806. Saved From His Wrath

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones in this series entitled, Return of the King, which is a study of the second coming of Christ. Today's message will be preached by seminary professor, Dr. Jason Ormiston. This title of Saved from His Wrath will make more sense when we understand the flow of the book and then the timeout and the focus on the redeemed, on those that God loves and how much He loves and cares for His own. And I want you to leave today encouraged by Jesus Christ and the fact that He loves you and He cares for you.

Just a simple thing. Jesus loves you, He cares for you, and I want to demonstrate this to you. Look at Revelation chapter 1 and look at verse 1. It starts out with this, the revelation of Jesus Christ. You could translate that, the revelation about Jesus Christ. Many times we look at the book of Revelation, we don't think it provides comfort, it provides controversy. We don't know how to interpret it and sometimes we avoid it altogether, but I want you to know this is about Jesus Christ.

And so we're going to find truth about Him that I hope will encourage your heart. I want you to know also that this is coming from the fruit of having preached through this entire book verse by verse. So those sermons are on sermon audio if you have any questions about interpretations that I might have on certain areas.

And I'm not the only one to have done this. The preacher last week, Dr. Remers, I sat underneath his ministry of going verse by verse through the book of Revelation. So it's really a great resource for you to consider. I've read the book over 40 times in preparation for preaching through the book. And I want to encourage you, I looked on Bible Gateway and tracked down all of the time it would take to read the book. It would take you about an hour and a half to listen to the book of Revelation read to you.

If you break that down into seven days, it's around 20 minutes a day to get through the entire book. So you could get through the book of Revelation four times a month. And it is helpful to see the big picture. But first and foremost, you need to know that it's about Jesus Christ. But as we jump in, the stage is set in chapter one. I want you to notice as the stage being set, there's a blessing.

So there is a joyful experience. I get to tell you look at verse three of chapter one. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.

So at the very least, if you stay awake and pay attention to what I'm trying to do with you, there's a blessing on the other side of this. There's a blessing for me, for reading it, for you, for hearing it, and for all of us to understand it. And this great blessing is poured out for us in verses one through 11 and encourages us understanding the author in verse nine is John, the apostle. He's the last of the apostles to die. He is the one that didn't die through martyrdom and he gives us an amazing experience, a window into heaven. We also see the reflection on Jesus in verses 12 through 18 and we're astounded to see that he is brilliant in splendor and we're in awe of him and we should stop as you scan your eyes on verses 12 through 18. He's not someone that we want to take lightly. We start to rethink calling him our buddy or our friend.

We do have a friend in Jesus and that he cares for us, but we have a holy high view of who he is as we look at Revelation 1 12 through 18. But to unlock the book, I found this simple outline to be helpful. So turn over to chapter 1 verse 19 and 20.

It's somewhat confusing, right? The content, trying to understand how you put it all together. So let me give you this verse as a simple outline for you. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter. So notice that the things which thou hast seen, that first phrase is summarizing chapter 1 and it's John's experience as the author having seen Jesus. So John, write down these things to the seven churches so that they can know who I am.

I need you to let them know who I am. And then he goes on to the next phrase and this gives us the second part outlining the book and the things which are. The things which are happen to include the seven churches in chapters 2 through 3. So John was commissioned to write down what he saw about Jesus Christ, the things that currently existed which would be the seven churches that we will see in chapters 2 through 3. And then we have the phrase and the things which shall be hereafter or maybe you have in your translation that happen after this. And that includes all of chapters 4 through 22. And there you have your outline for the book of Revelation. And in fact we see this play out because the churches were in existence during the time that John received this word, this revelation and when he wrote this down. And after this is something that's found, look over at chapter 4 in verse 1.

It says, after this I looked and behold a door was opened into heaven. If you turn over to chapter 7 verse 1 it says, and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. And so it helps us break down what's going on here in this book by following just the normal words. How do we interpret the book of Revelation needs to be asked because people have all sorts of views.

Do we allegorize things and make certain things mean something? There are books written on this, you know, left behind series and it's very fascinating to read but how much of it is overly literal and what is supposed to just be an allegory. Well I want you to consider verse 20 in this outline of chapter 1, chapter 1 verse 20. It says to us, not only giving us an outline in verse 19, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden sticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Okay so how does that help? Well it's just simply this, if God wants us, or let me put it very specifically, if Jesus wants you to interpret a portion of this book a certain way, he is going to tell you. You don't have to worry about making it something that he hasn't told you it is.

