REVEALTION

REVELATION (of Jesus Christ)

"Justice is Mine, I will repay." Rom. 12:19

 

The book of the holiness of God Who hates sin.

The book speaks of the revelation of Jesus Christ, [Rev. 19] in both pictures and words.
Revealed to be coming 1st as a Lamb, and next as a Lion of the tribe of Judah.
God lives in the eternal now and transports John to the Lord's Day.
John saw and heard all these things happening during the Lord's Day.

Isa 14:24-26 says these things must happen. These things can begin to happen at any time. “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.”

The truth of this book is clarified through various signs. Deut 29:29; “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Prov. 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”

On a secluded island of Patmos God gave us the last book of the Bible. Psa. 46:10. “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Key to book in Rev. 1:19. “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” "Write the things which thou hast seen."

This is the opening vision of Christ and the way he will appear throughout the remainder of the book. He is in the midst of his seven churches as the God-man, holding in his right hand the seven stars of these seven churches, both controlling and protecting them. He is in the midst of his churches, the object of their adoring gaze and the illumination for their walk through the world.
"Write therefore." This word is omitted in the A.V. although included in the R.V. and Greek text. It carries one back to vs. 11 where John is commanded to write what he sees, and now therefore commanded to write what he has seen as recorded in vss. 12-16.
Bullinger, Alford, and Moses Stuart translate vs. 19:
"Write therefore what things thou sawest and what they are (mean), even what things are about to happen hereafter." Alford and Stuart make chs. 2-19 to refer to the Church. Bullinger makes these chapters refer to Israel. This explains why they translate as they do.

550 references to OT verses.

REVEALING THE FATHER

REVEALING THE FATHER

“He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”  John 14:9.

 

In our translation of the passage, so simple is it that no word of two syllables is employed except the word “Father.” “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9); and yet so inspirational is it that among all the things Jesus said concerning His relationship to the Father none is more comprehensive, inclusive, exhaustive than this. Its very simplicity leaves us no room for doubt as to the meaning of our Lord. The last hours of Jesus with His disciples were passing away. He was talking to the disciples, and four times over they interrupted Him. Peter first, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” (John 13:36). While He was yet answering Peter, Thomas said, “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; how know we the way?” While He was yet dealing with Thomas, Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” (John 14:8-9). Before He was done with Philip, Jude said, “What is come to pass that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” (John 14:22). The lonely Christ, recognizing the fact that the nearest friends of His life, His own followers, did not perfectly understand Him, could not walk with Him along the via dolorosa, were afraid of the gathering shadows, yet taught them, patiently and gently answering objections, clearing away difficulties, storing their minds with truth.

            Philip’s interruption was due, in the first place, to a conviction of Christ’s relation in some way to the Father. He had been so long with Jesus as to become familiar in some senses with His line of thought. He had heard over and over again strange things fall from the lips of the Master. He had listened to the wonderful familiarity with which Jesus had spoken of God as “My Father.” (30 references in the book of John alone). In all probability, moreover, Philip was asking that there should be repeated to him and the little group of disciples some such wonderful thing as they had read of in the past of their people’s history. He would have read therein of the great and glorious theophany’s of days gone by, of how the elders once ascended the mountain and saw God; of how the prophet had declared that “in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple”; (Isa 6:1) of how Ezekiel had declared that when he was by the river Chebar he had seen God in fire, and wheels; in majesty and glory. It was to that request, based upon a vision of Christ’s relationship to the Father, based upon the memory of how God had manifested Himself to the men of olden days that Jesus replied. I cannot read this answer of Jesus without feeling that He divested Himself of set purpose of anything that approached stateliness of diction, and dropped into the common speech of friend to friend, as looking back into the face of Philip He said, “Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9). Mark the simplicity of it. They were most familiar with Him. I think you will agree with me that it requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that they had looked upon His face more often than upon the face of any other during the three years. They had listened with greater interest to the tones of His voice than to any other sounds that had come to them during that period. The very simplicity of it is its audacity. The word may not be well chosen, and yet I take it of His set purpose. If you want to know how audacious and daring a thing it is, put it into the lips of any other teacher the world has ever produced. Looking into the face of one man, who was voicing, though he little knew it, the great anguish of the human heart, the great hunger of the human soul, Christ said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” (John 14:9) and in that declaration He claimed absolute identity with God. So much for the setting of my text and the claim thereof. That claim has been vindicated in the passing of the centuries. The conception of God which is triumphant, intellectually capturing the mind, emotionally capturing the heart, volitionally capturing the will, came to the world through that One Who, standing Man before man, yet said to Him, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” A great many false views of Christ are done away with His statement – Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Catholic, etc. The only difference between my view and those I just mentioned is what I believe to be true concerning Christ, God Himself – the great Revealer.

