Revelation - 1:1-8
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[00:00:00] let's, let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your word.
Thank you that, uh, you've given us just all kinds of tools. Not just tools, Lord, but people, people that we can talk to, people that we can, uh, learn from, people that we can teach. Father teach us tonight, um, help us approach this book with a humble spirit. Uh, help us approach this book with a willingness to be challenged, uh, but also with a desire to understand it, father, because, uh, it seems pretty clear that, uh, you expected it to be understood.
So, uh, help us, spirit of God be here and teach us, and we ask all this in Christ's name. Amen. All right. Any sermon questions from the last couple of weeks?
What's that?
Okay, I caught that. All right. All right, well then I will [00:01:00] go ahead and proceed. And kinda what I thought, uh, that I would do is probably on a weekly basis, especially since we're posting this, I'm not gonna do a whole lot of review just because we're gonna try to hit a chapter a week. And as I told you last week, um, if you all slow me down because you have questions, that is totally fine with me.
I'm not like, we gotta do a chapter a week, but that's kind of my goal for now. Uh, and there may be a few chapters that. We're just gonna get bogged down on, so we'll see. Uh, but I was gonna do a review today, uh, since last week, uh, was the introduction, but it'll be really short. And just so you know, it is posted online.
So just real quickly in terms of the things we covered last week is, uh, the Apostle John is most likely the author of the book. And I'm not gonna go over all the reasons, 'cause that took us a whole hour last week. But, uh, the Apostle John is the author of the book. As far as genre or what kind of a book it is, it's a prophecy, but it's also a letter, it's an epistle, uh, [00:02:00] it's introduction reads like an epistle.
It's conclusion reads like an epistle. Um, some people view it as apocalyptic. I tend to avoid that language, um, because most of what we have that is truly apocalyptic is the either deutero, canonical or apocryphal stuff. And it's pretty far out there in fanciful. And the book of Revelation isn't that. So I like to prefer, uh, refer to it more as it, it's prophecy and all the figures, all the symbols, all the, uh, ideas are rooted in the Old Testament.
So if we're gonna understand it properly, we're gonna have to go back to the Old Testament and look at it. Uh, we talked about date and uh, I shared that there was basically two main theories on date and it will affect the way you interpret the book. Um, probably the most popular view currently, not necessarily always in church history, but currently, uh, is the late date.
[00:03:00] And the late date believes that the book was written around 96 a d. Um, and then there's the early date view. And the early date believes that the book was written around 67 or 68 ad. So the early date says it was written when Nero was raining. The late date says it was written when Dian was raining. And Yoshi, I'm gonna give you another chance.
I'm gonna, um, what is the significant issue between the late date and the early date? Uh, the fall of Jerusalem. There you go. All right. Uh, the fall of Jerusalem. So in the early date, the fall hasn't happened yet. Okay. In the late date, it's post fall, so it does affect the way you interpret the book. Uh, then we looked at, and again, stop me anytime you want.
We looked at the different interpretive views and we saw that, uh, the most popular view today. Again, this is not true throughout church history. Throughout church history, different views have held popularities for different amounts [00:04:00] of times and different times throughout church history. But today, clearly the more popular view is the futurist view, and that's the view that sees the majority of the book is taking place.
Yet in our future, um. Probably second in popularity today is what's called the idealist view, or it's also called the recapitulation view. And that's the view that sees the book as being divisible by seven. You can break it up into seven parts and each of the seven parts covers from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ.
And then when that section ends, it starts again with the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ. And what it does is, uh, each section gets a little more intense. Each section starts to give a little more information. And basically it's outlining spiritual principles that we're to live by.
Um, and you know, there's gonna be persecution, there's gonna be persecution throughout history, but we win no [00:05:00] matter what. And here are the principles to live by. Here's the divine sovereignty that's taking place. Um, but anyway, that's called the Idealist, recapitulating view. And it's not the view that I hold to, but I'm very favorable towards it.
Um, I shared a little bit of that last week. Um, the next view is what's known as the Preterist view and the P view. Preterist is a Latin word that means past. So the Preist view basically holds, and there's more than one school in every one of these views. But the Predators view basically says that from about chapter one, uh, through about chapter 20.
Uh, it is dealing with the fall of Jerusalem in 80 70. And then after chapter 20 are actually midway down through chapter 20. Um, things are still future. Alright, that's your typical Pist view. Um, I shared with you last week that happens to be the view that I hold. Uh, and then the last view that we talked about, that, that [00:06:00] has again been held.
It was held during the Reformation by some, Martin Luther's probably one of the biggest proponents, um, but it's probably the least popular of all the views. And that's the historical view. And what the historical view is, is the Book of Revelation outlines the history of the world. Okay? And the reason it's probably the least popular, and it probably makes sense if you think about it, is it changes, is the interpretation changes depending when you're alive.
