Anchors of Truth

The Lamb

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: James Rafferty

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000086


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Decoding Apocalyptic Prophecy with James Rafferty.
00:22 Hell friends and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center
00:26 for the beginning of another Anchors series.
00:29 If you've visited us before or have tuned in for an
00:33 Anchors series, you know that we are anchored on the Rock,
00:35 Christ Jesus, first and foremost.
00:37 And secondly, anchored on the truth of God's Word.
00:40 And I'm particularly excited about the speaker because
00:43 my name is James, his name is...
00:44 My name is John, sorry, his name is James.
00:48 I just gave myself a new name.
00:49 James and John.
00:51 According to the Bible, the son's of thunder.
00:52 And tonight, he's going to thunder forth the Word of God.
00:56 The title of the message tonight is, The Lamb.
00:58 But the focus is the book of Revelation, encased not in just
01:02 the symbols and the signs there, but the most powerful focus;
01:06 the gospel of Jesus Christ.
01:08 And so invite your friends and family members
01:10 to join you for this broadcast.
01:12 You will not be disappointed.
01:14 Also tomorrow night at seven o'clock,
01:16 and then Friday evening.
01:18 And so for the next four nights after this one, a total of five,
01:23 Pastor James Rafferty will share with us from the
01:26 book of Revelation the gospel of Jesus Christ.
01:29 So thank you for tuning in tonight.
01:31 Before we go any further though, we always like to invite the
01:33 presence of God to continue with us.
01:35 So bow your heads as we seek the Lord's power this evening.
01:40 Heavenly Father, we thank You for the goodness of Your Word.
01:44 We thank You for the power that is found therein.
01:48 We also pray, Lord, tonight that You'll connect our hearts and
01:50 lives through the work of Your Holy Spirit.
01:54 Go forth and reach around the world and unify us
01:59 under the unction of the power that is only capable
02:03 as we open our hearts and make ourselves available.
02:06 We pray also a blessing on Your manservant tonight.
02:09 Anoint his lips, open his mind, may he connect with heaven
02:14 that earth may be blessed.
02:15 And as we are blessed, Father, we pray also a blessing
02:18 on Your manservant that Your name may be
02:20 glorified and honored.
02:22 In Jesus name we pray, amen.
02:25 I'm also privileged tonight to be able to share the music.
02:28 I thought about a number of songs, and one that comes to
02:31 my mind, as a few days ago I was reading the book of Ecclesiastes
02:35 specifically the second chapter.
02:37 And it talks about how frivolous life is.
02:40 All the accomplishments, all the things we gather to ourselves,
02:44 all the material wealth.
02:45 When you really think about it, the wise man says,
02:48 "It's all vanity, vanity. And a chasing after the wind."
02:52 And so tonight as I minister in music, I pray that your
02:55 first decision and your first choice outside of the
02:59 wealth of this world will be to give yourself to Christ
03:02 and gain salvation, and not the chasing of the wind.
03:27 Every heart is filled with longing
03:35 to be free from all life's pains.
03:42 Yet the search through earthly treasures
03:51 always ends in vain.
03:57 Only God who made the heavens
04:06 can satisfy our souls.
04:13 Apart from Him and all His meaning
04:21 all things fade as they begin.
04:29 And hearts deceived can only know
04:38 the chasing of the wind.
04:49 All achievements, all possessions;
04:57 all with time will turn to dust.
05:05 But only God will be our reason
05:13 for deep and quiet trust.
05:20 He will guard us from the dangers
05:29 that will gladly make men fools.
05:37 Apart from Him and all His meaning
05:45 all things fade as they begin.
05:53 And hearts deceived can only know
06:02 the chasing of the wind,
06:11 the chasing of the wind.
06:24 Why do we live without Jesus?
06:33 Why do we face another day?
06:41 He is the life that sustains us,
06:49 the only hope for us today.
06:55 So tell me, why do we live,
07:02 why do we live without Him?
07:34 Amen.
07:37 Why do we live without Jesus?
07:40 Why do we live without Jesus?
07:42 We don't, do we.
07:46 Good evening.
07:47 It is good to be here this evening.
07:49 I hope you brought some Bibles with you.
07:52 And you'll want to open up to the last book of the Bible,
07:54 the book of Revelation.
07:56 We're going to be studying that all week long.
07:59 Revelation is the final book of the New Testament.
08:04 And I believe this book has a very important message
08:09 for the world today.
08:11 What do you think?
08:12 It sure does.
08:14 Our series is called, Decoding Apocalyptic Prophecy.
08:19 Does that sound pretty intense?
08:22 Decoding Apocalyptic Prophecy?
08:24 I like that title.
08:26 It seems a little complicated, but basically what we're
08:28 going to be doing this week for the next five meetings together,
08:32 sessions together, on pillars of truth is we're going to be
08:35 looking at the book of Revelation and emphasizing
08:40 specifically certain symbols.
08:42 We don't have time to go through all of the
08:44 symbols in the book of Revelation.
08:46 So I've chosen just a few choice ones.
08:48 Tonight, we're going to be looking at the
08:50 symbol of the lamb.
08:51 Tomorrow, we're going to look at beasts and dragons.
08:55 It can be scary unless you've understood the
08:57 symbol of the lamb first.
08:59 Then we'll look at the everlasting gospel.
09:00 That will give us kind of a reprieve
09:02 from the beasts and the dragons.
09:04 Then we'll look at Babylon.
09:05 And then we'll look at marks and seals.
09:09 All of this, I think, is going to come together
09:11 in the context of what we're going to be looking at tonight.
09:16 Well let's begin with our title, shall we?
09:18 I think that's a good place to start decoding.
09:20 What does that word mean?
09:22 To decode means to translate from a code into the original
09:27 language or form.
09:29 The book of Revelation was written in code.
09:32 A secret code, if you will. Symbols.
09:34 And so we want to decode it.
09:36 We want to take those symbols and find out what they
09:38 actually mean in the original language.
09:41 Alright, that's pretty simple.
09:44 Apocalyptic.
09:46 Now that's a little bit more challenging.
09:48 But the word is actually the basis for "revelation."
09:54 The word "revelation" is "apocalypse" in the Greek.
09:59 And "apocalyptic" comes from that.
10:01 Now there's a different understanding of the
10:04 word "apocalypse" today, "revelation" today.
10:08 It's kind of like...
