Revelation

>>how do you feel about thebook of revelation? do you fear it? are you confused byit? have you ever even bothered to read it? staytuned for a sweeping overview. >>[music] lamb and lionministries presents christ in prophecy, a program thatfocuses on the fundamentals of bible prophecy, showing howcurrent events in the news relate to biblical predictionsof end time events and the soon return of jesus. now,here's your host, dr. david reagan.

>> greetings in the name ofjesus, our blessed hope, and welcome to christ in prophecy.the purpose of this program is to try to get you interestedin studying the book of revelation in detail bypresenting a sweeping overview of the whole book. and sincethat means we have a lot of ground to cover, let's getright to it. >>[music] >>the book of revelation waswritten in 95 ad, 65 years after the death, burial, andresurrection of jesus christ.

it was written by the apostlejohn who was imprisoned on the island of patmos by the romangovernment. the island of patmos looks like this today,beautiful, idyllic island. but let me tell you in his day andtime there was nothing there. it was a barren rock, and itwas a place for prisoners. patmos is a greek island thatis located off the western coast of turkey, modern dayturkey. in close proximity to the seven churches that arementioned in chapters 2 and 3. the church at large at thattime was suffering terrible

persecution, and john had beenarrested for his faith. you can image how astonished johnmust have been when jesus suddenly appeared to him, 65years after his death, burial and resurrection jesusreturned to this earth to that island of patmos and appearedto john. and of course he was particularly astonishedbecause jesus appeared to him in his glorified body with allof his heavenly glory restored. and it was soamazing that john fell upon his face as though dead. butjesus immediately consoled

him. he reached down, he puthis hand on his shoulder and jesus said these immortalwords, he said, "do not be afraid i am the first and thelast, and the living one. i was dead and behold i'm alivefor evermore and i have the keys of death and of hades."think of what he is saying here, jesus is saying, "john iam the beginning of history. i am the end of history. i amthe middle of history. i am the meaning of history. i wasdead and i've overcome death and therefore i have authorityover death. for those who put

their faith in me you shallovercome death." what a glorious statement that firstchapter ends with. that brings us to chapters 2 and 3. jesusbegins immediately to dictate seven letters to sevenchurches located in the area today that is known as westernturkey. the specific churches were ephesus, smyrna,pergamum, thyatira, sardis, philadelphia, and laodicea.now there were many more churches than these seven, buti believe these seven were selected because they wererepresentative of seven types

of churches that existed then,and which exist now. let's take a look at them. first wasthe church at ephesus and all of these are actualphotographs of these sites. the church at ephesus it was alegalistic church. it dotted the i's it crossed the t's itwanted to be certain about doctrine. but in the processof focusing upon doctrine it had lost its first love, ithad taken its eyes off jesus. then came the church at smyrnait was a church that jesus had nothing critical to say of. itwas the church that was

suffering terriblepersecution. then the church at pergamum it was theopposite of the church at ephesus. the church at ephesuswas concerned about doctrine, the church at pergamum was aliberal church it could care less about doctrine and it waswilling to welcome anyone into its fellowship. the church atthyatira was a pagan and cultic church that waschristian in name only. the church at sardis was a churchthat had a reputation for being alive but in reality itwas dead. but there was then

the wonderful church atphiladelphia, the church was an alive church, it had agreat zeal for the lord. and therefore it was a church thatwas meriting an open door for evangelism. and finallyperhaps the saddest of all the church at laodicea was aworldly, apathetic church, enamored with its ownimportance, and bored by the call to evangelism. now, inaddition to representing seven types of churches that existedthen, and which exist now i also believe the sevenchurches are prophetic of

seven periods of churchhistory during which one of the seven types wouldpredominate. all were present during these periods of churchhistory but one predominated. let me show you what i'mtalking about. the church at ephesus seems to berepresentative of the apostolic age from 30-100 whenthe church was focused upon doctrinal issues like: how doyou organize a church? how does a church run? how is itruled? what are the basic doctrines and so forth? andbegan to get its eyes off of

the founder of the church thelord jesus christ. then came the church at smyrna themartyr church. this was the period from 100-312 when thechurch was terribly persecuted and christians were fed to thelions. and christians were crucified all over the romanempire. by the year 312 the emperor constantine convertedto christianity and made it the religion of the empire.that sounded good but it was one of the worst things thatever happened to the church because the moment he declaredit to be the religion of the

