All right, all right. Well, listen, you can have a seat here today, and we are grateful that you are here and looking forward to a good night around God's Word here this evening. And I always enjoy listening to prayer updates and listening to requests, and it's always good to have a church family that listens and that we can pray for one another. So let me encourage you, we don't always do this. I know it's Wednesday, but make sure you take those prayer bulletins each and every day and just kind of keep up with one another. And that's what the church is. That's what we are for, to pray for one another and to care for one another as we go through this journey of life together. Well, tonight we are beginning a series that has been the most intimidating series I think I've ever approached ever. And we are looking at the Book of Revelation.
And I've entitled this series The Returning King, The Returning King. And we are going to be working through this together. So before we get all into it, if you did not get an outline here tonight, would you slip up your hand? We try to do outlines from time to time. We got a few people just keep your hands up.
If you're not in trouble, just keep your hands up as long as you can. And we aren't going to see you after class or anything like that. But we do want to get an outline. It'll kind of help you stay engaged as we work through this together. But I'm so excited about this series.
I really am. Like I'm super pumped about just studying God's Word. For me as your pastor, this is super encouraging. Back in 2024 in our Bible Fellowship class, Mike Davis led us through some end times prophecy discussion and taught us through that. And it really motivated me as your pastor to kind of decide, hey, you haven't really dug deep into Revelation since my college days.
And you probably need to do that again. So I started kind of researching a little bit and not sure when God would lead us to dive into a series through it until now. And so I am excited about this. As we kind of jump in, I want to give you some introductory thoughts before we kind of dive right into it, okay? And these introductory thoughts, I think, will help frame where we're going throughout the series. And so I want you to understand that tonight as we work through this together, this is a preaching series, okay? This is a preaching series. I am going to expositionally, that just means verse by verse, work through it, through the book of Revelation with you. If you're coming tonight to try to find the deepest, most academic seminary level type of class on Revelation, that's not what you're going to get. We are going to preach through this, okay? I am going to teach, but we're going to kind of work through it more from a preaching perspective.
And I want you to understand that upfront. But a couple of things that I just wanted to say that God just kind of has placed on my heart as we kind of jump into this. So the first thing I want you to know is I am making no assumptions about your spiritual condition in this series.
So here's what I mean by that, okay? Some of you are very, very deep in your faith and you're seasoned and you're ready to go to the deepest part of the book of Revelation. Some of you are brand new to your faith and you're figuring this thing out. And Revelation, some of the things we're going to read are going to be the first time that you're hearing about it. And some of you might not even be a believer at all. And here's what I'll tell you is wherever you are at on this journey, I am going to work through this. And I hope that especially for you, if you don't know Christ, that through this series, you would see what Jesus has done for you and you would trust him with your life and give your life over to him.
But for the rest of you, I want you to know that we're going to, I'm going to try to keep a balanced perspective, understanding that we have tons of different people at different stages of their journey. And here, the second thing I wanted to say is this, everything does not necessarily mean something. And here's what I mean by that. There is a tendency as we read the book to view every single thing that is happening around us and in our world or in your life as end times prophecy. Let me say, let me explain what I'm saying there.
Okay. Is this like, like the culture that I grew up in, everything was about the end times. And so when you get stuck in traffic, you say things like, man, this end times right here, or, or if you have to wait, if you have to wait a long time at the drive through, you could be like, man, the devil's attacking us today. Right. And, and we start to look at everything that way. I mean, true story.
This is what I mean. And those are kind of joking, but 1980s, I read about this this week. And many of you would remember this.
I was just kind of getting my life started in the eighties. And so, but, but Ronald Reagan, there was a real conspiracy about Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Some of you would probably remember this. People thought he was the antichrist because Ronald Wilson, Reagan, his three names, first, middle, and last all had six letters. So they associate it with six, six, six, and they just assumed it was, he had to be the antichrist.