REPROBATE

REPROBATE

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” Rom. 1:28

 

“did not like to retain” The basic reason for all evolutionary religion, from atheism and humanism to ancient Babylonian paganism to modern New Age pantheism is that men and women did not like to believe in the God of creation. Therefore, they diligently sought to find some form of evolutionary explanation for the world with which they could be more comfortable.

“gave them over” Note the sad sequence of events: (1) because of their deliberate repudiation of God, God “gave them up to uncleanness” (Romans 1:24); (2) Because they worshipped and served the creation more than the Creator, God “gave them up unto vile affections” (Romans 1:26); (3) because they did not want even to know anything about God, God “gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28). Long ago, God said: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen. 6:3). Sounds like Pharaoh.

The word reprobate in the original means disapproved; it fails to stand the test. Literally, they did not approve of keeping God in their thinking, or knowing.

KJV term used in two senses:

1. That which fails to meet a test and is thus rejected as unworthy or unacceptable, as impure silver (Jer. 6:30); or persons (2 Cor. 13:5-7; Titus 1:16).

2. That which is depraved or without morals (Rom. 1:28; 2 Tim. 3:8). NAS and RSV used reprobate to mean one rejected by God (Psa. 15:4).

REPETITION

Repetition

 

“To write the same things to you, to me is not irksome, but for you it is safe.”  Phil. 3:1

 Imparting knowledge so that lives can make needful changes to come into right relationship with eternal things. The human mind has need of this because our ways are not His ways, our thoughts are His thoughts.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55:8-9

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”  Rom. 11:33

Four times in Peter’s short epistle, we are urged to keep “in remembrance” the great truths revealed therein (2 Peter 1:12-13, 15; 3:1). God evidently considers them important. It is easy to forget the more important truths when we are being bombarded continuously by the trivial.

REPENTANCE-TRUE

True Repentance

“And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matt. 3:2

"Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?” John 3:10 NASB

 

Repentance is directed towards the Kingdom of God with implication of the rights of God, and the rebellion of man.

John had no Gospel to preach; he preached repentance. No man is ready for the Gospel until he has heard this; and no man can receive the benefit which the Gospel provides until he has obeyed this fundamental word.

Christ was calling men to enthrone the exiled God. Men are being taught wrong conceptions concerning God and His kingdom (Nicodemus [John 3:10] – “the” teacher of Israel), which issues in wrong conduct, which results in wrong character. This is not the gospel and there is no gospel to give until men repent first. Men have been taught today evolutionary thinking instead of revolutionary thoughts. God has rights over the individual life in its entirety, over social life in all its inter-relationships, over national life in its purposes and its policies. God has rights over all the affairs of men.

A man needs to become conscious of the act of sin, and of the fact of sin abounding everywhere in our day even though it is accepted and disregarded by our society, by making wrong right and right wrong. Then he needs to recognize the fact of sin in himself and his need of repentance. He also needs to recognize his inability to stop those acts and to find the way of remission and renewal. Too many in the church have said they have found the power over stopping sin and continue with that supposed new found power. They fool only themselves. Truly repentance turns from those sins and walk the other direction, the very meaning of the word.

REMORSE

REMORSE

 

“The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”  Prov. 20:27

 In this great word of Hebrew Wisdom, we have incidentally what we may reverently describe as a revelation of Biblical psychology. The Hebrew word, here rendered spirit, is the word rendered breath in the passage in Genesis, which says that "God . . . breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." The rendering spirit, therefore is unquestionably accurate, and refers to that in man which constitutes him man, and differentiates between him and all animals. By that breath or spirit he is separated from the animal world, as surely as the sentient life of the animal is separated from the vegetable life beneath it - and to greater distance. Man is not an animal. That breath or spirit - says this word of Wisdom - is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the deepest things in the personality of man. Here is the Biblical conception of conscience. Within the mystery of the spirit-nature of every man there is light. It is the instrument of God. It illuminates life. It is that by which man is constantly kept face to face with truth. Let us make no mistake about it: the most evil men know that their works are evil. No specious arguments can prove to the spirit-life of a man that wrong is right, that impurity is pure. The day may come when a man becomes content with wrong, satisfied with impurity. Perhaps the day comes to some when they are unable to make the distinction. I doubt it although America has sure tried to say wrong is right. But if so, then it is because that lamp of Jehovah is put out, that deep essential spirit-life is atrophied-perished. But that is not the end. That spirit-life cannot cease to be. There is a resurrection to condemnation. There will be a new lighting of that lamp, and therein is the awful mystery of retribution. "In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." He finally displays remorse. A human condition not that of an animal although he might have acted with those attributes for most of his life on earth.

