Book of Revelation: Introduction

BONUS EPISODE - We begin our journey through the book of Revelation! Listen as we lay some ground rules, create some controversy, and launch the greatest mind-blowing adventure this side of heaven!

Transcript

[Music] good morning good afternoon or good evening wherever or whenever you're listening to us right now and welcome to this bonus episode of the Churchosity podcast my name is Heath Brady and I'm Andrea Brady and we are your Churchosity podcast Personnel these are the kind of episodes that we like to call the Post scripts because these are the things that we think about and talk about when the record button is off so thank you for listening and welcome to the Inner [Music] Circle well Andy here we are yeah our first bonus episode and uh I don't know about you but I'm kind of excited I'm very excited well I know why I'm excited but why are you excited well I like giving bonus content to our supporters yeah as if we don't provide enough quality content for our listeners yeah yeah our Patreon supporters they we go the extra mile for them because they go the extra mile for us you know what I'm saying yep and I'm excited about the topic because it's something I've been wanting to talk with you about for a very long time oh really yeah well I mean I've always wanted to study this book with you yeah and it's a little overwhelming what's overwhelming The Book of Revelation and why do you think it's overwhelming um cuz it's so weird is it does it maybe have something to do with the classic stigma that only the mature Christians should even toy with the idea of studying The Book of Revelation I don't know nobody's ever said that to me before oh well you're lucky because the first two churches that I was ever a part of in my life as a child that's what they both said to me cuz you know being the young Christian that I was ha I had lots of questions H about you know the Book of Revelation yeah what in the world are all of these things what is it talking about who is this and what is that and where is that and when is that going to happen and did this already happen and is it really going to happen you know those kind of things right yeah and a lot of arguments are created over these things oh I know and I think that that's probably why as an adult I Shi away from even rolling up my sleeves and attempting to dabble in the Book of Revelation because I didn't want to be in that kind of an environment you know I don't like being in situations where a conversation that could be fun to have at the water cooler ends up becoming a fight over Doctrine and theology Prime right you know what's prevented me from studying it like growing up the Phil Donahue show what you remember that show of course I do I'm a Gen Xer I I remember Phil Donahue I mean it's a long time ago but he always used to have talk show topics that were controversial and he'd bring on some person from the Christian Perspective and they were always some kind of nutty person some Yoo yeah that was like Ultra whatever Sensational very sensationalistic so it's that sensationalism about this book and I just it scares me a little yeah that's fair yeah I've been exposed to a lot of that myself mhm uh especially in like the '90s yeah when everybody was you know talking about all of this Bible prophecy stuff and um it seemed like every other week there was a new book coming out you know naming names and places and dates and times and all that stuff and a lot of really weird conversations um that sparked lots of fights and everything and uh you know like remember the Left Behind series I do remember that yeah I mean I read all of those books and I had I actually really enjoyed them and I enjoyed them so much that I got all of them on tape too and they had movies yeah they had movies oh my yeah so I mean it's it's abundantly clear that this whole idea of what people think the Book of Revelation is about has been a hot topic of discussion it's been it matters and has mattered for a long time mhm unfortunately in my humble opinion because you know my opinion is always from a place of humility mhm right same uh I don't believe that the importance of understanding The Book of Revelation is from the same Vantage Point as the rather loud majority and we're going to get into that a lot more and unpack what I just said a lot more as we go through the Book of Revelation so strap in because we're going to be on this journey for however long it takes us and you know I won't be sad if the Lord comes back before we finish because then all of our questions will be answered right from the source so I I want us to just kind of you know think with an open mind listen with an open heart and most importantly I want every single one of us all of you out there in listener land and Andy you and I as well mhm to remember access 1711 we should always strive to be like the Bereans who received the word with Readiness of heart but search the Scriptures Daily to prove whether those things were so and those Bereans they responded that way after hearing the gospel preached to them so the very gospel message itself what they were being told was something foreign to them and they valued scripture above the words of man right right so take that for what it's worth as we dive into this fascinating and fun and challenging Book of [Music]