empire, all of the paganpriests of the roman empire simply took off their pagansymbols, put on christian symbols and kept doing whatthey had been doing beforehand. so, the churchbegan to be corrupted from the inside out. then came thepergamum period, the apostate church from 312 to 590, 590being the time of the proclamation of theinfallibility of the pope. it was during this time that thechurch became an apostate church as babylonian practicesand all kinds of heathen and

pagan practices came into thechurch. the next period thyatira was the pagan periodfrom 590 to 1517 the church became very pagan. in fact sopagan that by 1517 it was selling salvation to thehighest bidder. and that is when martin luther said,"enough is enough, is enough." he nailed his thesis on thedoor and said, "let's get back to the bible." and we movedinto that period from 1517 to 1700 when the church seemed tobe alive. when protestant denominations like the churchof england, presbyterian

church and all these variousdifferent denominations began to develop and they weregetting back to the bible. and it looked like it was an alivechurch, but in reality it was a dead church because everyone of them immediately got in bed with some emperor, someruler, some state in order to be protected from persecution.and when the church gets in bed with the state it isalways the church that is corrupted. and so thereformation stopped short of going as far as it should havein terms of returning to the

word of god. for example therewas no return to the literal interpretation of bibleprophecy during the reformation period. so, therewas a reputation of alive, but it was dead. then we come tothe philadelphia church the alive church from 1700 to 1900we began--christian churches in europe began to translatethe bible into many different languages. they began to sendmissionaries out all over the world. and for the next 200years the church grew like it had never grown before. but asthe 20th century began we

moved into that final periodthe laodicean period, the church apathetic. whathappened was that the school of german criticism, highercriticism developed. it came across the channel intoengland, destroyed the church of england. then jumped overthe atlantic ocean into the united states. and today theresult of that german school of higher criticism is thatprobably 80% of all the seminaries in america today,if not more than that teach that this book is not theinspired word of god, but that

this book if man's search forgod, and therefore full of myth, legend, andsuperstition. and we are going right down the same path inthis country that occurred in england. we are about 100years behind them but we are right in the path of thechurch becoming more, and more apostate because we have anapathetic church enamored with its own importance and boredto death by the call to evangelism. well the bestsummary of these letters i've ever read in my life was asummary i found written by

john stott the great britishevangelical. he wrote a book called, "an introduction tothe new testament." and when he got to the book ofrevelation he summed up these letters in three statements,the best summary i've ever seen. he said, "here's whatjesus was saying to the church: to a sinful church: iknow: repent! to a doubtful church: i have conquered:believe! and to a faithful church: i am coming soon:endure." three summary words: repent, believe, endure. thatpretty well sums up the seven

letters to the seven churches.the suffering church in 95 ad desperately needed a secondtouch from the risen lord jesus christ. and theseletters made it a point that he knew about their plight,and he was concerned about their plight, that he caredfor them. they also drove home the fact that he was going tobe faithful to that promise he made, that the gates of hadeswill not prevail against my church. the church willsurvive. the church will be victorious. that brings us tochapter 4 and 5. at this point

in the book of revelation johnsaw a door open in heaven and he was raptured up to the verythrone room of god. one of the most glorious visions in allthe book of revelation. just as he was taken out of thisworld before being given the vision of the greattribulation. i think that we can view his snatching away assymbolic of the rapture of the church before the tribulationbegins. john begins to describe the throne room ofgod as one of constant worship. he points out thatthe throne itself is circled

by a rainbow to symbolizegod's faithfulness. and the throne is one of blazing lightto symbolize god's holiness. there are 24 elders who appearto symbolize the raptured church. there are seven lampsof fire that represent the seven fold nature of the holyspirit. there are four living creatures that represent allof god's creation. and there was a host of angels involvedin never ending worship. all of heaven sings, "holy, holy,holy is the lord god almighty who was, and who is, and who isto come." notice holy,

holy, holy, an affirmation ofthe trinity. holy, holy, holy the lord god. and the emphasishere is on his holiness, on the fact that he is allpowerful. and on the fact that he is the eternal god who hasalways existed and always will. and john is simplydazzled by this scenery. but suddenly, suddenly he noticesa scroll in the right hand of god and he becomes obsessedwith it because he recognizes it as the title deed to theearth. john knows that this earth was created for man. buthe also knows that man lost

his dominion over this earthwhen he sinned and satan stole that dominion. john is thentold there is only one person in all the universe who isqualified to open that scroll and reclaim man's dominionover this earth and that person is the lion of thetribe of judah. and when john turns to look at the lion hesees instead a bloody lamb with seven horns, and seveneyes, representing perfect wisdom and perfect power. andjohn realizes that the lamb and the lion are symbols ofjesus who came first as a

