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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong and Norman McNulty: The Book Of Revelation

Alistair Huong

An Overview on The Book of Revelation

Okay, so how many of you here have been through the Daniel class?

At least the Daniel class here in Avanholt.

Alright, how many of you have been through any type of study of Daniel on your own?

Because Revelation, I like to think of it as advanced Daniel class.

Daniel is like algebra, And Revelation is like calculus.

And just a few items to consider is that the book of Revelation is placed at the end of the Bible, But it was not the last book written.

Revelation, the last 3 chapters or so, talks about the restoration of Eden, essentially.

If you look back at Genesis, the first 3 chapters, it is how we lost Eden.

So the whole Bible is sandwiched between these chapters which talk about Eden lost and Eden restored.

But Revelation, unlike Daniel, does not contain any stories.

You know Daniel is like, it's prophecy 101.

Yet the first 6 chapters, primarily stories, except chapter 2, there's a very significant prophecy.

In chapter 10, There's no prophecy, there's just a story there.

But it's all pretty much you can divide in half.

And the first 6 stories help illustrate in picture form, in a story form, what the prophecies are about, how it can be prepared for the events, and so on and so forth.

And more than that, in Daniel, the prophecies pretty much explain themselves.

God gives a prophecy like Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.

Daniel comes in, he repeats the dream and then he says, and King, here is the interpretation thereof.

There's very little questioning, there's very little doubt.

The first, the head of gold, thou art that head of gold, after these shall rise an inferior kingdom, and so on and so forth.

The Beast of Daniel chapter 7, a beast represents a kingdom.

In Daniel chapter 8, it even names the kingdoms.

The rams with 2 horns, Medes and the Persians.

The goat with notable horn, that's Greece.

So Revelation as I said is a continuation.

And so what happens is we're gonna have to remember a lot of what happened in the book of Daniel, in order to fully understand the book of Revelation.

We're actually going to do a little bit of connecting the dots.

And actually what we're going to do today, I like to call this class the, it's a revelation overview.

We're not going to be studying any particular chapter by itself.

We're not really going verse by verse just yet.

It's like when they're coming out with a new movie or a new TV series, they give you like a 2 and a half minute, 3 minute, whatever clip to sort of give you the big picture, what is coming.

The overview, the big picture, what does revelation have to offer okay, so before we begin Let's bow our heads for prayer Father in heaven we come before you today remembering that you have asked us to study your Word.

And we are told that when we study the books of Daniel and Revelation we will have an entirely new religious experience.

And we long for that revival Lord and we know that the book of revelation has Important messages for us in these last days that it may give us the preparation.

We need to stand when The final events take place And so I pray that you'll be with us as we study.

May your spirit lead us and guide us and teach us is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, first of all, I mentioned this at the beginning of Daniel class, which was like, it feels like years and years ago, but not too long ago, I guess.

1 of the purposes for this class, Daniel class, Revelation class, in particular, is to help help us learn how to study the Bible.

You know, I'm not an authority in any way.

And especially in Revelation, I'm still studying a lot.

We're going to be learning how to study together, and I'm just going to be sharing some things that I've learned.

1 of the important things to do when you're studying a particular book is to be able to outline what that book is about.

Revelation can be, well first of all, Revelation there's 22 chapters.

That's almost twice as long as the 12 chapters in Daniel.

And Revelation can be divided into several chunks.

12346I have it written down as 6 distinct sections.

You won't find it, you know, Ellen White did not say to divide into these sections, but these are just an idea based on the themes or the topics discussed in those chapters, okay?

If you're taking notes, I'll try to Go slow.

Revelation chapters 1 through 3 is about the 7 churches.

Revelation 1 through 3 is about the 7 churches.

Revelation 4 through 7 is about the 7 seals.

Revelation 8 through 11 is about the 7 trumpets.

You notice a very significant theme popping up, right?

And then Revelation 12 through 14, I call it the great controversy synopsis.

The entire whole of the great controversy compressed into 3 chapters with the most significant events emphasized.

Revelation 15 through 19, This is where I have a little trouble giving a concise title, but Included is the 7 last plagues Destruction of Babylon and the second coming so final destruction if you want to call it that but the 7 last plagues is found there And then Revelation 20 to 22 is the final judgment and Eden restored Now I'm gonna be I'm gonna be referring back to this outline several times today We're giving an overview so you don't have to take my word for it, but this is just sort of what's coming.

Revelation, well, let's see where we should start.

Okay, let's start with what we've already seen.

Looking at these chapter divisions or this book outline, what is something fairly unique that has popped up several times already?

7 trumpets 7 seals 7 churches Let's look at a few verses Let's start in chapter 1 Revelation chapter 1 Revelation chapter 1 let's begin in verse Okay, we're gonna need that mic for people reading the text.

So, I'm going to ask someone to read the text.

Raise your hand and Carlos will give you the mic before you read.

This is going to be Revelation chapter 1 verse 4.

John to the 7 churches, which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the 7 spirits which are before his throne.

Okay, hang on to the mic and let's read verse 20 of the same chapter.