Okay? So like last week we, we, I gave an example of, uh, revelation chapter 11, and Martin Luther believed that had to do with the Reformation. Okay? Few people would hold to that today because we've lived a lot longer. And we gotta, we gotta stretch out what all these different things referred to. So the problem with the historical view is it's ripe for change.
And the longer time goes on, now you gotta start stretching out things if you're gonna make it fit from the time of Christ to the end of the world. [00:07:00] Okay? Um.
In the future, we're not gonna do it tonight or anything, but in the future what we'll do is we'll take a break from the chapters. I don't know when we'll do this, but, um, and we will, I'll tie some of this into the different millennial views because there's also four different millennial views. Um, there's two pre-millennial views.
There's the a millennial, and then there's the post-millennial view. And they tend to go with, uh, certain interpretations of the book. So we will look at that in the future. And then I think the last thing I talked about was number one, let's have fun with this. Let number two, let's allow ourselves to be challenged.
Okay. Um, you're free to ask any questions you want. You're free to stop. We can talk about whatever. Um, when I can, I will try to give some different interpretations depending on what view, uh, it's coming from. Uh. But let's get [00:08:00] started on chapter one and we'll see where we go. So who would like to, is there another one of the handouts at all?
If there's not, that's fine. Did you get one? You did not get one. I would just look on yours. Somebody wanna read the first three verses? So grab your Bibles, 'cause I'm gonna have you turning to verses here and there. But would somebody like to read the first three verses? The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bond servants the things which must seem take place.
He sent. He sent and communicated it by his angels to his bond. Servant John. He testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Everything that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy to keep the things which are written in it for the time is near.
Okay. So just uh, and again, I'm not gonna be as detailed as maybe I would be on a Sunday morning. Um, but I just kind of wanna run through this book and stop again, like I [00:09:00] said, if you have questions, but it's called the Revelation and that Greek word means basically to unveil. Um, so the, the very title of the book communicates that we're supposed to understand it, and yet this is one of those books that we don't tend to agree on.
We tend to get confused over. And I would submit that I think one of the biggest reasons we fail to understand this book is we don't know our old Testaments well enough. So we don't know where the, the pictures are coming from and the meanings are coming from. Um, so I think that hampers us in our understanding.
But the word revelation means that it's supposed to be understood, uh, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God he gave him to show. This word translated show means to be apprehended. John is supposed to give it to the church so that they understand what's going on. And yes, the early church would've had an advantage because these [00:10:00] people would've been steeped in the Old Testament.
And, you know, they literally could have asked questions to apostles. Um, because again, depending on which date you pick, and I don't think I said it earlier, but I'm, I also, I hold to the early date. Okay. So not all the apostles would've been dead by then. Um, but that word speaks to, uh, uh, understandability too.
And then he says, yes, sir. Um, it says here in verse three, it says, um, his version says, um, the time is near. And this one says the time is at hand. I feel like that's a huge difference, actually, not really. Um, because at hand means it's ready to take place. Near means it, and I, I will get to that 'cause that's the first controversy.
Okay? Um, in fact, we're gonna get to it right now. Uh, the revelation is about things that Jesus showed his bond servant, which [00:11:00] must out of necessity, is what that word means soon take place. Okay? So you have, it must soon take place. And if you look up that word soon in your Greek lexicon or whatever, it means a brief period of time with speed, with quickness, with swiftness, with haste, okay?
So on the surface, I would argue that what John is saying is exactly that. All right? That these things are about to take place. In verse three, he says it a little bit different. He says, for the time is near or the time is at hand. All right? Um, in somebody, uh, if you'd like to turn to Revelation 22. Um, probably one person can do it.
I'm gonna have you read four different verses.
So in chapter one, verse one, you have soon must take place in chapter one, verse three for the time is near. Somebody read [00:12:00] chapter 22, verse six and seven. Um, and he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Okay? And in the Greek, it's the same wording as verse one. Things must soon take place. Somebody wanna read verse seven, behold I am coming quickly. Blessed is, who is he? The words of the prophecy of this film. Okay? And this word, I am coming quickly. Believe it or not, it's the same route as must soon take place.
So it is the same idea there. It means quickly, somebody wanna read verse 12,
we've all coming quickly. A reward is with me. Surrender to every man according to what we hear today. Okay? And then I'm not gonna have you verse read verse 20, but verse 20 basically says [00:13:00] the same thing. I'm coming quickly, so I'm coming soon. Are these things I must soon take place? I'm coming quickly and the time is near.
All right? So I would say on the surface, if you let the text speak for itself, whatever John's talking about is gonna take place in the lifetime of his readers. That's not the popular view today. So how do those who don't hold that view, get around it. And I will offer you what I think are the two, uh.
Things they do to get around it. Either you have to, everyone agrees the word means soon. The word means quickly. Okay? It's really hard to stretch that into 2000 years. It really is if we're honest with the text. So what some commentators will say is they'll, they'll say something like, when this starts to happen, it'll happen sooner, quickly.