10:09 Well, I'm 50 years old.
10:13 And when I say, "That person is sick,"
10:19 that means that the person isn't feeling well.
10:22 There's something wrong with them.
10:24 Their health is down.
10:25 But my son, who's 20, when he says, "That person is sick,"
10:32 he has a completely different meaning.
10:35 He means, "That person is cool.
10:38 Those guys are really something."
10:41 Words take on different meanings even with different generations.
10:44 I might say, "That looks really tight."
10:48 Meanings that you need to loosen it up a little bit.
10:51 Maybe the belt is too tight.
10:53 My son would say, "That is tight."
10:57 He again means something totally different.
10:59 "That is cool. That is really something."
11:02 It's the same with this word "apocalypse."
11:06 The original meaning, "revelation," is to uncover.
11:09 It's to reveal, it's to show us something.
11:12 But when you look at "apocalypse" or "apocalyptic"
11:16 in relation to the way the world views it today,
11:19 well it means, widespread devastation or ultimate doom.
11:25 It is catastrophic in its meaning
11:29 in the minds of many people.
11:30 So, many times when people think about the book of
11:33 Revelation, that's what they think about.
11:34 They think about doom, they think about gloom.
11:36 They think about very negative events taking place
11:39 on planet earth.
11:41 So decoding, getting to the original meaning of apocalyptic,
11:48 the unveiling of or the revelation of prophecy.
11:51 Now what does that word "prophecy" mean?
11:53 Well, this third word is probably the easiest
11:57 to understand among the three.
11:59 But it still needs definition in context of the Bible.
12:02 It simply means, to foretell.
12:05 It means, to predict something about the future
12:09 under divine inspiration.
12:11 We want to, in other words, we want to go back to the original
12:15 meaning of what God has revealed about the future.
12:21 Decoding apocalyptic prophecy.
12:24 Pretty simple, isn't it?
12:25 I think if we can get that, we can pretty much
12:27 get the whole series.
12:29 We want to basically understand what God has originally show us
12:32 about the future, what He has unveiled to us about the future.
12:38 Now, one of the ways that we could summarize
12:42 everything that we're going to be covering this week
12:45 is by looking at a verse in the first book of the Bible.
12:49 We're in the last book, but if you go all the way back
12:51 to the first book, Genesis 3 and verse 15.
12:55 If you look at this verse, you're going to find that
12:59 this verse is a summary, if you will, if you want to be that
13:02 simple, of the entire message of the book of Revelation.
13:09 Now what do I mean by that?
13:11 Well, I believe the book of Revelation is a summary
13:14 of the entire Bible, of the plan God has laid out
13:18 and revealed to us in the Bible.
13:20 And I believe that plan began in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15.
13:27 So when we go back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15,
13:30 we have what most of us understand to be the very
13:34 first promise given to us in the Bible.
13:39 And this is a prophetic promise.
13:41 Notice what it says here in Genesis 3:15.
13:45 God is speaking, "And I will put enmity between thee
13:52 and the woman..."
13:54 "Thee," being Satan or the serpent.
13:57 "...between thy seed and her seed;
14:00 it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
14:05 Now this prophecy, the very first one given in the Bible
14:09 after the fall of Adam and Eve, this prophecy is speaking
14:12 specifically about the conflict that was to take place
14:17 between the woman; God's church, God's people,
14:21 Adam and Eve, and the serpent; the devil, the one that led
14:25 them into sin.
14:27 And the enmity that is promised...
14:29 Well that word actually might surprise you.
14:31 It means hatred.
14:35 Hatred.
14:36 God has put a place in the Christian experience,
14:42 in the experience of men and women, for hatred
14:44 towards things, certain things in this earth.
14:47 Now I think that all of us listening tonight can
14:51 understand this if we think about what's
14:53 going on in our world today.
14:54 There are certain things that most of us just naturally hate.
14:58 I hate the fact, on a smaller level, that I went to the
15:04 gas station a week ago and paid two dollars and twenty cents...
15:10 ...and 20 cents...
15:13 ...and a... ...two...
15:15 Three dollars and twenty cents.
15:16 Whoa, wait a minute.
15:18 That was 2006, wasn't it.
15:21 No, I know that because I moved to Oregon in 2006
15:23 and gas was $2.15 a gallon.
15:26 I'll never forget that.
15:29 Maybe I will.
15:30 But anyway, last week I paid $3.20, and now
15:34 I'm looking at $3.79, $3.89, and $4.00 plus.
15:40 In a week's time.
15:42 So I hate that.
15:44 Why do I hate that?
15:45 Well not just because it's taking money out of my
15:47 pocket that I need for other things.
15:48 That's not the only reason.
15:50 The reason I hate that is because I don't know what
15:52 the reason for it is.
15:54 And therefore, it makes me think, "You know, this is pure
15:57 greed and selfishness."
15:59 And that's what I hate.
16:01 I hate selfishness, I hate greed,
16:03 I hate pain, I hate evil, I hate suffering.
16:06 I hate all the terrible things that are going on
16:08 on planet earth today.
16:10 That is supernatural.
16:13 That hatred, that enmity is supernatural.
16:17 God has promised to put that in our hearts.
16:20 And there are many people in this world today
16:22 who are looking out on this world and they're saying,
16:23 "I hate the things that are going on."
16:26 And sometimes we come to the conclusion that we
16:29 must therefore hate God, because He's the one that's
16:32 allowing all of these things.
16:34 But that's not the case.
16:35 God looks at us as we hate the things that are evil and
16:39 wrong and unjust, and He says, "Yes, now you know how I feel.
16:44 I hate those things too."
16:46 So this is what God has promised in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15.
16:51 He's promised to put this supernatural hatred,
16:54 because we love evil after the fall naturally, in our hearts.
16:58 And He's promised to do that.
17:00 And also, He has promised to bruise the head
17:04 of Satan, the serpent...
17:06 That means crush, destroy.
17:08 ...while he afflicts the heel.
17:11 Now this promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
17:15 Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 is actually speaking
17:19 in broad terms, in big brush strokes, of the entire
17:24 plan of salvation that we have in the Bible that
17:27 summarizes or comes together in the book of Revelation.
17:31 In the book of Revelation, you have a basic picture
17:34 of Jesus, the devil, and us.
17:38 You have Jesus rescuing us from the devil.
17:42 You have Jesus putting enmity in our hearts against the devil.
