a restaurant as a manager, I was walking to the front of the restaurant from the back room and unbeknownst to me, a worker was cleaning the fryer.

He had emptied the hot oil into a deep pan.

You see, you have to clean a fryer while the oil is hot.

Well, that deep pan happened to be sitting on top of a five-gallon bucket.

As I came around the corner, I did not see this pan and five-gallon bucket, and I knocked the pan off the bucket and the oil fell on my feet and on the floor.

I began to feel the heat of that oil penetrating my shoes.

The worker began throwing scoops of ice onto the floor and onto my feet while I hurriedly tried to remove my shoes.

I only began to just feel the power of the heat, that 335 degrees, 123 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than boiling water.

However, did you know that oil will also boil?

Olive oil boils at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peanut oil at 440 degrees Fahrenheit, corn oil at 475, soybean oil at 495 degrees Fahrenheit and safflower oil at 510 degrees.

In fact, when you're heating oil to these types of temperatures, they reach their flash point long before they boil.

This is when oil begins to vaporize into the air and it becomes combustible and be made to ignite for a moment.

Even more interesting is the fact that as oil reaches its boiling point, in many cases it will reach what's called the fire point.

This is the point where the oil will ignite and The fire and the flame are sustained across the surface of that oil.

Now it may seem a little hard to grasp temperatures of this magnitude.

The Apostle John found himself facing these types of temperatures.

In the first century AD, the practice of emperor worship was very common for Roman emperors to demand.

In fact, a study of history reveals that this was the case with the emperor of Rome at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation.

His name was Domitian and he demanded worship.

Many Christians died in their defiance of the emperor's command to worship him.

And those deaths were often executed in very gruesome and heinous ways.

There is not an eyewitness account of the event that I am about to describe, just simply a written record in Tertullian's book of history.

I want us to go back in time to the first century A.D.

All the other apostles of Jesus had died, except for the apostle John.

I imagine in my own mind that the Apostle John was leading people to Christ, assisting the church to grow by leaps and bounds, when a knock came on the door and then the door was thrown open by the Roman soldiers.

I can picture as they dragged John from his Ephesus home to prison where he was condemned as a heretic unless he submitted to sprinkling some salt on the altar in honor of the Emperor Domitian.

Of course John refused to blaspheme his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and worship the Emperor.

And so as he waited in that lonely cell, I can only imagine the things that ran through his mind.

All the original apostles had been martyred or died.

But any feelings of loneliness I'm sure were short-lived as his faith was strong.

The emperor may have been there in the crowds, we don't know, but I imagine he came to see his kingdom finally rid itself of the remnant of Christ's original 12 disciples.

The crowds are cheering as John is led to his fate.

The fire had been stoked as hot as it could.

And inside that cauldron was oil and it was boiling.

I'm sure flashing flames across the surface.

As those temperatures of the oil likely exceeded 400 degrees Fahrenheit, John was led.

He was led to some type of platform, given a last opportunity to change his mind, but it would not be.

Then in 1 fail swoop, He was cast into that pot of boiling oil and as the crowds cheered, something happened.

The cheering began to quiet, to quiet to a still silence as Everyone gasped in amazement.

John simply stood in the oil with this boiling hot 400 degree oil not affecting him 1 bit.

I don't know for sure, but I can imagine it was just like that scene of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the book of Daniel chapter 3.

1 like the Son of Man was standing in his midst.

I can only imagine the fury of the emperor waxing hot as he saw John unaffected.

Who knows how they got John out of this oil.

It would have been too hot for anyone else to touch.

And as he exited that cauldron, there is no doubt that all the people knew that they weren't dealing with just any man here.

And so, knowing that they probably wouldn't be able to kill him, he was banished.

Banished to the rock mining island of Patmos.

He would be condemned to die there as a physical laborer, mining rock, condemned as a criminal to die.

It's on that lonely island of Patmos that we will journey for the coming weeks because it was while John was on that island that the Apostle John was given a vision.

As the Bible says in Revelation chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, it was a very special vision.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place.

And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw." Did you hear those words?

The word revelation in the Greek is the Greek word apokalupsis, which means the unveiling.

Now when you veil something it means that you're concealing it or you're disguising it.

To unveil means to disclose, to reveal, to draw back the curtain.

To all my friends in the Christian world who claim that the book of Revelation is a sealed book which cannot be understood, even the title of the book itself disagrees with such a claim.

This book is to be understood because it itself is an unveiling.

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, given by God the Father, passed on to Jesus, and then given to an angel, and then given to the Apostle John to write down in his Word.

So it serves then to ask, what is it that has been revealed?

Right here in verse 1 it tells us, it says, what must shortly take place.

Now many of us know this already, but the book of Revelation is a revealing, it's an unveiling.

So often we get so lost in all the talk of the churches and the beasts and the trumpets and the seals and the thunders and the plagues that we lose the whole point of the book of Revelation.

And that is that it is revealing what must soon take place to bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Throughout the whole book of Revelation, the imminence of Christ's return is the theme.