So that's how some people get around it. All [00:14:00] right? And I would simply argue that's not in the text. It's not what the text says. The other way folks try to get around it is they will appeal to second Peter, chapter three, verse eight. Does somebody wanna look that up and read it for me? Second Peter, chapter three, verse eight.
One more time. Two Peter three, eight. Three, eight and nine is what I'll actually have you read. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years. Like one day you want me nine as well, verse nine as well. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but his facing towards you.
Not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Okay, so I kind of jumped in the middle of the passage. The passage itself in one Peter is probably runs from [00:15:00] verse one through verse 10 or 11 if you want to get the entire context. Um, but, and again, jump in if you want. I'm just giving you my perspective.
Uh, first Peter, chapter three is a difficult passage. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered in order to understand that passage properly, and it is not a good rule of hermeneutics. To take a passage and then appeal to a more difficult passage to explain the passage you're dealing with.
I'm not saying you can't appeal to second Peter, I'm just saying that's typically, typically you look for an easier passage to help you understand a difficult passage. You're not jumping to a more difficult passage. Um, another thing with two Peter three eight is it's not what I would call a hermeneutics passage.
And what I mean by that, and I went home the other day and, and double checked. I've got about six different books on [00:16:00] hermeneutics and I went to the table of contents. Some of them I've read, but I mean, I've went to the table of contents. I went to the, the appendix and the, the verse where you look up verses and stuff.
Nobody appeals to two peter three eight when they're trying to teach you how to interpret scripture. It's, that's what I mean by it's not a hermeneutics passage. Okay. In addition to that, nowhere else is two Peter three eight used to interpret scripture. People want to use it for the book of Revelation, but none of us would use it to interpret the gospels because if we use that passage to interpret the gospels, then we'd have to say that Jesus was dead for 3000 years.
But we wanna do that with numbers in the Book of Revelation soon. Doesn't really mean soon because God doesn't tell time the way we tell time. So it could be soon to God, but it could be a long time for us. I just think it's a misapplication, um, of second Peter three. And then [00:17:00] last but not least, John uses multiple different ways of saying it must soon take place.
The time is near. I'm coming quickly. How else could John say it if John meant this is right around the corner, this is gonna start taking place in your lifetime. How else could he communicate it? I mean, I think he did a pretty good job. So I'm arguing that these things, uh, took place, began to take place in the life of John and the life of his readers.
Um, and then the last part of verse one, he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bond servant. John, what does angel mean? Me? Messenger. Okay. Messenger. And we have to remember that the word angel, it happens to refer to it in this particular passage. It is most likely that Jesus sent his revelation through a spiritual being to John on the island of Patmos.
But the word angel in the Book of Revelation, as we'll see later in this chapter, does [00:18:00] not always refer to a spiritual being because the core meaning of Anas, and it's the same thing in the Hebrew, it simply means messenger. Okay? I think angels do refer to a certain kind of spiritual being, but angels also refer to a function apart from who's doing the functioning.
Okay. So it could be a spiritual messenger, it could be a human messenger, could be the Holy Spirit. It could be Jesus. I think Jesus is referred to as the angel of the Lord throughout the Old Testament. Okay? Jesus is referred to as the word of God. So Jesus is referred to with the, the same kind of, uh, speech.
So when we come across Angel in the Book of Revelation, we need to be careful and not jump to conclusions. Um, verse two, who testified to the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Then in verse three, blessed. That's the same word we see in the Beatitudes. And if you think [00:19:00] about what Jesus meant in the Beatitudes, he meant them as blessings.
Okay? Blessed is the one who reads this, who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy. So this book should bring a blessing, should bring more blessing than confusion. Okay? It should bring encouragement. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near.
Questions, thoughts, comments before we keep going?
So far, no one's thrown anything, so that's good. All right, somebody, what's the next chunk that I gave you? Four through eight. Somebody wanna read four through eight, John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be upon you in peace from him, which is which one is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne.
And from Yahweh, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead in the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own [00:20:00] blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and to his father, to him be Gloria and dominion forever and ever. So be it.
Behold he comes with clouds in every I shall see him. And they also, which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth, show whale because of him even so, so be it. I am the alpha, no omega, the beginning, and the ends says Yahweh, which is, which was, and which is to come the Almighty. Okay. So, uh, as I said earlier, John is writing to seven churches.
Seven is a very significant number in this book, and that's why I, I, I do have an affinity. I do appreciate the recapitulation view because you can, and I gave you an outline last week. Um, and it's, I don't think it's available online, so I'll start making the audio as well as the handouts available. Um, but one of the outlines that I gave you, um, comes from a guy by the name of William Hendrickson and he holds to the idealist view or recapitulating view.
And it's, it's a good outline of the book. [00:21:00] You can break it up into seven sections. Uh, seven. The number seven plays a prominent role in each of the sections. Um, typically most theologians, I tend to agree with this. Uh, the number seven speaks of completeness. Or fullness. Um, so he's writing to seven churches.
