Your Password to Unlocking Revelation: Focusing on the Glory of God

Hey everybody, you're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners.

If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at greg.harvest.org. Again, it's greg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie presents a new series in Revelation. Its authorship, its message, and its relevance to the times in which we live. The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation. John was one of the apostles that walked with Jesus Christ.

In fact, in his gospel, he described himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. He outlived all the other disciples, and they tried to put him to death according to church tradition, and a pot of boiling oil. But John would not die, so instead they banished him to the distant island of Patmos, an isolated little island out in the middle of nowhere. He was put on a ship, probably in chains. And when he was placed on that island, no one ever thought that they would hear from John again. Maybe even John felt abandoned by God.

I don't know, but I know this much. Jesus Christ came to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos, and the Lord took John into the future, sort of catapulted him into the next dimension, and he saw things that no man had ever seen before. John had a front row seat to the beginning of the tribulation period. He tells us about the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Jesus Christ. He also tells us about the millennial reign of Jesus, where the lamb and the lion will lie together. And John tells us about that momentous event when heaven and earth all come together again. And he wrote these words down in a book that is simply called Revelation. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation means unveiling, so this book is given to unveil, to reveal Jesus Christ to us.

Okay, well grab your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation. We're all very aware of the fact that our world is in turmoil right now. There's a sense of fear in the air. This is due in part to this global pandemic that was supposed to have come and gone, but it just seems to go on and on with new strains of the virus with no real end in sight at the moment. It's affected people all around the world. Meanwhile, back at home we see our cities in turmoil.

We see the murder rate up dramatically. We see all the things that are going on, and it causes us to wonder, are these signs of the times? Are these the things the Bible told us to be looking for, letting us know that Christ is coming back?

The answer is yes, they are. Jesus likened the end times events or the signs of the times to birth pains, so labor pains we might say. So when the baby is closer to coming, to being born, the labor pains get closer and closer together.

The Bible tells us that as we get closer to the Lord's return, we're going to see these signs or these labor pains, if you will, closer and closer together, alerting us to the fact that His return is near. Have you ever heard of the Doomsday Clock? It's sponsored by a group of atomic scientists, and it goes way back to 1947. And because of the rise of the use of nuclear weaponry, they thought we were getting closer to Doomsday. And back in 1947, they set it to 17 minutes till midnight.

And each year it's gotten a little bit closer. I just read that the Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it has ever been. Now they're not even counting it in minutes.

It's 100 seconds to midnight. And as we see these signs happening, we understand that they're almost like dominoes. You know, if you take a lot of dominoes and stack them closely together, when the first domino goes, all the others follow in rapid succession. That's what the last day's events are like.

The first domino falls, and the others come after. Let me give you a big picture of how I see the end times events. I believe the next event on the prophetic calendar will be the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church is that event when Christ comes for his church and we're caught up to meet him in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. That could happen at any time. Following that will probably be the invasion of Magog against Israel.

It could be right after that or a little bit after that. But it seems like it will be in close proximity to that event called the rapture. Also after the rapture that coming world leader emerges on the scene called the antichrist, also known as the beast. He effectively inaugurates a seven-year period called the great tribulation period. When antichrist first comes on the scene, he seems like a good guy. He seems like a man of peace. A man with economic solutions.

A man who fixes things. But at the halfway point of the seven-year tribulation antichrist shows his true colors and commits what is called by Jesus in Matthew 24 the abomination of desolation. He has the Jewish temple rebuilt and he erects an image of himself in it and commands people to worship him. Now there's a series of cataclysmic judgments that fall on the earth for the remainder of the tribulation period. And everything culminates in a massive series of battles called Armageddon.

Armageddon is from the root word Megiddo, Armageddon. So it's basically talking about where the final wars of mankind will be fought and they'll be fought in Israel. Then Christ comes back in the second coming. It's a separate event from the rapture. In the rapture he comes for his church.