Right. And my point is, we look at things from time to time and, and, and many things. I mean, in my life, I see stuff on when I log onto Facebook, by the way, Facebook, if Facebook says it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. I mean, I saw things, you know, of people that have served in office in Washington over the last several years where people would assume that they're the antichrist. And, and I mean, we see this or, or I remember more, you know, when I was growing up, when I was in high school and do you remember Y2K? And people thought that was the end of the world.
This has to be the end of the world. I mean, some of you believed it so much that you probably still have a closet with canned goods from that time in your life. Like my grandmother, I'm convinced she still has stuff because people thought that this had to be the end of the world. Here's all I'm saying is that there's a lot of big things happening in our world that do contain stuff from revelation that we need to pay attention to, but not every little thing that happens to you just happens to be revelation.
Okay. And so you got to understand that. The third thing I want to say is this revelation was written to bless us, not to scare us. Revelation was written to bless us, not to scare us. In fact, in verse number three of chapter one, it says that blessed are ye that, that teach this or that read it and that listen to it and that obey it.
And so I'll tell you this, it's the only book of the Bible that says blessed are ye for reading it. But so many of us stay away from it because we're sometimes afraid of it. And I want you to know it's there to bless you, not to scare you. And so if you approach the book of revelation with a fear, I want you to kind of change your perspective and your approach about the book. I understand why it can get a little scary.
I mean, it's got a lot of mystical type of stuff and you got judgments and howls and locusts and all these different things. But I want you to understand that this series, I hope will bless us as we study it together. And then the last thing I wanted to say is this, be patient as we work through the book together.
I recognize that for some of you, especially the deeper seasoned Christians in the room, we get a little anxious because you're already ready to see like, Hey, what's pastor going to say about, you know, chapter 11 or what, you know, and you're already kind of looking ahead to your favorite part of the book of revelation. And I want you to know there's 22 chapters in the book and we are going to slowly work through it. So I have no idea how long we are going to be here, but we are going to be here in the book for a while. I really believe that we are going to be here so long that it is possible that Christ could return before we're done with this book.
Okay. And so I want you to know that that is very, very possible, but tonight we're going to give a little bit of an overview and then my job or what my attempt tonight is going to be to work us through the first 11 verses of chapter number one. And that's where I would love to get to by the end of the evening. But I want to start with some introductory stuff just about the book. This will be on your outline so you can follow along and write as many notes as you want. And I think it'll help you here. So the first thing I want you to see is the author of revelation.
It's no secret. He makes himself known right there in verse number one of chapter one. The author is John, John the apostle. And the book was written around 98 A.D. So this is around 98 years after Jesus was born. Okay. Jesus was born 98 years later.
Here it is. And and just so that, you know, John was said to be born around the same time that Jesus was born. And so John was in his 90s, more than likely at the time of receiving this revelation of Jesus. And so he's he's an older guy, which I think is a good reminder that you're never too old to be for God to speak to you.
You're never too old. And so he's older at this time as he's receiving this revelation from Christ. And so John at the time of this was exiled on and on the island of Patmos. Now, Patmos is an it's an island.
It's a Greek island, actually, in the Aegean Sea. And and I want you to know he was exiled there. It's important that you understand that he was a prisoner there. Patmos was was basically where Rome would send their their prisoners.
It was kind of their version, if you would, of like like Alcatraz. And this is where Rome would send prisoners that would preach in the name of Jesus. That's why why John was there. John was there.
We'll learn here in chapter number one. He was there because of the testimony of Jesus and the word of God. And so in other words, because he preached in the word of God and because he believed in a resurrected Jesus, the Roman government arrested him and sent him away to this island, hoping that he could never be used there. And and so he was a prisoner there experiencing persecution at Rome's prison camp. It's important because I don't want you to think he was on vacation on the island of Patmos.
OK, he was experiencing persecution while he was there. The second thing I want you to see is the purpose of revelation, the purpose. So the purpose, very simple.