Um, that's he's, I believe as we get into it, he's writing to seven real historic churches. I mean, when we go through those letters and we read each of them, I mean, he's identifying the location. Every time he talks to the church, he's pointing out something that's unique about not just that church, but where they're located.
So he's talking about legitimate churches, but I think he's also communicating because he wrote to seven churches. He's writing to the universal church. 'cause when you look at those seven churches, you can see elements of that in all kinds of churches. So I think it's a legitimate, serious seven churches.
But I also think it's [00:22:00] communicating. This is for the entire church. We can all learn from this, um, to him who sit, who is and who was, and who is to come. The father to the seven spirits who are before his throne, the Holy Spirit. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler, and in the Greek, it's basically the current ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood.
So why can anyone think of why would the Holy Spirit be referred to as the seven Spirits who are before his throne?
All of the Holy Spirit, the completeness of the, okay. It could be. The number seven is just referring to the fact that you know, he's divine. It's just a way of describing him. I think that is a legitimate way of seeing it. Any other ideas? Somebody wanna look up Isaiah [00:23:00] chapter 11 and read the first two verses
11. Isaiah chapter 11, verses one and two. There shall come. The stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow outta his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel, and light the spirit of knowledge and of the Spirit of the Lord. Okay. Uh, a lot of commentators see a reference to that verse because you have seven different descriptions of the spirit, the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
So a lot of commentators in all schools. Okay. Um, would, it would say that this is probably a reference to the description of the Spirit found in Isaiah 11. Okay. Um, now as far as what we've covered so far, probably the only disagreement is how the different schools would [00:24:00] interpret soon, quickly, um, those words.
Um, but I kind of covered that as well. Um. If you look at the description of Jesus, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. Um, somebody wanna look up Daniel chapter two and somebody else wanna look up Daniel chapter four.
Daniel Ford, uh, Daniel four 17. But somebody, if they'd read Daniel 2 21 first
2 21. Yeah. And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Okay? And, and, and in his context, it's a description of Yahweh. It's [00:25:00] what Yahweh does. They're describing Jesus as Yahweh here, ruler of the kings of the Earth.
Somebody read Daniel four 17. This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demanded by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whoever he will instead of the bond over it, the base basis of men. Okay? So again, it's just Yahweh is ruler.
That's how they're describing Jesus here. So when it calls Jesus the ruler of the kings of the Earth, uh, it's attributing divinity to him. Uh, when it puts Father, son, and the Holy Spirit together. This is one of the many reasons why we would land upon what we call the Trinity, one God, three persons. Um, so you have all that in the book of Revelation, verse six.
Uh, he has, he has made us to be a kingdom priests to his God and Father, to him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now we get to verse seven. And verse [00:26:00] seven is another controversial passage. Um, verse seven says, behold he's coming with the clouds. And every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.
Uh, so it is to be. Amen. And so the question is, what coming are we talking about? And I'm just curious. We can kind of do a little bit of a survey, but I'm just, how do you all understand that verse? What have you been taught? What have you, what would you say you hold to right now? What are we talking about?
The rapture? Hmm? The rapture. Okay. The rapture. The second coming. Okay. Second coming.
Yeah. I'd say that's what I, what I, what I interpreted as, as a second coming. Okay. So in [00:27:00] terms of the schools of thoughts, uh, the futurist would view this as the second coming. Okay. The Historicist would probably, if I recall right, would refer to this as the second coming, um, the idealist. Um, some would refer to the second coming.
Some would explain it that Jesus comes continually throughout history, and we will look at that in a minute in terms of why they might say that. Um, the Prest position would say this is Jesus coming in 80 70 to Judge Jerusalem. Okay? Um,
so some of you look up Revelation two, five and somebody else look up Revelation three 20. Landon has one of those. All right. Which, which one do you have? Landon? Revelation three 20. Okay. Who, hold on. Who has two, five. We'll go in order. I can do that one. Okay. Remember therefore from [00:28:00] where you have fallen, repent and do the.
Or else I'll come to you quickly and remove your lamp scan from its place unless you repent. Okay? So we have Jesus saying, I'm going to come to a particular church and I'm going to remove you. I'm going to judge you. So already we have in Revelation two, five, the idea or the proof, or whatever you want to call it, that whenever Jesus speaks of his coming, it does not necessarily always refer to the second coming.
If we're dealing with a historic church and Jesus says, I'm gonna come and remove your lampstand, and the lampstand says, we'll see in a minute, stand for the churches, I'm going to come and I'm gonna judge you if you don't repent. It's not the second coming, but it's still a coming of Christ Landon three 20.
Um, behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, um, and open the door, I will come into him and will stop with him. And he. [00:29:00] Okay, so again, we got, we have a different kind of coming again. Um, and most of us use Revelation three 20 as an evangelistic verse. And I think there's a principle there, but really it's talking about a church and it's talking about a church being faithful and Jesus this time we'll come to the church and we'll commune with the church versus judge that church.