suffering lamb and will returnas a conquering lion. at this point jesus suddenly steps up,takes the scroll from god's hand. and when this happensall of heaven breaks forth in celebration singing thesewords, "worthy are you," speaking of jesus. "worthy areyou to take the scroll and to break its seals for you wereslain and purchased for god with your blood from everytribe, and tongue, and people, and nation and you have madethem to be a kingdom and priest to our god. and they,"you and i, "will reign upon

the earth." oh, what a daythat's going to be when we reign with the lord jesuschrist. at that point in my presentation i launched into asurvey of the tribulation of seven years when god is goingto pour out his wrath on those who have rejected his graceand mercy. he is also going to destroy the kingdom of theantichrist during that time. let's pick up now the story inchapter 19 with the return of jesus. >>which brings us to theglorious climax of the book of

revelation and chapters 19 and20 when jesus returns. the antichrist himself, and hisfalse prophet are in israel in the valley of armageddon witha vast army. i think waiting to battle the rebel armies ofasia. it is at this moment that jesus breaks from theheavens, returning to earth with the church and hisangels. yes, i said with the church. let me tell yousomething folks i believe with all my heart on the day thatjesus christ returns we will be with him. we will be thereas glorified saints, 100's of

millions of us hovering in theheavens on the ground. he was there once before. he wasthere once before. he got on a donkey. he rode down thekidron valley. it was filled with people, filled withpeople. they had heard about this miracle worker who hadresurrected lazarus from the dead. and they waved palmbranches and they cried out, "hosanna to the son of david.hosanna to the son of god." and a week later the samecrowd, "crucify him! crucify him!" but he is going torelive that moment. he is

coming back to the mount ofolives. he's coming with you and me. when his foot touchesthat mountain we are going to see it break in half. we aregoing to see him ride down that kidron valley once againthis time on a white war charger, the symbol of avictorious general. he is going to ride up to thateastern gate in psalm 24 it says that when he rides up thegate, the gate is going to cry out, "come on in king ofglory." and it is going to blow open and he is going togo up on that temple mount and

he is going to be coronetedking of kings and lord of lords. and we are going to bethere to shout, "hosanna to the son of david. hosanna tothe son of god." what a day that's going to be. i canhardly wait. oh, my what a day it's going to be. jesus iscoming. he is coming as king of kings. he is coming as lordof lords. and all the armies of armageddon are going to bedestroyed in a moment. there really is no battle ofarmageddon. he doesn't send an army out against theantichrist and his armies. it

says he speaks a supernaturalword, and when he speaks it. it says, "the eyeballs melt intheir sockets. the tongues melt in their mouth. theirskin falls from their bodies." there is no wonder that thatvalley is going to be filled with blood to the horsesbridle for a period of 200 miles because the people aregoing to be instantly destroyed. jesus doesn't fightanybody. he simply speaks the word. remember this is the onewho spoke the word and the whole universe came intoexistence. and he will speak

the word and the antichristwill be destroyed. at that point the lord is going toproceed to put the antichrist and the false prophet into thelake of fire, which is hell. and jesus will proceed to takesatan and bind him in a pit for 1,000 years. and at thatpoint jesus will judge all those who are left alive atthe end of the tribulation; all of those who live to theend of that period will be judged. they will be judged towhether or not they have accepted him as lord andsavior, and are therefore

eligible to enter into themillennium in the flesh. most will not, but there will bethose who will enter the millennium in the flesh. andfrom that small group the population of the world willbegin to grow once again, because we are told in thebook of isaiah that during the millennium people's life spansare going to returned to what they were at the beginning oftime. it says people will live as long as a tree. i thinkmost people who go into the millennium in the flesh willlive the entire period of the

millennium. the lord will thenestablish his worldwide reign. he will reign from mount zionin jerusalem. and the redeemed, you and i in ourglorified bodies are going to be scattered all over thisworld to reign with him over those in the flesh. the worldwill be flooded with peace, righteousness, and justice. ilove this artist idea of what the millennial kingdom islike. we are told that when jesus comes back the greatestearthquake in history is going to occur. it says everymountain will be lowered,

every valley will be liftedup. the plain of the earth is going to be level. it saysevery island will be moved. it says the city of jerusalemwill be lifted up and the implication is it is going tobe the highest point on planet earth. the city of jerusalemis lifted up. the glory of jesus christ is emanating fromthat as he reigns as king of kings and lord of lords overall the earth. the peoples of the earth are going there toworship the king. on the left you've got a man beatingswords into plowshares. in the

