The Beginner's Guide To The Book Of Revelation

(0:00 - 0:21) Real life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. So when we talk about the revelation of Jesus Christ, we're talking about the book of Revelation is saying of itself. Hi, everyone, I'm the book that reveals Jesus Christ. (0:22 - 0:48) The book of Revelation is the only book in the entire Bible that says you're gonna be blessed if you read it and you're gonna be blessed if you hear it be read. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. (0:48 - 1:00) To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. (1:01 - 1:25) Hey everybody, have you ever wondered why the book of Revelation is even in the Bible? Have you ever wondered if it's even possible to understand the book of Revelation? Well, listen up everybody, we are gonna be launching from this moment forward. We're gonna be bringing you more and more of an in-depth look at the book of Revelation. And so today's just a little primer for all of that. (1:25 - 1:40) But we are going to, in the near future, this year, we're gonna dive into looking and taking a deep dive into the book of Revelation. And we might break our own rules here. We might take our 40 minute to one hour long podcast. (1:40 - 1:48) We might go a couple of hours, we'll see. So it's gonna be pretty cool. I think the time is right. (1:48 - 2:03) And so listen, before we go any further, I'm gonna remind you along the way, as always, we'd love to have you subscribe by going to the Real Life Network app and securing that for yourself. Be with us 365 on demand, 24 hours a day. We're always there for you. (2:03 - 2:31) And so let's dive into this right now. We're gonna be beginning what, you know how you can go to the bookstore and it has like the complete, the idiots, is that the thing? The complete idiots guide to dummies about this or that, right? So think of this, book of Revelation. Some people are, was it even in the Bible? Folks, listen, I'll start like painting this picture for you. (2:32 - 3:42) When you are eating ice cream, however you have it fixed up, peanuts or chocolate or sprinkles or whatever you use, what's the best bite? Is the best bite the first bite or is the best bite the last bite of the ice cream, which scoops the best? When you eat a hamburger, especially here in Southern California, the world renowned, famous birth of hamburgers, what's the best bite of the hamburger? The first bite or the last bite? Do you get my drift? So many times it is, of course, the last bite is the very best because of unknown reasons only God can tell you. But it's like the last French fry that's in the bottom of the bag tastes better than all of the other ones put together. Why is that the case? Book of Revelation, the reason why it is so incredibly powerfully placed at the back of the Bible is the fact that it's the last bite. (3:44 - 3:50) It's the most tasty. It's the most amazing. It brings it all together. (3:50 - 4:25) It's literally the theological culmination of this 65 book journey. The Bible is all wrapped up in the 66th book, the Book of Revelation. And did you know that the Book of Revelation refers to more Old Testament, either verses or descriptions or events? Then all of the New Testament books combined the Book of Revelation. (4:26 - 4:42) There's a reason why certain denominations and certain churches won't even read it. They believe it's off limits. That's exactly what Satan would want you to experience is to not experience it. (4:43 - 5:05) We should know it. And so, as I said before in the past, I'll say again, when somebody says, I don't understand the Book of Revelation, that's because you don't read your Old Testament. So if you're Jewish, I would love for you to read Genesis, all the way through, by the way, folks, my Jewish friends, don't read just the first five books. (5:07 - 5:12) That's ridiculous. God gave it all. Read Genesis to Malachi. (5:14 - 5:26) Skip the entire New Testament, don't read it, and pick up the Book of Revelation and watch what happens to you. If you're Jewish, you'll freak. You will so recognize so much. (5:26 - 5:39) But here's where we're gonna start today is in Revelation chapter one, verse 19. In fact, before I read it, I'm gonna ask you to think this way. Think right here, a blue bucket. (5:39 - 5:52) Got a blue bucket right here, plastic bucket, blue bucket. We got a yellow bucket right here, and we have a red bucket right here. So blue, yellow, red buckets, three of them. (5:52 - 6:32) Why? Watch this. Revelation chapter one, the Bible opens up and tells us here that as it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, it's not the revelation of John, the apostle, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to show his servants things which must shortly take place, and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant, John. And by the way, don't get impatient when it says things that