Revelation [Music] okay you ready to do this thing yeah definitely all right so on this first introductory episode into our study or conversation through the Book of Revelation we're not going to really pick anything apart too deeply mhm because of time I want to set a few ground rules I think from the onset of this first of all we are not probably always going to get through an entire chapter in an in one episode okay there's just some some of the thoughts and ideas and the studying that needs to go into this it's going to take longer than the time that we want to spend here because you know let's be honest Andy as much as I love all of our listeners they have lives too right okay but we just encourage you to just keep coming back and keep along with us you know get out your Bibles get out your Bible apps whatever they might be um so that's ground rule number one please don't expect us to get through an entire chapter in one episode all of the time okay mhm second of all and I'm probably going to right out of the gate get myself into a lot of trouble here okay do not use the ESV as your translation of scripture okay well let's first what Bible app do you recommend um my favorite honestly is the Blue Letter Bible yes um it's just a really great tool and and I'll leave that to our listeners to go and download that um themselves and just play with it because it's it's a really really fascinating app um that is makes it easy to look up scripture look at different translations look at Greek look at Hebrew look at other it's just a fantastic application and concordance yeah and you and I have been using it for years in our studies so it's it's really fascinating I would recommend as I said do not use the ESV we do not I mean if that's your if that's the translation that you like to read and study with great we personally do not uh endorse it uh for a lot of reasons that are for a whole different podcast save that for another episode yeah I would recommend either The New American Standard mhm um and the NIV isn't horrible but we're going to be reading from The New American Standard okay in case anybody out there has ever wondered which translation of the Bible do we use well that's the one that we commonly use is The New American Standard okay sometimes we use the New Living Translation only to help as kind of a commentary to what we're talking about cuz the New Living Translation is not a horrible translation but it's not as good as The New American Standard great so um those are really two the first two Basic Ground rules is you know that we're not going to finish an entire chapter each episode make sure you have a really good translation of scripture to study along with us and thirdly and probably most importantly let's try to have fun all right TR because this book is really fun it's really fun it's challenging it's provocative it's kind of out of this world and yet it is so much fun my palms are sweaty really I'm like nervous about this whole thing I don't know man we haven't even started reading scripture yet I know I'm