17:45 You have Jesus pulling us out of this horrible miry pit of sin
17:50 and placing us with Him in heavenly places
17:53 and crushing the devil under our feet.
17:55 That's what the book of Revelation is all about.
17:58 That's what it's communicating to us.
18:00 Now when we see this picture in Revelation
18:06 everything else comes into place, everything else settles
18:10 in its proper perspective.
18:11 We begin the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 1
18:15 and verse 3.
18:17 Excuse me, Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1.
18:19 But we're going to look at Revelation chapter 1
18:21 verses 1 through 3.
18:22 Revelation 1:1-3
18:26 Let's open our Bibles there, Revelation 1:1-3.
18:30 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him,
18:37 to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;
18:42 and he sent and signified it..."
18:44 That is, He symbolized it, He encoded it.
18:47 "...by his angel unto his servant John.
18:51 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony
18:56 of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."
19:00 Verse 3, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
19:06 the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
19:08 which are written therein: for the time is at hand."
19:16 These first three verses begin our introduction
19:21 into this last book of the Bible that is called,
19:23 the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
19:27 These first three verses set the tone for what we should
19:30 except in this book.
19:32 What should we expect?
19:33 Well we should expect that it's the revelation of...
19:37 ...Jesus Christ.
19:38 However, because this book is so vitally important to us
19:43 and the world, Satan has sought to conceal it,
19:49 to mask it, to confuse it, to give misunderstanding of it.
19:56 I was reading a blog on CNN just recently.
20:02 They post a religious blog on CNN.
20:04 And this blog was an interview with a biblical scholar,
20:09 an expert on the Bible.
20:11 Specifically on the book of Revelation.
20:12 And this expert was quoted as saying that the book of
20:15 Revelation was literally forced into the Bible,
20:19 into the canon.
20:22 That the book of Revelation doesn't even talk
20:26 about Jesus Christ dying for our sins.
20:30 That's what the scholar said.
20:32 That we don't even know who wrote the book of Revelation.
20:37 And I thought to myself, there is so much confusion
20:40 about the book of Revelation.
20:42 I have traveled, for the last 30 years of ministry,
20:44 I have traveled to South America and to Europe,
20:47 and I have traveled to the Middle East and to Asia.
20:51 And everywhere I go, people are afraid of
20:54 the book of Revelation.
20:55 Recently I was part of a training school,
20:57 a three and a half month training school with the
20:59 ARISE Institute, which is part of Light Bearers Ministry.
21:01 And there was a young student there who came to me and
21:03 she basically told me, she said, "You know,"
21:06 she was raised a Christian, she said, "You know,
21:08 I've never read the book of Revelation."
21:13 Do you know why she's never read the book of Revelation?
21:16 Do you know why people...
21:17 Because people are afraid of the book of Revelation.
21:20 It's a scary book.
21:21 To a lot of people it's a scary book.
21:23 And yet it says, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ.
21:28 I got a tweet recently from a friend of mine who works as a
21:33 mission outreach, campus outreach at Harvard
21:35 out there in Boston.
21:37 And he said Al Gore was there.
21:38 He was standing right next to Al Gore's security guy.
21:41 He said he felt really safe.
21:43 And Al Gore was preaching, you know, sharing, talking about
21:46 climate control, global warming.
21:50 And Al Gore said something like this;
21:53 the current disasters, natural disasters taking place in our
21:57 world today is like a nature walk through the
22:00 book of Revelation.
22:02 See, everyone is just down on the book of Revelation.
22:04 Now I think there's a reason for that.
22:08 I believe that there is a certain somebody
22:13 who would rather not have us read and study and understand
22:17 this book that God has blessed.
22:19 Once? No. Twice? No.
22:21 But three times.
22:23 That word "blessed," by the way, is really interesting.
22:25 If you look up the original word there in the Greek, it means,
22:28 to be happy, to have joy.
22:31 Now my wife was raised in a Christian home.
22:34 And she was raised believing in Jesus, baptized as a young girl.
22:39 And she remembers her first Revelation seminar.
22:41 And when she went to that Revelation seminar,
22:43 from that point on she starting having nightmares
22:45 about beasts, about dragons.
22:47 I was in Pakistan and my translator told me that
22:49 when he started reading the book of Revelation,
22:51 his father, who was an elder in the church,
22:54 and the local pastor came to him and said,
22:56 "Listen, don't read the book of Revelation.
22:59 If you read this book, scary beasts will come
23:01 to take you at night."
23:04 True, I heard it with my own hears.
23:06 So I believe that this book has been misunderstood.
23:10 Have you ever been misunderstood?
23:13 You know what it's like to be misunderstood?
23:15 You know what it's like when you communicate something
23:17 and your husband says, "What was that you said to me?"
23:20 "Honey, honey, honey. Careful, careful."
23:22 I was sitting in St. Louis late last night.
23:25 I got rerouted because our plane had mechanical problems.
23:29 No, it was weather problems.
23:30 No. What kind of problems it was, I don't know.
23:32 They don't tell us anymore.
23:34 And so I missed that connection and so I got in really late.
23:37 You know, you get into the airport late and you start
23:39 observing people and you see some really cranky people.
23:41 There was this one guy and he was asking this baggage guy
23:45 about where to find his bag.
23:47 And the guy misunderstood him and this guy got really upset.
23:50 Pretty soon voices were raised, tempers were flaring, you know.
23:54 And I thought, oh it is so easy to be misunderstood.
23:58 Now I believe that is what's going on in the
24:01 book of Revelation.
24:02 It's not the revelation of Jesus to many people.
24:04 It's the revelation of the dragon.
24:06 It's the revelation of the beast.
24:07 It's the revelation of the antichrist.
24:08 It's the revelation of beasts and dragons and
24:11 judgments and plagues.
24:12 "Stay away from that book, it's scary."
24:16 So what I'm thinking is that tonight we can begin
24:21 our journey through the book of Revelation with a
24:24 completely different emphasis.
24:26 One that I think is going to change our
24:28 understanding of the book.
24:30 And then in that context we can focus on these other symbols,
24:39 these other prophetic pictures that are also in there and
24:41 very vital, like dragons and beasts and marks and seals.
24:45 I think that...
24:47 Well let me put it in words of that hymn.
24:50 Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.
24:56 Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.
24:58 So if we can find Jesus first in the book of Revelation,
25:03 then we can safely go anywhere else.
