The Unveiling, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. John and the church are about to go through a time of intense persecution and suffering. And brothers and sisters, when you go through an intense time of persecution, you don't need a sentimental Jesus who simply makes you feel warm at night.

You don't need a life coach who is offering you words of encouragement. You need to see Jesus as He really is, as a God who raised from the dead and who controls all things and holds Him in His hand. Welcome to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. If you were to flip through the book of Revelation with no previous Bible knowledge, it would probably sound like a piece of science fiction or someone's crazy dream journal. It for sure would make quite a movie script, wouldn't you agree? All that talk of dragons and beasts can be pretty confusing and quite frankly, scary. Well, today, Pastor J.D. is walking us through this book of prophecy, explaining how God has pulled back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the spiritual reality in the end times. Why do we need to know that?

Well, stick around to find out. He titled this message The Unveiling. We began it yesterday, so if you missed it or any other part of this teaching series, catch up at J.D.

Greer dot com. Right now, let's jump back in. Here's Pastor J.D. Revelation chapter one, verse one. Here's how John, the apostle, same guy who wrote the Gospel of John, by the way, opens the book. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. And here we encounter our first mystery. You see, revelation is a word that means unveiling, pulling back, like pulling back the curtain to show something. And the question that we ask is, what is it that is being unveiled? What is the revelation of? You see, is it a revelation of Jesus Christ or is it a revelation by Jesus Christ of the things that must soon take place? The answer is both. It is both a revelation of Jesus and a revelation from Jesus of the things that must soon take place.

Two things I want to focus on to that end. The first is the unveiling of our world. Jesus pulls back the curtain on the politics that are going on, and then we're going to go to the unveiling of Jesus himself. The unveiling of our world, that's in Revelation 17. So I want you to leave Revelation one and fly over to Revelation 17. Revelation chapter 17, the unveiling of our world.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, the seven bowls are a series of judgments God is pouring out in the earth. One of them came to me and said, come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sits by many waters. With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.

Then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. And there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand filled with abominable things in the filth of her adulteries.

The name written on her forehead was a mystery. Babylon the great, the mother of all prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. Verse six, that I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. This woman, this prostitute represents all the enemies of God, all those who do not belong to Jesus. You notice verse two, that her customers are kings from every kingdom and their inhabitants all over the earth.

We're not talking about one people or one culture, we're talking about all cultures and all people. Hers is a universal kingdom. You see, there's essentially only two kingdoms in the world. There is hers and there is Jesus's kingdom and you belong either to one or the other.

Few things that you'll notice about her if you're taking notes, you may want to jot down. First, she's a prostitute. It's because sin at its core, listen to this, is spiritual adultery. At its core, sin is not bad deeds.

Sin at its core is giving to something else what you should give to God. Second, she's called Babylon. Babylon is the name of a city with a long history in the Bible and it symbolizes man's rebellion against God.

The essence of the spirit of Babylon is I will do what I want to do rather than what God wants me to do. I'll be the point. I'll accomplish it. I'll do it in my strength.

I'll be the sinner. Third, she's really attractive. She entices people from all over the world.

Even John himself, verse six, is awestruck by her. Living with her, verse two, is intoxicating for a while. Listen y'all, sin is enjoyable. Sin is fun for a season.

It just ends in a place that you don't want to be. Fourth, and this one may come as a surprise to you, she is super religious. One of her companions, you'll find out, is the false prophet. It wasn't in the verses we read.

It's later. False religion. False religion engages in a lot of activity for God, but listen, it does so without ever putting God back into the central place he belongs in our hearts. Fifth, she has successfully seduced a lot of God's people. Here's how I know this. Go to the next chapter, chapter 18, verse four.

Here you have this warning. Then I heard another voice from heaven say, come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues. It is possible to be one of God's people and still be swept up in her enchantments. In fact, I would say it is more than just possible.

I would say it is what is happening to the majority of us. Who's the center of your life? Here's number six. She hates Jesus, this prostitute. Verse nine. The beast she's sitting on is described as having seven heads, which John says symbolizes seven mountains and seven kings.

Now, scholars say this could refer to either seven Roman emperors or seven empires that have come and gone or are to come before Jesus comes back. And what they have in common is that they're all drunk with the blood of God's people because this woman has always hated Jesus and his people. In every generation, true followers of Jesus have been hated and will be hated by the predominant world system under the control of this prostitute.

Don't be surprised when they misrepresent your intelligence, when they construe your convictions, when they malign your motives. The prostitute's hatred of us is a hatred of Jesus. Here's number seven, last one. She is destroyed. She is destroyed. This is again in chapter 18.