just you're shivering with anticipation kinda I'm a little nervous

so the most often asked question that I hear is Heath what in the heck is the Book of Revelation all about H yes I've heard that before yes so there's you know a million in one answers that anyone could give and yet the answer to that question is literally in the very first verse of the book Revelation 1 verse 1 says the revelation of Jesus Christ and we can just stop the study right there because that's literally what the entire Book of Revelation is about is the Revelation the apocalypses the unveiling of Jesus Christ so in other words from chapters 1 through 22 this entire book was written so that the reader and The Listener would understand Jesus in all of his glory H that's what the book is about that's really cool and that's a very controversial thing to say uh because we live in a time and have lived in a time for a you know for quite a while several decades I think at least a couple maybe three generations in fact where this book has been approached in a way that says the focus is the people on Earth what's going to happen to the people on earth right the followers of Jesus the nation of Israel the unbelievers ETC and yet that is not the focus of this book the focus of this book is how Jesus is literally going to unveil himself in all of his glory and all of the different ways that he does that throughout all of history because in the Book of Revelation you are going to find yourself going back to the Old Testament reading in the prophets reading in the gospels reading in the Pauline Epistles you're going to find yourself looking at things in church history and scratching your head and going wow Jesus was unveiling himself to the world through literally all of man's recorded history right and essentially everything that had its beginning in the Book of Genesis has its tying up in the Book of Revelation it's exciting stuff mhm like can you can you tell that I'm kind of jazzed about this yeah I know you love this book a lot I love it a lot I've studied it many many times and it's also quite possible that by the time we get to the end of this that I might think differently about a couple of things too that's what's so great is that we just aren't really going to know everything that there is to know right and there's a part of me that's actually kind of glad that we aren't able to be exposed to all things because I think it would fry our brains I think that there is an element of necessity for the mystery and the believing in faith alone if you will right with some of these things I do know at some point in this book John writes some stuff down then he has to eat it yeah I'm thinking that's because it would fry our brain exactly kind of similar to in Daniel when when uh the Lord tells Daniel some stuff and says don't write this down I just think that there's things that God in his Sovereign Grace and literal Infinite Wisdom loved his creation so much that he did not reveal all things you know think about in 1 Corinthians 13 uh I believe it's in like verse 9 or 10 somewhere in the middle of the chapter where Paul writes that prophecy tongues and knowledge will all be done away with at some point mhm when that which is perfect comes right you know because now we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect thing comes we will know we will we will be brought into all wisdom and knowledge so we're not there yet folks so thanks be to God that he didn't give us all things because it would be like drinking through a fire hose yeah and our brains would be fried and let's be honest I think that there's a lot of content in the Book of Revelation that just makes for fun conversation mhm and it it should be fun so we're going to have fun going through this book so right out of the gate the answer to the question what is the Book of Revelation about it literally is about the complete complete and total unveiling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it's pretty awesome yeah it's totally awesome uh the next question that I get quite often is who wrote the Book of Revelation oh okay and there's there's a lot of different schools of thought on this uh we know that the name of the individual who wrote the Book of Revelation is someone named John right um in verse one of the book John names himself as Christ's bonder servant so so uh do a study on bond servants maybe we'll talk about that later in the book because it's pretty provocative mhm but essentially this John who wrote This Book is someone who made the conscious choice to live and possibly die for the sake of following Jesus Christ that should be kind of a clue to who potentially wrote this book right now there are some schools that think it's a that it's uh not John the Apostle that it's somebody some other John um there are some people who think that this is something that John the Baptist wrote before he was put to death huh um and but the majority of folks believe that this is the very same John the very same Apostle John um who in in John's gospel he doesn't call him himself by his own name he calls him as the disciple whom Jesus loved right now this John wasn't Jesus's best friend we know that that was Lazarus but John I would argue uh of the 12 disciples John was probably the one that Jesus was closest with even though Peter was Peter um there's there's got to be some specific reason why John referred to himself as a disciple whom Jesus loved right and I think that it's because him and Peter were like Rivals who Peter and John yeah weren't they in a foot race yeah and he had to call him out and be like you know yeah he won did John win I mean John was a theologian John loved theology yeah and John's gospel is different from the other three in lots of ways um not the least of which is that it's very theological so who bet better to write about the literal and complete unveiling of our Lord and savior than the disciple whom Jesus loved than John yeah historically this book was written by John while he was sentenced to the aisle of Patmos and he was sentenced there for not shutting up about preaching the gospel and this occurred somewhere roughly between 92 and 95 ad H like that this is how long after Christ literally being on the earth when this takes place okay so John's probably pretty old he's lived a little he's experienced a little he's seen some things MH and because John is such a theologian when he writes the things that he writes you can see how this book is laced with theology it's incredible but it's also laced with a lot of very interesting picture words yeah and allegories and metaphors and yet and I think that this is largely to do with two whole Generations at least being focused on Pro Bible prophecy and end times prophecy alone we don't know our Old Testament very well right and 99.9% of these allegories and idioms and picture words Etc are actually in the Old Testament mhm that will actually help us go through our study of this book and clarify a lot of things for people I think is that the law first mention yeah that's that's something that people in theology circles and I think that like old uh biblical Scholars and probably even the talmudic scholars I think is who came up with the law of first mention that that wherever something in the scripture is mentioned for the very first time that's its original intent or meaning and I mean that's that's a pretty safe assumption to have I mean in Even in our vernacular uh if I hear something for the very first time I would like to assume