The dominant theme of the book is that Jesus Christ wins and Satan loses.

We must never lose our focus when studying or reading about such matters.

This book clarifies that the soon coming of Jesus is returned and it calls for a people to prepare to meet Him.

And if there be any question, John wants to further clarify that matter by stating in verse 2, "...who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw." Let us remember as we study this book, as we study the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, that is to say, these are God's words.

We are reading and these words which we read and study are the testimony of Jesus as well as the testimony about Jesus.

Then as we turn to continue to verse 3, we get to the heart of the message today and preparation for our series the next 6 weeks.

Notice what verse 3 says, 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.

The word blessed is a word that literally means to be joyful or to be made happy.

It is the same word used over and over again by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

In fact, in Revelation 1-3, it is the first of 7 times the word blessed is used.

Those blessings pronounced in the book of Revelation.

The Beatitudes of Revelation- What’s Your Legacy?

I want you to stick with me today in the program.

But how would you react if I read these words?

Ap'arti, nai lege tonuma hine ap'nantai, ek ton kapon aton, ta gar egra aton, akuleo the met aton.

Et aduvi, vosem dei sello, descentem mihi, scribe, beati mortu, qui en domino, morintur.

Have you not brushed up on your Greek lately?

You know, actually I don't speak Latin and have probably done a very poor job of reading it.

What I read to you in both cases was Revelation 14, 13.

First in the Koine Greek, what the New Testament was originally written in, and then I read in Latin.

The predicament of not understanding the scriptures that you just experienced just a moment ago is the same predicament of all of England in the 16th century and before.

There was no Bible readily available in English.

Only John Wycliffe had translated it into English, but that was handwritten and not so easily attainable.

So for the common people, Their only source of truth and the Word of God was through the clergy.

In about 1520, on to the scene came a Roman Catholic priest who had been educated at Oxford University and Cambridge.

He believed that all men should be able to have the scriptures in their native tongue.

He sympathized with the principles of the Reformation, and his preaching put him at odds with many in the clergy.

He is often not recognized for his contributions in the Reformation.

Some scholars, however, refer to him as the father of the English Reformation, or some as the apostle to England.

He believed that God had called him to bring to the people of England the Bible in English.

So William Tyndall went to the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, to request the blessing of the Church in his translation.

However, no such blessing was to be given, so Tyndale, feeling convicted by God, translated anyways.

He was financed for this immense project by a good friend of his, who was also a port merchant, Sir Humphrey Monmouth.

Once, over dinner, while arguing with another priest, the priest taunted Tyndale with the statement, we are better to be without God's law than the Pope's.

Tyndale was so infuriated by this priest that he replied, I defy the Pope and all his laws.

If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the scriptures than you." Because the situation grew far too dangerous in England, Tyndale knew that he must move his base of operation and translating somewhere else.

It is difficult to know exactly where Tindall went and where he did all of his work because he was a master of hiding and moving before the authorities could find him.

However, what is clear is that Tindall visited Hamburg and Wittenberg, Germany where in Wittenberg he met with Martin Luther.

But Tyndall continued his work of translation until finally, finally he began to print that Bible somewhere in Cologne.

His friend Humphrey Monmouth continued to finance him and helped get the Bibles into England by smuggling them in on grain shipments.

As the Word of God began to spread, it caused great anxiety among the clergy, as well as the political leadership of the country.

King Henry VIII, who was the king of England at the time, was embroiled in a controversy himself.

He had married his dead brother's wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had produced no male heir to the throne.

So he was going about trying to get a divorce and to get the Pope to allow that divorce.

And so it was in that political setting that the English Bible made inroads to England.

Now while at first King Henry was very enchanted with Tyndale, when he found out that Tyndale would not support his divorce claims, he was infuriated.

But meanwhile Tyndale continued to translate and print the English Bible.

In 1525, the English New Testament was finished and made its way all across England.

Tyndale continued his work and united his efforts with the people like John Frith and Miles Coverdale.

And work began on the Old Testament and all was going well.

Meanwhile back home in London, a new bishop came, Bishop Stokesley.

He was a cruel man who wanted 1 thing more than any other, and that was the capture of William Tyndall.

Tyndall was a difficult man to find because he knew that many were seeking after his life.

He was working in WOMS, and the completion of the Old Testament was to come soon.

And while working there, Tyndale had found a new friend who helped him a great deal, Henry Phillips, who was also an Englishman.

1 day as Henry and William were returning from a church service where William had preached, Henry insisted upon buying lunch for William Tyndall.

As they walked, soldiers came capturing William, Thinking his friend to be in grave danger, he called for Henry to run.

But Henry simply replied, This is the man.

Unbeknownst to William Tyndale, he had been betrayed by Henry Phillips, who had been financed by Bishop Stokesley.

William Tyndale was taken to Vilverden Castle in Belgium, where he was arrested and imprisoned.

Let me read to you the charges that went against Tindal.

First, he maintains that faith alone justifies.