But either way, we have two different comings of Christ in the Book of Revelation. And there's no way in two five or three 20 that you could call it the second coming. So all I'm saying is when Jesus says, behold I am coming on the clouds, it doesn't automatically mean it's the second coming. Does anyone recognize that language?
So I do have, I do have one question. Okay. Uh, when it says every eye, does that mean like everybody that's alive at the time in the world? Well, that's a good question. Um. Because that's how, [00:30:00] again, most futurists would take that. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. So what the futurists will say is, if Jesus is gonna return, let's say that to the Mount of Olives, okay, well, only the people in Jerusalem would see him.
So how is it that every eye sees him, tv, iPhones, iPhones, that, and again, I'm not making it up, and I'm not trying to be derogatory. I am trying to be honest. You can find futurist commentaries that will say that, that every eye will see him in the sense that it'll be on satellite tv. It'll be being broadcast from around the world.
Every eye's gonna see him. Those who pierced them, well, since we're all guilty and Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, then that's the explanation of all who pierced them. Okay? What the P, what I would say is if this is Jesus coming in 70 a D, then um. It's interesting 'cause it says every eye will see him.[00:31:00]
So everyone living in Jerusalem's gonna see him in term, not because it's not a physical coming. They're gonna see the result of his coming, which is the obliteration of Jerusalem judgment. Okay? Every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him, which is exactly what Jesus told the high priest at his trial and all the tribes of the earth.
And the word tribe there in the Greek is a di, it means a division of a nation. So it's not talking about nations, it's talking about a division of a particular nation. How is Israel described? 12 tribes. Okay? And then tribes of the earth and most Bibles will translate at earth. The problem is the Greek word there, which is the word gay.
It means earth, land. And more than, more often than not, it's used of the land of Israel. It can mean earth. You gotta be careful in the context. So what I see this verse is saying is, behold he is coming on the [00:32:00] clouds that sighting Daniel seven 13. And we're gonna look at Daniel in a little more detail later, okay?
And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of Israel will mourn over him. So it is to be Amen. Um, there's plenty of passages and I can give 'em to you later if you want, but there's plenty of passages that talk about Yahweh coming on the clouds. And when Yahweh comes on the clouds, they're judgment passages and that's what's happening here.
In addition to that, I'm gonna throw out a few more passages if you'd look them up. Matthew 1628, Matthew 24 30, and Matthew 26 64. So again, Matthew 1628, Matthew 24 30, Matthew 26, 64. And while you're looking that up, let me just say something. There is no way to go through the [00:33:00] book. How do I wanna say this?
You gotta, you gotta pick a view, okay? Now, when you're studying it, when you're trying to learn, I think it's a good idea to try to understand how the different views hold it. But, um, but at some point you gotta pick a view. So I guess, I guess I'm saying that just to say I'm, I'm not apologizing that I have a particular view and that's really the only way I can teach through the book.
Um, but again, I will try to point out different views as we go. Um, and if you want proof, like you think, oh, you're being pejorative, I can give you, I can show you commentaries where you can read it yourself. I'm not trying to be pejorative of any other view. Um, but who has Matthew 1628? Me. Okay, go ahead.
Um, Vale, I sent unto you there be some standing here, which shall not taste the. Till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Okay? So again, you go to the context, he's talking to the then living [00:34:00] Jews and basically Jesus says there are some standing here. They're gonna see me come paraphrasing a little bit, Matthew 24 30.
And then at last the sign that the son of man is coming will appear in the heavens and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Okay? He's talking to the high priest. This is at his trial.
All right? Um, he's again quoting Daniel seven, which is what he quotes in Revelation one, seven, Matthew 26 64. I take it back in, in Matthew 24. He's not talking to the high priest, he's talking to his apostles. It's the all of it discourse. He's talking to the high priest in Matthew 26. Somebody read Matthew 26 64.
Then the high priest Torre, his close saying he has spoken blasphemy. What further need do we have of this witness of witnesses? Look, oh, [00:35:00] excuse me. This is 65. I'm sorry. That's okay. Keep reading. I like that because it, it, it gives the context. Well, I'll start at 64 then. No, no. Oh yeah. Then the read through 65.
I'm sorry. Jesus said to him it is, as you said, nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest to his close saying he has spoken glass tomy. What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now we have heard his blast.
Me. Okay, so, um, in Matthew 24, backing up again is the all of it discourse. Something I said last week, um, that some of you wouldn't have heard is. What, who knows what I mean when I say olive discourse? I know you do now. Yeah, I do now. He's, um, I forgot He's teaching his, uh, disciple. Okay. He's [00:36:00] sitting on the Mount of Olives.
They just left the temple. Uh, they're sitting on the Mount of Olives and the disciples come up to him. Is this the time when you're gonna, I forget the wording, but you know, when are these things gonna take place? Okay. And so he's teaching them, uh, about what's gonna happen in the future. And again, a pre would take, the first part of that passage is referring to 70 ad.
