For the last ten months, I know a lot of you have been just like a little kid on a road trip, constantly asking, “Are we there yet?” as we make our way toward the Book of Revelation. During that period I’ve shared 30 messages that deal with the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Day of the Lord. And I know that some of you may be wondering if that was really necessary. I know that I asked myself that very same question last July, but now that we’ve gone through the process I am more convinced than ever that the answer to that question is a definite “yes”.
When we began this journey on July 19 last year, I shared with you the approach that Pastor Dana and I are committed to using in our examination of the Book of Revelation. Since we are still committed to that approach, let me remind you of the three principles that guide us each week:
1. Our starting point will always be the Bible itself and the plain reading of the text, considered in the context of the overarching theme of the Bible – the reconciliation of man and God through Jesus the Messiah.
2. We will not approach the text with any pre-conceived ideas concerning the structure of the book or any of the various approaches or positions held by any specific commentator or according to any systematic theology. We will allow the text itself to determine the direction of our study as we examine it carefully in its proper context of the Bible as a whole and the Book of Revelation itself. It is our firm conviction that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself.
While this sounds good in theory, it is without a doubt the most difficult of these three principles to apply in practice. All of us, including me, have our own biases that we bring to the study of the Bible, and nowhere is that more evident than when it comes to the Book of Revelation. But I want to plead with you to do the very best that you can to lay those pre-conceived ideas aside and let the text itself determine the conclusions that you draw.
Let’s not be like the new bride who was cooking dinner for her husband. She was preparing a ham and she cut off both ends of the ham before she put it in the oven. When her husband asked her why she cut off the ends of the ham, she replied, “Because that’s the way my mother always did it.” Her husband’s question aroused her curiosity, however, so she called her mom to ask why she cut off the ends of the ham. Her mother replied, “Well, that’s the way my mother always prepared a ham.”
A few weeks later, the young bride was visiting her grandmother, and still being curious about the practice, she asked her grandmother about it. Her grandmother answered, “That’s very simple my dear. I only had one roasting pan and the ham was always too big for the pan, so I cut off the ends so it would fit.”
Particularly when it comes to the Book of Revelation, far too many Christians have become captive to some particular approach to the study of the book. And instead of allowing the plain reading of the text to guide them, their energy is spent trying to defend their particular position, which often requires them to discard proper Bible study principles. I know - I’ve been there myself. I’ve even taught things in the past that I am now convinced were in error based on what we’ve learned these past ten months. At the time, I did that partially out of ignorance, but also because I was captive to certain pre-conceived ideas about how to approach the book.
I’m certain not arrogant enough to claim that I have it all figured out now, either. In fact, I realize even more just how much there is that I thought I had all figured out that I’m not quite so sure about now. But what I have learned from these past ten months is that there are some unmistakable consistent patterns that we have seen that need to be the foundation upon which we build our study of the book of Revelation. Which leads us to our third principle:
3. Because the Book of Revelation builds upon other Scriptures, particularly many Old Testament passages, it is absolutely essential that we have a proper understanding of relevant passages as a foundation to build upon.
Since the Book of Revelation contains somewhere around 500 references to the Old Testament, we must build our study upon that foundation. That’s why we’ve spent the last ten months examining all these Old Testament Scriptures. And it’s also why I want to take some time this morning to review some of the most significant things that we’ve learned so far in our journey.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT PROPHECY
1. The purpose of prophecy is to bring hope in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Every one of the prophets that we studied were ministering to people who lived in uncertain times and who had lost their hope. All of their ministries occurred after the reign of King Solomon during the period when the commonwealth of Israel had been divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And many of the prophets had witnessed the destruction of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians in 722 BC or the siege of Judah in 587 BC by the Babylonians.
In most cases the prophets were writing to people who were questioning whether God was still in control and whether they were still His people. So the main purpose of their ministry was to provide hope to people who were in the midst of difficult circumstances. And what is really exciting is that thousands of years later, those same writings also bring hope to us when we are in the midst of trials and difficulties on our lives. Paul makes that point very emphatically in the Book of Romans:
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 (ESV)
It will serve us well to keep this idea in mind as we make our way through the Book of Revelation. We often forget that, as a pastor concerned for his flock, John records the visions that God gives to him, in order to provide hope to those in the early church who were experiencing difficulties in living out their lives as followers of Jesus in a world that was hostile to them.
2. Biblical prophecy is a call for us to live our lives for God in the present
I’m going to return to my very first message in this series and share with you again the words of Eugene Peterson from his book, Reversed Thunder:
A common way to misunderstand prophecy, and especially the prophecy of the Revelation, is to suppose that it means prediction. But that is not the biblical use of the word. Prophets are not fortune tellers. The prophet is the person who declares, “thus says the Lord.”…The prophet says that God is speaking now, not yesterday; God is speaking now, not tomorrow. It is not a past word that can be analyzed and then walked away from. It is not a future word that can be fantasized into escapist diversion. [p. 20]
Although Biblical prophecy certainly contains predictions about the future, the main purpose is not for us to develop slick charts that lay out all these events in perfect order. As we’ve seen consistently, the purpose of all of these prophecies was to help God’s people live their lives in the present. That’s why we have tried to focus on practical applications that we can draw from each passage and not merely present information. And we will continue to make that our focus as we progress through the book of Revelation.