25:05 And it won't be difficult.
25:07 I don't know if you're aware of this, but the first time
25:10 that a beast is mentioned in the book of Revelation
25:12 is close to the second half of the book.
25:14 Revelation 11, then Revelation 12 and 13.
25:16 There's no beast, at least not a bad one, mentioned in
25:19 the first half of the book.
25:21 The first half of the book of Revelation is really
25:23 all about Jesus.
25:26 That's really what it's about.
25:28 In fact, the symbol of the lamb is the most repeated symbol
25:32 in the book of Revelation.
25:33 I don't know if you knew that.
25:35 The beast is mentioned, at least the bad ones,
25:37 26 times in the book of Revelation.
25:41 The lamb is mentioned 29 times in the book of Revelation.
25:45 And that's not all.
25:48 You see, one of the reasons why we've misunderstood this book...
25:51 And I think any one of us can misunderstand this book.
25:54 In fact, Martin Luther who was a Catholic monk,
25:58 and then found the Bible chained to a pulpit,
26:00 began to read it and became the herald of the Reformation,
26:05 the Protestant Reformation.
26:07 Martin Luther once said in his commentary,
26:11 introductory commentary to the book of Revelation,
26:13 this was in about the year 1522, he said,
26:16 "The book of Revelation," very similar to the CNN blog,
26:20 "does not belong to the canon.
26:22 It shouldn't be there.
26:24 Because Christ is neither known in it nor taught in it."
26:30 That's what he said.
26:31 And then he went on to expand, you know,
26:34 about the book of Revelation.
26:35 I don't know what he said in the commentary, but I do know this.
26:37 Eight years later in 1530, Martin Luther completely
26:42 changed his opinion.
26:45 He wrote that Christ is in it and He is with His people
26:50 all the way through the book of Revelation.
26:52 Now that is what I'm hoping that we're going to
26:53 experience this week.
26:55 In fact, I'm hoping we can experience that tonight.
26:58 That we can experience that Christ is
27:00 in the book of Revelation.
27:01 And not only in it, but He is all through
27:04 the book of Revelation.
27:06 Now I think one of the reasons why Martin Luther may have
27:08 struggled to understand this is because...
27:12 Well, if you look up the word "Jesus Christ,"
27:15 you're going to find that He's only mentioned
27:18 about 13 times in the book of Revelation.
27:20 And four of those times are in Revelation chapter 1
27:23 in the introduction.
27:25 And another three times is in the last chapter, chapter 22,
27:28 in the epilogue, in the close.
27:30 So between the prologue and the epilogue,
27:32 you only have six mentions.
27:34 Because you take those seven out;
27:35 four in the beginning, three in the end;
27:36 four and three is seven, take those, deduct those
27:39 from thirteen, you've only got six left.
27:40 So between Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation 21, you only have
27:45 Jesus Christ mentioned six times.
27:47 That's once every three chapters.
27:48 Well no wonder people don't think it's about Jesus.
27:52 Ha, but wait a minute.
27:54 Jesus is represented all through the book of Revelation
27:57 as the Lamb.
28:00 Twenty-nine times.
28:01 So you add Jesus Christ to the 29 and you've got 42.
28:04 Then He's mentioned again and again in different forms.
28:08 He is described as the Son of man in Revelation chapter 1.
28:12 He is described as a Messenger in Revelation chapter 8
28:16 and in Revelation chapter 10.
28:17 And He that lightens the earth with the glory of God
28:20 in Revelation 18.
28:22 He is described as the Word of God in Revelation chapter 19.
28:25 And so you've probably got at least 50 mentions
28:28 of Jesus Christ in symbols as well as in name
28:32 in the book of Revelation.
28:33 He begins to swallow up beasts and dragons, friends.
28:37 He consumes all of that.
28:40 I have learned over the years that you find
28:42 what you're looking for.
28:44 And we need to look for Jesus in the book of Revelation.
28:51 That's what we're going to do here.
28:52 We're going to look for Jesus.
28:54 Now we begin our journey with...
28:58 Well before we get there, let me just give you a number.
29:01 And I want you to write this down.
29:03 The number is
29:05 145/715/2122.
29:18 You got that? 145/715/2122.
29:22 Now, if you call that number in the U.S., you're going to
29:25 hear a message, first in English and then in Spanish,
29:27 and it's going to say, "Your number cannot be
29:30 completed as dialed.
29:31 Please check the number and dial again."
29:33 Because the number I gave you is not a telephone number.
29:37 It's not a telephone number.
29:39 So don't call that number as if you're calling
29:41 a telephone number.
29:44 This number is a special code that is going to help
29:49 anyone who is afraid of the book of Revelation.
29:53 It's going to help them to see the book of Revelation
29:56 in a different way.
29:58 Now what does that code, 145/715/2122, mean?
30:08 Well for those of you who like to figure out mysteries,
30:10 I'm going to give you 24 hours.
30:14 It's a challenge.
30:15 You've got 24 hours to figure out what the code,
30:17 145/715/2122, means.
30:22 If you can figure it out, do it.
30:25 And when you do it, you're going to see the book of Revelation
30:27 in a completely different light.
30:29 It has something to do with reading the book of Revelation.
30:33 Alright, enough mysteries.
30:36 If you're afraid of the book of Revelation,
30:38 you're in the right place at the right time.
30:40 Why?
30:41 Because our focus is going to be to figure out the lamb.
30:47 The first most prolific, most consistent symbol
30:52 in the book of Revelation.
30:54 What does the symbol of the lamb mean?
30:58 Well let's open our Bibles to another book actually written
31:01 by the same author.
31:03 And that book is the book of John.
31:06 John chapter 1.
31:09 And I want you to look here in John chapter 1 at verse 29.
31:14 The context of this verse is John the Baptist.
31:19 John the Baptist is baptizing in the river Jordon.
31:23 The people are coming to him, he's giving a message of
31:25 repentance and baptism for the taking away of sins,
31:30 the cleansing of sins.
31:31 And on a specific day, John sees Jesus coming to be baptized.
31:39 John chapter 1 verse 29, "The next day John sees Jesus
31:42 coming unto him, and saith, 'Behold the Lamb of God,
31:47 who takes away the sin of the world.'"
31:53 So this verse is really clear, crystal clear.
31:57 John sees Jesus, Jesus Christ, coming to him and he says,
32:01 "Behold the Lamb of God."