Okay. And we would take it that way because he says things like, uh, uh, you'll see the son of man coming on the clouds. But more importantly, let's jump to the, uh, Matthew 26. He's, it's at his trial. He's talking to the, the chief priest and he cites Psalm one 10. And remember the hyperlinks. Jesus cites Psalm one 10 and he says, the son of man, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power, which is what Psalm one 10 verse one starts with, that the Messiah is gonna be king of kings and Lord of lords.
Then he switches and he cites Daniel [00:37:00] seven 13 and coming on the clouds of heaven. And again, we'll look at that momentarily, but it's when Jesus, I believe it speaks of Jesus ascension when Jesus ascends to the Father and receives his kingdom, and Jesus uses that language throughout. Okay? Jesus tells the high priest, you are going to witness this.
He uses the same words in verse seven. Behold, he's coming on the clouds. Every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of Israel will mourn over him. So be it. Amen. So I'm making the appeal that that sets the stage for the book of Revelation and he's talking about his coming in 70 ad.
Yes ma'am. I do have a question. Um, is there a rule for how to interpret scripture figuratively opposed to literally? Um, [00:38:00] I would say, oh, Rhoda asked, is there a rule, um, in terms of how to interpret scripture, figuratively versus literally. Okay. And I would say in general, no, because I think you would apply the same rule across the board and I would say there's three things that you'd wanna pay attention to.
And you've already mentioned the first genre. Okay. This is a prophetic book that uses a lot of symbols versus. History or law or something like that. Um, the second thing is, is the historical grammatical method. What do the words mean? So we would want to know what the words mean. And, you know, do they have different meanings?
And you know, and all words in English, in Greek, whatever, all words have a variety of meanings. So you have to understand what the word means and then try to understand how it's being used in context. And then last but not least, scripture, interpret scripture. Which is why when I see all these hyperlinks, I wanna go back to [00:39:00] the hyperlinks.
I wanna find out where else they've been used. And I want to try to interpret it in that light. And Jesus is taking us back to Daniel, and we'll look at the passage in a minute. I keep saying that, but we will get there. And it's basically when all these thrones are set up, the ancient of days is sitting there seated on his throne.
And one like the son of man comes to the ancient of days. And in the context of Daniel, he receives his kingdom. But in the context of Daniel, you'll all remember this. There's multiple visions in Daniel Ne Nebuchadnezzar has the first one where he sees four kingdoms, the kingdom of Babylon, the kingdom of Persia, the kingdom of Greece, and the kingdom of Rome.
And again, most commentators, whatever school they're coming from, would understand it that way. Okay? And then there's a fifth kingdom that comes. It's the stone cut out without hands and it crushes all the other kingdoms. So you get this picture throughout the book of Daniel. You have the same picture right [00:40:00] before what we read in chapter seven of Daniel only who's receiving the kingdom one, like the Son of man.
And we're all very familiar with that language. Jesus refers to himself as the son of man throughout. Ezekiel refers to himself as the son of man. Ezekiel is a type of Jesus. So in Daniel seven, Jesus is coming to inherit his throne. Well, when does he get his throne? Well, when the father begets him, when does the father beget him?
At his baptism? At his resurrection. At his ascension. Psalm two. Alright. Um, and then we've got Psalm one 10 where we get the same thing the son is gonna be, you know, Yahweh said unto Idon, I, I'm gonna make you king. I'm gonna make you ruler of the Earth. Book of Hebrews applies it what? To Jesus's first coming.
Okay. Elsewhere in the Bible, it's applied to Jesus's first coming. And then he goes on to talk about, um, well, Hebrews goes on to talk about, uh, I think it's verse four in one 10. We're actually gonna look at it this [00:41:00] week, is you're also gonna be a priest after the order of milk. Ek an eternal priest. When does the book of Hebrews apply it?
Right now? Okay. So Jesus is using all the same hyperlinks in this passage. Why would we throw it into the future if everywhere else in scripture says no? That took place at his first coming. Then that's what convinced me that we should understand this as his coming in judgment upon Jerusalem. I think that that's what part of the, because
of teaching before I came here, and they do do a lot of, it sounds now like mysterious stuff, but it's like they're interpreting it as in future, so they [00:42:00] can't possibly take it literally. Literally. They have to take it figuratively and apply something to, to make it figurative. Right, right. Which, which I, that's sort of.
Think of with the, um, uh, second Peter passage we were looking at, it's, that just seems like it's a lot of, like, they're applying it to something because they're looking at it as a future thing as opposed to this is literally what was said over in other places. I'm gonna try something. I don't know if it's gonna work.
No, it, it's not going to on the speaker, but would you just put that kind of in the middle? Just put that in the middle there and we'll see what it picks up in terms of questions and uh, yeah. Kind of face it that way and we'll see if it picks up. But yeah, what Rhoda brought up was just, you know, [00:43:00] Bible interpreters will argue figurative interpretations, literal interpretations.
