Revelation 6-18

These chapters will take three weeks to get through. They hold the conflict part of the story. The best stories always have some sort of conflict. Those are just shadow of this story though. … C.S. Lewis was an atheist and one of the big factors in his conversion to Christianity was J.R.R. Tolkien explaining to him how all the stories he loved so much were just shadows of this one.

The forces of evil strike back against the Lamb. The key word in Revelation (nike: conquer) is used two times in this section of the forces of evil conquering God’s people. … There are three audiences the same as the previous sermons.

A red dragon seeks to destroy a male child, but Go protect the child. There is war in Heaven. The dragon is thrown down to the earth and wages war on the followers of Jesus (Revelation 12:1-5, 7-9, 13, 16-17). … The dragon is Satan, the devil. It is commonly thought that the stars he swept from the sky represent angels that followed him in his rebellion, but we don’t know that for sure. It may be symbolic that a third of the Trinity died for our salvation. … The dragon is kept from harming the child and is then hurled to the earth where he pursues the mother of the child and all her offspring. The child is Jesus and the mother is Israel. The offspring of Israel is representative of Christians.

A beast come out of the sea. He is given great power. He conquers God’s people (Revelation 13:1, 4, 7-8). … The beast represents a great political power that serves the forces of evil. In the time this book was written, it was the Roman empire. It has also been Hitler and other leaders who do the bidding of the forces of evil. Today it’s Kim Jong Un and others. There will be more, including one that is worse than all the others

A second beast comes out of the earth. He makes the earth worship the first beast. (Revelation 13:11-12, 16-7). … This second beast appears as a lamb but speaks like a dragon. It pretends to be a force of good, but points everyone to the first beast. In first century Rome, it was a priesthood that encouraged people to worship Ceaser. Today it’s churches that teach values that go against the Bible.

God appoints two witnesses to preach. The beast conquers and kills them (Revelation 11: 3, 6-7). … God will raise up two people to preach the truth, but the beast will conquer them and have a sort of Anti-Christmas.

Applications:

1. Evil is strong: don’t take it lightly. … 1 Corinthians 12:10 also expresses this idea. Don’t underestimate the ability of evil to take hold of you.

2. We are in a spiritual war. Expect to get shot at. We will lose some battles. … War is ugly and there are casualties on both sides. This won’t be easy.

3. There are only two sides in the battle. You must choose a side. … It’s easy to straddle the fence while the battle doesn’t appear to be affecting us, but a time is coming when that won’t be an option.

This seems a bit gloomy, but just remember our key verse: Revelation 17:14. God prevails in the end.

Revelation 4-5

The  word “nike” is the key word in the book of Revelation. It means “victory” and is translated a few different ways in Revelation, but it always has something to do with victory.

John is allowed a glimpse into Heaven. This vision is given to encourage God’s people when the world seems out of control. … We don’t often get to peer into Heaven, but John was and his vision was also in the future.

God is on His throne in Heaven (Revelation 4). … John attempts to describe what he sees, and it sounds like a glorious sight, full of diversity in color and even angels. The throne that God sits on is surrounded by four angels who appear to be leading worship. Surrounding them are 24 elders who we do not know much about. These elders have crowns but they fall down and cast their crowns at the feet of God. God is being worshipped as the creator of all things. God is in control. … It doesn’t always seem like God is in control, but He is. This vision is given to help us realize that truth.

Jesus is in control of the future (Revelation 5). … The scroll in the right hand of God likely represents the future. An angel asks who can open and read it, but no one worthy was found. John wept hopeless tears as he as he sees no one is worthy of controlling the future. Then an elder tells him not to worry because the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” has triumphed and is worthy and is coming. Then a lamb that appears as if it had been slain appears. The elder said a lion was coming, but a lamb showed up. Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. The symbolic description given is quite amazing as it shows the power and wisdom Jesus holds. The Lamb stands in the middles, next to the throne while everyone else bows down. The Lamb takes the scroll. The angels and elders break out in song, praising the Lamb. Then every creature everywhere joins in on this praise and worship song.

These chapters show us that God is on His throne and Jesus is in control of the future. It is a reassurance that God is in control and that Jesus will be triumphant over evil. When John cried tears of hopelessness, the Lamb brought hope with Him and does the same for us.

This is the first of seven sermons where we are going to look at seven broad themes in the book of Revelation. This is a book of Revelation is a book of encouragement. It also speaks to three audiences:

1. The first century christians … This book contains letters written to seven churches of that time and also provides hope for the future.