It's this. It's not going to be up on the screen. I think I forgot to put this up there, but it's on your notes to give us hope and anticipation about the imminent return of Jesus, to give us hope and anticipation about the imminent return of Jesus. The book, like I said earlier, it's not written to scare us, but it's actually written to bless you and to provide you with hope.
Think of Revelation, what we're going to dive into. It's like a cheat sheet for what the world will be like when Christ comes. It's like a cheat sheet for you. I mean, if you think back to your academic days, you remember the rare occasions that you would show up and they would give you like an open book test or the day before a test that your teacher would just be feeling nice and they would say, hey, here's an outline. Here's everything that's going to be on the test tomorrow.
This is it. And you're like, yes, now I know exactly what's on there. The only response is excitement and hope about that, because now you know exactly what's on the test. Well, Revelation is like a cheat sheet for what the world is going to be like when Christ returns again. But the book is there to exalt Christ and to give us that hope.
And so you see this, but the name Revelation, and this isn't on your notes, but just to help you out, the name Revelation, it comes from a Greek word, apocalypsis. And so it's where we get the word apocalypse. And, you know, a ton of people are obsessed with the end times and different things like that, even from a secular world and a secular view.
They love this. They produce movies about it. They just really have so much thought about the end time. And the book of Revelation gives us what the world is going to be like. The word literally, Revelation literally means an unveiling or a revealing.
It's an unveiling or a revealing. So Jesus is revealing or unveiling future events that occur leading up to the return of Jesus and after the return of Jesus. So the book's all about Jesus. And here's how you know that. And I've tried to study this best I can, and I've crammed a lot into the last two weeks.
And so here's what I'll tell you. There are 32 titles given to Jesus in the book of Revelation, 32 different ones. In fact, what's interesting is that nine of the titles, nine of the 32 are found in chapter number one. And so the book is all about not only revealing what is to come, but the book from verse number one on is a revelation of Jesus. It's a revelation of who he is. And so not only what is going to happen, but it also is revealing who he is.
You see that, just I'll mention the ones here in chapter number one. In verse number five, Jesus is called the faithful witness. And another time in verse number five, he's called the first begotten of the dead or the first born of the dead. In verse number five as well, he's called the prince of the kings of the earth. Verse number eight, he's called the Alpha and Omega. Verse eight again, who is, who was, and is to come. The almighty in verse number eight. Verse 13, the son of man. Verse 17, the first and the last.
Verse 18, I am the living one. And so John here is not only getting a revelation of what is to come, these events, like so many of us interpret the book, but the book is actually there, not just revealing what is to come, but it's revealing who is to come. And don't miss that, because that's really what the book is all about. The next thing I want you to see is the interpretation of the book of Revelation. The interpretation of the book of Revelation. So there are three ways that people interpret the book. And I'm going to be very honest with you. There are really good, smart theologians that differ on the way this book needs to be interpreted.
And here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to give you the way that we're going to interpret it here, and the way that I think we should interpret it here. But I want you to know that I have read from guys who view this differently, and it doesn't mean they're terrible, it doesn't mean they're heretical, it doesn't mean they're sinful, whatever. It just means that they view the book a little bit differently than you and I, and that's okay. And we might even disagree. You might look at it and think, man, I look at it a different way than you, and that's okay.
I'm totally fine with that. But I am going to give you the way that we do. The first way that people interpret the book is what we would call the allegorical way. And so, I don't think I have that on the screen either, I'm sorry, but the allegorical way.
And so for some of you, you're going to have to Google how to spell that, because it's not going to be up by here. But this method of interpretation, it just says that you interpret the book solely by symbolism. By symbolism. In other words, when you look throughout the book, you read it as a symbolic or spiritual allegory for the church. And I can understand why some people say that, but that's not the way that we're going to interpret it here through our study.
The second one is this historical. The historical interpretation of the book. This just says that you look at the book of Revelation and you interpret it as a symbolic representation of church history from ascension to the end of the world.
