The Book Of Revelation

Kameron DeVasher

Muskegon SDA Church

Revelation 11

We have been studying the book of Revelation.

And I want to give you a brief review as to where we are.

Today, we're going to be looking at chapter 11.

There's no way to possibly recap all that we've studied in just a couple of minutes here and move forward with more.

But as you recall, our effort this quarter is not to be an exhaustive study of the Book of Revelation.

This is intro to Revelation, Survey 101, whatever you want to call it, it's the big overview of the book and not every detail.

However, that overview gives us the correct framework when we go back and study the details, we have the right endpoints and bookends to the book of Revelation.

In Revelation chapter 1, it starts off at the very beginning, it's called the revelation of what?

Jesus Christ, because the book's center and circumference, everything all the way through is all about Jesus Christ.

At the very beginning of the book, in fact, just go there if you would very quickly, Revelation chapter 1, in that introductory statement it's Jesus himself who explains the purpose of the book of Revelation.

A, it's to reveal himself and it's from himself, but it goes on to say in Revelation 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place." So that means things that have not happened yet but are going to take place in the future.

And again later in the same chapter 1, we see in verse 19, Jesus now speaking to the 7 churches, he says, write the things which you have seen and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

So we have the very concrete thing that Jesus himself says, the book of Revelation begins in the time of the prophet who's writing.

In this case, it's John the prophet, the revelator, the apostle John, then, and it goes forward to things that would take place future from his time, many of which for us are past, right?

Basically, the outline of the book of Revelation begins in the time of John the prophet and extends all the way to the end of time.

Now, I believe we're living much, much closer to this end than we are to this end, right?

There is a lot that has transpired, but we have not reached the end of time yet, but we're in the time of the end when end time events are starting to unfold before our very eyes.

So the book of Revelation, though it was future to the time of John, is pertinent particularly to our day because I believe we're living in the time of the end.

Now like its Old Testament apocalyptic predecessor, the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation contains several parallel prophecies that begin again in the time of the prophet and extend until the end of time.

Now in Daniel, we recall, you saw the image, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and it outlines world history, and then it repeats that history in Daniel 7, Then it repeats the same history in Daniel 8, but each time it adds detail towards the end of time.

It repeats and then enlarges, the same thing you see in the book of Revelation.

7 churches cover that same time frame from John to the time of Jesus, second coming, with no stopping in between, just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

The 7 seals cover that same history, but they pause around the time of the sixth seal to give you a picture of the 144, 000, and then it tells you the seventh seal.

Then it repeats again the 7 trumpets and this time at the 7 trumpets it pauses at number 6 before the sounding of the seventh to give some added detail.

And what we find inside of that pause, inside of that set of parentheses before the sounding of the seventh trumpet is Revelation chapter 10 and the bulk of Revelation chapter 11.

Last Sabbath we studied Revelation chapter 10.

It describes the experience of Christians living during that time just before the coming of Christ who, based on their understanding of Bible prophecy, as you recall, John was instructed basically to live out this experience that the believers would have and he was instructed to take a little book and do what with it?

It means to digest it, take it in and spread a message based on it.

That's exactly what happened to Christian believers in that time period in Earth's history.

Based on their understanding of the Bible prophecy, they were convinced that Jesus would return about the year 1843 or 1844.

Finally, when Setting a date on October 22, 1844, their highest hopes were greatly disappointed when Jesus did not return.

However, the Lord soon revealed to them that their error lay not in a miscalculation of time, but in the event itself, the understanding of what actually transpired.

Jesus did not come to the earth as king, he went into the most holy place as high priest to begin his most holy place final judgment work.

Which brings us to the other item highlighted as pertinent apparently inside of the set of parentheses, the contents of Revelation chapter 11, which will be the burden of our study today.

But before we begin the study, let's begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, Thank you so much for giving us your word to study and the guidance of your Holy Spirit to interpret it and make it plain to us today.

Lord, do you understand we're studying some prophecies with symbolic language, but we understand there's a real meaning to it and there's a genuine application for us today Help us to see it help us to understand it and through your Holy Spirit Help us to live the life you want us to live before we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen Revelation chapter 11 and verse 1 again keeping in context what we just studied in Revelation 10.

It wasn't the return of Jesus that occurred, it was the transition of Jesus from the holy to the most holy place that was the concern.

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod.

In chapter 10, Daniel was given something.

So he was given an object and an action to go along with it.