In the second coming he returns with his church. After this we have what is called the millennium. The millennium means a thousand.

The word millennium means a thousand. And it's the one thousand year reign of Christ. And then heaven and earth become one as the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.

Amazing things are going to happen. But the first domino has not yet fallen. The rapture has not yet taken place. But we know these things because we believe in the book.

Listen to this. Christians know things that non-Christians do not know. We know that God is good and man is bad.

Now people often have that reversed. They think man is good and God is bad. And this is often expressed in a question along the lines of how could a God of love allow this and that. Where in effect I'm putting myself in the position to judge God. I'm challenging the fact that God is loving because I don't agree with it. Listen who are you?

When did you become the moral center of the universe? Here's the bottom line. Man is not good. Man is bad.

Bad to the bone. He's utterly sinful. All of us are. But God is good. But because we know man is bad and God is good we know that man is not going to solve these problems. But we know ultimately God will resolve these things and we know God is in control. Yes folks I do believe we're in the last days. I do believe we're in the end times. And it's important that we understand what's happening around us. In Romans chapter 13 the apostle Paul writes, understanding the present time. The hour has come for us to wake up from our slumber because our salvation is near them when we first believe.

The night is nearly over. Yes we need to understand the times we're living in. And there's no better book to explain all of that to us than the book of Revelation. The last book of the New Testament. The word revelation means the unveiling. Because it is God's desire to unveil or to reveal. God does not want to conceal these things from you. He wants to reveal these things to us. And Bible prophecy is not given to scare us.

It's given to prepare us. So what does it reveal? Well when we come to the book of Revelation it's like the veil is taken away and I see the spirit world. The spirit world of angels and demons and God and Satan.

The world of heaven and of hell and the and the world that shows us what is coming as well. Yes I will learn about the Antichrist and his henchmen in the book of Revelation. But the primary focus of Revelation is not Antichrist. It's Jesus Christ.

Don't waste your time trying to figure out who Antichrist is. Give your attention to who Jesus Christ is because he is the very center of the book of Revelation and he's the very center of Bible prophecy in general. Revelation 19 10 says the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus. Jesus is the centerpiece and the star and focus of the book of Revelation.

And should he not be the centerpiece and star of your life and my life as well. You know sometimes we can get so caught up in the study of eschatology, which is a word that refers to last day's events and so forth, that we can't see the forest for the trees. Listen to this. Bible prophecy is not given to inflate our brains. It's given to enlarge our hearts. Understand the book of Revelation was written to believers who were suffering. In fact it was written by a believer who was suffering. Banished to the island of Patmos. I'm talking about the apostle John.

Church tradition tells us that they tried to boil him in a pot of oil and were unsuccessful. So he was banished to this island where the Lord gave him this unveiling, this revelation of things to come. It's sort of like John was put in a spiritual time machine and catapulted into the future.

I don't think it was a DeLorean. But the idea is he saw the future because he entered into the eternal realm. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of today's message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship. It's a message from the word of God.

You can watch it with your family in your front room or you can watch it on the go on your tablet on your phone or your computer. Take it with you. Take the word of God with you and join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is launching an eye-opening study in the prophetic book of Revelation.

And if you miss any part of today's introductory presentation you can catch up by going to Harvest.org. Here's something you need to know about the book of Revelation. It is the only book of the Bible with a built-in blessing attached.

Let me say that again. Revelation is the only book in the Bible with a built-in blessing attached. By the way there is no other book in the Bible with an introduction and a conclusion quite like this one. And that blessing is found in Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 when it says bless it. And by the way the word blessed can also be translated happy. So happy or blessed is he who reads and hears the words of this prophecy and keeps the things that are written in it for the time is near. Now there are three prerequisites necessary to receive this blessing. Number one blessed is the person who reads it. I already mentioned that the implication of the original language is to read it out loud. You know there's something wonderful about reading scripture out loud isn't there?