must take place shortly. (6:32 - 6:48) This is a very fascinating thing because it means things that are unfolding right now and things that shall unfold very quickly. Context will set the tone for that. How do you interpret it? Context of event will set the understanding of those words. (6:49 - 7:12) Is what is happening happening right now? Or is it happening quickly tomorrow? Or is it when it happens, something that happens very quickly? All of these are true regarding the book of Revelation and in God's prophetic word, but here's where we dive in before we actually dive in. And here it is. It's Revelation chapter one, verse 19. (7:13 - 8:03) Revelation chapter one, verse 19 says, write these things which you have seen, blue bucket, things which we have seen, goes in the blue bucket, things which are, yellow bucket, right here in the middle, and things which will take place after this, metatauta, after these things, red bucket. So right now, book of Revelation chapter one, verse 19, before you even begin reading verse one of chapter one, Revelation chapter one, verse 19 says, there is a very specific engineered outline given by God to the book of Revelation. And here it is, John, I want you to write this. (8:04 - 8:26) I want you to be aware of this, John. I want you to write down the things that have been, the things that you've seen in the past, right? I want you to put all that stuff that deals with the past in a blue bucket. Okay, the things that are, John, I want you to put in a yellow bucket, right in front of you. (8:27 - 9:16) And things that are gonna happen, I want you to put that in the red bucket. Why is this important, folks? Because whenever you read Bible prophecy from Genesis to Revelation, you can determine where you can place the prophecies in one of the three buckets. It will help you stay so safe in understanding the Bible and interpreting the Bible through the Bible, not interpreting the Bible through Jack or you or your pastor or your denomination through Baptist eyes or Lutheran eyes or Catholic eyes or Calvary eyes or assembly God eyes, forget all the eyes. (9:18 - 9:29) This is so important because people will destroy the book of Revelation. Listen, you actually know this. People have attempted to destroy it by saying, well, that's all allegorical. (9:30 - 9:50) That's not to be taken literally. You wanna know why people say that? Bad, bad Bible study approach because they interpreted the scriptures instead of the scriptures interpreting the scriptures. You wanna be a good Bible student? Let the Bible talk to you about the Bible. (9:50 - 10:04) And the book of Revelation is so powerful. So let's talk about the first bucket, the blue bucket. He says to John, write the things, write down the things which you have seen. (10:05 - 10:36) Well, the question is, what has John seen? Well, chapter one tells us that John has seen, first of all, that the announcement made to him is given to him by the Lord Jesus Christ, handing them down through an angel to John. And these are the attributes or these are the descriptions of who he is. That he is the one that is bestowing or granting, excuse me, the blessing. (10:37 - 10:47) It says in verse three, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy. That's the book of Revelation. And keep those things that are written in it for the time is near. (10:48 - 11:02) The book of Revelation is the only book in the entire Bible that says you're gonna be blessed if you read it. And you're gonna be blessed if you hear it be read. No other book of the Bible boasts that benefit. (11:02 - 11:16) And then there's a witness statement. There is a resume given that this is from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead. In verse five, he goes down and he's announcing who he is. (11:16 - 11:28) He goes down, for example, in verse eight, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord. Who is, who was, who is to come? The Almighty. That's him. (11:28 - 11:34) Beautiful. So this is what, John, tell me about what you've seen. This is what I've seen. (11:35 - 11:43) I've seen that this is given by Jesus Christ himself. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He's the first and the last. (11:43 - 11:47) He's the Almighty. He's the faithful witness. He's it. (11:48 - 12:05) The book of Revelation is Jesus Christ telling us about the things that have to deal with the past, the present, and the future. And the number one thing in the blue bucket is this. I'm the Lord. (12:05 - 12:13) I am over all things sovereign. And so, John, I want you to write these things down. Okay. (12:13 - 12:25) Good. Blue bucket. John, what do you see? What is it that you've seen and what is it that you see now? That's the yellow bucket. (12:25 - 12:37) And the yellow bucket is the descriptions of chapters two and three of the seven letters to the seven churches. John is talking about them. These are the