Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August
19, 2012
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
Baptism
We have made it through the prophetic portion of the book of Revelation:
We saw the
unfolding of the events of the horrible seven year Tribulation.
We saw the
Return of Jesus Christ to the earth followed by His 1,000 year reign.
We saw the New
Jerusalem, where eternity with God unfolds.
Now we will look at the last few verses that sort of “wrap up” the whole package and put a bow on
it.
22:6-13 The Wrap up
:6 Then he said to me, “These words are
faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to
show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
:6 faithful – pistos
– trusty, faithful; that can be relied on
:6 true – alethinos
– real, true, genuine; the opposite of fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary
:6 which must – dei
– it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper
:6 shortly – tachos –
quickness, speed
:6 the Lord God of the holy
prophets
Other translations read something
like this:
(Re 22:6 NASB95) the Lord, the God of
the spirits of the prophets
This is an interesting title for God.
As far as I can tell, this seems to be the only place in the Bible where
God is referred to in this way.
(2 Ch 20:20 NKJV) —20 So they rose early in the morning and
went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they
went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of
Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord
your God, and you shall be established; believe His
prophets, and you shall prosper.”
Lesson
Bible Reliability
The words that
John has written down are “faithful and true”.
You can count on them.
That’s because the things we’ve been studying in the book of Revelation
come from the same
God that inspired the prophets of old.
A significant portion of the Bible is made up of “prophecy”, where God is
speaking to His people and where He is telling them about things in their
future.
(Am 3:7 NKJV) Surely the Lord God
does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His
servants the prophets.
There are some amazing, crazy, specific things spoken of by the prophets
long before they happened. And then they
happened.
For example, there were quite a few specific prophecies that deal with the
first coming of the Messiah.
What are the odds?
Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science
Speaks (Moody Press, 1963), that applies the
science of probability to some of the prophecies of Jesus.
First, Stoner looks at just eight of the prophecies and considers the
probability of just these being fulfilled by one man. (from
Evidence That Demands A Verdict… pg.174-176)
Being
born in Bethlehem
(Mic.5:2)
Preceded
by a messenger (Is.40:3)
Enters
Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9)
Betrayed
by a friend (Ps.41:9)
Sold
for 30 pieces of silver (Zec 11:12)
Betrayal
money thrown in the temple, buying a potter's field (Zech 11:13)
Silent
before accusers (Is.53:7)
Crucified
(Ps.22:16)
Stoner concludes that the odds of any man that might have lived down to the
present time fulfilling all eight of these prophecies are 1 in 1017.
That's a one with
seventeen zeroes after it!
To grasp the size of this number Stoner writes:
“Suppose we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the
state two feet
deep. Now mark one
of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state.
Blindfold a man and
tell him that he can travel as far as he wished, but he must pick up one silver
dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting
the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing
these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their
day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”
That’s just the chances that EIGHT of the prophecies could be fulfilled in
a single person.
If we
take 48 of the prophecies, the odds increase to 1 in 10157 (That’s
a “1” with 157 zeroes after it). I’m not sure we can even comprehend that
number.
And
yet there were over 300 prophecies of Jesus.
And this is just the prophecies concerning His first
coming.
If the prophecies concerning His first coming came true,
how possible is it that the prophecies concerning His Second Coming will come
true?
There are times
when I get those ugly little thoughts running through my head that go something
like this:
“You are such a fool for giving your life for this religion thing. You are not an idiot, so why are you serving
a God you cannot see? Why are you
spending your life for something that doesn’t give you much earthly rewards?”
And when I hear that voice, one of the things I look to is this – My Bible
is VERY reliable.
I can count on it.
It is faithful and true.
The Bible tells me that I’m not wasting my time following
this God I cannot see. When Jesus says,
(Jn 3:16
NKJV) For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
I can know it’s the truth.
And that’s one of the chief ways I deal with doubt.
:7 “Behold, I am coming
quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book.”
:7 quickly – tachu
– quickly, speedily (without delay)
Related to the word translated
“shortly” in verse 6.
:7 Blessed – makarios
– blessed, happy
:7 keeps – tereo
– to attend to carefully, take care of; to guard; to observe
This probably isn’t “keep” as in
the idea of keeping a copy of your Bible locked up in a safe. It’s the idea of obeying what the Bible says.
:8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And
when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who
showed me these things.
:8 saw – blepo
– to see, discern, of the bodily eye; metaph. to see with the mind’s eye
:8 heard – akouo
– to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf; to hear
:8 saw and heard
This is John’s testimony about what
he is writing.
Some take the book of Revelation
and say that John was simply writing a book using a strange form of writing, a
form filled with symbols and metaphors.
These folks will tend to say that
there is no “Second Coming” of Christ, because it’s all symbolic.
Yet John tells us here in his own
words that he “saw and heard” these things.
The things we’ve looked at over the
last year are the things that John actually saw with his eyes and heard with
his ears.
John has been so blown away with all the things that we’ve been studying
over the last year, that he falls down to worship this angel who has guided him
through all these things.