middle you've got the wolflying down with lamb. on the right you've got a little boyplaying with a cobra because no longer are they poisonous.nature is redeemed. the wolf as i say lies down with thelamb. the lion eats straw with the ox. children play withcobras. there is perfect peace within all of god's kingdombetween man and between the animal kingdom. at the end ofthat 1,000 years satan is going to be released and he isgoing to successfully tempt many of those in the flesh tojoin him in revolting against

the reign of jesus christ.i've often had people say, "how can that be? how can youlive for a 1,000 years in perfect peace, righteousness,and justice under jesus christ and then revolt at the end?"well folks, have you ever stopped to think what it wouldbe like to live in the flesh under the rule of the rod ofiron? all those in the flesh are still going to be in theflesh, they are still going to have all those fleshlydesires. they are going to have a little promiscuous sexover here, and some booze over

here, and some gambling overhere and all of this sort of thing. but they are going toknow that justice will be swift and it will be sure. heis going to rule with a rod of iron. you step out of line,you are arrested. you are taken before a judge in aglorified body. he gives a decision and there is noappeal because the decision is perfect, justice is swift,justice is certain. and so what happens is that those whohave that rebellious spirit are saying all through thatperiod of time, "we love you

jesus," while gritting theirteeth. but at the end satan is going to pull that rebellionout, and say, "let's got get that joker in jerusalem." andthe sad thing is that after 1,000 years of perfect peace,righteousness and justice the majority of those probably inthe flesh, probably the majority are going to rebelagainst the lord jesus christ and march on jerusalem todestroy the city of jerusalem. it is going to prove, what godis going to do here is he is going to prove once and forall that humanism is false.

humanism teaches that man isbasically good. the bible says no. humanism teaches that mancan be perfected with education and with the propersocial environment. all you've got to do is give a man aguaranteed job and a nice home, and a nice car and youwill revolutionize him. no, you don't. the only way youcan change human nature is you've got to have the holyspirit residing inside of you. and god is going to show thatone last time. let me tell you we are going in cycle here.history begins with two people

in a perfect society and theyrebel against god. it ends with all of humanity in aperfect society and they rise up and rebel against god. manhasn't changed one bit. satan and his rebels are going to bedefeated. satan will be cast into the lake of fire to betormented forever, together with his demonic hordes, theantichrist and the false prophet. and at this point theredeemed, you and i we are going to be removed from thisearth. we are going to be put in that new jerusalem thatjesus is preparing for his

saints right now. and then ithink we are from that point are going to watch someevents. i think we are going to see this one, all theredeemed who have died outside of a faith relationship withgod are going to be resurrected and they are goingto be judged at what the bible calls the great white thronejudgment. i think we'll watch that judgment. and each one ofthem will step before the lord and they will be judged oftheir works to determine their eternal destiny. and since noone can be justified by works

all of them will be condemnedto hell. it is a judgment of the damned, as people try tojustify themselves by their works to cover their sins.this brings us to chapters 21 and 22 the eternal state. atthat point when the great white throne judgment isfinished god is going to consume this earth with fireand all the pollution of satan's last revolt is goingto be burned away. and out of that fiery inferno is going tocome a new earth, a perfected earth. oh, my it is going tobe so wonderful. we are told

that we will then be lowereddown to this earth, to this new earth. we will be lowereddown inside that new jerusalem, and god himselfwill come down to earth to live among us. we always thinkabout going to heaven and living with god forever, thebible doesn't teach that. it teaches god comes to earth andhe lives among us forever, and we live in glorified bodies ona new earth in the presence of almighty god. we are going tohave intimate fellowship with our creator forever, and ever.it says we will see the face

of god. that's intimacy. i canhardly wait. well, what is the message of the book ofrevelation? the message is summed up at the verybeginning of the book in chapter 1 verse 7, "behold heis coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, eventhose who pierced him. and all the tribes of the earth willmourn over him. even so amen." and this message is reaffirmedat the end of the book. in chapter 22 verse 20 were thelast words of jesus spoken on this earth are, "behold, i amcoming quickly and my reward

is with me to render to everyman according to what he has done." those words were spokenby jesus 2,000 years ago on the isle of patmos. but keepin mind that to the lord a 1,000 years is like a day. asgod sees time those words were spoken two days ago. and as weawait the lord's return the book of revelation tells usthere are four things that we are to do. so use this is aspiritual mirror and see if you are doing these fourthings as you wait for the coming of the lord. firstobey. "blessed is he who heeds

the words of the prophecy ofthis book." not just the one who reads it but the one whoheeds it. are you obeying? we are to live our lives inobedience to the lord. jesus is to be lord of everything inour lives. i often tell people the holy spirit today iscalling us to commit our lives to holiness. that sounds sotheological. in practical terms here's what it means gohome and sit down take a piece of paper draw a line down themiddle and list all the activities of your life on theleft side. what i eat. what i

drink. what i watch ontelevision. the movies i go to see. the music i listen to.the vacation places i go to. just everything. and on theother side write whether or not jesus is lord of that? ishe lord of your music? is he lord of your tv? is he lord ofyour movies? because you are going to find some things thathe's not lord of. it is a daily struggle. but that iswhat holiness is all about, making jesus lord ofeverything in your life, and that is what this is talkingabout. number two we are to

worship. as you heed the wordsof this book worship god we are told. and let me tell yousomething folks, that means more than just the celebratorytype of congregational worship that we have been having hereas we have sung along with this wonderful quartet andlisten to them sing. as we go to church and we are involvedin great worship services. yes, it means that but itmeans more than that because the ultimate worship accordingto the bible is what you do after you leave there and howyou serve the lord with the

spiritual gifts that he'sgiven you. that is the greatest worship of all. andthen we are told to yearn. let the spirit and the bride say,"come." we are to live with an eternal perspective lookingfor the return of jesus and committing ourselves toholiness and to evangelism. in fact did you know that we aretold in 2 timothy chapter 4 that those who live yearningfor the coming of jesus, anyone who lives for theyearning for the coming of jesus will receive a specialcrown at the judgment seat of

jesus called the crown ofrighteousness, a crown that you can take and put rightback at his feet. i hope you are eligible for thatparticular crown. and finally we are told to protect. do notadd or take away from the words of this book. we are inan age where people are clipping the book right andleft. they are clipping out every scripture they don'tlike. we are in an age of the grossest apostasy in thehistory of the church. we need to stand for the word of godas we have never stood for it

before. speaking out boldlywhen those twisted and those pervert it. and we need tostand for what it says, its literal interpretation. toconclude let me say that the overall message of revelationis one of encouragement. the message is that god is on thethrone. he's in control. he has the wisdom, and the powerto orchestrate all the evil of mankind to the triumph ofjesus christ. let me summarize it in this way: god is incontrol. satan is doomed. jesus is destined to triumph.and you and i the redeemed

have the promise that we willrule with jesus over a world that is flooded with peace,righteousness, and justice. in other words folks, the messageof the book of revelation is we win in the end. and all ican say in response is hallelujah, and maranatha,come quickly lord jesus. praise the lord. >>[music] >>[clapping] >>that's our program for thisweek. i hope you will be back with us again next week, thelord willing. until then, this

is dave reagan speaking forlamb & lion ministries, saying, "look up, be watchful,for our redemption is drawing near!" >>[music] >>if you would liketo learn more about the book of revelation please consider dr.reagan's comprehensive survey entitled, "wrath and glory."in this easy to read book dr. reagan takes you through thebook of revelation one chapter at a time and clearly explainsthe meaning of each chapter, relying on a literal plainsense interpretation. the book

also contains dr. reagan'sresponses to the most commonly asked questions aboutrevelation, and concludes with lessons drawn from the book ofrevelation that we can apply to our lives as we try to livefor christ in the end times. you can secure a copy of thisbook for a gift of $20 or more and that includes the cost ofshipping. "revelation revealed" is a 75 minute dvdpresentation of a fascinating and informative survey of thebook of revelation. dr. reagan's masterful teachingand the art of pat

marvenko-smith brings thisvideo to life. "revelation revealed" is available for agift of $20 or more including shipping. when you place yourorder today you may obtain both of these helpfulresources for a gift of $30 or more including shipping. askfor offer #703. just call the number you see on the screenbetween 8 am and 5 pm central time, monday thru friday orplace your order on our website at lamblion.com. >>[music] we would like toinvite you to attend our

annual bible conference whichis scheduled july 15th and 16th at a conference center inthe dallas texas area. the theme of this year'sconference is great debates of bible prophecy. you can findmore detailed information about the conference on ourwebsite at lamblion.com, or you can call our office at thenumber you see on the screen between 8 am and 5 pm centraltime, monday thru friday. the dates again are july 15th and16th. put the conference on your schedule and plan to bewith us for an exciting two

days of great christian music,rich christian fellowship, and dynamic christian preaching. >>[music] >>thank you forjoining us on today's christ in prophecy, apresentation of lamb and lion ministries, anon-denominational ministry dedicated to teaching thefundamentals of biblical

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