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[0:00] Good morning. Is it a good morning? We're having a good morning. It's welcome here as we fellowship together this morning.

[0:14] We need to look past the smoke and see God. That is very important. Thank you, Elliot, for choosing that last song.

[0:34] Nothing between. And the first stanza goes, Nothing between my soul and my Savior. Did you catch that as we sang?

[0:50] Nothing between my soul and my Savior. And so the encouragement is we live a life of fellowship with God.

[1:02] And we allow nothing between the one that saved me and the worldly attractions, so to speak.

[1:14] So we keep this slate clean. It's a beautiful song. And the words are very, very meaningful as they apply to our lives. So maybe go home and sing that song again as a family.

[1:38] Revelations. We're going to investigate a little bit this morning or do an introduction to the book of Revelations, what this book is about.

[1:52] And so to start, how many of us have read through the book of Revelations? I would say that was about half of us.

[2:06] So I would encourage all of us to read the book of Revelations. And it's very, very important.

[2:19] How many of us have read the entire book? The Bible, that is. Okay, quite a few. Good. Good.

[2:29] And there too. Encourage us to read the entire book as well. As we look at the book of Revelations, what would you say is the central theme?

[2:53] And I want to hear back from you. What is the theme of Revelations? The main topic. End time events.

[3:12] Okay. Okay. It's a warning. Time is running out. Can anybody add to that?

[3:25] Okay. The return of Christ. I didn't quite catch that.

[3:43] Okay. Okay. So a warning for that. Yep. All right. Anything else? So I'm not going to comment on it till at the end of the message this morning.

[4:04] And this morning, we want to do something different. We're going to do a book report. And if you remember back to school, book reports weren't a lot of fun, were they?

[4:21] Or maybe they were. But we have a book we need to understand. Now, a book has a beginning and an end.

[4:37] Most books do, right? And when we focus on the last chapter without reading the rest of the book, what happens?

[4:49] We come to wrong conclusions or we don't understand. And so when we look at revelations, we need to realize it's the last chapter of a book.

[5:07] And if I haven't read the first chapter and all the chapters in between, I cannot possibly come to a right conclusion about the last chapter.

[5:21] Does that make sense? So we need to know our Bible. And that's what we want to do today is do a survey, a book report on the Scriptures.

[5:37] So very often, we look at revelations as the signs of the end or all the events that will happen. And there's so much symbolism that we don't understand.

[5:55] And if we don't know the rest of the book, then we have to either guess or spiritualize what all these symbols are.

[6:06] and likely will go astray. So the rest of the book interprets the last chapter.

[6:19] So they have to be seen as a unit. And so when we read revelations alone without understanding God's program throughout the Scriptures, we find that we're lost.

[6:38] We find we don't understand. And we find, I don't enjoy reading revelations. It doesn't make sense to me. Have we been there?

[6:52] It's as we see the whole picture of God that this book starts to open to us and that we understand as we get the whole story.

[7:04] So the message this morning, I've entitled Unveiling Christ. Unveiling Christ. And so we're going to begin right in Genesis.

[7:19] So let's bow in prayer before we dig in. Father, what a privilege it is for us to gather.

[7:32] We thank you for your presence. We thank you for the Word of God before us. And as we work through this message this morning, give us understanding, Father, of your Word, of the overall theme throughout your Word as we look at this to help us to understand prophecy as well and the last book.

[8:00] So we just commit this service again to you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. The first chapter. We're not going to read the whole Bible this morning, by the way.

[8:14] Genesis. The book of Genesis. Genesis. Chapters 1 through 11. And I'm going to have a lot of feedback interactive. Chapters 1 through 11.

[8:26] What are they about? As the book opens to us. What's the first thing that we get introduced to? Creation.

[8:40] Okay. God created the world in six days. What's number two? Sin. Sin. Okay.

[8:52] And so sin entered the world through disobedience. And what was the result of that sin? Death.

[9:05] And like Romans 5 tells us, through one man, Adam, we all have sinned. We all have that sin nature. Okay.

[9:16] So, and then, and then, chapters 1 through 11 take us all the way through the flood, power of Babel, right to the calling of Abraham.

[9:30] Or Abraham. That time. And so we have, we have half of the Old Testament history in 11 chapters.

[9:44] 2,000 years has passed by the time we hit chapter 12. And, and so under that, we have the flood.

[9:56] And we have the, the account of the, the city and tower of, of Babel, where man seeks to, in their own strength, show how mighty they are.

[10:08] So, in essence, we could say, chapters 1 through 11 introduces us to humanity and the fall of man and then life under the curse.

[10:24] and what happened in chapter 7 when God looked down or in chapter 6 and he saw that man's intent of the heart was evil.

[10:43] There was no desire to serve God, to recognize God. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. and God said, I'm going to make a new start.

[10:57] We see the fall of humanity for 2,000 years and there's no remedy. This is in the first 11 chapters.

[11:13] There's no remedy in our own human strength to make things right with God. we see man failing continually.

[11:25] So, that's chapter 1. That's the first section of the book and if we don't understand that, the rest of the book does not make sense at all.

[11:38] Then, in Genesis 12 and last Sunday we read a few verses there about the calling of Abraham and out of the land of Ur and to you and I'm going to bless you and you will be a blessing to the whole world.

[11:57] We read that. And so, we see now the calling of a people group called on the basis of faith.

[12:09] and Abraham is considered in scripture the forefather of faith as the New Testament would teach us as well.

[12:20] He believed God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness. This is 2,000 years in and we're 2,000 years away from Christ.

[12:33] We're halfway and Abraham is known as a man that believed God and God called him apart and said through you I will bless the world.

[12:48] Ultimately, we know that he is going to bring about the Savior Jesus Christ through the loins of Abraham. The blessing upon the whole world.

[13:01] some years later 500-600 years later we have Moses on the scene leading the people out of bondage out of Egypt into the wilderness to Mount Sinai and there we have the giving of the law and the old the first covenant is given an agreement between God and the people.

[13:34] And what was the nature of that first covenant? Can anybody tell? Say, what was the agreement that God made with mankind?

[13:49] With Moses and his people? Who can help me out? Who can help me out? Ten commandments?

[14:01] He gave the law and in short he said, you are a special people, a chosen generation to display my name.

[14:14] If you will obey my law, I will bless you. I will keep you. I will sustain you.

[14:24] and you will always have a ruler. You will always be my people. Two parties, God and the children of Israel.

[14:40] If you obey, God will bless. What was the result? you know what?

[14:53] It was no better than before the flood. Man proved they were unable to obey God on their own merit, on their own strength and they failed and failed.

[15:10] now Moses introduced in Deuteronomy 18 and let's turn there, Deuteronomy 18.

[15:28] We're going to read a few verses in the Old Times. Deuteronomy 18. We'll start in verse 15.

[15:47] So this is at the end of their 40 years in the wilderness after they have disobeyed and most of the old generation has died off.

[15:59] And here in verse 15, Deuteronomy 18, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, hear him.

[16:15] Him you shall hear, sorry. According to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me say this great fire, see this great fire anymore, lest I die.

[16:35] And the Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren and will put my words in his mouth to them all that I command.

[16:51] Who is this prophet that Moses is talking about? It is the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus.

[17:03] And if we go back to Mount Horeb to Mount Horeb, Sinai, and let's turn there to Exodus chapter 19 just to get the account of what happened there at the giving of the law.

[17:18] Exodus 19. So God has chosen this people group, Israel, to carry forth his name.

[17:30] He's giving them the law and He's getting them to meet Him at Mount Sinai. And so Exodus 19 and we'll start in verse 14.

[17:43] This is important that we get this. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people and they washed their clothes and he said to the people, be ready for the third day do not come near so in three days from now God is going to meet us at this mountain and He's going to give us His word, the law.

[18:08] And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

[18:31] Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

[18:46] And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by voice. And then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai and on the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.

[19:08] Turn to the next chapter, 20, verse 18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.

[19:29] And then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, they're gathered here to meet God and they are fearful.

[19:57] And God wants to speak to them, he wants to give them the law, the commandments, and the people are terrified of God and they say, let not the Lord speak to us directly.

[20:14] We do not want him to speak to us. But Moses, you go and then you speak to us. The children of Israel rejected it was a rejection of meeting with God.

[20:36] and hence later Moses in Deuteronomy said, the Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you, him you shall hear.

[20:52] You rejected the father voice, I'm going to send my son, him you shall hear. hear. And this is this is 1400 years before the son would come.

[21:11] He's making this prophecy, I'm going to send him, him you shall hear. So we see a pattern here of rejection, of a hardness of the heart, of man's sinful nature.

[21:37] Israel continued and in the year 586 God sent them into captivity because of their disobedience continually, their rejection of his commandments.

[21:57] God's chosen people, the people to whom he was going to reveal himself to the entire world, that people he sent off into punishment, rejection.

[22:16] salvation. They were to be the light of the world. I'm saying that this morning.

[22:28] We are to be lights. They failed. They utterly failed. God is still on course with his plan of bringing about that second voice, his son.

[22:52] His son. God is to be to be the New Testament, into the Gospels. As we look at the entirety of Scripture, all the rest of the Old Testament is all about Israel and God's deal with Israel.

[23:11] The entirety of it. After Genesis 12. And it's not that we learn the condition of humanity, but we learn a lot about God in the Old Testament.

[23:25] And in spite of our disobedience, God was determined to bring about justice and righteousness and reconciliation.

[23:37] And so we fail. God is faithful. This is his story. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1.

[23:52] chapter 1. Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. And the first three verses in Hebrews 1.

[24:11] He says, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, Okay, Old Testament.

[24:25] God revealed himself. He was speaking to our people. Has in these last days spoken to us by his son, the second voice, the one that Deuteronomy talked about, the one that God would send to them, to him, we were to listen to because we refused to listen to God himself.

[24:59] Listen to his son. In these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who, Jesus, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[25:26] It's a description of the ministry of salvation that Jesus brought about, but he was the exact express image, the very likeness of the first voice.

[25:39] And now the second voice has spoken from heaven, the son whom God has sent. And so him we are now to hear.

[25:55] Let's turn to the Gospel of John. Gospel of John, chapter 1. The first three verses in John 1.

[26:22] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

[26:38] And then skipping down to verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[26:57] So we have a better explanation. The Word, Jesus, became flesh, as God sent that second voice. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

[27:11] So we have witnesses. The Scripture, the four Gospels, are four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, living here upon earth.

[27:24] His ministry, His message, and all of them ending with salvation, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave.

[27:35] All four accounts have that in common. The life of Christ. The purpose for why He came. The glory of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[27:52] And this is the prophet that Moses talked about. Turning to John chapter 3. John chapter 3.

[28:07] Starting in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

[28:28] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[28:40] Then verse 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

[28:55] Did you get that? Jesus was hung up on a tree, just like the serpent in the wilderness in Moses' day.

[29:10] He was hung up on a tree on the cross for salvation. For God so loved the world. He came not to condemn, but to save.

[29:23] The purpose of Jesus coming as the voice of God. Salvation has come.

[29:35] Why did He not come to condemn? Because we were condemned. We were condemned.

[29:49] We are condemned without Him. And the next verse tells us that, verse 18. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son.

[30:10] This is the ministry of Jesus. The unveiling of Christ. Stage one. He came to save. He came to save.

[30:23] And turning back to chapter one in John, verse 11. John 1, verse 11.

[30:38] He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. He came to His own. His own. His own.

[30:55] The Jewish people. The people of Israel. He came to His own and they did not receive Him. They shut their ears.

[31:07] We will not hear His voice. What happened at Mount Sinai? They rejected the voice of God and now they're rejecting the very prophet that Moses spoke about.

[31:23] Moses said, when He comes, Him you shall hear. And here we're told, they did not receive me. They rejected the Son as well.

[31:34] they rejected the Son. And then verse 12. Thank the Lord. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name.

[31:52] And He turned to the Gentiles. And as many of us as have received Him, we become children of God. again, there is rejection.

[32:08] So why all of this when we want to talk about revelations? One more or a few more passages.

[32:21] Matthew 17 verse 5. Matthew 17 verse 5. They're on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus is transfigured and becomes white, white as snow, so to speak.

[32:52] And Moses and Elijah appear from heaven and talk with Jesus on this mountain. And Jesus' inner three disciples, Peter, James, and John, are with Jesus.

[33:07] And they see Moses and Elijah talking with Him. And verse 5 tells us, while He was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son.

[33:25] in whom I am well pleased, hear Him. Hear Him.

[33:42] It's almost like a final reminder. Jesus, my beloved Son, is the fulfillment of what I promised.

[33:53] Hear Him. this morning, that instruction applies to me and to each one of us.

[34:06] And even though many and most of the Jewish people refuse to hear Him, we are instructed to hear the voice of Christ.

[34:17] Christ. Nothing between. So that's God's drawing attention to His Son.

[34:32] And now, in preparation for going back to Revelations, let's read one more in John chapter 5. Gospel of John chapter 5. I realize we're all over the place, but I think it's important that we understand what God has been doing, what He is going to do at the end.

[35:01] John chapter 5, verses, from, we'll start in verse 5. Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

[35:22] Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

[35:39] In other words, I am a replica of the Father. I do nothing of my own. Me and God are one. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does, and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.

[36:03] For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so, the Son gives life to whom He will. And so, we will marvel at the greatness of God's wonders as Jesus came out of the grave, and as He too gives us eternal life, and physical resurrection to come yet.

[36:30] Verse 20, the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

[36:40] He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. We are told all judgment has been given to the Son, not the Father has released the judgment to the Son.

[36:57] but Jesus came not to judge, but to save. Here we're told all judgment is on the Son.

[37:11] Let's read on. Most assuredly I say to you that whoever hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

[37:26] Most assuredly I say to you the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

[37:41] This verse speaks of life. When we hear the voice of God, He raises us from the dead spiritually. We come to life life and I trust that is you this morning.

[37:58] We've come to life as we heard the voice of God. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself and has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man.

[38:16] Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who've done good to the resurrection of life and those who've done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

[38:36] Judgment. So now, with that in mind, let's go back to Revelations chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1.

[38:58] By the way, what does the word revelation mean? Shorten the word.

[39:18] To reveal. Yes. To reveal. Let's read the title again of this book. The Revelation of what?

[39:32] Of Jesus Christ. The unveiling of whom? Of Jesus. The book of Revelations is all about the further unveiling of Jesus.

[39:46] Jesus. Jesus. It's not primarily about all the troubles that are going to come upon the world.

[39:59] It's about the Son. That voice that was promised being further revealed being further revealed in judgment.

[40:14] So if you read Revelations and you miss the point that this is all about his Son, Jesus, you've missed the point of this book.

[40:27] It's all about Jesus Christ being further revealed. The unveiling of his Son. At the end of the book, what happens?

[40:39] Jesus literally comes down. Unveiled in fullness and he will rule on this earth. But all in between is the unveiling of the Son to whom God has committed all judgment.

[41:00] So the unveiling of the Son is going to be a time of judgment upon this earth. And to everyone who rejects the voice of the Son, the judgment of God will fall.

[41:26] And to everyone who receives the Son has been given eternal life and will be spared from the judgment of God. He's been declared righteous.

[41:40] And we'll talk about the rapture at some other point through this teaching. So then as we read this book, it is a judgment through the revealing of Christ that will come upon this earth because of the rejection of the Son, the second voice.

[42:05] He came to save and the second coming is to judge. And it's all about the Son. First and foremost, as we'll learn in the coming messages, it's all about Israel primarily because they rejected his voice twice.

[42:26] and God says in his word, as we looked at last Sunday in Romans 11, all Israel will be saved.

[42:37] And at the coming of Christ, at the end of the seven years, all of Israel that is living will become saved. They will see Jesus and they will realize this is God's Son.

[42:57] And they will be saved. Zechariah tells us that two thirds of them are going to die. And one third I'm going to bring through the fire.

[43:08] He's talking Jews now. And one third of them are going to recognize the Son. Actually, all of them that are living when he comes back.

[43:19] And turning to Revelations 1, verse 7, Behold, he is coming with clouds. Every eye will see him, even they who pierced him, the Jews.

[43:35] And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. They will see the Son of Man coming, the very one whom we hung on a cross, whom we rejected, and they will be grieved, they will mourn.

[43:57] And they will receive him as their Savior. And this is, this is decreed by God in Scripture, this will happen.

[44:09] That's the primary focus of the unveiling of Christ, is to the Jewish people. who rejected him. A secondary purpose is, it's going to be the unveiling of Christ upon the Gentile world for those who have rejected the voice as well.

[44:31] And we have the descriptions of how that will play out. This is the book of Revelations, and the introduction of it.

[44:43] So unless we see it that way, we will not glean its message or its intent of what God is doing here.

[44:57] So verse three tells us, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep these things which are written in it. We are instructed to read with understanding the book of Revelations, the last chapter of what God is going to do here on earth.

[45:20] All the other chapters are already past. And the last chapter is before us. And we are to read and to understand and he says, blessed is he who does so.

[45:35] So if you read, you will be blessed. We are told so. when we read Revelations and we fear, could it be that we have rejected that voice?

[45:58] The Son? Because God did not write Revelations to believers to fear, but to further understand.

[46:09] and if we are in fear, then we need to examine my relationship to his prophet, to the Son.

[46:22] So I would encourage us to read this book, and I want to keep going in this series.

[46:35] Next Sunday, Pastor Henry will be speaking, but after that I will have a few turns again. And so Lord willing, we are going to go through more of this teaching, and the next couple messages will be in the book of Daniel, preparing us as God showed us prophecy there.

[46:55] prayer. But I would encourage you, read, focus, focus on this book in the weeks and months to come.

[47:07] Read in it. Be prepared to come to church and to hear, so that you can connect better and understand. And the Lord will bless you for that.

[47:18] Let's close in prayer. prayer. We thank you, Father, for your love towards mankind, towards your creation.

[47:33] Thank you for the grace and mercy that you show us by revealing your Son. And not only in stage one, where he came to save, but Lord, in the second coming, where he'll be further unveiled for judgment.

[47:54] As you will bring life on earth to an end as we know it, the last chapter, and you need to close it with judgment on those who reject you.

[48:08] And Lord, may it cause us to ensure where we stand with you, that we bear your righteousness. may these truths, Father, penetrate into our hearts and may we look forward to reading and studying your word.

[48:30]  Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 뿁ьеmodern tar omes do omas no omas omas owa em true