2. Christians of all ages … Timeless truths within the book still speak to us, as does the hope of a future in Heaven.

3. The last generation … The book also contains end time prophecy and much symbolism of the end times.

The Greek word “nike” is in this book quite often. The word, often associated with shoes, means “victory” and is translated into a few different words in our English translations.

Revelation 17:14 is the key verse in Revelation and shows us the final outcome of the battle between Good and Evil, God vs Satan.

Revelation is a vision God gave to John that is symbolic of the end times.

Revelation 1-3

Revelation 1 reveals Jesus as the Living One who holds the keys to death and Hades. He walks among the seven churches and holds their angels in His right hand. … The lampstands represent seven literal churches, churches that actually existed. What does a lampstand do? It holds up the light. … The stars could mean a couple of different things, but is most likely the elders or pastors of the seven churches. … Jesus lives and walks among them. Jesus is alive and talking to John. … Some people will say they love Jesus but hate organized religion. These verses show that Jesus is among the churches; He is in organized religion. Elsewhere in the Bible we see Him say that wherever two or three gather in His name, He is there. We were meant to worship God together with other humans. The church is far from perfect (as we are about to see), but that is where Jesus chooses to make His presence known.

Revelation 2-3 record the seven letters from Jesus to His churches. The letters all follow the same outline:

• Jesus knows the particular circumstances of each church (Revelation 2:13). … Jesus knows the circumstances of our lives too. He knows what you have gone through and what you are going through.

• Jesus praises almost every church. The main thing Jesus commends in the churches is perseverance/faithfulness (Revelation 2:13). … There’s one church of the seven He has nothing good to say about. All of the churches have at least one commendable quality.

• Jesus criticizes almost every church. … Two of the seven churches receive no critique.
  Jesus’ three major complaints involve:

• False teaching (Revelation 2:20). … Jesus cares about what we believe.

• Sexual immorality (Revelation 2:20). … Jesus cares about how we live and condemn sexual immorality.

• Spiritual temperature (Revelation 3:16). Jesus cares about our passion for Him.

• Jesus challenges (or warns) every church (Revelation 2:5; 3:19-20). … He gives us challenges and warnings that are meant to draw us back to Him. To one of the churches, He says He is knocking at the door id they would only let Him in

• Jesus offers a promise to those who overcome (nike) (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). … Jesus promises eternal life and glory and honor to all who overcome sin and follow Him.

Last week we were challenged to share the Gospel with 12 people in 2018 and saw one way of doing so, the 3 circles guide. This challenge is going to be a theme all of 2018. There will be other sermons and series, but this idea of turning everyday conversations into Gospel conversations will continue to come up. This week we get some advice on how to do this.

1. Pray for people to be saved (Acts 7:57-60). … This is the story of Steven. Even while he was being stoned for his ministry, Steven prayed for his murders’ salvation. Saul, the man they laid their clothes by, went on to become Paul, one of the greatest champions of the Gospel.

2. watch and listen to see what God is doing (Acts 8:29-31). … Be alert to what God is doing. Phillip heard the Spirit and listened. He ran next to a chariot for a while and then was asked to explain scripture to an Ethiopian man. That man was baptized soon after

3. Don’t prejudge anyone (Acts 9:13-15; 10:28). … Saul was one of the great persecutors of Christians. God sent him to Ananias and Ananias was told by God to help Saul. Ananias questioned God and prejudged Saul. Ananias eventually concedes to God and is proven wrong to prejudge as Saul became Paul, a great Christian theologian. The Peter prejudged Cornelius, a Roman centurion. But God told him to speak with Cornelius and he and his family were saved.

4. Open your mouth and talk about the Gospel (Acts 16:30-33). … It might not be politically correct to do this, but we can’t allow politics to get in the way of the Gospel. Even when the apostles were imprisoned for their ministry, they were faithful. God performed a miracle and still someone had to speak for the guard to know how to be saved.
   Transition the conversation by asking questions:

1. What will happen to you when you die? … This direct question is for people you know well. Most people will say they will go to Heaven or they don’t know.

2. Indirect: Ask: May I share with you what has given me hope/purpose?

5. Analyze the response you receive (Acts 17:32, 34).

1. Red light: Some will sneer. .. Stop. We can’t bully people into believing. Stopping might leave the door open in the future.

2. Yellow light: Some will need to think on their own for a while. … Give them their space.

3. Green light: Some will believe right away. … This is when you can have further conversations and help them grow in their faith.