And so you can interpret it that way as just a book all about history, about when Christ ascended back up into heaven until his return. Also, we're not going to interpret it that way as we work through this together. The third way is the way that we are going to interpret this together. And this is called the literal way.
The literal way. The literal interpretation of the book. And here's what this way says, is that from Revelation chapter number four on, we interpret that as future events, literal events that lead up to Christ's second coming and after his second coming.
In other words, we're saying that events will be fulfilled in a literal way. That's the view that I hold. And that's the view of how we're going to interpret this. But I want you to understand as we work through this together, that's going to be the driver of how we look at the book. But there's people, if you go out and buy some commentary on this, you might get a little bit of a different interpretation method. And as you're reading, it's important that you know which way they're interpreting it as you study it so that you could understand and form that. But not only the way we interpret it, there's a lot of different viewpoints about the end times. And here's what I want you to know. It is future.
It is down the road. And so I firmly believe because I've got a way that I think things are going to happen. But I do not know everything about the book of Revelation.
And anybody that says that they know everything about it, I'd probably avoid listening to them anymore. Because there's going to be some things that I'm going to say that you're like, I don't know if that's how it's going to happen. And I'm giving you what I think. But throughout the series, here's what I'm going to tell you. If I don't think it's a definitive biblical viewpoint, but just what the way that I see it, I'm going to specifically mention that so that you understand that there's some liberty to interpret something differently down the road.
Does that make sense? I just don't want to come across arrogant like I have every answer for what is going to happen down the road. Let's look at the timeline of the book of Revelation. So that's the next thing that you're going to see. The timeline. So this is the timeline that we're going to work off of. I actually created one for our series. So I'm not kidding.
I did this on our own. And I'm not a designer. It took me some time, but I wanted one that is unique to our study.
And so there's a lot of them out there that have a lot of different things. I tried to include it on your notes as well. I know it's really small. So next week, some of you probably need to bring your glasses, just be able to see it. But that's not even a joke, guys.
I don't know why you laughed at that. I'm being dead serious. Okay. But this is kind of where we're going to go. But I wanted to give you the timeline because I want you to know the outline. Remember, we're not jumping all over scripture. We're going to kind of try to stay as much as we can in the book of Revelation. Here's what I'll tell you is that what you can see on the timeline is when Jesus resurrected, okay, which we celebrate every year at Easter, right? When Jesus resurrected, the scripture says in Acts one that he spent 40 days revealing himself and showing himself to the apostles and to other people.
So from that point, you had a 40-day period from Jesus' resurrection to his ascension. Remember in Acts one, when the apostles are gathered and Jesus is ascending back up into heaven, they're like gazing, watching him go up. And at that point, an angel appeared. And when the angel appeared, the angel said, why are you guys gazing up into heaven? Don't you know that that same Jesus that ascended will one day descend the exact same way.
Okay. And so at that point, after that, the commission was given to the apostles to go and preach the gospel to every creature. And what I'll tell you is that Revelation chapter one through Revelation chapter three is what we call the church age. It's the church age. So what we're going to study until chapter three is all about the church age.
The church age started in the book of Acts and that is the age that we are still in today. Okay. So we're still in the church age. All right. So everything beyond the church age and beyond chapter three are futuristic events. Okay. So you can see that on your timeline is you can see, okay, you got the 40 days. I circled the church age because I want you to know that's where we are.
Okay. We're in the church age. And then when you get into Revelation four and five, it's really small up here, but when you get into Revelation four and five, he talks about the rapture of the church. I'm not going to get into that tonight. We are when we get there, but that's when Christ comes and he raptures us up, the dead in Christ shall rise first, you know, all of that stuff.
That's not what we're going to refer to. That's kind of part of his coming, but his second coming is down the road beyond that, that I'll explain later. After the rapture starts a tribulation period, a seven year tribulation, three and a half years that are bad.