Here you see the same thing and now in Revelation chapter 11.

This time it's a reed like a measuring rod and he was told to do something with it.

And the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." Now I will tell you, I don't believe, and I believe the context will help us out here, I don't believe that this measuring rod is a length like inches or feet or yards or cubits, right?

It's not a measure of quantity, it's a measure of quality.

For instance, just the dimensions of the temple, they were already written down in the Old Testament.

He's looking to measure the quality therein.

It's a qualitative measure, not a quantitative measure.

Because notice it says here, to measure not only the temple and the altar, but also those who worship there.

The worshippers themselves were to be measured against this standard, against this reed.

And I don't believe that, again, he's looking to measure like a seamstress their girth or their height, you know.

We're talking about a qualitative measure that God wants done now of his people.

Arise, measure the temple, the altar, and those who worship there.

Then it says in verse 2, but leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months.

At this point, it would be a good idea for us to realize that the book of Revelation is not only centered on the person of Jesus, but it's also saturated with the language of his position and placement as our priest in the heavenly sanctuary.

The book of Revelation is replete with references, allusions, and direct comments on the sanctuary in heaven.

For instance, Right back in Revelation chapter 1 where we're introduced to Jesus Christ, we see him walking among the 7 lamps that are burning, right?

In Revelation chapter 5, you see Jesus coming into the sanctuary as a lamb having been slain, right?

In fact, what's fascinating about this is that, remember in Revelation 4, when it describes the court of God, you have the seat of God, and then you have the 7 lamps burning before his throne.

This is very much an allusion to the sanctuary, but there was no Jesus.

And in Revelation 5, Jesus shows up looking as a lamb that has been slain, right?

The mind is taken back to the sanctuary process, and what's fascinating is that the sanctuary is the template around which the book of Revelation is written.

And of course, the sanctuary is always pointing to Jesus Christ.

In Revelation chapter 5, again, when we had seen Jesus looking as a lamb having been slain.

In fact, let's just turn there very quickly.

I want to bring to your mind another thing we've already studied.

Right after John was weeping and weeping about no 1 was able or worthy to open the scroll and loose its 7 seals, 1 of the elders tells John, don't weep.

It says, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its 7 seals.

And we read in verse 6, and I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the 4 living creatures in the midst of the elders stood a what?

And then it says, having 7 horns and 7 eyes, which are the 7 spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

And in our previous study we noted that what the experience being described in Revelation 5 is in heaven was the exact same experience that was recorded in Acts chapter 2 occurring on the earth.

In fact, right now would be a good time, go back to Acts chapter 2.

Peter himself explains the significance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Again, as we saw in Revelation 5, when Jesus returns, looking like a lamb having been slain, immediately the 7 spirits of God are sent, and they're sent not just generally out to the universe, but they're sent out into all the earth.

In Acts chapter 2, they receive the Holy Spirit from heaven, and they ask the question, what does this mean?

Revelation 10

Amazing, we're already 10 chapters deep and only in our third sermon, but we're not doing an in-depth study of every chapter or every phrase or every idea that we could study in this study of Revelation.

We're doing a general overview, a survey of the book.

Genesis chapter 1, of course, introduces us to this book as the revelation of whom?

And everything from that moment forward is centered on Jesus, the focus is upon Jesus, It's a message about Jesus from Jesus to the people of Jesus.

And we see that in the first 3 chapters with the 7 churches that Jesus is speaking to and trying to woo and encourage and in some cases admonish and correct.

And then we also see in Revelation chapter 4 and 5, we saw the enthronement of Jesus after his resurrection, his ascension into the courts of heaven and the beginning of his priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary where he is given this scroll that was sealed with 7 seals.

He was worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.

And the seals then are opened sequentially, just as we saw the churches sequentially.

And basically in our previous 2 studies, we've seen that the book of Revelation is all about Jesus, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation spans the history of the church from the time of its author, John, to the return of Jesus Christ and beyond.

So the framework of the book of Revelation are things, as Jesus said, things that are and things that are to come, right?

And it concludes with the coming of Jesus, the end of the great controversy, the sin problem.

The 7 churches, the 7 seals, and the 7 trumpets are simply 3 different representations of that same time span that begins with Christ's reception into heaven, as we saw in Revelation 5, as the Lamb slain, conquering, of course, and it concludes with the return of Christ from heaven as a conquering king.

So you see, Christ is the bookends of this history that unfolds in Revelation, starting in the time of the prophet John and concluding with the coming of Jesus.