that the person who is saying that to me is the supreme authority on that thing right so and we'll get into all that as we go through the [Music] book question number one what is the Book of Revelation about question number two who wrote the Book of Revelation is John the Apostle that's what we believe question number three who is the audience for the Book of Revelation okay that's a fun one okay now I don't want to get into it too much here and now mhm but I have this very peculiar view about the Book of Revelation specifically chapters 2 and three that it was written on many different levels H that there are layers to John's writing especially chapters 2 and 3 and we'll address that when we get there The Upfront answer to that question who is the audience or who are the recipients uh of this letter The Book of Revelation well in Revelation chap 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia so there are seven specific churches that all received a copy of the Book of Revelation huh okay and those are coincidentally the seven churches that are listed in chapters 2 and 3 mhm but I also believe that Not only was this book this letter intended for those seven literal churches mhm I especially believe that this letter was intended for all churches of all time until the Lord literally has fulfilled all of his promises of his unveiling to us mhm so well I mean all you have to do is go back a verse to verse three yes where it says blessed is He who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near Amen to that yeah I think that that is a really key support point for what I was saying because blessed is He who reads and those who hear well that covers everybody who's deaf and everybody who's blind so literally everybody is intended to either read and or hear the words in this book yeah that includes us cuz obviously we've read it yeah and if in the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 there's this Infamous phrase he who hasn't here let him hear that's everybody that's right everybody so the immediate audience is literally the seven churches in asah that we'll explain when we get there the extended benefit is Anyone who reads or hears the words of this so that's for us right that's for you ladies and gentlemen this book was literally written for everyone this book is well-intentioned this book is definitely on a mission it was written for a purpose for everyone to hear and [Music] read so I think that pretty much summarizes the answer to the question of who is the audience for the Book of Revelation and and I think lastly mhm the question that I want to answer the the last question that I want to answer is how are we to understand just exactly what the heck is going on in this book we could sit here all day long just to answer that one question because it's a fair question right especially if you've never read the book of Revelation or you've read the book of Revelation and or just like yeah it's not for me or whatever even if you read the book a 100 times and think you got it all figured out it's for everybody right right there's somewhat of a Divine outline of how this book was written for the audience in chapter 1: 19 okay the Lord tells John therefore and we'll explain what the therefore is therefore on our next episode therefore write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which shall take place after these things there's your outline for the Book of Revelation and I would argue there's your outline for all of history from the Eternal perspective essentially what this is saying here is John we want you to write down everything that you have scene through Verse 18 now we want you to write about everything that is occurring which is chapters 2 and 3 and then we want you to write about the things that are going to take place after these things what's going to happen in the future mhm and that's essentially chapter 4:1 on to the end of the book wow so we're going to get into a lot of super duper cool stuff it's going to be confusing it's going to be challenging it's going to be exciting uh it's going to make us emotional some of it might even make us angry wow but I am so excited to go through this book together as a couple Andy yeah and with our listening audience and just to kind of close out this episode there is a question that I have been asked a lot in my life not just pertaining to theology but specifically questions that pertain like to the last days yeah you know are we living in the last days should we as Christians be concerned about knowing the way things are going to pan out should we as Christians as Bible students should we really spend time trying to understand all of these things my short answer to all of that that is yes absolutely but let me support that answer with some of my logic and reasoning okay okay in Luke chapter 19 Jesus says some rather provocative things the setting for this chapter is the infamous triumphal entry you know where Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem every everyone's you know blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord etc etc and there's a lot more going on there than what is portrayed in our Hollywood adaptations of this narrative by the way but Luke's gospel records something very provocative after the triumphal entry Jesus approaches the city and it says in verse 41 when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept over it saying if you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace but now they have been hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and Surround you and hem you in on every side and they will level you to the ground and your children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another why because you did not recognize the time of your

visitation Jesus expected the Israelites to know when the Messiah was going to show up right and how would they have been able to know that Andy somehow the Magi figured it [Music] out well let me give you a hint we're reading from it right now okay yeah well yeah scripture yeah for all of those Generations if they would have paid attention and read and paid attention and read and taught and taught and taught they would have known that this was their Messiah that this was the day of their visitation mhm and yet they were clueless right completely clueless I would argue caught off guard H so why do I feel like there is a sense of importance a sense of urgency to spend time talking about prophetic things past present and future because I believe that the Lord expects us to know at least the signs that he's returning right so that we are not caught off guard like those who are asleep mhm there's one whole gen generation of Israelites that were caught off guard because they were spiritually asleep H and I don't know about you Andy we need a wakeup call in 2024 we do I'm just saying yeah so I'm pretty excited are you excited I'm excited all right so that's our little intro Into the Book of Revelation and we hope that you stick around with us because I'm excited to dig extremely deep into the full and complete unveiling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen and that's all we have to say about that thank you for listening to the Churchosity podcast the post scripts on our next episode we will begin unpacking Revelation chap 1 talking about crazy things like stars and lamp stands and what the heck does all of that mean so come back and have some fun with us but until next time this is the Churchosity podcast Personnel saying

peace