32:05 So who's the Lamb of God?
32:07 Jesus is the Lamb of God.
32:08 And what does it mean that He is the Lamb of God?
32:12 What does that signify?
32:14 What is the symbol of the Lamb of God?
32:17 He's come, John says.
32:19 "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away..." What?
32:23 "...the sins of the world."
32:25 This was a fulfillment of the Old Testament sanctuary types.
32:29 All of those sacrifices for sin pointed to Jesus.
32:33 All of those animals that were slain,
32:35 that were slain, that were slain.
32:36 All of that blood that was spilled, spilled, spilled.
32:40 All pointed to Christ.
32:42 You know, there are times when people asked me this question.
32:45 "Why did God require all of those animal sacrifices?
32:52 Why did God require that?
32:54 It just seems like such a bloody God, you know,
32:56 with all that blood.
32:58 He just wants all that blood."
33:00 And my response is, "Well honestly,
33:03 God didn't require that at all.
33:06 Sin required that."
33:09 See, God was simply showing us, "This is what sin does.
33:13 And this is not what sin does primarily to these animals.
33:16 These animals are a symbol of Me,
33:19 the Lamb of God that's coming to take away the sins of the world.
33:23 Sin requires that of Me.
33:25 Actually, it requires it of you, but I'm going to
33:28 take your place.
33:30 Sin requires you to die.
33:32 And I want to show you what that looks like.
33:34 And if you hate the fact that all those animals had to be
33:37 slaughtered and all that blood had to be drained out and
33:40 all that blood had to be let loose, if you hate that idea,
33:44 I'm with you.
33:46 Because I hate it too.
33:48 I hate sin and I hate what sin has caused,
33:50 what sin has brought.
33:51 And I'm so thankful that you hate it too.
33:53 That's the enmity that I promised to put in your hearts.
33:56 That enmity towards sin and its results."
34:00 So Jesus is this Lamb.
34:02 Jesus is symbolized by the Lamb of God.
34:05 Now this is really profound.
34:07 Because when you get into the book of Revelation,
34:09 you have this revelation of Jesus Christ.
34:10 And by the way, just for the record, Revelation 1 verse 5...
34:14 You remember that scholar, that Bible scholar,
34:17 that Revelation scholar talking about the book of Revelation
34:20 that says that Jesus didn't even die for our sins;
34:22 the book of revelation doesn't say that.
34:23 Well Revelation chapter 1 and verse 5.
34:28 Verse 5, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
34:32 and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
34:35 the kings of the earth.
34:37 Unto him who loved us, and washed us from our
34:41 sins in his own blood."
34:44 So there you have it right there in the very introduction of the
34:47 book of Revelation you have the gospel of Jesus Christ.
34:50 He has washed us from our sins in His own blood.
34:55 No, God did not require those sacrifices.
34:57 Sin did.
34:58 And today, we kill animals just to eat them.
35:02 And God says, "You know, that breaks my heart.
35:04 Sin breaks My heart. Death breaks My heart."
35:07 In fact, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that
35:10 death is an enemy of God, and God is going to destroy it.
35:14 Now that's the God I like.
35:15 That's the kind of God I like.
35:17 And this is what the book of Revelation indicates
35:20 as you read chapter by chapter and verse by verse.
35:25 The problem with, I think, our approach to Revelation
35:28 many times is that we jump right in the middle of
35:30 the beasts and the dragons.
35:31 Boom.
35:33 Revelation 13. 666.
35:34 What's it all about? Who is the beast?
35:36 Is it a computer? Is it a microchip?
35:38 Is it going to go in the hand or the forehead?
35:39 Let's figure it all out.
35:41 The only way we can figure it all out
35:43 is to start at the beginning.
35:45 If God wanted us to start in Revelation 13, He would have
35:48 put that as the first chapter.
35:50 But He didn't.
35:51 It's Revelation 1, then Revelation 2,
35:53 then 3, then 4, then 5.
35:54 Why? Well, anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.
36:01 Now one of the places that we need to go with Jesus
36:05 before we get into the beasts...
36:07 Because we're going to find that the beast is really
36:09 the composite...
36:11 How can I say this nicely?
36:14 The beast that we're going to encounter later on in
36:18 Revelation is a summary or a composite of...
36:23 ...you and me.
36:26 It's a composite of us.
36:28 The beast is us.
36:29 It's selfishness.
36:31 And that's what we are in essence.
36:33 So it's the conglomeration of all of the powers of the world,
36:38 the greedy selfish powers of the world,
36:40 into one monopoly that is going to force and control
36:43 everyone to go along.
36:45 And the only way that we can actually opt out of that?
36:49 It's not going to be by how much money we have.
36:51 If you're rich, you're going to have to receive the mark.
36:54 It's not about how much ammunition or strength you have.
36:57 If you're mighty and strong, you're going to have to
36:59 receive the mark.
37:00 It's not about escaping, per se, into this little...
37:04 if you're poor, in poverty, you're still going to have to
37:07 receive the mark.
37:08 It's really about our connection with Jesus.
37:13 But part of the problem with our need to connect with Jesus
37:17 is the revelation that comes when we see Jesus;
37:22 the revelation of Him and the revelation of us.
37:26 Have you noticed that?
37:28 Well Jesus understands that.
37:30 And so as we begin our journey in the book of Revelation,
37:32 we encounter first and foremost, the seven churches.
37:35 This is the first part of the book of Revelation.
37:37 And it's a very important part of the journey.
37:40 Revelation introduces us to ourselves
37:43 in relation to these churches.
37:44 Now when I say "ourselves," I'm not
37:46 just talking about Christians.
37:47 I'm talking about people who aren't Christians.
37:49 All of us are introduced in some form or another
37:52 in the seven churches.
37:54 And what Jesus says to us there, first and foremost, is this,
37:58 "I am with you no matter what I show you about yourself."
38:06 Now there are a lot of people who aren't going to be with us
38:08 if they really knew how we thought and how we were inside.
38:12 But God is not like that at all.
38:13 And that's what the book of Revelation
38:15 reveals in the churches.
38:16 Before John is given the specific messages of
38:19 rebuke and counsel and correction and affirmation
38:21 of the churches, he's shown a picture of Jesus
38:23 among the seven candlesticks.
38:25 Those lamp stands represent the seven churches.