3. The near-term fulfillment of prophecy provides us with confidence in the certainty of the far-term fulfillment
Many, but certainly not all, of the prophecies that we’ve looked at have both a near-term fulfillment – one that the prophet and his audience often saw fulfilled in their own lifetime – and a far-term fulfillment that has yet to occur, even for us. And because the prophecy was fulfilled literally and exactly as described in the near-term, we can be confident that the same will occur with the far-term fulfillment as well.
We see that same principle in operation in so many areas of our lives. When I get up each morning and get out of bed, I am confident that I won’t just float out into space. Even though I can’t see gravity, I am confident that it will continue to operate in the future because I’ve observed its effects in the past.
4. All prophecy contains an element of mystery that should cause us to be in awe of God
As we’ve journeyed through the Old Testament prophets, I’ve been very careful not to make any dogmatic conclusions beyond those which are justified by the text itself. The fact is that there are just a lot of things that we can’t be totally sure of, particularly the timing of many of the events that are described in these passages. In some cases, we’ll get some more clarification in the Book of Revelation. But there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding much of what we’re learning.
Frankly, I’m really thankful for that because it is that sense of mystery that causes us to be in awe of God. But unfortunately that’s not a real comfortable place for most of us to be. We want to know everything and have it all laid out for us in a logical, chronological pattern. In other words, we want to be like God. And it is that desire to know it all and be like God that got Eve into so much trouble:
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4, 5 (ESV)
Satan knew exactly how to attack Eve. “Just eat the fruit and you’ll know everything God knows.” And I’m convinced that Satan still attacks that same weakness in our lives today. He tries to get us to think that we can figure out everything on our own – that in effect we can be just like God.
But in order to help us maintain a healthy sense of awe, God chooses not to reveal everything to us all at once. And as a result, we have to trust in Him, and that brings glory to Him and not to us:
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Proverbs 25:2 (ESV)
So let’s make sure we guard against the idea that we can, or even should, determine with certainty exactly how many of these events are going to play out. We’ll only go as far as the text allows us to go and then just trust God for the rest.
COMMON THEME IN THE “DAY OF THE LORD” PROPHECIES
We’ve seen a number of ideas, concepts and principles that are consistent throughout all of the Old Testament prophecies that we’ve looked at. But I really struggled this week as I tried to boil all that down to a common theme that I could describe succinctly. Fortunately, however, Jesus already did that for us during the Olivet Discourse:
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (ESV)
I am convinced that these words very accurately describe the common theme among the Old Testament prophets as well as the Book of Revelation. In fact, the entire Bible records how that principle has operated throughout history.
There are four major concepts that we have seen consistently throughout the Old Testament prophets that are important elements of that overall theme:
1. The “Day of the Lord” = a cycle consisting of:
o God revealing man’s sin
o A means of salvation
o An opportunity for repentance
o Judgment
Up to this point, this definition follows what we developed all the way back in the first chapter of Joel and which has been confirmed consistently throughout the rest of the prophets. But at this point, I feel compelled to further elaborate on the judgment of God based on what we have learned since then, particularly in the Book of Zechariah.
The judgment of God actually has two distinct purposes:
Punishment for the ungodly
This is pretty obvious. From His specific promise to punish Edom in the book of Obadiah to the more general warnings of punishment against all nations in many of the other prophets, this is exactly what we would expect. In His first advent, Jesus came to this earth as Savior, but when He returns, He is coming as Judge, and all of the ungodly, those who have refused to commit their lives to Jesus, will get the punishment they deserve.
But those very same events that serve to bring punishment to the ungodly often also serve the second purpose of…
Refining of the godly
We first were introduced to that idea in the first two chapters of Amos where Amos begins describing the judgment that God is going to bring against Israel’s neighbors but he then springs on his audience a surprise ending. God is also going to judge Israel. And then in chapter 5, Amos further emphasizes that truth with these words:
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light,
Amos 5:18 (ESV)
To the people of Israel who were looking forward to the Day of the Lord because it would bring punishment to their enemies, Amos offers a word of warning. The Day of the Lord is also going to bring judgment to Israel as well. But the purpose of that judgment is not to punish, but rather to refine His people. We saw that idea developed much more fully just a couple of weeks ago in Zechariah 13:
And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
Zechariah 13:9 (ESV)
o Restoration
Although this cycle of the Day of the Lord began on the day of Pentecost, and we see this cycle repeated continually throughout the Bible and throughout history, there will also be a final fulfillment of the Day of the Lord when this process will be brought to a culmination with one last judgment and restoration. Only God knows when that day will be, but once it occurs, there will be no more opportunity for repentance and salvation. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
2. God’s people are not exempt from tribulation
We’ve already addressed this in discussing that one purpose of judgment is to refine God’s people. But I know that many of you may be thinking that this doesn’t really apply to us. After all, the prophecies that we’ve been looking at in the Old Testament specifically apply to the commonwealth of Israel and not to us as “Gentile” believers. But before we’re too quick to make that leap, perhaps we ought to pause and see if there are some other passages that might shed some additional light here.