Um, and I would argue you should always be literal, but literality, uh. Has to meet the genre. So to be literal with poetry is much different than being literal with the law. Okay? When, when Moses, when God says, thou shalt not commit adultery, we all know what that means. Okay? But when David in the Psalm says, God is my rock, none of us think of God as a hunk, a mountain, okay?
We think of his strength, his power, his eternality, those types of things. So we should always interpret the Bible, literally. But we have to understand the genre we're dealing with. We're dealing with prophecy here, and we're dealing with prophecy that is saturated with Old Testament language. So if we're gonna understand it, literally we've got to understand the Old Testament background.
Landon, would it help studying prophecies that did come true? And [00:44:00] if you study that stuff, you can actually have like an idea of your music, metaphorically or not. Yeah. I, I think, yeah, the, the more you study prophecy, that was the question. Would it help, uh, prophecies the prophecies that do come true? Yeah.
Um. Yeah, but again, you need to be careful because you have one prophecy that says the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem. Pretty straightforward. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but then you also have Matthew using other passages like, um, I'm gonna butcher this, but you'll all know what I'm talking about. Um, where he says, I called my son out of Egypt.
Okay. And in the Old Testament that prophecy had to do with Israel, had to do with God, the Exodus and God rescuing the, the, the Israelites from Egypt, and yet Matthew uses of Jesus. Okay. So as Matthew taking outta context, no, Matthew's given us a deeper meaning to what it always pointed to. Jesus is the true Israel.
And Jesus [00:45:00] was called out of Israel, and Matthew is also in the early chapters of his gospel, kind of recapitulating the whole exodus. And it's as if he's painting the life of Jesus as the new Exodus because that's what Jesus come, comes to do. He comes to, again, rescue is people. So yes, absolutely the more we study other prophecy and, and I would say so much, not so much how that it was fulfilled, but how it's applied in the New Testament, that would help us greatly in understanding the Book of Revelation.
Alright, we'll keep going. Kind of in the same vein with, uh, with Landon's question on obviously studying Old Testament and the character of Yahweh through all the books of the prophets. It's, and this is like we already established, the book of Revelation is a prophetic. It's talking about prophecy, [00:46:00] but looking at Yahweh's character through all of the prophets.
He didn't send anything except his graph and he had a prophet explain it more or less in in story form. Right. To, to get the message across to everybody. So where I'm, I'm, I've got like a whole mess of questions that I'm trying to kind of formulate and one, I guess the best, my best attempt at this is, would the Preterist view be that the coming of Christ was his actual 33 years of life on earth and the wrath of him coming, is that 70 or post 70 90 ad, um, when or when Rome fell 70, right?
Jerusalem. Jerusalem, yeah. Sorry, Rome. Yeah. Rome got or took over Jerusalem in 70. So would that be what is considered God's wrath? Because he's already coming. His, his ascension [00:47:00] would be told from the form of the heavenlys seeing him coming. Okay, so that's a good question. I don't know that I can repeat that.
Hopefully it got picked up. But the question had to do about, uh, the coming and how the predator's view would interpret the coming. And basically what I would say is the predators of view looks at each coming individually and tries to figure it out. So there was what most theologians pre alike would refer to as Jesus' first coming.
That's when he was born in Jerusalem. He became a man. He became in incarnate. Um, again, most pres, not all, but it's a slightly different view. Sometimes referred to as hyper pre sometimes referred to as full tism. But most Pres leads the ones that I fall into that camp, see that there is going to be a second coming at some point in the future.
Jesus is still coming back physically to earth. And there's, he's gonna set up the consummate new heavens and new earth. Okay? But [00:48:00] there are also other comings in history comings of Yahweh. And because we know Jesus is Yahweh, now we can talk about the man Jesus coming. And so I believe that one coming of Jesus was when he came in 70 AD to judge Jerusalem.
Okay? But the Bible also talks about that he comes to judge individual churches. I read that passage. He also comes on a weekly basis to commune with us at church. So what the pres would say, and not just the pres, the idealist would say this as well. Um, the futurist would agree to this, to a certain point.
They just wouldn't take it this way in this passage. But most people recognize different kinds of comings of the Lord. And the trick is to try to figure out what coming is being spoken of. Does that scratch where you itch at all? Okay. And, and we're running out of time so I can keep going or start firing [00:49:00] the questions.
'cause I can tell by the looks in your eyes. This is new to some of you.
And, and again, this is in chapter one. Uh, probably the two main points of disagreement between the schools of thought because once we get past this, it's pretty smooth. In fact, it's pretty smooth all the way to the end of chapter three. Okay? But the big disagreement between the schools of thought in chapter one is the meaning of the phraseology and the terminology quickly, soon near.
And then the other one would be this. What coming is being spoken of here? Is it the second coming? Which would put, if it is the second coming, it would put most of the book into the future. Okay? So most, not all, but most who hold that view are gonna hold a futurist view. Like I said, some idealist or recapitulation would also see that as the second coming.