38:28 Now two of those churches stand without rebuke;
38:31 Smyrna the second church, and Philadelphia the sixth church.
38:34 They have no rebuke.
38:36 These guys are doing pretty good.
38:37 But Jesus doesn't stand with just those two churches.
38:41 He doesn't say, "Well I'm going to be with these two.
38:43 When all you five other churches, when you get
38:45 your act together you can join us over here
38:47 in the winner's circle."
38:48 I mean, Christians sometimes do that.
38:50 Churches sometimes do that.
38:51 We have our denominational circles and we're better
38:53 than those guys, and those guys are better than those guys.
38:55 But Jesus doesn't.
38:57 Jesus is standing among all of the churches.
39:00 Get the picture now.
39:02 Because it is a picture of His unconditional
39:04 love and acceptance.
39:06 He knows and tries the reigns of the heart.
39:10 "I know your works." "I know your works."
39:12 "I know your works."
39:13 Nothing can be hidden.
39:17 In fact, some of the conditions of these churches
39:20 is pretty bleak.
39:23 I get around quite a bit and at times I talk to people
39:27 in evangelism who I'm visiting.
39:30 Maybe they're not members of the church.
39:32 And they point out to me, and rightly so, that
39:34 the church is just full of a bunch of hypocrites.
39:39 And I have to be honest with them and I have to say,
39:41 "Yea you're right, you know.
39:42 There are a lot of hypocrites in the church, that's true."
39:47 However, I want you to look at this vision in
39:51 Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
39:53 Because Jesus says that He still loves the hypocrites.
39:58 In fact, there are people in the church that are in such
40:00 bad condition that they make Jesus want to throw up.
40:05 They make Him sick.
40:06 That's the Laodicean church, Revelation chapter 3.
40:10 But Jesus says in the context of that church...
40:12 And it's only one of two churches that He actually
40:15 emphatically says this to.
40:16 He says it to Philadelphia and He says it to Laodicea.
40:21 He says to Laodicea, "I love you."
40:23 "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten."
40:27 Now I love that because that's talking about
40:29 unconditional love.
40:30 Jesus is saying, "I love you even though you make Me sick."
40:33 "I love you even though you make Me want to throw up."
40:36 And so in that context, here's something really interesting.
40:41 Jesus says, "You know, I'd rather you were hot or cold."
40:45 Now when I'm talking to someone out in the world
40:47 and they're saying, "The church is full of hypocrites,"
40:49 I'm saying, "Well you're kind of cold, you know.
40:52 And Jesus says that He'd rather have a hypocrite like you
40:57 in your condition than in the condition they're in.
41:00 He's rather have them cold than lukewarm.
41:02 So definitely you're on target here.
41:05 But what He'd really like is for you to be hot."
41:08 Are you with me?
41:09 In other words, the message of the book of Revelation
41:12 is not a message of condemnation.
41:14 It's not a message of denomination.
41:17 It's a message of the gospel and the
41:19 unconditional love of Christ.
41:20 And wherever Christ went, whatever He did,
41:23 He was seeking to break down barriers.
41:25 I'm not here to tell Christians that they're
41:27 better than worldlings.
41:28 I'm not here to tell worldly people that they're
41:30 better than Christians.
41:32 I'm not here to tell anyone they're better than anyone else.
41:34 The ground is even at the foot of the cross.
41:37 I'm here to say that we have a need for a Savior.
41:41 Everyone has that need.
41:43 If you're a hypocrite, you have that need.
41:44 If you're a religious hypocrite, you have that need.
41:46 If you're cold, you have that need.
41:47 And if you're hot, well if you want to remain hot,
41:49 you have that need.
41:50 Jesus makes this very clear in this first vision in Revelation.
41:57 It makes it safe to approach Jesus.
42:00 Revelation's seven churches gives us the ability
42:04 to come into His presence without feeling condemnation.
42:07 And to know that here's somebody who will accept us,
42:10 here's somebody who loves us, in spite of ourselves.
42:14 We need that in the world today.
42:16 And people in the world need that from us.
42:18 And we can have that from Jesus if we just ask for it.
42:21 If we expect it, if we look for it, He can give us that gift.
42:24 Now the next thing we see in Revelation is beautiful,
42:27 it's so significant and so powerful.
42:29 It's in Revelation chapters 4 and 5.
42:31 It's a picture of the throne room of God.
42:34 Revelation chapter 4 sets the throne in heaven.
42:37 And here's where we first find, in Revelation 4 and 5,
42:41 the symbol in the book of Revelation of the lamb.
42:46 Now I love this symbol because it's not just used
42:49 in the context that we've already identified,
42:52 but it's interpreted in that context.
42:55 In other words, when John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God
42:58 who takes away the sins of the world,"
42:59 we knew that was talking about Jesus.
43:01 We knew that meant that the symbol of the lamb
43:03 represents Christ dying for our sins.
43:07 In Revelation chapter 5, we have the same vision taking place.
43:13 John sees on the throne, which begins in chapter 4,
43:17 this being, God, sitting.
43:19 In Revelation 5, he sees that there is in His right hand
43:22 a scroll or a roll.
43:24 It's sealed up with seven seals.
43:26 Okay?
43:27 And this roll cannot be opened by anyone,
43:32 any man, in heaven or on earth or under the earth.
43:35 Now I believe that is specifically talking about
43:40 the gospel of salvation.
43:43 And why do I mean that?
43:44 Well because we know today that there are people in heaven,
43:47 men in heaven.
43:49 Now I believe that when you die, you rest in the grave.
43:54 That's why we put that, you know, epithet, "Rest In Peace."
43:59 There is no such thing, I don't believe,
44:02 the Bible doesn't teach, that when you die
44:04 you go directly to heaven.
44:05 Now the Bible does indicate that death is like a sleep.
44:09 Jesus calls it a sleep in John chapter 11.
44:12 And I know last night when I got into St. Louis,
44:14 I was suppose to drive right here because I was suppose to
44:16 get in at 6, but I got in at 12.
44:19 And I picked up a rental car and I went right to a hotel.
44:22 And I thought, you know, it's a lot colder here
44:25 than from where I'm at.
44:26 It was the 40's and 50's in Oregon.
44:29 And when I got here, it was in the 20's.
44:32 And my wife told me, you know, to pack a jacket.
44:35 And I didn't listen to her.
44:44 I got more amen's from the ladies out of that one.