Now as we look at that outline of history more specifically, we notice that in the 7 churches, the sequence of the churches, we had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, 1 right after the other with no break for any explanation.

It's just the 1, then the next 1, then the next 1, then the next 1.

Very simple, very much like we saw in the book of Daniel and the other prophetic, the great apocalyptic book of scripture, where the very first prophecy given is the sequence of the kingdoms outlined in the statue of the man, the great image.

And it just goes from Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, then you have the Second Coming.

There's no explanation of any other time periods.

It just goes, walks through it as a whole.

However, in the sequence of the seals, it's a repetition of that same history.

There is a pause between the sixth and the seventh seal to describe God's last day remnant people, symbolically represented by the number 144, 000, God's remnant people.

So as it's going through that history again, it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, And just before we get to the seventh, which of course represents the coming of Jesus, the day of the Lord, it pauses to introduce us to this remnant people.

It doesn't give us the message that they're gonna be giving.

That's gonna be found later in Revelation chapter 14.

It doesn't tell us much detail except that they were there, and then it continues with the seventh seal.

And of course, then it opens the 7 trumpets, and it goes through 123456, but in the same position where it pauses, it gives a little bit more detail of things to be aware of.

Specifically, what you find in that break between the sixth and the seventh trumpets is Revelation chapter 10 and Revelation chapter 11, which of course, Revelation 11 concludes with the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

So today we're going to focus on that first pause in that sequence of the trumpets, which is Revelation chapter 10.

What's the significance for us today and what does it mean at all?

That's the burden of our study today is Revelation chapter 10.

But before we study God's word, we need to begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you have given us traveling mercies to even be here today.

And thank you for the opportunity of Christian fellowship and now Spirit-led Bible study.

Lord, we ask that you would send that Holy Spirit who authored, inspired the author of this great book of Revelation to now reveal to us Jesus Christ in its pages, help us to see Jesus more clearly and proclaim his name more confidently every day.

We're going to read an entire chapter of Scripture today, all 11 verses of it.

I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

He had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars.

When he cried out, 7 thunders uttered their voices.

But I heard, and I was about to write." Now, verse 4, now, when the 7 thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write.

But I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal up the things which the 7 thunders uttered, and do not write them.

So there's some interesting things here, but we're going to continue.

Verse 5, The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer." At least that's the version that I have.

I'm guessing that some of you have a version that doesn't have the word delay.

It probably has a different word, maybe time, right?

We'll come back to that, but we're general overview, then we'll review.

But, verse 7, in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, which is about to sound, so again it gives us a time stamp of where we are in the sequence of the trumpets.

We're in the before the giving of the seventh, so it must be in the time of the sixth.

But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.

Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.

So I went to the angel and said to him, Give me the little book.

And he said to me, Take it and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be sweet as honey in your mouth.

Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.

And he said to me, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings." So again, right in this historical chain, right in this sequence of events here, the 6 trumpets, right before the sounding of the seventh, there's a pause.

And he is given this prophetic experience, this eating of the little book and his dialogue with the man standing on the sea and on the land.

So what we're going to do now is just go through a sequence of questions that we want to ask this passage and see if the scripture itself will give us illumination on what the possible meaning could be.

For instance, we'll go back to the very beginning, Chapter 10, verse 1.

I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head.

His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

Who is this person giving this message to John?

Well, interestingly enough, if you leave your finger, home base by the way today is going to be Revelation 10, but leave your finger there and go back to the first chapter of Revelation.

And notice this is revelation, of course, verse 1 tells us the revelation of Jesus Christ.

You notice in verse 5 that it's from Jesus Christ.

And then it says in verse 7, behold he is coming, how?

And then it goes on in verse 12, as this voice speaks to him.

Well, we'll just start with verse 9, just to give a little context.

I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

Then it goes on, verse 12, as you skip down there.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke to me.

Having turned, I saw 7 golden lampstands and 1 in the midst of the 7 lampstands, 1 like the Son of Man, clothed with the garment down to his feet and girded about his chest with a golden band.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.

His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters." So he's already had an encounter with a being that looks very similar to this.

And that being was Jesus Christ, Very clearly.

He goes on to say, I am the 1 who was dead and now is alive.

Revelation 4-9

We are studying the book of Revelation this quarter.

And I want to just quickly review before we launch into today's study.

We're going to go through not the 400 level class on Revelation, but the 101 class, the basics.