things. (12:38 - 12:52) This is the... John, in a very real way, John represents the church age from the day of Pentecost to the day of the rapture. I say that specifically. You say, well, I don't believe in the rapture. (12:52 - 12:58) That's your problem. That's not my problem. But you need to deal with John 14, verses one, two, and three. (12:58 - 13:05) You have to figure that one out. And then 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18. You have to figure that out. (13:05 - 13:28) And then you have to take the closing verses of each chapter of 1 Thessalonians 5, which each five chapters has one promise regarding the rapture in each of the five chapters. You gotta figure that out. You gotta figure out 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that tells us that we will not all die. (13:29 - 13:41) There will be a generation who will be changed in a moment and a twinkling of an eye. When we see the Lord, we're gonna be transformed and we will escape death. Who could that possibly be describing? I think you know. (13:42 - 14:01) So what's amazing is John is saying, okay, well, here's where I'm at. I see the seven letters of the seven churches, which by the way, we don't have the time to get into right now. These were actually seven churches that kind of formed, if you were to visit all of them, all seven, they formed somewhat of an oval. (14:01 - 14:25) Think of like an Indianapolis raceway or a horse track, you know, an oval, somewhat of an oval, or like a Ford logo, the Ford oval. If you went to each of those churches, it's a circuit. But what's interesting is there were so many other churches that for whatever reasons we do not know, Jesus did not mention. (14:26 - 14:47) For example, the church at Colossae, it was thriving and alive. Why didn't he mention it? He does, he says to the angel of the church in Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, Thyatira, on and on he goes, seven times, but there were so many more churches. He left a lot out. (14:48 - 15:19) Why did he leave it out? Because all of these seven churches, we now know, we now know in our 21st century, were not only actual churches then that you can tour and go visit the sites of where they were, but they also, the description of the attributes of those churches speak of any one of us individually. It kind of describes us individually. Go see if you can find yourself in one of the seven letters to the seven churches. (15:21 - 15:58) And it describes the actual diagnosis or examination of those churches back in those days, in that day. But it also speaks in a chronological manner, in a timeline, that in the last days, for example, like we're in now, there will be a prevailing description of the church, and that last church is the Laodicean church. Apathetic, questioning, maybe not even believing in the word, maybe not even saved. (16:00 - 16:19) Scholars argue if the church at Laodicea is even a saved church. Why? Because that's the church where Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, if you just let me in. What kind of a church doesn't have Jesus inside of it? A lost church. (16:20 - 16:35) Maybe that's so, maybe that's the right interpretation. Again, great scholars differ on the meaning of that. It is weird that in the last days, Jesus is knocking on what is called the church's door, saying, you wanna let me in? Wow. (16:36 - 16:55) But watch this. When John is describing the things in the yellow bucket, which are, he specifically talks about the churches until chapter four, verse one. And in chapter four, verse one, something happens. (16:56 - 17:35) John now describes what's happening and what's gonna happen. He describes it from a vantage point that is in heaven. He is describing things after John four, verse one, from the mezzanine, from the top floor, looking down upon the earth and looking into heaven and into the spirit realm, the things that are happening on the earth. (17:36 - 18:16) John and the church are never again mentioned on earth after Revelation four, verse one. Revelation four, verse one, to beginning at Revelation four, verse two, speaks about the things that are now going to come. Because John says in Revelation four, one, listen, those of you who are rapture pre, well, it doesn't matter if you're pre, post, mid, whatever. (18:18 - 18:36) The word rapture means to be taken up or caught up, removed. By the way, the word rapture, harpazo, actually means to be removed, taken up violently, like radically quick. After these things, I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven. (18:38 - 18:57) And the first voice which I heard was like the voice of a trumpet speaking to me, saying, come up here. And I will show you things that must come to pass after this. After what? After you're up here. (18:57 - 19:03) Come up here. Why? I mentioned, let's play it out. Hey, John, come up here. (19:03 - 19:21) Why? Because I want to show you some things. Why? Because there are things that are going to happen after you come up here. Why do I need to go up there? Because the things that I need to show you cannot be revealed until you come up here. (19:22 - 19:41) Well, why do I need to be up there? Because you can't see from there until you come up here, what's going to be happening down there. You got to come up so you can look back down. And John says, he found himself in the spirit. (19:41 - 19:54) He's in, he's up there. Immediately, I was in the spirit, and behold, the throne was set in heaven, and one who sat upon the throne. And he who sat there was like a Jasper and a Sardis stone in the appearance. (19:55 - 20:03) And there was a rainbow around the throne, an appearance like an emerald. And he starts describing in heaven. John is like going, oh my gosh. (20:03 - 20:07) He's freaking out. He's showing this incredible view. Vantage point. (20:07 - 20:32) From this moment on, friends, John's eyewitness account and report is all found in the blue bucket. It's all stuff future. But it's being told to us by John, who came out of the yellow bucket, and who told us about the blue bucket. (20:33 - 20:45) It's incredibly simple. Here's how we should deal with this now. If I have these buckets, I hope you can see them in your mind. (20:46 - 21:16) When I'm reading Ezekiel, when I'm reading Isaiah, Zechariah, Joel, Amos, I mean, on and on we can go. Zephaniah, for that matter, Zephaniah chapter three. You say, what does that have to do with anything? Well, you know what? Zephaniah chapter three tells us that when we see the Lord face to face, he's going to sing and he's going to twirl or spin about and rejoice over us with gladness. (21:17 - 21:38) God says he's going to, the Bible says the Lord is going to be so happy when we are all with him that he's going to sing and rejoice. Is that going to happen in bucket, in the yellow bucket or the blue bucket? Is it, no. Is it going to happen in the yellow bucket? I don't think so. (21:38 - 22:04) These are the things that are. The other bucket, the blue bucket is the things that were, the things that are, right? And my, I hope I got my colors right. My final bucket, the bucket of the future, that's where that verse belongs because we're not there yet, are we, with him? He's not singing to us yet. (22:04 - 22:43) We're not in that bucket yet. But when you read Bible prophecy, the first thing that you should do is how does this fit into the built in outline provided by God in Revelation chapter one, verse 19, where do these prophecies fit? And here's the fun thing about it. At first, maybe for a while, you may not know, but let's say hypothetically, you've come up to Ezekiel 36, 26, and God is announcing to Israel, I am going to put my spirit in you. (22:43 - 22:49) And I'm going to, it's the born again experience, by the way. So we're talking about something in the future. It's never happened before. (22:50 - 23:22) I'm going to put my spirit in you and you will walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments because I'm going to give you a new heart. When did God give Israel a new heart? It hasn't happened yet. He goes on to talk about the fulfillment of the new covenant, a second covenant that's not made with stone, not the 10, Jeremiah 31. (23:23 - 23:36) When's that going to happen? Future bucket. You can start populating your buckets when you read the Bible, Bible prophecy. It's a great project. (23:36 - 23:49) You might even just write the verse down because you're not exactly sure. So not sure where that's placed, but for now, I'm going to put a question mark and I'm going to tear it up and I'm going to just go like this. I'm going to take it. (23:49 - 24:02) I'm going to put it in that bucket. You may, with future Bible study, take it out of this bucket and put it into the future bucket because now it makes more sense. It's a fascinating way to study the scripture. (24:02 - 24:10) It's very safe because it's Bible interpreting Bible. It's the best way to go. And you'll never be led astray if you do that. (24:11 - 24:27) So like most things, listen, God has given us the word of God to give us clarity, not to confuse us. So we know this, that when we're confused, it's because we don't have a clear understanding. That's not God's problem and it's not God's fault. (24:27 - 24:33) It's our situation. What he's saying to us is persevere. Seek me. (24:34 - 25:07) Isn't it Jeremiah 29, 12 and 13, where he says, when you search for me with all of your heart, I'll make sure that I am known by you. I'll make sure that you know that you find me. It's like mom and dad playing hide and seek with a three-year-old, hiding behind the curtains, but you know how you leave your feet out so your kids can see your shoe sticking out? You give your kid that hint, that help, God is saying the same thing. (25:07 - 25:16) You want to find me? Well, here's a hint. Here's a little bit of me. If you pull back the veil, you'll find all of me. (25:18 - 25:39) Pursuing God in the scriptures is understanding him more, and there's no greater book in all of the Bible than the book of Revelation, because the word revelation is apocalypso, or apocalypsis. It means to unveil. It's most graphic for us in the West. (25:40 - 26:31) We would look at it this way. If there's a statue of some great achiever, Christopher Columbus to Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther or Billy Graham, and they're going to have a ceremony, and they're going to dedicate the monument, what do they do? The monument is covered in a covering, and at the right time, they lift the covering off, revealing this beautiful sculpture or bronze image of the individual in honor of them. That is the word apocalypto, or to unveil. (26:32 - 26:49) It is the word unveiling. So when we talk about the revelation of Jesus Christ, we're talking about the book of Revelation is saying of itself, hi, everyone. I'm the book that reveals Jesus Christ. (26:50 - 27:25) And you might say, wait a minute. Is that what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all about? Yeah, that was his ministry on earth, revealing the kingdom, teaching us the word, showing us the way, and making atonement for our sins, and being resurrected from the dead, becoming our sanctification, our justification. And then what did he do? He ascended back to heaven, right? That's the gospel. (27:27 - 27:56) But Jesus, after ascending back to heaven, what's the best way to understand him? With Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in mind? Book of Revelation. Notice that when you see Jesus in the book of Revelation, his face is blazing brilliance. His eyes are like a flame of fire. (27:57 - 28:17) His countenance, the sun and the moon flee from. Angels are bowing before him. When he speaks, it's as though it's the sound of rushing mighty waters. (28:21 - 28:29) The throne, the glory. It's what Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter six. Hey, there you go. (28:30 - 29:02) Isaiah chapter six. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and the doorpost of the temple shook and trembled, and the glory, the smoke, the glory of God filled the temple. And there were the seraphim, the angels, that bowed, and they said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, who is to come, the Almighty. (29:03 - 29:25) And the Bible tells us that with two wings, they cover their faces, and with two wings, they cover their bodies, and with the remaining two wings, they fly in his presence. And they never stop day and night saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Where does that belong? Does that belong in our yellow? No, I'm getting my colors all messed up. (29:26 - 29:39) My blue bucket of things that were, or the things that are my yellow bucket, or the red bucket, the things of the future. Things of the future. Because we haven't seen that yet. (29:39 - 30:18) But now John takes us into the book of Revelation, and it's though we're transported forward, right, with John, as we read. But now we're seeing exactly what Isaiah saw nearly 3,000 years ago. Wow! You begin to create a file, a pillar of eschatological truths, or prophetic, Bible prophetic verses and passages, that will be much more easier to understand when you're reading the Bible about the grandeur of the future. (30:18 - 30:35) Because folks, listen, ready or not, the future's coming. And in Christ Jesus is the only way that we're gonna understand it. I would hope that we know enough about the future from the Bible that we're up there when we get there, and we'll know what's going on. (30:35 - 30:44) Can you imagine somebody saying, what's gonna happen next? Should've known, should've read the book. God has made it clear to us. It's absolutely thrilling. (30:44 - 31:05) And I hope this kind of gets you a little bit excited. About how we get started with first the outline. And many times, whenever we'll talk about the book of Revelation, we are going to many times bring up our three buckets and our outline that God gave us that we didn't make up. (31:06 - 31:17) God gave it to us so that we'd have a better understanding. So friends, if you wanna understand the book of Revelation, you wanna start reading the Old Testament. Okay, simple as that. (31:19 - 31:23) It's awesome. So listen, God bless you guys. And remember, I wanna push it again. (31:23 - 31:34) Please subscribe as always. You could really help us out by subscribing, go to the Real Life Network, get the app for yourself and tell others about it. And we're thrilled that you're with us. (31:34 - 31:46) God bless you. And we'll see you next time. This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. (31:46 - 31:55) Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to Jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.