44:48 So when I stepped out of St. Louis,
44:50 I immediately woke up.
44:52 When I stepped out of the airport, I woke up.
44:53 And I was awake. I was awake, awake, awake.
44:56 I mean, the car couldn't get warm.
44:58 From the rental car place to the hotel, it couldn't get warm.
45:01 So I pulled into the parking lot and I ran in there,
45:03 and I went and parked and I got in my room.
45:05 And I was wide awake and I thought, I'm just going to be,
45:07 I'm just going to have to spend some time reading and studying,
45:09 because I'm not going to fall asleep.
45:11 And so I jumped into the bed and I was grabbing a book.
45:13 And I was just getting ready to say a prayer.
45:16 Just a short prayer, you know, before I read and study.
45:18 And so pretty soon I'm just feeling it,
45:20 and it just hits me like, boom.
45:23 And I turned off that light and I hit the pillow.
45:25 And the next thing I knew it was eight o'clock in the morning.
45:27 That's how it went.
45:31 Death it like that. It's like a sleep.
45:33 And that's why Paul says, "I don't know if I
45:35 want to be present in the body, or absent from the body,
45:37 and present with the Lord."
45:38 Because that sleep is that time that we're unconscious of.
45:42 The next thing we know, we're with Jesus.
45:45 This is what the Bible teaches.
45:47 And I love that whole idea, because it's so beautiful
45:50 in how it pictures God.
45:52 And so you have people, in Revelation chapter 5,
45:55 that are under the earth.
45:58 People like Daniel who are resting until Jesus comes.
46:01 Now Daniel was a man who was blameless.
46:04 Talk about an incredible experience
46:07 in a political climate.
46:09 Daniel was a man who was blameless before God.
46:11 And he was a politician.
46:13 They couldn't find any dirt on him.
46:17 Is he worthy to open the book?
46:20 No, he's not worthy to open it.
46:22 There are men in heaven. Who's in heaven?
46:25 Enoch is in heaven.
46:27 Elijah is in heaven.
46:29 How did Enoch get to heaven, by the way?
46:31 He walked so closely with God that God said,
46:34 "Hey Enoch, we're closer to My house today
46:36 than we are to your house.
46:37 Why don't you just come home with Me?"
46:39 He wasn't found, for God took him.
46:41 Is he worthy to open the book?
46:43 No.
46:45 There are men on earth, powerful men.
46:49 Quote unquote, holy men.
46:50 Are they worthy to open the book?
46:52 Now man in heaven, no man in earth,
46:54 no man under the earth in worthy.
46:55 John begins to weep, but as he's weeping an elder comes to him
46:58 and taps him on the shoulder and says, "Weep..."
47:01 What's the next word?
47:02 "...not."
47:07 See, John is weeping because he knows this book is important.
47:10 He knows it's significant.
47:11 He knows this scroll needs to be opened.
47:14 This scroll, I believe, represents the history
47:20 of the entire world from beginning to end.
47:22 God's counsel, His commandments, the prophetic roll, the life
47:25 and the history of nations and individuals.
47:27 It's all recorded in this scroll and it cannot be altered.
47:31 And you could summarize that history,
47:33 the history of this world this way.
47:34 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,"
47:37 and, "The wages of sin is death."
47:41 And that's why John is weeping.
47:42 Because it can't be altered.
47:44 It can't be changed.
47:49 But then the elder comes to him and the elder says,
47:51 "Dry your eyes, John.
47:53 I've got some good news for you.
47:54 There's no man in heaven or earth or under the earth
47:56 that can alter this history.
47:58 But behold...
48:00 And I'm reading right here, Revelation chapter 5 verse 5.
48:03 "...the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,
48:06 has prevailed..."
48:10 Amen.
48:11 He's prevailed.
48:13 Jesus has prevailed where we have failed.
48:18 He's prevailed to open the book.
48:20 And John looks around for this lion.
48:21 You know, a lion symbolizes king, power, authority.
48:25 By the way, here is one of the first beast symbols
48:29 of the book of Revelation.
48:30 A lion is a beast.
48:32 In Daniel, one of the beasts is a lion.
48:35 Here in Revelation, this lion is a symbol, a beast symbol.
48:39 And who is it a symbol of? Jesus.
48:42 Don't be afraid of all the beasts in Revelation.
48:47 There are a couple you should be afraid of in a good sense.
48:49 We'll get to that. Maybe.
48:52 I don't know, we might spend the whole series just on the Lamb.
48:54 We'll see how it goes.
48:56 I don't want to cut this short.
48:57 We need to be grounded and rooted in the Lamb.
48:59 So John's looking around for this lion, verse 6.
49:04 "And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne
49:06 and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
49:09 stood a Lamb as it had been slain..."
49:18 I love that verse in Isaiah that says, the lion and the lamb
49:22 shall lay down together.
49:25 You know what that's talking about?
49:27 It's talking about two opposites that are going to be reconciled.
49:32 A lion is going to eat a lamb now, but someday
49:34 they're going to lay down together.
49:36 In Christ, the lion and the lamb have come together.
49:39 Justice and mercy have come together.
49:41 God's throne is set in heaven.
49:43 The rainbow is there.
49:44 The rainbow symbolizes the two opposites coming together;
49:47 sunshine and rain coming together,
49:48 mercy and justice coming together.
49:50 And all of that comes together in the slain Lamb on the cross.
49:54 Because when you look to the cross, you see
49:56 the prerogatives of God's love, His heart, His kingdom.
50:01 You see them meeting together and kissing together.
50:03 You see justice, you see mercy.
50:04 I mean, when you look at the cross, you see justice.
50:07 When you look at the cross, you see mercy.
50:09 Both of them.
50:11 I could ask you the question, what do you see at the cross?
50:13 Justice or mercy?
50:15 And you could say, "Yes."
50:19 They are both there.
50:20 Powerfully demonstrated in the death of Jesus Christ.
50:24 We thought they were opposites. They're not.
50:26 The Old Testament is not contradictory to the
50:28 New Testament.
50:30 But both of them meet together in Jesus.
50:31 And this is why I love Revelation chapter 5.
50:34 Because this sets the stage for the rest of the book.
50:36 Revelation 5 identifies the lamb, the symbol of the lamb.
50:40 It tells us what it represents.
50:41 It represents Jesus slain for our sins.
50:43 It represents the fact that He is worthy to take the book
50:46 and to unseal its seals, to unroll this scroll.