The mystery of the 7 stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the 7 golden candlesticks.

The 7 stars are the angels of the 7 churches, and the 7 candlesticks which thou sawest are the 7 churches.

You know, I think that text sort of is the best text, because it sort of ad nauseum uses the number 7.

You know, it's like the 7 stars, 7 golden candlesticks, 7 stars are the 7 angels of the 7 churches, which are the 7 candlesticks.

Revelation Chapter 1

Well, let's let's bow our heads for prayer and we'll get started Father in heaven, we're so thankful that you have woken us up Although it is a brisk morning.

We're thankful that you have warmed us with Your presence here in burden hall I pray that as we open your word, particularly the book of Revelation, that you will give us understanding and that you'll give us clarity so that we may see Jesus clearer.

We gave you a sort of a teaser, an overview, different perspectives or different ways you can look through the book of Revelation.

But today I want to focus first of all, and we may get to other things, I want to focus on John's prescribed method or his hermeneutic if you will.

All it means is how you understand something, how you go about studying something.

That's sort of the working definition, it's not the technical theological 1.

But in the first few verses of Revelation, it sets the stage by telling us the perspective by which we can thoroughly and clearly understand this book.

It is a treat, I guess, in a way, because not all books in the Bible does that.

Sometimes I wish the Apostle Paul would give us a little more assistance in understanding what he's writing.

So the first 3 verses, I like to call it Revelations Hermeneutic, or how we can understand the book of Revelation.

The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.

And I want to spend a few moments here because it lays a foundation on the rest of the book, the rest of this study.

But in the title of my Bible, it says of Saint John the Divine.

The proper title should be Revelation of Jesus.

And we talked about this last time and later on in this chapter we're going to discuss 1 of the ways in which we can see Jesus revealed.

Okay, but skipping ahead here, it says the Revelation of Jesus Christ which who gave unto Him?

So this book originated from God Himself, which means it comes from a divine origin.

But very specifically, the book of Revelation expresses it in no uncertain terms.

And it continues, God gave it unto him, which is Jesus, to show unto his servants things which must when Shortly come to pass.

Keep that in mind, we're coming back to that.

And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

So you see the the process by which the revelation is given.

It comes from God the Father, it goes to Jesus, it goes to an angel, and then it goes to John, and then it comes to us.

And there's something unique that happens between the angel and the John stage.

God simply gives it to Christ, Christ to his angel, and then the angel doesn't just give it to John.

The angel does something with the message.

That's not the word, at least in the King James, that's not the word it uses.

That word is very important because it helps us understand Revelation.

The word signifies, I looked it up in Webster's 1828 dictionary, it says to make known something either by signs or words.

So in other words, the angel signifying something translated the direct meaning into signs or symbols.

So the book of Revelation from the very onset it explains itself as being interpreted through signs and symbols.

If you Remember William Miller, he is a prominent figure in our church's history.

He had a principle of prophetic interpretation or biblical interpretation.

It is you take everything literal as much as possible unless there is an obvious need to take something symbolically.

I think that is a very practical, very logical way of reasoning.

But the book of Revelation from the onset, it says this book was written using signs.

So from its very beginning, it helps us understand it's not just literal.

And there are signs that contain in this book.

But you know the difficulty is not to take everything symbolically.

But anyway that's something we'll have to take on a case-by-case basis.

But from the very beginning, it warns us, Look, this thing is written in signs.

It says, John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the what?

Again, this is another key to understanding Revelation.

In fact, let's skip down to chapter 1 and verse...

We'll have someone read that 1 verse for us.

Can you read that from the beginning 1 more time?

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." A very important clue to how to understand Revelation is that John simply wrote down what he was shown.

And John simply writes down what he sees.

So there's a lot of visual effects in the book of Revelation.

There are sequences, things that come, 1 came after the other.

He came up in this place, in the seas, in the land, and there are a lot of numbers.

He had 10 heads, 7 horns, or 7 heads, excuse me, 10 heads, or 7 heads, 10 horns.

So in order for us to really understand Revelation, we need to have very vivid imaginations to see what John is describing.

Ephesus

We have a big class, so I'm gonna try my best to speak up, but I think my voice will only project so far.

But just to remind you, we're on the recording, So if you have a comment or a question if you're gonna read a Bible verse Raise your hand Carlos in the back will give you the mic and the mic is only for the recording It's not on any amplification system.

So you're still gonna have to speak up when you when you speak on the mic, so Hey, Dodge, so make sure that we be nice to the listeners on Audioverse.

Okay, let's pray and then we'll get started.

Father, this morning we come before you thankful for another day of life and also thankful that you have given us another opportunity to open the book of Revelation.

And as we study this book, we pray that we will receive that blessing that you have promised in chapter 1 and as we delve into some deep things today I pray that you will sharpen our minds open our hearts that we may hear what the Spirit wants to teach us.

I invite you here to be in our presence, to be our teacher.

Alright, last week we went through chapter 1.

I'm not going to go through, review very much.