And so if he doesn't tell you that's what it is then be careful not to come to a conclusion but when he clearly says this is a picture then take it as a picture. When he says in verse 20 the seven stars are the angels or the messengers to the seven churches take it to mean that and when he says the seven candlesticks are the seven churches, candlesticks refer to churches. And so we just let the clear interpret the unclear as we go through this. That being said consider the church was challenged. In chapters two through three we have these seven churches and as you scan your eyes down there you have letters to the church in Ephesus, you have letters to the church in Smyrna, Pergamos, and as you just look at it you see Sardis, Laodicea, Philadelphia. Simply put, five of the seven churches were indicted with something they needed to repent of. And so the message Jesus had for the church was for Ephesus don't forsake your first love, for Pergamos in chapter 2, 12 through 17 and Thyatira don't overlook false teaching, Thyatira in 2, 18 through 29.

And if you go down through each of the messages there's a message to each of them. Two of them particularly Smyrna in chapter 2 verses 8 through 11 and Philadelphia in 3, 7 through 13 those churches did not have a call from Jesus to repent. It was more an encouragement to Smyrna endure persecution to Philadelphia via witness. And so we see the churches challenged.

Then we transition into after this. Now what is interesting about that phrase after this it implies that the church is no longer here in the storyline. And so if you're wondering about the rapture and this idea of Jesus coming and taking his own church home to be with him, the church is not mentioned again until we get to chapter 19. So here we have an example after this, church no longer mentioned, the seven churches not mentioned again, the church mentioned as the bride of Christ in chapter 19. And so this is where we would insert rapture but you don't find the word rapture here in Revelation. You don't even find the concept of rapture really talked about.

I know some talk about different examples of those that endure persecution that Jesus will take them up but we have to get the concept of rapture from other passages in the New Testament. See the book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ and his care for his own and it's an encouragement to us. And so in chapters 4 through 5 we have the heavens opened.

And I just want you to see a couple things that relate to the glories of who Jesus is. In chapter 4 it talks about how beautiful heaven is and how glorious the throne is. In verse 6, before the throne there was a sea of glass. I'm in chapter 4 verse 6. Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal and in the midst of the throne around about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And it talks about these beasts flying around him and they're saying in verse 8, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

So we're astounded by the scene that we see and John definitely is and in chapter 5 there's something really discouraging that happens. Look at chapter 5 verse 2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? What book?

What seals? Well during this setting, the setting in heaven, we're presented with a title deed to the earth. It's a scroll. And the scroll is being held by God himself. And in this scroll, as you open it up, come out all sorts of judgments which equates to the wrath of God poured out on the earth. And the question is, who is worthy to open that scroll and to break the seals? And notice in verse 3, no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. John's response, I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. He is crying, weeping, because what are we going to do?

We have this title deed to the earth and no one's able or even worthy to open it up. And then we're introduced to and redirected again to Jesus. Because this book is about Jesus Christ. And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Response was a glorious response in verse 9 and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tribe and tongue and people and nation. And so we see the throne room is glorious in chapter 4 and we see that Christ alone is victorious. Don't forget the book of Revelation is all about whom?

Jesus Christ. So it's this glorious setting, we've already seen him, the things which you have seen, the things which are, Jesus is Lord over all the churches and giving some instructions to the churches. We see him in heaven and he is worthy because he shed his blood for the sins of mankind and he is redeemed from every tribe, tongue, kindred and nation and we can give him praise for that. And so we look at this lamb who is worthy to do it and we start to roll out what happens in the book of Revelation and that leads us to the main part here as the tribulation begins. So saved from his wrath, how is his wrath revealed? His wrath is revealed through the breaking open of this scroll. There are seven seals, so you can imagine the scrolls being opened up, one seal broken, something is revealed about the wrath of God, second seal opened, another something is revealed. When we get to the seventh seal, it contains all of the trumpet judgments, so we have seven sounding trumpets in the book of Revelation. When we get to the seventh trumpet, we have all seven bowl judgments in that seventh trumpet and then we get to the very end and we're directed right back to Jesus Christ and how glorious he is. And I want you to see this, the tribulation begins, it begins in these two ways. I want you to see the three waves of tribulation and then I want you to see how he gives inspiration through the timeouts.

The three waves. Turn with me to chapter six, please. Take your Bible, turn over to chapter six, scroll over to chapter six. These events occur after the rapture, 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18 and as demonstrated, the church is no longer mentioned. The events occur during the 70th week of Daniel, Daniel 9, 27.

The events relate to the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 through 25. And in here we see John, just like any other human being, he is seeing and hearing all sorts of things. If you follow, scan your eyes down, it says in verse one he saw something, verse two he saw something, verse three he heard something. He's really personally engaged in this whole setting and what he sees is he sees the Lamb breaking open all of these seals except for the seventh. Because if we look in chapter six, we note there are six seals mentioned, not seven.

So we're left going, when's the seventh seal going to be opened, okay? So if we consider what are the seals, well if you again look down here, you see the seal one in verses one through two, it's a lion saying come. A white horse is pictured, it's a picture of peace.