Then the other three and a half that are really bad. And so it's just a seven year period of time. And, uh, and then that's revelation, by the way, that's six through 18 talks about that, about the terrible things that are going to happen during the tribulation. Then in chapter number 19 talks about the second coming of Jesus after the tribulation, when he comes back. And then when he comes back, he's going to Institute what we call the millennial reign, the thousand year reign, which is also referenced in Revelation chapter number 20. And then also chapter number 20 talks about the lake of fire.
Uh, the lake of fire is that final judgment, that final place for, uh, for, uh, the devil, the enemy, as well as those who reject Christ. And then in chapter 20 is the great white throne judgment. And then 21 and 22 is when, um, it's all about the new heaven and the new earth. And so we're going to get to all of that. So don't get too excited about what is to come. Just understand we're going to get there, but it's going to take us a little bit of time, uh, to work through this together.
But that's kind of the timeline that we are going to base this study off. Once again, I understand some of you are way smarter than I am and, uh, and, and you've been saved longer. You've studied this out and stuff. You might see something on here differently and that that's okay. Like that's okay. And the one thing that we need to agree on is the gospel and how we can be saved. Okay. And so here's what I'll tell you.
If you believe that Jesus died for your sins and that he is the only way to heaven, that is a non-negotiable doctrine, but where something on the timeline happens or how it happens or something, I can disagree with you and we can still be friends. Okay. And so I want you to understand that, but that's the timeline that we're going to work out for everybody good with that. And so here's the deal. Revelation chapter one, we're going to dive right into it today and we're going to work through this. And here's what I'll tell you for some of you that, um, listen or attend often. Um, when you, uh, come here, you understand I'm a three point outline guy.
I'm a traditional Baptist preacher. And so, uh, I like three points or whatever. I don't have any points, uh, in, in verses one through 11, I'm just going to give you some commentary. So whatever God leads you to take a note on, write down, uh, write in your Bible or write a note you can, but we're going to just work through this and I'm just going to work through things with you tonight as we go verse by verse through verses one through, uh, through 11. So let's dive right into verse number one says this, the revelation, what's that word mean? Who remembers revealing or unveiling, right? So he is revealing and he is unveiling what is to come, but also who he is, who is to come. So don't miss that. So the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto, uh, unto his servant.
Okay. And so notice the revelation of Jesus. Here's what I want you to know. This is not a revelation of John. It's not a revelation of John.
Some people believe that it is a revelation of Jesus. What is to come and who is to come? And notice he says that which must shortly come, come to pass. Now when you read that, my first thought, if you're a human response like me is like, I don't know if I would describe this as shortly. We've been in this for 2000 years and all I'll tell you is like that doesn't seem short, right? Well, it's important that you understand what the word short means. And in order to understand that, you got to go back to the original language because some of our interpretations in our Bible, the Bible I'm using the night King James, uh, in our interpretations might look different.
The word short here is from a Greek word that literally means suddenly really means suddenly. And here's what, what I think he's trying to say is this, is that the end times are going to happen suddenly and when they start, it's going to move, it's going to move. And that's what he's trying to say. So he's not talking, don't get caught up in the timeline of, of like, man, Paul said he was in the last days and here we are 2000 years later, right?
Or whatever. That's not sure. Understanding that it means, it means suddenly at the end of verse one, he mentions angels. Angels are regularly mentioned throughout the book of revelation. Uh, in fact, the, the, uh, term angel or the word angel was mentioned 76 times in the book. And so you're going to hear that throughout that an angel, God used angels to reveal certain things to him. And so they're mentioned throughout the, uh, throughout the book. Verse number two, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw of all things that he saw.
Here's the thing, and this is, remember this is more of an introductory situation where we're going in this study. The book of John came as a vision. So he's on and he's a prisoner on the Island of Patmos and Jesus is revealing things to him. And so I want you to know that he's revealing a lot of different things to him at one time.
So there's a lot of different things. And then sometimes there could be a break and then another vision comes to him. You got to look at the book of revelation as like a cluster of visions that is thrown at him.