Let me just read you what the text says. Chapter 18, verse six. Pay her back the way she also paid others and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion of wrath for her as much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously. Give her that much torment and grief because she says in her heart, I'm a queen and I will never see grief. For this reason, her plagues will come and one day death and grief and famine, she will be burned up with fire because the Lord who judges her is mighty. You see, Revelation shows you there are two rival kingdoms with two rival kings.

The kingdoms are called Babylon and Zion or Jerusalem. There are two rival kings and one king is you and the other king is Jesus and both those kings can't win in the end and at the end when it's all said and done and the veil is pulled back, Jesus is the one who reigns and those who stood with Jesus will stand eternally in heaven with him and those who stood against Jesus in life will perish forever apart from him in eternal death. John says this is the curtain pulled back on the world. That's what it looks like.

That's what's going on and that's the end of it. We've seen the world unveil. Let's look at Jesus unveiled. Go back to chapter one, Revelation chapter one. Start in verse 10. Verse 10. I was in the spirit, John said, on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a voice, a loud voice like a trumpet. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, in other words he looked like a human being, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. That is, by the way, the garments that the high priest would wear. So you got a man who is the Jewish high priest.

Verse 14. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, which is just an image of saying judgment. It's like he's got the ultimate work boot on, refined in a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters and in his right hand he held seven stars.

We're going to find out those seven stars represent the seven churches representing all churches that Jesus was holding there in his hand. Verse 16. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. The tongue that had once spoke healing and given sight to the blind and raised the dead and multiplied the loaves of the fish is now coming out like a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in full strength. John says I couldn't even look at it because it was going to burn my eyes out.

Verse 17. When I saw him I fell at his feet as though I were dead. Now I want you to keep in mind Jesus had been John's BFF on earth. This is the first time they are seeing each other in almost 60 years. What would you expect that reunion to be like?

If you had seen a beloved friend, your best friend in 60 years who had saved you by the way. What do you think is going to happen? John falls at Jesus' feet as though he were dead. That's not even a figure of speech.

He literally thought he was going to die. People have this image of Jesus as a sad jobless guy with tears in his eyes who wandered around in a robe giving platitudes and talking a lot about his feelings. Well first that's not true anywhere but in Revelation you see an entirely different picture of Jesus all together. He's not a man of sorrows with tears in his eyes. In fact I hope this is not irreverent but he sounds like a guy you'd ever want to meet in a back alley.

He's got on steel toed shoes and crazy hair and a stank eye and a white shirt and he's looking for a fight. And that's the image that you're getting of Jesus here. Now is this a different Jesus than the one John knew? Is this a different?

No of course not. See truth be told Jesus had always had this kind of power but throughout his ministry on earth it had been veiled. But now Revelation 1 it is unveiled and it appears in all of its strength. So the question is why is Jesus appearing this way to John now? Why not reappear to John as John knew him on earth? Because see John and the church are about to go through a time of intense persecution and suffering. And brothers and sisters when you go through an intense time of persecution you don't need a sentimental Jesus who simply makes you feel warm at night.

You don't need a life coach who is offering you words of encouragement. You need to see Jesus as he really is as a God who raised from the dead and who controls all things and holds him in his hand. See watch what happens next. Watch what happens next.

Verse 17 but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not. Fear not John I'm the first and I'm the last. In other words John I am absolutely and totally in control.

I'm the first and the last. It means I was there when it started and I'll be the last one standing and that also means I'm everything in the middle. In the meantime I'm guiding everything. If I'm A and I'm Z I'm also B through Y guiding it all to my appointed ends. You know this fall y'all I memorized the first chapter of Ephesians with some friends of mine and one of the phrases that that just got stuck in my mind that keeps reappearing in various times.

I can't get it out of my mind. It's a statement Paul makes in Ephesians 1 11. We've been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Jesus has a purpose. His purpose on earth he's made pretty clear. He's building the church and using the church to spread the gospel throughout the earth.

The purpose of him who works not most things not things in the church all things according to the counsel of his will which means there is not one stray molecule in all the universe. There's not one stray cancer cell. There's not one stray spouse. There's not one stray child. There is nothing that is outside of the one who is the first and the last.

This week I read it again in my time with God in Matthew a way that Jesus says the exact same thing. He said are not two sparrows sold for a cent. They're insignificant to everybody and yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. You can't get more micro than that.

The hairs of your head the birds in the sky that nobody pays any attention to if a bird falls to the ground outside in the woods. Anybody hear it? I don't know but God knows and he's somehow a part of it. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. To learn more about this ministry including how to partner with us financially visit jdgreer.com. Did you know that Summit Life is featured on radio stations all over the country? We love hearing from people everywhere.