50:53 Powerful when you think about it.
50:55 And so He comes, verse 7, and He takes the book
50:59 out of the right hand of Him that sits on the throne.
51:02 Why? Because He's prevailed.
51:04 Now that word "prevailed" is really powerful,
51:05 it's really interesting.
51:06 The word "prevailed" is the same word that is used
51:09 in the Greek, nikaó, for the word "overcome."
51:15 Every single one of the churches is admonished.
51:18 "To him who overcomes..." "To him who overcomes..."
51:24 Anyone tried that?
51:26 Overcoming?
51:29 30 years, 30 years, overcoming.
51:34 You ever get frustrated?
51:36 You ever feel like you're not really making progress?
51:39 It's not that we're necessarily doing the same exact things.
51:42 I mean, I was raised in a good Catholic home.
51:44 I went to church every Sunday, etc.
51:47 But when I learned about the Sabbath, fourth commandment,
51:50 I said, "Oh, I've been breaking the law."
51:54 Started going to church on Sabbath.
51:55 It's not that I stopped going to church on Sabbath,
51:57 but then there are other things that had escaped my notice.
52:02 Like the way I talk to my wife, at times.
52:07 Like the way I think at times.
52:10 Overcoming.
52:12 "To him that overcomes..."
52:14 It can be so frustrating that we want to just
52:16 throw up our hands and give up.
52:17 Well this is why Revelation 5 comes to our rescue.
52:20 Because Revelation 5 points us to the One who has overcome,
52:24 the One who has prevailed.
52:25 It points us to Christ as the One who is worthy
52:28 when none of us are worthy.
52:29 Understand this.
52:31 Revelation 5 is saying, "No one in heaven,
52:32 no one in the earth, and no one under the earth
52:34 is worthy, but Jesus has prevailed where we have failed."
52:38 And because of that, we have hope.
52:41 Now this is a great mystery.
52:42 Ephesians talks about this mystery of godliness.
52:46 But look in Revelation chapter 6.
52:48 Because from this point on...
52:49 And we only have five minutes left tonight.
52:50 But we're going to pick this up tomorrow.
52:52 We're going to pick up right where we left off.
52:53 We're not going to get to beasts and dragons
52:55 tomorrow, sorry about that.
52:56 We're going to pick up right where we left off.
52:58 Revelation chapter 5.
52:59 I want to show you something here
53:01 that's really intriguing to me.
53:02 In Revelation chapter 6... Did I say 5?
53:06 6, Revelation 6 verse 1.
53:09 "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the..."
53:15 Okay.
53:17 The book is sealed, which means it's a mystery there.
53:21 There's something we can't understand.
53:22 It's sealed up, we can't understand it.
53:23 We can't read it, we can't get it.
53:25 Okay?
53:26 It needs to be unsealed.
53:28 We need to get this mystery, we need to understand this.
53:29 But no one in heaven or earth or under the earth can unseal it.
53:33 Then we see this lamb.
53:36 Which represents Jesus dying for our sins,
53:39 prevailing where we failed.
53:41 It represents the cross.
53:42 From now on, whenever you see the lamb in the book of
53:44 Revelation, think cross, think Calvary.
53:48 And if someone tells you that there's no Calvary
53:50 in Revelation, tell them it's in there 29 times.
53:54 It's beautiful.
53:57 And then it says in verse 1 of Revelation 6,
54:00 "I saw when," Calvary, the cross,
54:03 "opened one of the seals."
54:06 In other words, it is in the mystery of the cross that
54:09 all other mysteries are understood.
54:13 That's how we understand the things that are sealed.
54:17 It's through the cross, it's through Calvary.
54:19 All of our questions are going to be answered
54:20 through the cross and through Calvary.
54:22 The Lamb is going to open up to us the mysteries
54:25 that have been sealed and hidden.
54:26 He's going to show us everything we need to know.
54:28 This is why it's key for us to connect with Jesus.
54:32 We've got to do that in the beginning.
54:35 Because as we connect with Jesus in the beginning of
54:36 the book of Revelation, friends, everything else is
54:39 going to come together;
54:41 our understanding of prophecy,
54:43 how we relate to other people,
54:46 other Christians, other religions,
54:48 people in the world, life in general,
54:51 trials, evil, pain, suffering.
54:53 All is going to come together when we understand Calvary.
54:57 When we understand the deep unending love of God for us
55:04 it's all going to come together.
55:07 Take a deep breath tonight.
55:13 That breath is a revelation of God's unconditional love
55:20 for the entire world.
55:22 That breath cost God everything He has.
55:27 Everything.
55:29 God poured out all heaven to give you that breath of air.
55:33 God poured out all heaven to give us the gift of life.
55:37 Everything has been given to us in Jesus Christ.
55:41 And not just to us.
55:43 It's been given to the world.
55:45 We have this message, this everlasting gospel,
55:50 this good news message of how incredibly awesome
55:55 God's love is for the entire world.
55:58 We have this message to share with every nation,
56:01 kindred, tongue, and people.
56:04 And the adversary is doing everything he can to
56:07 get us off track, off focus, distracted,
56:10 to get us all caught up in things that are
56:15 almost insignificant when you look at this one truth
56:19 that unseals, that unlocks every other mystery;
56:23 this truth of Calvary.
56:27 And so it is that God is giving a message,
56:30 again tonight, maybe this whole week,
56:34 that must be the very pillar of truth.
56:41 And that message is Jesus Christ.
56:45 Paul says, "I would know nothing among you but Jesus Christ."
56:48 So with Luther, let the reformation continue.
56:53 Let us continue where Luther left off.
56:56 Let us make this paradigm shift in our minds.
56:59 Let us recognize that the book of Revelation is not about
57:01 beasts and dragons and judgments and plagues,
57:04 but it's about Jesus.
57:07 And let us pursue that with all of our hearts
57:11 and all of our strength and all of our soul.
57:13 Shall we do that tonight?
57:15 Amen.
57:17 Father in heaven, thank You so much for Jesus Christ.
57:20 Thank You for the revelation He's given us.
57:22 Thank You that He is the One that has unsealed
57:28 the mysteries of Revelation.
57:30 And thank You that He loves us, that He's given Himself for us
57:35 and for the entire world.
57:36 May this be our mode, motive, our theme, our purpose...


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Revised 2014-12-17