Okay. It's kind of like if you're a March madness fan and when March madness hits and there's a ton of games on it one time and you have four TVs set up and you're kind of watching them all and you're getting all of this information at one time or whatever, that's kind of like what the book is. It's a cluster of visions revealing from Jesus to John. Verse three, blessed is he that readeth and they that hear. So I'm the one that's reading it tonight and you're hearing it. So blessed are you.
Isn't that good news tonight? And those who aren't here tonight are not going to be blessed. Okay. Let's just say that.
All right. Hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written there in for the time is at hand. Time is near. And so the word blessed, it does mean the same word, a happier ye. And there are seven blessings mentioned throughout the book.
So he's going to mention this. You are blessed seven different times. So what's interesting is chapter one starts with a blessing and chapter 22 ends with a blessing. I believe it's verse number 14. He says in chapter 22, blessed are ye that keep the commandments and what I just told you. So he is going to receive or he's going to be told that that blessed are we that if we read it, if we listen to it, and if we obey it, blessed are you. If you read it and you listen to it and you obey it, blessed are you. Verse four, John to the seven churches, which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him, which is, which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits, which are before his, his throne. Now there's a lot there. These were seven literal churches there in Asia, this Asia minor.
So this would be, if you looked on a map, this would be what we would look at as modern day Turkey. And in that area, there were seven literal churches, um, that were there that had actual congregations. And the way that we look at these seven churches is that they kind of represent time periods in the church.
So they represent the modern day church. And you're going to look at those in chapters two and three. We're going to look in depth that at some of these churches and the warnings about the different, uh, churches, uh, that are around it and possibly could be true of, of us and things that we need to be warned, um, about, uh, the seven spirits, which are before his throne. There's a ton of people who look at what or who those seven spirits are.
And I'm not going to dive deep into it cause I don't think it matters a ton to what we're going to look at tonight, but there's a couple of different views. Um, Isaiah mentions, and you can look at this, there's seven different, uh, types of spirits that Isaiah mentions. And here, uh, many people believe that that's what it is. Some people think that this is the seven angels, uh, that are around his throne personally. And I'm not going to sign my name to this, but I think that's what he's talking about because in chapter number eight, verse number two, what you'll find is that there's seven angels that are surrounding the throne of God, very similar to what we get here in verse number four. So I would say that those are the, the same thing, but that's just my, if you just wanted my interpretation, that's what it is, but we're not going to dive too deep into that verse five and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own, own blood. So Jesus first born of the dead, we know that, um, you say, uh, well, wait, Jesus and even Peter and stuff, they, they kind of raise people to life.
Here's what I want you to know. Every person that was raised to life died again. There's only one that raised himself and then ascended up into glory. And that's Jesus Christ.
And that's who he's represented. So he's the first born of the dead. And verse number six and if made us Kings and priest, remember, uh, Peter reminded us that we are a Royal priesthood. We're a Royal priesthood in Jesus. And so what Jesus has done through his blood verse five, he, if made us Kings, he's made us priest, which priest were, were there to reveal God to man, which is what we are called to do. You're supposed to share the good news of what Jesus has come to do for you.
That's what you're supposed to do. You have access to him, a priest unto God and his father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever amen. Now the word amen, it literally means agree. So, so he's not done clearly or whatever, but when we say amen, we agree to something.
And sometimes I'm always wondering where you are spiritually. Cause some of you never say amen to anything. You're like, man, I don't know if they agree with anything. The Bible has to say, cause they've never said amen to anything.
Okay. That's kind of joking. Some of you feel really guilty right now. And so, um, but um, so verse seven, behold, everybody say the word behold, behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also, which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, amen. Now there's a lot in this first that I want you to see. And so, um, the word behold literally means to look full.
We could, we could spend the whole series there. That's what it is. That's why I named it the returning King. Look, look, behold him. He is coming. He is coming. I pray it's today. I pray it's tonight, but he is coming.