There are two extremes for us to avoid here. The first extreme, which is often referred to as “replacement theology”, holds that the church has replaced Israel, so that therefore all the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament automatically have been transferred to the church. That obviously completely removes Israel from any role in the Day of the Lord.
The other extreme is to dismiss all of the Old Testament as being irrelevant to us as “Gentile” believers and therefore to conclude that everything we’ve been studying for the last ten months only applies to Israel and has no bearing on us whatsoever.
Fortunately for us, Paul devotes three chapters in the book of Romans – chapters 9-11 – to address this very issue. In that section, he refutes both of these extremes. On one hand he points out that the church and Israel have distinct roles. The church age was God’s plan from the very beginning to make Israel jealous for a period of time so that they might eventually come to faith in Jesus and be saved.
But at the same time, the church and Israel do have much in common. In chapter 11 Paul describes how the church has been grafted into Israel, who he calls the “natural branches”, through faith in Jesus. In the midst of that section we find these relevant words:
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Romans 11:21 (ESV)
In other words, the grafted in branches of the church should expect to experience the same tribulation as the natural branches because they are part of the same tree. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
3. God will preserve a remnant for the purpose of perpetuating His kingdom
Many of the prophets described the reconciliation of Israel and Judah, who will be reunited into a single kingdom. And almost all of the prophets described how God is going to bring that reunited kingdom back into the land that He promised to them and restore them and make them fruitful beyond anything they had ever experienced throughout their history.
As we’ve seen before, this pattern of preserving a remnant of those who are faithful to God for the purpose of perpetuating His kingdom is repeated through the Bible. Some notable examples include:
• Noah and his family preserved through the tribulation of the flood
• Israel preserved through the tribulation of wandering in the desert
• Jesus is preserved through the tribulation of the cross
• The apostles and the early church preserved through the tribulation of persecution.
It’s instructive to note that in every one of those cases, God did not remove the remnant before the tribulation began or deliver them out of the tribulation. But He did preserve them through the tribulation.
As part of the Day of the Lord, God is going to preserve a remnant of those who remain faithful to Him for the purpose of perpetuating His kingdom, first in the millennial reign of Jesus here on the earth and then into the new heavens and earth which will exist for eternity. But the one who endures to the end will be saved
4. Jesus will establish His permanent, righteous rule
This is certainly a common idea throughout the prophets. And this is the reason that Jesus could confidently claim that those who endure to the end will be saved. Because as bad as everything might get, we already know the end of the story. One day, Jesus will return and when He does, He is going to rule with absolute justice and righteousness. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. And it is our confidence in that fact, that allows us to persevere, no matter how difficult things might be. But the one who endures to the end will be saved
Although this morning has merely been a review of what we’ve learned for the past ten months, I would be remiss if I failed to conclude with a practical application. In response to all this information, we must all ask this question:
HOW, THEN, SHALL WE LIVE?
I’m not going to give you a long list of applications this morning, but what I will do is to leave you with the words of Jesus that teach us how we should live in light of what we’ve learned.
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew 24:44 (ESV)
How, then, shall we live? We are to be ready. That was true for those disciples who heard those words of Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago and it is still true for us today.
And frankly, although I wish it were that easy, I can’t give you a simple prescription of how to do that. But as we have a chance to respond to God in just a moment, here are some things you might want to consider:
First, if you’ve never committed your life to Jesus, then I can say with certainty that you are not ready for the return of Jesus. Because at that very moment he returns, your eternal fate will have been sealed based on your failure to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. So if you’ve never done that, I encourage you to talk to me or to Pastor Dana or to one of our elders about that decision. If you’d like to do that you can see one of us after the service, or you can fill out the “Care Card” on the flap of your bulletin and check the box that reads “I’d like to learn how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus” and then place it in the offering plate in a few minutes.
Perhaps you’re not ready for the return of Jesus because you need to rethink some of the things that you may have been taught over the years that just don’t line up with the plain reading of the Bible text. I’m certainly not saying that I have all the answers or that I have all this figured out. I don’t. But I hope that you’ll join me in committing to drawing your conclusions based on the Bible and not based on someone else’s opinion about what it says.
Maybe you’re not ready for the return of Jesus because you’ve lost your sense of awe. In your attempt to put everything into a nice little package that you can get your hands around, you’ve put God into a box, too. And as a result, you’ve failed to see His immensity and His power.
Or finally, maybe you’re not ready for the return of Jesus because you’ve given up and lost hope. If there is one thing that we can conclude from our study it is that God is in control and that because of that there is hope, no matter what circumstances we might be facing now.
As the worship team comes back up, we’re going to take some time to just focus on God for a while as we sing some more together. And as we do that, I pray that God will speak to your heart and reveal to you what you might need to do to be ready for the return of Jesus. And then as God reveals that to you, I pray that you’ll commit to do whatever you need to do to carry that out in your life.