And we'll do that in just a moment. So you are to read it. But you can't just stop there. Then it says into the person who hears the words of this prophecy. You see I can read it but I have to hear it. And when the Bible says hear something it means to have an understanding of it.

It's giving your attention with intention. Jesus would often say he that has ears to hear let him hear. A modern translation of that might be listen up. Pay attention.

Hear what is actually being said. There's nothing magical about simply reading this book. You need to pray that the Holy Spirit will open up your mind and your heart to what it is actually saying. Again when your focus is on Jesus and on heavenly things it changes you in the way that you live. In Colossians 3 the Apostle Paul says set your affection on things above. Or another way to translate it think about heaven. Or a simple idea of it is just have your mind and your thoughts focused on the glory of God and on heaven. And if you do that it will affect you in the way that you live on earth.

The fact is those that think more about heaven make the greatest difference here on earth. This blessing is promised also to the person who keeps the things that are written in it. So first you have to read it. Then you have to hear it or perceive it or understand it.

And thirdly you must keep these words. You know it's interesting to note that whenever you read passages about the return of Christ there's always an exhortation attached for us to live a godly life as a result. Peter in 2 Peter 3 11 talking about the return of the Lord says, since these things are happening around us what holy and godly lives should we be living? If studying Bible prophecy does not motivate us to live a godly life we have missed the point.

Writing about this 1 John 3 says, when you have this eager expectation of the Lord's return you will keep yourself pure just as He is pure. Number two studying the book of Revelation unlocks the mystery of history. It unlocks the mystery of history. We see that God is in control and things are moving according to a master plan.

This is not being decided by people in government or people in power or people in tech or people wherever they are. God is ultimately in control and He sees the future as accurately as we see the past. You see when God tells us something that's going to happen it's not like He's going out on a limb and taking a risk. God being eternal sees the past and the future and the present as the same. Now I said He knows the future as well as I know the past. A lot of times I forget the past.

You know it's funny. I'll be telling a story about something that happened to me and when I'm done my wife will say that's not the way it happened and I'll say no wait you weren't even there. She says no but the first time you told me about it you told me things you didn't tell in this telling of the story. Doggone it she's right okay. So I don't even remember the past all that accurately.

Hey I lose my car in a parking lot. What level was I on? Where did I put it again? God remembers the past perfectly but He also knows the future perfectly. So this is the thing that we need to understand that this book unlocks the mystery of history. God tells us what is going on. Number three studying the book of Revelation will bring sense to our suffering.

It will bring sense to our suffering. What do you say to someone who has suffered tragedy? What do you say to someone who is grappling with a disability? What do you say to someone who has lost a loved one?

What do you say to someone who is weeping from grief? Answer you say this is not God's final plan because Revelation 21 4 says He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There'll be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

All these things are gone forever. When I read the Bible and specifically the book of Revelation I realize that God is going to resolve all things in the end. Heard a story about a guy who loved to read the book of Revelation but he had no proper theological training and he was being criticized by some wiser so-called theologians and they said you don't understand the book of Revelation and he said no I do. I do understand it.

They said no. No one can understand the book of Revelation. It's a mystery. It's a riddle.

It's an enigma. He says no I I do understand the book of Revelation. They said all right what is the book of Revelation about and he replied it means we win.

Hey that guy was right. We win in the end and God wants us to understand Revelation and prophecy in general. I mentioned briefly the abomination of desolation and then it's interesting this statement is attached to that. Let the reader understand. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet says Jesus and it adds let the reader understand.

Why would that be added if I'm not supposed to understand what that is all about. Paul writing about end times events he says brothers I would not have you be ignorant about these things. Speaking of Daniel in chapter 12 of his book he's disturbed by visions he is having. And by the way Daniel in the Old Testament is a parallel book to Revelation in the New Testament.

So I'll be referring to Daniel because they complement one another. But in chapter 12 the prophet is disturbed by visions he's having. He doesn't understand it.

He can't quite wrap his mind around the meaning of these things. And an angel of the Lord appears to him in Daniel chapter 12 and says Daniel keep this prophecy a secret. Seal up the book until the time of the end.

Many will rush here and there and knowledge will increase. You see Daniel was told that his visions were a glimpse into the future and he wasn't going to be able to understand them. In fact no one would be able to until the time of the end when knowledge would increase. You see it was a secret to him at the time. But now we know the secret. Everybody likes to know a secret. My grandkids when they were little I used to trick them and we'd be going into a restaurant and everyone else would go in the front door and I'd say kids you want to go in the secret way. Yes papa they'd say let's go the secret way and I would just take him through a side door.

But they thought it was so but they thought it was so fun. We came the secret way with papa. There's a park not far from our house and we used to call it the secret park. And there was nothing secretive about it. It's an open public park but but they thought it was the secret park. Well now they know it's not a secret anymore but the funny thing is we still refer to it that way. Kathy will say I'm going to walk down to the secret park.

Everyone likes to know a secret. Secrets are revealed in the book of Revelation. Pastor Greg Laurie just getting started with his opening study of his new series in Revelation and there's much more to come here on a new beginning in the days ahead.

Hope you can join us just as often as your schedule allows. But listen if you missed any of this introductory message you can get a replay of today's presentation at harvest.org. Just look for the message called Your Password to Unlocking Revelation.

Again go to harvest.org. And then we want to mention Pastor Greg's new book that springs from this series. It's called Revelation a Book of Promises. You know Pastor Greg some people have a rather cloudy understanding of prophecy.

You know they're not sure of the terms. And some prophecy is just so rich in symbolism that they wonder where they can get a decoder ring. You remember a decoder ring? I do. You ever have a decoder ring? I don't know if I ever got one but I was very aware of them and I wanted one.

Do you have an extra? Well for your gift of any size. Okay. So is your book sort of a literary decoder ring as it were for all of us to understand what Revelation means and how we're supposed to employ that insight today?

Yeah you know I think that's a good description. You know my objective as a pastor, as a Bible teacher, as an evangelist is make things understandable to people. I don't see any value in speaking over someone's head and using theological terminology that people don't understand. The Bible says of Jesus the common people heard him gladly.

Which simply means regular rank and file people understood what Jesus was talking about. So the book of Revelation. This is a book many people are fascinated by but it's also a book many people are mystified by.

And there is a decoder ring or as I describe it early in the book a password. A password or an encryption key that will help you understand the book of Revelation and it's found right in the first chapter. I think you're going to be surprised by how understandable this great book of the Bible is.

I write in a way well it says oh we're just sitting down over a cup of coffee and we're just reading the verses together and we're talking about them together and I'm trying to explain to you with simple analogies and other scriptures commentating on scripture and showing you how these great truths apply to you. So it's in a brand new book that just came out and I'm very excited about it and I want our listeners to have a copy. Again it's called Revelation a Book of Promises and we'll send it to you for your gift of any size. Now some can only give a little we'll send one to you some can give more of course we'll send one to you but whatever your gift is large or small we will use it to continue to teach the word of God and proclaim the gospel. So get your copy of Revelation a Book of Promises and we'll rush it to you.

Yeah that's right it's brand new be one of the first to own a copy of this new hard cover commentary from Pastor Greg. Hey Dave let me jump in really quick and not only are we offering this new book Revelation a Book of Promises but we have this really cool graphic bookmark that we have put together that gives you a timeline of end times event. So you probably wondered okay I know I've heard about the rapture and the tribulation period and the anti-christ and the second coming what happens when?

Well this very beautiful little visual bookmark sort of lays it out for you that's included in the book you're talking about right now. Yeah that's right so we hope you'll get in touch today and ask for Revelation a Book of Promises. We'll send it to say thank you for your donation just address a letter to A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or call us anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300 that's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time more insight from Pastor Greg helping us unlock the eye-opening insights contained in the book of Revelation. Join us here on A New Beginning. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.