Second, he maintains that to believe in the forgiveness of sins and to embrace the mercy offered in the Gospel is enough for salvation.

Third, he asserts that human traditions cannot bind the conscience, except where their neglect might occasion scandal.

Fourth, He affirms the freedom of the will.

Fifth, he denies that there is any purgatory.

Sixth, he affirms that neither the virgin nor the saints pray for us in their own person.

Seventh, He asserts that neither the Virgin nor the Saints should be invoked by us.

And on October the 6th, 1536, William Tyndale was strangled and then burned at the stake.

He died a martyr's death, trying to bring the Bible to the common people in the common language.

In 1537, Miles Coverdale finished the work of William Tyndale and the entire English Bible made its way across England.

This time, with the stamp of the approval of the King, the Tyndale Bible was such a good translation that it was the foundation for the work for the King James Bible, which was commissioned in 1611.

William Tyndale, he was a man willing to die for his faith.

A man willing to die to bring the Word of God to the common people.

I'd like you to open your Bibles to Revelation, the 14th chapter and verse 13.

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them." A simple and concise statement pronouncing a blessing on those who die in the Lord.

And as we look at this text, I would like to point out 3 items of interest.

The first blessing is pronounced on those who die in the Lord.

The Greek word in can be translated within, among or for.

The point is this, those who have their full trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who die before his return are blessed.

Now I want you to notice the context of this passage in just the previous verse in Revelation 14, 12.

Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Those who die in the Lord or those who die for the Lord, are those who have been true to Him, by having their faith in the reality that we are saved by our faith in Him, and the fruit of their faith is obedience to Jesus Christ.

Sometimes the idea of faith is made to be very complicated.

However, it doesn't need to be complicated.

The word in Greek for faith and the Greek word for belief are actually the same exact word.

The Bible is quite simple and defines faith in Hebrews chapter 11 and in verse 1.

And this is what it says in Hebrews 11 verse 1.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

The word substance can be translated confidence or foundation, so let's read it again with 1 of those other definitions.

Now, faith is the foundation of things hoped for, the evidence of the things not seen.

Faith in Jesus can be summarized by saying that He is the very foundation, He is the very substance, He is the very essence of who you are.

Being in the Lord literally means to be in him.

The Beatitudes of Revelation- What Left Behind Missed

On October 3, 2014, theaters across North America released the movie, Left Behind, The End Begins.

Both the movie and the series of novels that it is based on have received mixed reviews from the secular and religious worlds for its portrayal of the final events of this world's history.

The foundational framework of the movies and novels is the concept of a secret rapture.

As the movie follows the lives of several key characters, millions of people across the world disappear in what is interpreted as the second coming of Jesus or the secret rapture.

This apocalyptic action thriller then depicts the beginning of a 7 year period called the Tribulation, the most trying time in Earth's history.

I do commend the authors of the book and others who are trying to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ through this movie and book series.

However, both the books and the film omit some of the most startling realities of the biblical teaching of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

This great omission potentially has dangerous consequences as it may actually diminish the sense of urgency for individuals to make these eternal decisions without delay.

Today on It Is Written, we will continue our study on the Beatitudes of Revelation.

7 blessings that are announced in the Book of Revelation.

Today is the sixth of a seven-part series.

If you've missed any of the previous shows, you can go to our website.

It is written Canada.ca or to our YouTube channel YouTube.com forward slash IIW Canada and there you may watch any previous programs.

Today we will open our Bibles to Revelation 22 and there we will find the sixth beatitude.

This sixth beatitude demonstrates why what left behind omitted can be so dangerous.

In Revelation chapter 22 And in verse 7 we read this, Behold, I am coming quickly.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

The book of Revelation warns that Jesus is coming quickly.

The great oversight of left behind and the secret rapture is the teaching that when Jesus comes again and secretly takes everyone away, that there exists a second chance.

A probationary period of time where people who weren't ready can now get ready.

Now, we will see in just a moment that this is not true, but also creates a dangerous spirit of procrastination of our preparedness for the coming of Jesus.

The real problem we face, friends, is that the secret rapture is not a Biblical teaching.

Rather, it is based on the teachings of a Catholic priest by the name of Ribera in the late 16th century in order to draw attention away from the Bible prophecies about the Catholic Church.

He founded a new system of interpreting the Bible called Futurism.

This method of interpretation said that Bible prophecy, particularly in Revelation, would not find its fulfillment until sometime in the distant future.

This new concept eventually found its way into the teachings of a John Darby, who was a former Anglican priest in Ireland who had become disenfranchised with formal denominational religion.

Darby's teachings were then popularized through Cyrus Schofield.

Cyrus Schofield was a pastor in Texas when he came under the influence of Darby's teaching.

Later in life, Scofield gave this new theology a voice as he encapsulated in teachings into the reference notes of his tremendously popular Scofield Reference Bible.

This improbable series of events led to the widespread promotion of the secret rapture theory.

Series

The Beatitudes of Revelation

The Beatitudes of Revelation- What’s Your Legacy?

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

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