Revelation: Hope, Victory, and Confronting Evil
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "The first thing that I think is important to know about studying this book is there's an amazing message here that's worth really trumpeting. And that message is that through it all, through all the ups and downs in life, through the challenges and the pitfalls and the disillusionment, through all the things you experience in life that just don't seem fair to you, Revelation says at the end, God wins. God wins. God always wins." [03:44] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "It confronts the reality of evil in our world, and it doesn't sugarcoat it. It doesn't try and explain it away. It doesn't try and dilute it. It doesn't try and turn it into some kind of socio-psychological phenomenon. No, it names the worst of humanity, and it asserts the primacy, the primacy of God in overcoming that, and the essential role that the divinity of Christ plays in that process." [04:44] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "So read it. But the other thing about Revelation is read all of it. Don't pick and choose little pieces here and there. Read the whole thing. And try and read it kind of in a block of time. Don't start it, put it aside, come back to it a few months later, read it in its entirety, with a good study Bible, and open yourselves up to the understanding that there's more behind these words, these images than meets the eye in a very superficial reading." [06:26] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "You can read Revelation as this sort of exploration of the end of times, this future vision. And that's a legitimate way to read it. Just have some caution about that. Don't allow yourself to slip into the chasm of these wild predictions that have come through the centuries, who have read in Revelation, you know, all these and have defined when exactly the end of time will be. And one thing we can say about all these predictions through the centuries is they've all been wrong." [13:02] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "There is an idealism in this book. That is one way to read it. That if we could just... If we could just live into an idyllic and perfect world, a perfect vision, we keep working. And maybe in our own little lives, in our own little ways, we can get there. That's another way to look at this book." [13:02] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
### Quotes for Members
1. "The other reason why it's really important is that once you sort of step into the complexity of the text, you start to see how it weaves. It weaves together all the most important themes of the entire Bible. There's a reason why it's at the end of the Bible. It weaves together all the most important themes through the Hebrew Bible, through the Christian Testament. It all beautifully comes together in this incredible vision." [03:44] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "So when you step into this book, I invite you to do so with a certain openness. It's great to read it with a study Bible, not just a Bible on its own, but get yourself a good study Bible with good notes. I use a number of them. I recommend the Harper Collins Study Bible if you're looking for something. I think it's worth the investment of getting that, because the notes are really invaluable to understanding some of the complexity and the symbolism, and some of the elements of this book that are quite challenging." [05:42] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "This is written, and it tells us, by this fellow named, John. And is it the same John as, well, there's all kinds of debates about which John it was. I don't want to get too far into the weeds on that one. But John is writing from a place called Patmos, which is an island in the Aegean Sea, which at this time in history was a penal colony. So it's a prison. John's in prison. And he's receiving this vision. It's being described. described to him it's being lived through him through various angels who intercede and provide this this amazing vision and he's capturing this and it's a vision that has different components so it means you can read it in different ways this is important in all by biblical" [07:13] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "This is a book that speaks to the reality of living in a persecuted empire living under the roman empire and all that that means so there's a lot of code language in this a lot of images and symbols that actually mean something else but would have been understood for its time to be a reference to the persecuted church under the roman emperor whether it be domitian in later the first century or nero in the middle of the first century so in this persecuted church we have something that emerges that is part of a broader tradition and this is very important to understand about revelation it's not a standalone book it is directly linked to key books in the bible that get grouped together in something called the apocalyptic genre" [09:42] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "And then finally, there's the symbols, the images. And they are very complicated, but important. And we'll explore that over the next number of weeks. For our purpose today, I just want to focus on two. Two visions, two symbols, two symbols that are important. And the first is, did you catch this description of the heavenly throne? Right? So the first three chapters of Revelation are about seven letters written to seven churches, seven persecuted churches. Get a letter, each that are revealed through an angel that John writes, and it's sent to one of these seven churches. So that sets the foundation." [14:43] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "The first thing that I think is important to know about studying this book is there's an amazing message here that's worth really trumpeting. And that message is that through it all, through all the ups and downs in life, through the challenges and the pitfalls and the disillusionment, through all the things you experience in life that just don't seem fair to you, Revelation says at the end, God wins. God wins. God always wins." [03:44] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "It confronts the reality of evil in our world, and it doesn't sugarcoat it. It doesn't try and explain it away. It doesn't try and dilute it. It doesn't try and turn it into some kind of socio-psychological phenomenon. No, it names the worst of humanity, and it asserts the primacy, the primacy of God in overcoming that, and the essential role that the divinity of Christ plays in that process." [04:44] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "So read it. But the other thing about Revelation is read all of it. Don't pick and choose little pieces here and there. Read the whole thing. And try and read it kind of in a block of time. Don't start it, put it aside, come back to it a few months later, read it in its entirety, with a good study Bible, and open yourselves up to the understanding that there's more behind these words, these images than meets the eye in a very superficial reading." [06:26] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "You can read Revelation as this sort of exploration of the end of times, this future vision. And that's a legitimate way to read it. Just have some caution about that. Don't allow yourself to slip into the chasm of these wild predictions that have come through the centuries, who have read in Revelation, you know, all these and have defined when exactly the end of time will be. And one thing we can say about all these predictions through the centuries is they've all been wrong." [13:02] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "There is an idealism in this book. That is one way to read it. That if we could just... If we could just live into an idyllic and perfect world, a perfect vision, we keep working. And maybe in our own little lives, in our own little ways, we can get there. That's another way to look at this book." [13:02] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
### Quotes for Members
1. "The other reason why it's really important is that once you sort of step into the complexity of the text, you start to see how it weaves. It weaves together all the most important themes of the entire Bible. There's a reason why it's at the end of the Bible. It weaves together all the most important themes through the Hebrew Bible, through the Christian Testament. It all beautifully comes together in this incredible vision." [03:44] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "So when you step into this book, I invite you to do so with a certain openness. It's great to read it with a study Bible, not just a Bible on its own, but get yourself a good study Bible with good notes. I use a number of them. I recommend the Harper Collins Study Bible if you're looking for something. I think it's worth the investment of getting that, because the notes are really invaluable to understanding some of the complexity and the symbolism, and some of the elements of this book that are quite challenging." [05:42] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "This is written, and it tells us, by this fellow named, John. And is it the same John as, well, there's all kinds of debates about which John it was. I don't want to get too far into the weeds on that one. But John is writing from a place called Patmos, which is an island in the Aegean Sea, which at this time in history was a penal colony. So it's a prison. John's in prison. And he's receiving this vision. It's being described. described to him it's being lived through him through various angels who intercede and provide this this amazing vision and he's capturing this and it's a vision that has different components so it means you can read it in different ways this is important in all by biblical" [07:13] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "This is a book that speaks to the reality of living in a persecuted empire living under the roman empire and all that that means so there's a lot of code language in this a lot of images and symbols that actually mean something else but would have been understood for its time to be a reference to the persecuted church under the roman emperor whether it be domitian in later the first century or nero in the middle of the first century so in this persecuted church we have something that emerges that is part of a broader tradition and this is very important to understand about revelation it's not a standalone book it is directly linked to key books in the bible that get grouped together in something called the apocalyptic genre" [09:42] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "And then finally, there's the symbols, the images. And they are very complicated, but important. And we'll explore that over the next number of weeks. For our purpose today, I just want to focus on two. Two visions, two symbols, two symbols that are important. And the first is, did you catch this description of the heavenly throne? Right? So the first three chapters of Revelation are about seven letters written to seven churches, seven persecuted churches. Get a letter, each that are revealed through an angel that John writes, and it's sent to one of these seven churches. So that sets the foundation." [14:43] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Jul 12, 2024. Do you have any questions about it?