And then seal two, it's an ox saying come. It's a red horse, a picture of war with a sword in hand. The seal three, that's in verses five through six, it's a man saying come. In a black horse, a picture of famine.

Only enough food to make one meal of wheat for three skimpy meals from barley, but no money left over to purchase oil or wine. Seal four in verses seven through eight, an eagle with a pale horse, a picture of death. Verses seven and eight, approximately two billion people at once will be killed from sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.

Here's what I'm trying to say to you. This wrath is intense and Jesus Christ is righteously pouring it out on the world and he is going to do that during the tribulation period. And he lays it out for us. So we get to seal five in verses nine through eleven and there's a group of martyrs sitting underneath the throne and they're asking a simple question. They're saying, when are you going to vindicate us for our martyrdom? And he says something very interesting. He says in verse ten, and they cried out with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

They want to know. And he's one that is saying that, actually, I'm going to give you some robes. Verse eleven, and he says, rest for a little season until their fellow servants, also their brethren, should be killed as they were. That should be fulfilled. So there is a truth that there's still others that will die. So death is a very reality during the tribulation period. And the martyrs are told to wait. Here are your white robes. Just chill out. I'm going to take care of business and I'm going to come back and you're going to get rewarded.

Don't worry about that. Seal six, there's a great earthquake. The sun becomes black as sackcloth, the moon becomes blood red, and stars begin to fall out of the heavens.

The sky vanishes, islands are removed, the great kings and generals, rich and powerful, everyone slave and free, they hide themselves and they flee from the wrath of the Lamb. But then look at chapter seven. After these things, I saw four angels and we're sitting there going, OK, well, what about the seventh seal? You only gave me six. I want to know about the seventh seal.

But he doesn't tell us about the seventh seal because Jesus says, time out. I want to tell you something. I love my own.

I care for my own. And I need you to remember that. And so we pick up and just skip over chapter seven.

I'm going to come back to that. Look at chapter eight. And we're introduced to the seventh seal. And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

So this is definitely deep stuff. And in verse six, the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound. And so they sounded the trumpets and were introduced to the seven trumpets. So the seventh seal contains all seven trumpets. And in chapter eight through 921, we have all these trumpets starting to be revealed to us. And in chapter eight, we have all the way up to the fourth trumpet. It's not till chapter nine, verse four, that we see the fifth trumpet and then the sixth trumpet.

And I'm telling you, this is intense stuff. If you look at chapter eight, in verses six through seven, one third of the earth is burned up. In verses eight through nine of chapter eight, a third of the sea is turned to blood. In verses 10 through 11, one third of fresh water is made poison. In verse 12, a third of the light from the sun and the moon darkened. And in the fifth trumpet, there is this unbelievable release of demonic presence coming out like locusts. And they sting those only who have not been sealed by the Lord and preserved by the Lord, as it says in very specific terms in chapter nine, verse four. And then in chapter nine, verses 13 through 21, one third of mankind is killed by four angels.

That's intense wrath. So turn over to chapter nine and look at, actually look at verse 21. The response is no one repents.

No one cares. All this wrath being poured out, no one's responding. And then chapter 10 introduces us to a mighty angel coming down and we're wondering why this insertion of a mighty angel and how big he is and eating this scroll and I don't get this. And we have another time out, a break in the action from chapter 10, verse one through 11, verse 14. So turn over to 11, chapter 11, and look with me at verse 15.

And the seventh angel sounded, so that's the seventh trumpet. And there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, and they shall reign forever and ever. And there's a reminder, it's all about Jesus Christ and his reign. We have to skip over chapters 11, actually verse, you know, 11, one through 14, and we have the trumpet sounding and then in chapters 12 through 15, keep turning the pages, that's another time out. And it deals with some interesting things and we have to go all the way to chapter 16 before we have the bowl judgments.

Turn over to chapter 16. Chapter 16 contains all seven of the bowl judgments, where the other ones are broken down with a time out in between, this one contains all of them. And it's intense, bowl one, verse two of chapter 16, there's sores on all the worshippers of the beast, terrible kind, kind that are incurable, open, oozing sores. Bowl two, verse three, the sea is turned to blood and death. Verses four through seven, rivers and springs turn into blood so you have blood to drink. Verse eight through nine, there's burning heat from the sun. Verses 10 through 11, beast thrown, intense darkness. Bowl six, Euphrates is dried up in verses 12 through 16. Bowl seven, earthquake and shattering of the great city in verses 17 through 21.

This is intense. How do people respond to it? So what I just did is in really quick fashion told you the seals, the trumpets and the bowls. So how do the people respond? Well I think if something bad happened to me like that I would wake up and say I am ready to turn to you. But how do they repent? Look at verse 16, how do they respond? Well the angels in verses five through seven said, I heard the angels and said thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and thou shalt be because thou has judged us.