You know, we're not going to dissect, try to parse and decline every word and look at every little tree.

We're going to look at the entire forest and see if we can get an overview of what God's message is for us in the book of Revelation.

Last Sabbath, appropriately enough, we started with Revelation chapter 1 And our scope of study was Revelation 1 through 3.

In Revelation chapter 1, we saw the introduction to this great book, and it clearly says right on the very first opening sentence, the very first words, that this is not a book of terrors or the book of beasts, but it's a revelation of whom?

It's a revelation of who Jesus Christ is, the centerpiece of this book.

And we see all throughout the introduction that it's Jesus who is exalted, Jesus who speaks to the 7 churches, as we studied last time.

And 1 of the interesting things we noted as we saw that introduction and those 7 churches, the messages that Jesus had to the 7 churches, in fact, let's just look at it in chapter 1.

In Revelation chapter 1, in verse 19, well, we'll start with verse 18, Jesus identifies himself as the speaker, and there's only 1 who fits these terms.

Revelation chapter 1, verse 18, Jesus says, I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.

And I have the keys of Hades and of death.

And of course, there's only 1 being in the universe who can make that claim.

I was dead, but now I'm alive forevermore, and that's Jesus Christ.

Then he says, verse 19, write the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things that will take place after this.

And he starts, notice he starts with things that are in the present tense to the author's situation, his circumstance, but includes things to come that are gonna happen in the future.

This is present condition and future prophecy.

And then he unfolds the letter to the 7 churches.

And of course, the 7 churches were literal churches in Asia Minor, Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamum, all the way through Thyatira, Sardis, and all the way to Philadelphia and Laodicea.

And they were outlined in a sequence, and the message, same message, went from 1 to the next to the next to the next, and it outlines a sequence.

So again, there are literal churches that were existent in his day, but the message was supposed to go from 1 to the next to the next to the next to the next all the way around to Laodicea, which outlines, apparently according to Christ, not only things that are, but things which will take place after this.

Now, in previous times we have studied the book of Daniel that corresponds to the book of Revelation, these 2 great apocalyptic books of the Bible, 1 in the Old Testament, Daniel, and 1 that closes out the New Testament, the book of Revelation.

The book of Daniel does the same thing that the book of Revelation does, because I believe they're inspired from the same source.

And that is that it starts with the prophet's time and looks to the future going forward.

For instance, in Daniel chapter 2, if you recall, Nebuchadnezzar had the dream of the image and it began with the head of gold and Daniel clearly identified, you, O king, are that head of gold.

This prophecy starts right now in this time but it goes forward to the next kingdom and the next game in a sequence and it concludes with the Establishing of God's eternal kingdom with the coming of Jesus Christ You see the same thing in the book of Revelation, that it starts in the prophet's time, and it moves forward sequentially, chronologically, from 1 phase to the next to the next to the next, until becoming an establishment of Jesus Christ's eternal kingdom.

A very simple historical unfolding of what from the prophet's time would be future events.

Most of which from our perspective has already occurred, praise the Lord, but there are still some future events to go and Revelation outlines those.

So we want to lay that groundwork as we move into our next phase of study that we're going to see the same process Unfolding but before we study our scripture today, let's begin with the word of prayer Heavenly Father.

Thank you so much for giving us this book of Revelation that reveals Jesus Christ.

So as we look forward to His coming, yes, let us study these prophecies, many of which for our time now have been fulfilled, but the ones that have yet to be fulfilled help us to keep our eyes squarely on the centerpiece of this book, Jesus Christ and Him alone.

So now we turn our attention to Revelation chapter 4.

So we covered chapters 1, 2, and 3 in our previous message.

Now, as you're finding Revelation 4, let's add something to our picture.

Now again if you recall Daniel chapter 2 had the image, the statue, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the second coming of Jesus.

It went 1, 2, 3, right through the statue and the coming of Jesus was the end.

Then in Daniel chapter 7, we're still in Revelation 4 with our fingers, we're just in our minds going to Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel chapter 7 reiterates the same thing, the same sequence of events that Daniel 2 did, right?

Except in this time instead of using body parts it talks about beasts, right?

I saw a lion, and then a bear, and then a leopard, and then a terrible beast.

But it starts to add some detail towards the end that was not mentioned in Daniel chapter 2.

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Revelation 11

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10 - The New Covenant Christ

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9 - Our Impartial Christ

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3 - Our Gracious Harmonizer

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