Some would see it [00:50:00] as Jesus comes regularly in history, comes to judge churches, comes to commune with churches. Um, Jesus. Some theologians would argue that Jesus comes at each one of our individual death, that Jesus comes to us, we meet him, we stand before him. Okay. Um, so those are the two controversial things in chapter one, but they also, and this is why they're important and they're worth grappling over, they also set, set the stage on how we're gonna interpret the rest of the book.
Yes ma'am. I get confused, and maybe this is a whole nother topic, but you just said something about Jesus coming at, some people say at someone's death. Coming to commune with us or whatever. A lot of people talk about the Holy Spirit coming to commune with you, [00:51:00] coming to commune with whatever. And so I get confused on, is it Jesus?
Is it God? Is it the Holy Spirit? And, and I would agree with Paula. Yes. So what I would finish asking you if you're not done well, that's basically it, dot, dot, dot. But, but does it matter? Yes, that they're all there? But does it matter when someone says, oh, the Holy Spirit's doing this or doing that? I rarely address the Holy Spirit.
Um, but when, when is it appropriate to say the Holy Spirit is doing some. As opposed to Jesus is doing something or God is doing something, God the Father. Right? So the question was tied to the concept of God coming and the three persons of the Trinity. And it is [00:52:00] difficult and it is a mystery. Um, and I think the Bible teaches two different things.
Um, the Bible attributes certain things to certain persons, okay? You can find that line of thought. Okay, God the Father created, but he creates through Jesus. But the Holy Spirit's also involved 'cause the Holy Spirit's right there hovering over the waters. Okay? God redeems, Jesus redeems the Holy Spirit also redeems.
Um, so I think where scripture ties something to an individual person, I think we need to go with that. But I think we also need to understand the principle behind that. And that is no person of the Trinity ever acts completely alone. Okay. Give you one more example and then we will move on unless you want more the resurrection.
Okay. The Father brought Jesus [00:53:00] outta the grave, but Jesus also says, I laid down my life. I take it back up. Okay. And Jesus rose in the spirit. So again, we see all three tied to that event, and yet we also see certain places in scripture where it's attributing it to one of the persons. So I guess what I would say is don't let the, the personal distinction get too confusing because no person of the Trinity acts in solidarity ever.
So other questions? Anthony, you keep looking at me and I can't read your face. So do you, is there a question in there? You're the best one to look at? No, I. Just absorbing it. Okay. Um, no, the, the full Pres to viewpoint is, um, something that, uh, is counter to my, uh, millennial, um, predisposition. However, it's not entirely counter.
[00:54:00] So, um, just mentally grappling. I, I could be persuaded. Okay. That I think that it can fit. Okay. And then, and Anthony said something, and I will repeat this just for clarity's sake. Anthony referred to the full Preces position. And just for clarity sake, I'm not a full preterist. I'm what's known as a partial preces.
Okay. Because a full Preterist would argue that this actually is the second coming and it still took place in 70 ad No, I, I could not be for that. Right. And that's not the view that I hold. Okay. Um, I believe there's still a future second coming. Okay. I think, and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to teach you the covenants and tie all these elements, um, there is a sense in which Jesus has defeated death, but physical death is still happening.
And I think for covenant consistency, there's gonna come a time when physical death stops. Now, whether that's slightly before [00:55:00] his second coming or at his second coming, all I'm arguing for is, I think there's enough in scripture that still points to a future coming of Christ, a consummation. 'cause I've said this before from the pulpit, I believe we're in the new heavens and new earth because I think it speaks of the kingdom of Christ.
But we're not. I hold to, uh, now and not yet theology, which our millennials hold to that view as well. But basically, things have taken place, but they're not fully consummated. Okay, we're alive, and guess what? We're never gonna die. The Bible teaches us that. But we are gonna die physically. That's still in most of our futures.
Unless I'm wrong and Christ comes sooner than I think he's going to. Okay. Hallelujah. Yeah, I, you know, that's one of those things I'd be happy if I was wrong. If at the end of Bible study Jesus returns and I'm proven wrong, other than I'll be a little bit of shame standing before him, I'll still be happy.
You be on cnn though it might, I don't know. [00:56:00] Uh, but the point is, there's a, there's a now and not yet. So another example, we're saved now the Bible says you are saved right now if your faith is in Jesus Christ. And yet there's a future saving because there's, there's a time when you're gonna be in heaven and you're gonna be glorified, and that saving is gonna be consummated.
Okay? It talks about that with salvation. It talks about with justification. It talks about it with sanctification. You are sanctified now, and yet you're in a process of sanctification and there's a future time when sanctification will be complete 'cause you'll be glorified. So the Bible uses that kind of language, so we just have to get used to it and, uh, I think be a little less rigid.
So, long answer to your question that you didn't want to ask
anything else. If not, I will ask Anthony to close this in prayer. All right, I'm not gonna run off.