I trust you, I hope in you. We know that you are the one who shed your blood. You are the almighty one. The people in verses 9, 11, and 21 of chapter 16, they basically shake their fists in the face of God and say you have no right. The demons in verses 13 through 14 say we're going to make it right, we're going to manipulate things. And it's an interesting unholy trinity where you have the dragon anti-Christ or beast and the false prophet performing signs and doing what they think makes sense. But verse 15, look at what verse 15 says in chapter 16.

Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Nothing new here, Jesus is saying you better get right. This is all about Jesus. And it's interesting and I encourage you to do a study sometime on the wrath of God poured out in the bowls and how it says in here in verse 17, if you're still with me, verse 17 it says it is done or it is finished. It should spark in our mind, there's some other place in scripture where it says it is finished.

You know where it is? It's Jesus on the cross. And what I have found as I went through the book of Revelation in chapter 16 that all of the wrath of God poured out on the world was pictured in the crucifixion. Every aspect of it, the wrath of God poured out on Jesus whom we are to worship. It is fabulous to know that as we have believed in him. So it brings me to the four interludes that are supposed to provide inspiration.

Let me illustrate it this way. I coached the basketball team in Minneapolis, North Minneapolis. And just a quick shout out to Dennis Scott, Coach Scott, who was willing to give me the old uniforms from our team which he gladly gave up because they were in a box somewhere.

And I said could you give them because it's expensive to buy uniforms and I'd like to create a team. And we did and we ended up playing area Christian schools. It didn't stop there, we played these schools and it gave me an opportunity to mentor and disciple them and to share the gospel with them. But Coach Scott also invited us to come to their national invitational tournament. And here's a picture of me with the guys at the old Northland campus. And I do want to bring up that the second time we were invited we won the whole thing.

Just want to throw that out there. It was a great opportunity to disciple. And these are just my own pictures sharing the gospel with LaVon and with Will. And what an amazing experience. I still know these guys and have friendship with them to this day.

But I remember what it was like as a coach watching them the first time play in a championship game. And we were winning but it was starting to get chaotic and the flow was going to the other team. And I just let things go and I didn't call a time out. Second time around guess what I did.

When things got out of control like most good coaches you eventually learn by default. Call a time out and get a perspective. And that's what Jesus does in the book of Revelation. So consider these. I'll just mention them based on time.

There are four time outs. One focuses on the 144,000 in chapter 7. And this is an amazing study as you consider the tribes that were selected. Dan left out on purpose because it is the one tribe that fell first into idolatry. But yet Dan included in the end when the description of the new Jerusalem is given. Chapter 10 through 11, 14, two witnesses and their impact. Time out. I care for my own.

I love my own. In the midst of all of this wrath being poured out I'm going to take care of you. And then the interlude number 3 chapters 12 through 15 the protection of Israel and the triumph that we have of the 144,000.

Unbelievable demonstration. Again, not enough time to talk about the different women in Revelation and how Israel is pictured here. And the deliverance and the history.

It's just amazing but I want you to understand this. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves his own and demonstrates that. And this book is about Jesus Christ and we turn it into debates. But really Jesus is saying, will you just look to me? Will you just worship me? And the fourth time out is the fall of Babylon, the unholy trinity and the retribution of the saints. Remember that cry? Who will just, when will you make this right? He makes it right in the end.

He really does. And we have the introduction of what we know as the battle of Armageddon. These time outs are significant and I want you to get that. It's all about Jesus Christ and the book ends with a focus on the kingdom established in chapter 20. And then transitions into this beautiful picture of a new heaven and a new earth. So let me wrap it up with this thought but try not to put your books away yet. But that's what I'm doing.

I'm wrapping it up. Does this picture ring bells? That's a guy named Hunter Renfro who caught an amazing touchdown catch in the national championship game for Clemson in 2017. Now it helps that Deshaun Watson is the one throwing the football. And it was a bold move by Dabo Swinney to call the play to win the game instead of just tie the game.

But as you reflect on that time out, he called the time out, there were four seconds left to go. And as has been recorded, he says this to his guys. Guys, come here. Stop and listen. Listen to the roar of thousands upon thousands of fans.

This is such a blessing to be here. Then he says to his offensive coach, what's your best play? All right, go do it.

And they do it. And all I'm trying to say to you right now is stop and listen to Jesus say to you, I love you. I will care for you. And that is if you are one of his own. If you're not, repent and turn to him. If you are, regardless of whatever you're facing, find hope in Jesus. God, thank you for the book of Revelation. Help us to find joy in Jesus today. In Jesus name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached at Bob Jones University by Dr. Jason Ormiston, which is part of the series about the second coming of Christ. Join us again tomorrow as we continue this series here on The Daily Platform.