And so we are called to look and, and to watch, but notice, notice the wording after that. He cometh with clouds. Now I want you to understand when he comes back, he's going to come in the clouds. But if you notice this revelation of Jesus to John, he's coming not only in the clouds, he's coming with the clouds. Say what's that referencing?
What I think it is is this. If you go to the book of Hebrews, you know that as we are running this race and we are trusting in Jesus, we're surrounded by what? A cloud of witnesses. I think what he's referencing and what John is getting a vision of as Jesus reveals himself is this, is that one day, John, your responsibility is to look.
Your responsibility is to behold. Your responsibility is to be watchful and alert and vigilant because one day he's coming. Not only is he coming in the clouds, of course that's true, but he's coming with the clouds. He's coming with the saints. And so when he returns back to earth at the second coming, he's coming with those who have gone on before. We will return with him. So he's coming with the clouds here. And he says this, that every eye shall see him.
Every eye shall see him. Now in Matthew chapter number 24, I can't remember if we put this up on the screen. Matthew chapter 24 and verses 26 and 27.
Just write the reference down. It says this. This is Jesus speaking and here's what he says. Wherefore if they shall say unto, we do have it up on the screen, so make sure you pay attention because it's super important to what I think this means here of every eye shall see him. In Matthew 24 it says wherefore if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desert. Go not forth.
He is in the secret chamber. Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Here's what I want you to know about the second coming of Jesus. It's not the rapture. This is his second coming after the rapture when he comes to institute his millennial reign. Here's what I want you to know. You don't ever have to worry about missing the second coming.
And here's why. It's because everyone is going to see him. What Jesus is saying here is this. If somebody says hey I saw Jesus, don't believe him. I saw Jesus, don't believe him. That's what he's saying. If they say hey I saw Jesus in the desert, hey don't waste your time to go see if it's true.
Because here's what I'm telling. Jesus is not going to casually and secretly come. When Jesus comes back at the second coming after the rapture of the church and after the seven year tribulation, when Jesus comes back to this earth, he is going to come as a lightning bolt that goes from the east to the west and every eye will see him. Everyone will see him. And so I don't want you, don't get worried about man am I going to miss him? You know if I don't keep my eyes up there am I going to miss him?
Let me tell you this, you're not going to miss him because every eye will see him one day. And not only that, the Jews will look upon the one that they have pierced. Now we've studied that because we just came through the Minor Prophets.
Zechariah, we looked at that, Zechariah talks a lot about this. And so when Jesus comes back, all these nations are going to rise up against Israel and when that happens Jesus is going to come and he's going to fight and he's going to win this battle. But sometimes it's not going to look good for Israel until Jesus comes back and when Jesus fights, and we call it the battle of Gog and Magog, when Jesus fights and wins and Israel is victorious, then they are going to see his pierced hands and they're going to see and it's finally going to dawn on them like this is our Messiah. The one that we put on the cross, the one that we rejected, this is the one who has been fighting for us all along. And they're going to see him, but then it says, and all kindreds of the earth shall well because of him.
Let me just say this, everybody is going to see him. And by the way, in Revelation chapter 7, John has a vision of the throne room and he is surrounded by people from every tribe, every nation, and every tongue. And let me just say this to you church, because I know we're in the south and stuff like that, but it needs to be said, whatever, is that heaven is going to be a very diverse place. And so if you have any prejudice over any race, if you have any prejudice over anybody in this world, any race, tribe, whatever, here's all I want you to know, you better get over it while you're here.
It's because you're going to be very uncomfortable there. Because I'm going to tell you this, God did not come just to save white people. Jesus came for all, he loved all, and he died for all. And so what we get, this picture of Revelation and a picture of the future, is going to be every tribe, every tongue, every race, all together for one purpose.
And that is to worship their Savior, the one who came and made a way for them to be there. Verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. So remember, this is Jesus revealing himself to John.