:8 to worship – proskuneo – to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in
token of reverence; kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make
obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
:9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not
do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your
brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
:9 See – horao – to see with the eyes; to see with the
mind, to take heed, beware
:9 See that you do not do that
In the Greek,
it’s just “Watch out … NO!!!”
I kind of think that the angel is so startled by John’s reaction of falling
down before him that the angel can’t even get out a complete sentence.
The angel says he’s just a servant of God, just like John is.
:9 your fellow servant
The angel lets John know that he is on the same level as John is. He’s just another servant of God.
:9 Worship God
worship
– proskuneo – to kiss the hand to (towards) one; kneeling
or prostration to do homage or make obeisance, whether in order to express
respect or to make supplication
Lesson
Healthy passion
The Jews have it very clear in their theology that they are to only bow to One person, God.
In the Ten
Commandments it is very clear that they are not to have any other “gods” or to
“bow down” to them. (Ex. 20:3-5)
(Ex 20:3–5
NKJV) —3 “You shall have no other gods before
Me. 4 “You shall not make
for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow
down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
You see it
illustrated in the book of Daniel when three young Jewish men refuse to bow
down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (Dan. 3)
You see it
again in the book of Esther when Mordecai the Jew refuses to bow down to Haman
the Agagite (Est
3:2)
(Es 3:2 NKJV) —2 And all the king’s servants who were within the
king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded
concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.
You see it in the book of Acts when
God uses Paul and Barnabas to heal a lame man, and the people of the city respond
by treating Paul and Barnabas like gods and trying to give them sacrifices (Act
14:8-18). Paul was horrified that the
people were trying to worship them.
Here, the angel is horrified that John is trying to worship him, because he
is just an angel and is not God.
When the
disciples were rowing their boat out on the stormy sea, Jesus came to them
walking on water, and then He calmed the storm.
(Mt 14:33 NKJV) Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
What’s fascinating is that Jesus did not stop them from worshipping Him.
You will see this phenomena repeated throughout the New Testament, where
Jesus allowed people to worship Him. Why? Because He is God.
What are you passionate about?
Are there things that stir your heart and you get excited about?
Play
Sports Fan video clip
I love the way they define the best “fans” – loud and
present.
I’m not going
to make you feel guilty about cheering on your favorite team, but the chief
thing we should be “excited” about is God.
What does “passion for Jesus” look like?
If you get an Angels’ fan talking about their ball team,
you might find it hard to get them to stop.
It’s all they want to talk about.
We ought to be that way about Jesus. It ought to be hard to get us to stop talking
about Him.
It ought to affect the way we live our life. It ought to even affect the way we sing when
we are in church.
Do you sing like a “fan” of Jesus?
:10 And he said to me, “Do
not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.
:10 Do not seal – sphragizo
– to set a seal upon, mark with a seal, to seal; since things sealed up are
concealed (as the contents of a letter), to hide, keep in silence, keep secret
:10 Do not seal the words of the
prophecy
Jesus broke the seven seals earlier
in the book, opening up the scroll.
John isn’t supposed to hide anything in this book.
The book is intended to be read and understood.
People often think that Revelation is just too hard to understand, but when
you spend time in the book, it’s not all that difficult. Have you been surprised at how easy it is to
understand?
In contrast, Daniel was supposed do “seal” up the book of his prophecy:
(Da 12:4 NKJV) “But you, Daniel,
shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run
to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
:10 the time – kairos
– a measure of time, a larger or smaller portion of time, hence:; a fixed
and definite time, the time when things are brought to crisis, the decisive
epoch waited for
:10 at hand – eggus
– near; of times imminent and soon to come pass {Mt 24:32 26:18 Mr 13:28 Lu
21:30,31 Joh 2:13 6:4 7:2 11:55 Rev 1:3 22:19 }
:10 the time is at hand
Lesson
Imminent
This “wrap up” is about reminding us that Jesus is coming back. Soon.
vs. 6 “the
things which must shortly take place”
vs. 7 “I am
coming quickly”
vs. 10 “the
time is at hand”
vs. 12 “I am
coming quickly”
But wait, wasn’t this all said/written two thousand years ago? That doesn’t sound very “quick”. Peter tells
us:
(2 Pe 3:9 NLT) The Lord
isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is
being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants
everyone to repent.
The reason He hasn’t come back yet, is because He is
waiting for just a few more to come to Him and spend eternity with Him in
heaven.
And yet, as we look at the prophecies that speak of His Second Coming, we know
that we are VERY close to the time of His Coming.
One of the chief
prophecies that tells us that we are indeed in the
last days is the fact that the nation of Israel exists when it had been
scattered for 1900 years.
Another event
found in the end times prophecies is a war that’s
coming when Iran and Russia will attempt to invade Israel (Eze.
38-39).
We may see something of this happening in the next couple
months.
We need to be ready, whether it for
His coming, or our death.
(Lk 12:16–21 NKJV) —16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a
certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he
thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store
my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will
do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store
all my crops and my goods. 19 And I
will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take
your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be
required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God.”
Illustration
I imagine that
ever since they became engaged and then married, Drew has dreamed of the time
when he would be able to bring his lovely bride Nadia home with him to the
United States.