We recently heard this from one of you. I'm so very grateful for all the work that goes into making these resources available to us so that I may trade up my time and use a car ride, shower, walk on a lunch break into a time of storing up treasure. There are so many instances that I will listen to a sermon and the Holy Spirit has me really dig into that topic or scripture or idea and I get to use my own spoon to go deeper. And that's just one example of the impact of the gospel message that we try to steward here at Summit Life. If you too have been inspired and challenged by this program please consider helping someone else hear this teaching by sharing your Summit Life story with us or by giving a generous gift to the ministry right now. You can do both by calling us at 866-335-5220. We have a special phone prompt that will allow you to leave a message with your story and who knows maybe it will appear right here on the program.

You can also give or send a message at our website jdgreer.com. Now let's return to our teaching. Once again here's Pastor JD. Now what I'm not saying, let me be very clear on this, what I'm not saying is that is that God is the one making anything happen to you.

We live in a fallen world and the result is a lot of people do a lot of terrible things to each other. What I am saying is that Jesus promises that none of those things are out of his control and he promises to use every single one of them as a part of his perfect purposes in your life to glorify his name and to extend salvation through you. And I know you can't see it all right now. Many of his purposes for what he does remain hidden until eternity until suddenly it's unveiled.

And then you see that not one molecule was out of place and he accomplished everything he had set himself to. I've compared it before to a tapestry. You know a tapestry where you see one of these rugs that's got this exquisite beautiful design on one side. Nothing is out of place but then you look on the back side of that tapestry that looks all the threads look like a chaotic jumbled mess. I've told you that life for us right now often feels like the back side of that tapestry and it feels like things are out of control and why is this disease going over here? Why is this happening over here? What happens in the book of Revelation is Jesus takes that tapestry and he flips it on the other side and said not one thing was out of place.

There was not one stray thing that was happening. I was using it all for the purposes I had for the church and for your life. So Jesus goes on I'm the living one. I died. I died for you John by crucifixion and bold.

I'm alive forevermore. Now I got the keys of death and Hades which is of course another word for hell. John not only am I immensely powerful I died for you so that you would never have to face death and I'm now using my greatest power my greatest power the keys of death and Hades. I am using them to perfect my purposes in you. I've got the keys to everything that could ever threaten you.

Death and Hades and I got the keys to Caesar's kingdom. John what are you afraid of? John you really feel like Caesar's winning? John you really feel like I can't control cancer? John do you think that I don't know you need a job?

Are you really worried about your marriage? John look at me. Look at me. Look at my power. Look at my control.

Look at my love. John why do you doubt? That powerful hand sitting on John's shoulder that hand which calms storms that hand that creates matter out of nothing is nail scarred for John's sin and is the proof that every single thing that Jesus is doing in the world is not out of Jesus's control and that he is pursuing his purpose that he has set forth from the foundation of the world and not one of his plans for you or your family will ever fail. So see I got two points I think we should end with.

Here's point number one. Do you need to see Jesus this way this weekend? When you go through a time of suffering or persecution whether it's caused by the beast of revelation or the mockery of your friends or a professor.

When you go through a time with a lost job what you need to see is this vision of Jesus. John opens up the book of Revelation saying there he is. There he is standing at the end of history. The first and the last. The defeater of death.

The one with all these things in his hand and he wins. I see it. I think I've told you before about the time that I binge watched like three seasons of 24. And so my wife and I I think we bought a season and borrowed a season from a friend. I think we watched three seasons in 72 hours. And I remember in one of those seasons you know it looks really bad for Jack. Remember this? I mean I think in one of them he died.

Am I right about that? And the season ended and I was like I think he died. And then I look down because I got like season you know three or four on the floor and the next season I pick it up and I'm like and there's you know Jack on the cover.

You know and I'm like something's not adding up here. Because it looks like he died yet his face is on the next cover and he's going to starve for the next several seasons. Things turn out well for Jack Bauer because we see where it's all headed. What the book of Revelation is is John essentially saying his face is still at the last it's on the cover. I see him standing. I see that he's the first and the last which means he's got everything in the middle.

I see that there's not one stray molecule. I see that even in this dark dank cave in the middle of the Isle of Patmos that the sovereign Lord Jesus is in control and that he rules history not Caesar and that there is nothing that is he his purpose that is not going to fail. And y'all that is true in John's day. It is true in our day. It'll be true tomorrow. It'll be true when the four horsemen come or whenever that is. It's going to be true on the day that you get a diagnosis of cancer. It's going to be true on the day that you lose your job.