PROVIDENCE

PROVIDENCE

 

God's faithful and effective care and guidance of everything which He has made toward the end which He has chosen.

    The opening question of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) asks: "What is your only comfort in life and death?" Answer: "That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ who ... so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation." This statement gets at the heart of the biblical doctrine of providence. We can distinguish this understanding of providence from several distortions which have been advanced throughout the history of the church:

Fatalism: the view that all events are determined by an inviolable law of cause and effect. This was a popular doctrine among the Stoics (as in Seneca's treatise, De Providentia) who believed that all history and human life was subject to Fate.

Deism: the idea that God created the world but then withdrew from its day-to-day governance, leaving it to run by itself as a machine. Deism safeguards the transcendence of God at the expense of His immanence. (Washington, Jefferson)

Pantheism: this is the opposite error of deism, for it virtually identifies God with His creation. God is a kind of World Soul or impersonal force which permeates all the universe.

Dualism: the view that two opposing forces in the universe are locked in struggle with each other for its control. The ancient religions of Zoroaster and Mani posited two coeternal principles, darkness and light. A modern variant of this theory is set forth by process theology which holds that God is limited by the evolving universe, caught in a struggle with forces over against His control.

    In the New Testament, the Greek word for providence (pronoia) occurs only once, and that with reference to human rather than divine foresight (Acts 24:2). The verbal form (pronoeo) meaning "to know in advance" is found twice in the New Testament and eleven times in the Greek Old Testament. Yet the theme of God's provident care for the created order is present in all levels of the biblical material. The Psalms are filled with allusions to God's direction and sustenance of the creation. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork (Psa. 19:1). God directs the seasons (Psa. 104:19); the clouds are His chariot, the winds His messenger (Psa. 104:3); He stills the storms and girds the mountain ranges (Psa. 107:29; 65:6); everything that hath breath is exhorted to praise the Lord "for his mighty acts" (Psa. 150:2, 6). His use of secondary causes will be evident in the end-time catastrophes (Psa. 148:8). New Orleans has seen His fury. The so-called nature Psalms are not dedicated to the glory of nature, but to the God who created and sustains it with His fatherly care.

    Providence is related to creation on the one hand and to the history of salvation on the other. Theologians speak of this second aspect as "special" providence. In Neh. 9:6-38, God's general and special providence are brought together in the same passage. "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, ... the earth, and all things that are therein, ... and thou preservest them all; ... Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, ... And madest known unto them thy ... precepts, ... by the hand of Moses ... thou art a gracious and merciful God.... who keepest covenant." After the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and during the long period of Exile, confidence in God's providence sustained the children of Israel through all of their doubts and disappointments (cf. Isa. 40:21-31; 42:1-6).

    Two classic passages in the New Testament direct Christians to focus on God's providential care as a remedy for overanxious concerns. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commanded His hearers not to worry about tomorrow, since the Heavenly Father cares much more for them than the birds of the air or the lilies of the field (Matt. 6:25-34). The point is not that following Christ will exempt one from trouble or pain. What it does provide is the assurance of God's presence in the midst of the stormy tempests of life. Armed with this assurance we can face whatever may come in the knowledge that God will care for us, as He does daily for the birds and flowers. Rom. 8:28 (NIV) says: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." This does not mean that everything which happens to us is good, nor necessarily the result of a "snap decision" by God. It does mean that nothing can ever happen to us apart from the knowledge, presence, and love of God, and that in the most desperate of circumstances God is always at work towards the good. We are not given to understand how this is so. We are only told that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18-25).

    The doctrine of providence encompasses many other themes in the Bible as well. Scripture presents God working in various ways to accomplish His purpose. Often God works through secondary causes such as natural law or special messengers, such as the angels. Sometimes God affects His will directly through miracles or other supernatural happenings. Frequently enough, as William Cowper put it, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." Because we are sure that God is for us, not against us, we can afford to live with this mystery which impugns neither God's sovereignty nor His goodness. In our own day, the doctrine of providence has been challenged by the enormity of evil in the world. Some theologians have attempted to devise a theodicy, a rational justification of God's providential rule, as a response to the problem of evil. Yet the Bible itself presents no systematic answer to this dilemma. It affirms only the reality of evil, its vicious, demonic power in the present age, and the certainty of Christ's ultimate victory over its every manifestation (1 Cor. 15:24-28). In the meanwhile, Christians can face the future in the confidence that nothing "in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:39 NRSV).