Yet there’s been a lot of
glitches in the paperwork. And the
process they started now a couple of years ago seemed like it would never take
place.
This week Drew got some really encouraging news – an email
from the government that leads us to think we might see Nadia by October.
There is a Nadia.
And you will see her.
Illustration
Some of you know what it’s like to go through a pregnancy.
You get that first positive test result back and its
exciting!
And then the tummy starts to “show”. And it keeps growing. You see that first ultrasound, hear the
heartbeat for the first time, and you know you have a baby on the way.
You read your baby books to learn how the baby is growing.
And the tummy gets bigger and bigger.
You set up the baby’s room. You work on names. You go to your birthing classes. You get
ready…and wait.
It starts to look like the baby is going to pop out any
minute. And you’ve still got two months
to go.
And then
things start to happen. Maybe it’s the
water breaking, maybe it’s the contractions getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes it seems like the deliver takes
FOREVER.
Yet the baby will come just like Jesus will come. Are you
ready?
:11 He who is
unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he
who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy
still.”
We’ll come back to this at the end of today’s study…
:11 unjust – adikeo
– to act unjustly or wickedly, to sin,
:11 filthy – rhupoo
– to make filthy, defile, soil; to be filthy (morally)
:11 righteous – dikaios
– righteous, observing divine laws; virtuous, upright
:11 holy – hagios
– holy, separated to God, pure
John
:12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My
reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
This is Jesus speaking.
:12 quickly – tachu – quickly, speedily (without delay)
:12 reward – misthos – wages; reward: used of the fruit
naturally resulting from toils and endeavours
:12 to give to – apodidomi – to deliver, to give away for one’s
own profit what is one’s own, to sell; to pay off, discharge what is due
:12 My reward is with Me
Some of you have a very specific skill set.
You might be a mechanic, in construction, an accountant, a gardener, or a
doctor.
If you are particularly good at what you do, you will find that from time
to time your “friends” will ask you to help them … for free.
They won’t even offer to pay you, they just expect
you to do it for free because you’re a “friend”.
Jesus is not that kind of “friend”.
When He asks
His “friends” to do something, He will indeed pay them, and pay them well.
You may not see the payment in this life, but you will see it.
And since eternity lasts forever, I’d rather get my
payment in eternity than get it now – I’ll enjoy it much longer.
:13 I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
:13 Alpha … Omega
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
All three pairs of words are talking about the same thing, but in three
different ways. Jesus is the beginning
of everything and He’s the end of all things.
:11 He who is unjust …
Could this be a hint at the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
:11 unjust … filthy … righteous …
holy
John uses two pairs of words that are opposites of each other.
“Unjust” is the exact opposite of “righteous”.
“Filthy” is a good opposite of “holy”
What is John saying here?
This is a difficult passage because it looks as if John is saying that bad
people will be bad people, good people will be good people, and that people
just don’t change.
And yet the Bible says just the opposite.
Over and over again, the message of the Bible is “Repent”, or “Turn
around”, or “You can change”.
Some suggest that it is saying is that in the eternal state, what you
are now is what you will be. There will
be no opportunity for change in eternity.
For extra credit – compare
this passage (vs. 10-11) with Daniel 12:9-10.
It’s possible that John is
saying something similar to what Daniel wrote, especially when you look at our
previous verse about “sealing”.
(Da 12:9–10 NKJV) —9 And he said, “Go your way,
Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be
purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none
of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
Both passages talk about “sealing” (though actually
opposites – one says to “seal”, the other says “don’t seal”).
Both passages say something along the lines that wicked
people will do bad things, and good people will be purified and understand.
Lesson
Time to Change
I think the best way to understand this passage is to keep in mind the
verse before it and the verse after it.
Verse 10 says “the time is at hand”.
Verse 12 says “I am coming quickly”.
Perhaps what the angel is saying to John is this:
When Jesus
returns, it will be quick, and it will be too late to make any changes.
NOW is the time to change, not later.
Some of us play a risky game of waiting before we make any big changes.
Illustration
You
go to the doctor and he tells you that you have some serious health
issues.
He warns you that your cholesterol is too high. He warns you that your blood pressure is too
high.
And you leave the doctor’s office a little mad at the
doctor because the doctor also said that you are just “too fat” and need to
lose weight.
How dare he hurt your feelings!
And then the day comes when you have your heart attack and
if you are lucky enough to survive and find yourself lying in the hospital, you
will wish you had done something about your health earlier.
I spent time with a dear pastor friend back in May who has
lost 100 pounds. It was a good kick in
the butt for me. I got to thinking,
“Hey, I can do this”.
I have found that I can change. Can you?
Don’t get too sidetracked about health issues here – because the issue that
John is dealing with is this – are you ready to meet Jesus?
Have you been telling yourself you want to live it up a
few more years first before becoming a Christian?
Who said you will be around another few years? And do you realize that the more times you
say “no” to the Lord, your heart gets harder towards Him?
If you wait another few more years, your heart may be too
hard to turn to Jesus.
This is the day to say “yes” to the Lord.