It's going to be true on the day that your spouse walks out on you. There is not a single day in all of history that Jesus Christ is not Lord over and if you pull back the veil and you look to the end you'll see he's always been sovereign over it. And maybe that's what you need to see this week is you need to see Jesus like this. He's not a Jesus who just comes and runs and helps you in the middle of a jam.

He is a Jesus who is sovereign over it all who is prophesied and perfected things in you and not one thing that he does not a hair out of your head will fall without his permission because it's all according to his plan. Here's the second thing that I take away from this. Do you see what this shows you about what we should be about? Do you see what this shows us about what we should be about? Here's what I mean. If this is what Jesus is doing on earth if he's got these seven stars in his hand if that shows that what you put in your right hand is what you're doing at the moment if the seven stars representing the seven churches which represent all churches are in his hand and that's his focus shouldn't that be what we are about also? I know not all of you are called to work in the church like I am but if Jesus shed his blood for the church and what's in his right hand right now is the church it ought to be the center of your life it means you should not be a spectator that shows up on the weekend for a religious pep talk you ought to be involved in the community and you ought to be pursuing the mission of the church if Jesus put his blood into it you should put your life into it you understand you ought to make this the center you ought to make this the center of your life and the church's one commission is spreading the gospel which means that what is what you should be giving the primary place of your life to you're not all called the ministry but you're all called to see the gospel spread to the farthest corners of the earth and there are still so many people who have never heard the point of the book of revelation is not to give you details for idle speculation about the nature of the second coming the point is to motivate you to give your life to make sure everybody knows about his first coming because seeing his first coming he came bringing salvation the second time he comes he's bringing judgment and not everybody knows about the first coming which means they're not ready for the second coming the gospel is only good news if it gets there in time which means that if i understand this i'm going to say you're sovereign i know what you're doing so i'm going to give my life i'm going to give my time my treasures my talent because i know what you're up to john says he's coming back soon every eye is going to see him these are the things verse one that are going to shortly take place the time is near behold verse seven he is coming now church live accordingly that's seen behind the veil and that's what god wants you to be up to why don't you bow your heads at all of our campuses if you would can we just think through those questions do you need to see jesus this way this weekend what hair has fallen out of your head what sparrow has dropped out of your sky do you feel right now that you're in the isle of patmos forgotten forsaken can you just see jesus standing above it all the first and the last let me ask kind of a sub question as many of you think about that there are some of you here right now that are walking in rebellion to jesus and you know it you understand jesus is not a convenient religious fixture you add to your life he's the sovereign lord of history and you're going to look at him one day in the face john his best friend couldn't look at his face because it was shining like the sun in full strength revelation six says when people who are not jesus's friends see that face they're going to call out on the mountains to cover them to hide them from that face you're going to answer to him one day and some of you just need to repent you need to repent and say lord jesus i'm sorry because i've lived according to my way not your way and i surrender to you right now and i receive you as my savior i accept the gift that you gave of dying for me on the cross so that i could be saved i receive it right now here's that last question have you made jesus's agenda your agenda is sharing the gospel the most important part of your life there it is once again the gospel at work in every page of our bible pastor jd greer challenged us to make reaching more people with the gospel an essential part of our life today on summit life you know one of the greatest tools we have for sharing the gospel in today's world is traditional and digital media jd why is a media ministry like ours such a powerful tool for sharing the gospel today yeah molly i didn't really start out in media ministry i started out just teaching the word of god to some guys in my dorm room in college okay as god called me in the ministry and now i do that with a with a church eventually we realized that there was a way that you could take the word of god to people who who weren't coming into the church and one of the ways we do that is through media right i mean think about it right now listening to this there are people that are scrolling on their phone that's how they got here they're driving in their car there are some we hear from on a regular basis who hear this when they're in a correctional facility in a prison none of that's possible without the generous support of our summit life listeners and so for those of you that support us i want to say thank you if you're interested in being a part of of this ministry through your prayers your generosity um just go to jdgrier.com you can also find a lot of free resources there that we'd love to provide you to help in your in your world with god and the ways that you are helping others with theirs too summit life is kept on the radio tv and streaming by listeners like you give today and we'll immediately email you a digital resource that you can use yourself or pass along to someone else who could use it in their walk with christ call 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or you can donate online at jdgrier.com i'm molly vidovich inviting you to join us again tomorrow as we look at the biblical picture of heaven we're discovering that it's so much better than just harps and clouds we'll see you again wednesday on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries