78. Revelation 1-7 - Evil Powers Exposed Series

IN GOD'S IMAGE 78 - REVELATION 1-7 - EVIL POWERS EXPOSED

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Last time we made a tentative step into the book of Revelation as we approach the end game of God’s great project of creating man in His image.

• The subject of the end times has held the fascination of Christians ever since Jesus told His disciples He would return some day.

• From a human perspective this fascination usually stems from the events surrounding Jesus’ return and no wonder when the subject matter conjures up foreboding images of Armageddon, four hostile horseman, terrifying beasts, a great harlot, false prophets, a fiery red dragon, a lake of fire and final judgment.

• But from God’s point of view it must be a time of great anticipation as it is at this point that God’s great project of creating man in His image becomes a reality with the saying, “I will be their God, and they will be my holy people.”

Last time we talked about how the story of God’s interaction with His creation comes down to one of allegiance.

• We shared the legend of a Native American grandfather speaking with his grandson about the two competing wolves that reside in each of us, one representing evil, and the other good.

• The story ends with the grandfather answering his grandson’s question as to “Which wolf will win?” with the response, “The one you feed.”

• From the very beginning, the beings God has brought into existence have faced a choice as to where their allegiance would lie.

• He created us with freewill with the capacity to choose.

• Sooner or later in the design of things however, our allegiance would be tested.

• One’s allegiance is the major theme of the book of Revelation.

But there are a couple of sub themes running throughout the dialogue.

• There are evil powers at work that infiltrate and infest all levels of human society, and the book of Revelation systematically exposes these malevolent powers, along with their destruction.

• However the book does not end with destruction, but with a final vision of hope.

• From a human perspective it appears like the forces of evil are winning the battle but in the end the forces of good prevail

• Jesus’ insight to John then is to reveal to him and his readers what is going on behind the scenes that makes the world the way it is.

• It is with this background that we turned our attention to the book of Revelation, a book in which creatures other than wolves play a significant role.

Overview of the book of Revelation

• The approach we are taking is to look at the book in its historical and cultural context. That is, it is written to Christians living during the reign of Nero, or Domitian (depending on the date of the authorship of the book) in the context of the all-conquering Roman Empire.

• Second, as the first few verses of the book explain, this is a revelation from Jesus Christ himself.

• Revelation is from the Greek word apocalypse that means unveiling or in a religious context, "a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities."

• We then looked at other apocalyptic writers, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel and especially Daniel as he identified the four terrifying wild beasts each representing the historical empires of Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greece and Rome (Daniel 7).

• However at the end of time, God will overthrow all of these beastly kingdoms and replace them with His kingdom that operates in a totally different fashion to that of a wild beast.

• So in the face of tyrannical rule, there is introduced a message of hope, the same message given at the end of Revelation.

• It was during the reign of this terrifying fourth beast with teeth of iron and claws of bronze that John is given this revelation from the angel sent by Jesus Christ.