I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty. Jesus speaks about himself, he is the first and the last, he is A to Z. Verse 9, I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation. He's not talking, just make note here, he's not talking about the seven year tribulation, he's really talking about the persecution he's experiencing on the island of Patmos. So he's experiencing this tribulation, if you would, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
That's why he's in Patmos, that's what I referenced earlier. The reason he got exiled to Patmos in the first place, because the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I wonder if Rome ruled our world today, how many of you would be exiled to the island of Patmos? Or how many of you would just make your home in Rome?
And that's what I'm saying, so he went to the island of Patmos because he became a prisoner of Rome. Verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying once again, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, not in Pennsylvania by the way, just so you know, and unto Laodicea. And so John, here in verses 10 and 11, what's interesting, and I could tell you so much because I've learned so much already in just this brief time that we've had, but here's what I'll tell you in verse 11, he tells John, he says, what thou seest, write it down. I get this picture, and it would be no different, that John is almost sitting there looking like.
And as Jesus is revealing these events to come and also who is to come, the returning king, Jesus is showing him all of this stuff and John's just like, amazed, that Jesus almost has to reach over it. Hey, John, snap out of it. Write that down. Write that down. And here's why I think that is because he tells him to do that 12 times in the book of Revelation. Write it down.
Don't miss it. Hey, I know you're amazed by this, but John's no different than you. He's old, he's going to forget it. Some of you have to write everything you do down.
I should not have said that. But he is older and so he has to write it down. And so Jesus reminds him and 11 more times after this verse, he is going to tell him, hey, write this down because this is important and because there's going to be tons of people who are going to read this and not be scared because of it, but be blessed because of it. Here's what I want you to know for us as we kind of just conclude these 11 verses. We as followers of Jesus can have hope and assurance because the same Jesus who came the first time to save you from your sin is going to come again one day to rule and reign over all.
And here's the thing, as we go forward with this together, don't lose sight of this. There's a lot of details and stuff and a lot of crazy things that are going to happen. But the overarching theme is this, the returning king is coming soon. The returning king is coming soon. It's like that song, it may be sometime, it may be noon, but maybe evening.
What's that old old song they're talking about? Yeah, coming again. He's coming again. If you believe that, can you say amen? Do you agree with that? Here's what I'm telling you. If you never said amen in church, if you hear your pastor say he's coming again, say amen.
I agree. I agree because he is coming again. And for us, listen, we don't know how all of these things are going to happen, but here's the good news for you.
We hope because of his coming and here's why. It's because if you're a believer in here today, the scripture says that you are saved from the wrath. All the scary things that we read about in chapter 6-18, all those scary things that we're going to look at, here's what I'm going to tell you. If you're a believer in here today, you don't have to worry a thing about that because you've trusted in the one who came, who paid all the judgment already for you at the first judgment, the cross. He died there to pay for all of your judgment so that you could escape his judgment and instead of experiencing his judgment here, you can forever be with him there. That's what we get to look forward to and I hope that during this series, I hope you're here on Wednesdays throughout the summer and as long as we go through this because this book's an encouraging book.
It's not something we should be afraid of or fearful of. It should be a book that we look forward to and that we hope in. Blessed are ye that hear it. Father, we love you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for what you have revealed to us even tonight through the Apostle John and what you showed him on the island of Patmos. God, you're coming again and Lord, we can't wait. We anticipate and Father, until that day, I pray that we as a church would do what we're supposed to do to tell people about you, to reveal that Jesus has come once and for them to experience the hope of the second coming Father, they need to know the Jesus who came the first time, the crucified Jesus who died to take away the sins of the world. And God, I pray that we as a church would spend our time focusing on that but then also every day that we would behold you. That we would look, that we would be watchful and that we would look to the sky because any time, the scripture says right here, what you told John on the island of Patmos, the time is near. And God, we're beholding you.
We're looking to you. God, let you be exalted in our church. Let you be exalted through this series. Father, we love you for it's in your name we pray. Amen. Thank you for being here. You are dismissed.