There's a lot to cover, but I just want to touch on 1 thing that I didn't get to mention last week.

We sort of glossed over it, but I think it's important enough to discuss it or point it out at least.

Revelation 1 and verse 10 it says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet." And we know later that voice is described as Jesus.

Now it's very interesting that John points out what day it was that he received the vision or he received the information given in the book of Revelation.

It was, to use the Bible's words, it was on the Lord's day.

And interestingly enough, a few, several times actually, I was looking through sort of the beliefs or fundamental beliefs of various Sunday-keeping churches and almost all of them quote this verse as a reason why they worship on the first day of the week or Sunday.

Where in this verse does it tell us that it was on the first day of the week?

You can look in the context, you can look in the whole chapter, the only thing it tells us is that the only description for that day is that it is the Lord's Day.

And so what we, the burden upon us is to go through the Bible to identify which day does the Bible, does God claim as his own.

Does God claim the first day, you know, the day that he resurrected, that's really the explanation.

Or does he actually tell us that another day is the Lord's day?

Now, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.

I'll just throw a few of them out, see if you can finish the rest of the verse.

And on the seventh day, God ended his work, the work which he has made.

And he rested on the seventh day and hallowed it for the seventh day is the what Sabbath of the Lord thy God and then in Isaiah chapter 58 also it says if thou will call the Sabbath a delight and turn away thy foot from doing thine own pleasures on..." what?

"...my holy day." And then in Mark chapter 2 it says, "...man was not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for man.

So the Son of Man therefore is also Lord of the Sabbath 3 texts just off the top of our heads very clearly God clearly delineates the Sabbath as his day the Lord's Day So what that means is that John felt it's so important to let the believers know that Jesus appeared on to him on the Sabbath that he mentioned in the beginning of Revelation.

So you remember why he was on Patmos, right?

John was in exile there by himself with no believers.

So it was a confirmation that the Sabbath is still the day for us to worship for Jesus to appear to him on the Sabbath.

If if Sunday was a day we ought to keep then John would have said Jesus came to me on the first day of the week or he would have clearly stated and because the first day of the week is the day that we need to worship but no he emphasizes the Lord's Day and believe it or not I tend to think that there's a little bit of a hint that somewhere later on down in this book, this Sabbath issue, the Lord's Day issue is going to come up again.

And for those of us who study Revelation, we know that's the case.

Alright, so we're going to move on to chapter 2 today.

We're going to discuss the first of the 7 churches.

So let's begin in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 1.

Okay I'm gonna try my very best to get it all in because there's a lot that we need to cover.

So if you'll bear with me, I'm going to read through the whole passage of the church.

That's the first 7 verses And we'll be dwelling on those today.

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth the 7 stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks.

I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.

And thou has tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars, and has borne, and has patience, and for my name's sake has labored, and has not fainted.

Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because you have left your first love.

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will love and we and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent but this Thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit Says unto the churches to him that over cometh will I give to eat of the tree of life Which is in the midst of the paradise of God?

There you have it 7 verses first church of revelation All of the all of the message to the churches can be divided into a similar pattern.

Jesus is introduced and it's introducing him with some very special characteristic.

And then he comes and he commends the church.

He gives a commendation of stuff that the church is doing right or doing well.

And then he comes and he rebukes the church, something that he has against them.

And he gives them, after that, the curse and the admonition, meaning this is what you can do to repent and if you don't repent this is going to be the curse that you're going to receive and then finally he comes with a blessing for those who overcome.

So that's 12345 sort of chunks that he can break his messages down into.

And with that sort of framework in mind, some of these churches are interesting because there are certain ones that don't have certain parts or components.

And Jesus, first of all, he's introduced, again, using very visual words or visual imagery.

We're going to need to see this picture in our mind's eye in order for us to really understand.

First of all, it's a repetition of how he appeared in chapter 1, isn't it?

And so it's a repetition of what we've already seen.

Jesus is seen as having 7 stars in his right hand, and those are the 7 angels, or the 7 ministers, 7 Messengers, that's what the word angel means, of the churches.

So the leaders or the messengers to the church, where are they?

He's holding them and he's walking in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks.

At least in the Bible, what does a candlestick look like?

Yeah, that's the only kind of candlestick I really see described in the Bible.

So that's the best lead we have to go on.

Of course, there's other kinds of candlesticks.

The menorah, the comment that was stated was it looks like the menorah, 7 branch candlestick.

It's not just 1 candlestick with 7 branches because Jesus can't walk through the little spaces between the branches.

It appears as though there are 7 distinct candlesticks each with 7 branches.

And we also notice that we don't get into the holy place of the sanctuary until Revelation chapter 4.

And that's where you see the actual candlestick.

Right here, we're still on the earth, okay?

Jesus is walking through the 7, 7 branched candlesticks.

And what do those branches have on them based on the sanctuary?

I mean this is just a trivia question, but...

The candlesticks are like a tree with 7 branches with fruit on them.

Series

Alistair Huong and Norman McNulty: The Book Of Revelation

Smyrna and Pergamos

Transcript

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