1 00:00:05,139 --> 00:00:11,119 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:16,660 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:16,739 --> 00:00:23,100 And today I want to ask you, how do we interpret prophecy in general and the book of Revelation 4 00:00:23,100 --> 00:00:32,719 in particular? Interpretation. It's an important question to ask and really must be asked even 5 00:00:32,719 --> 00:00:38,259 prior to coming to the book itself. Otherwise, we're guaranteed to get prophecy in Revelation 6 00:00:38,259 --> 00:00:44,460 wrong. How do so many people come to so many disparate and varied interpretations of things 7 00:00:44,460 --> 00:00:51,320 like the mark of the beast or the identity of the beast itself and the nature of the thousand year 8 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:57,299 millennium, for example? Not everyone will with a maybe it means this or maybe it means that can be 9 00:00:57,299 --> 00:01:02,700 right, can they? Certainly some or all interpreters who say the Pope is the beast or Henry Kissinger, 10 00:01:02,719 --> 00:01:08,480 is the beast or even Donald Trump is the beast. Some of them have to be wrong. Now, one of my 11 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:14,840 favorite examples of charlatans practicing today is John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, 12 00:01:15,019 --> 00:01:19,859 Texas. He's one of the foremost dispensational prophecy preachers in the country. In his book, 13 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:26,840 Four Blood Moons, something is about to change. That sounds omnivorous, doesn't it? Well, he predicted, 14 00:01:26,939 --> 00:01:32,620 this book predicted, and I quote, the coming four blood moons points to a world-shaking event 15 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:39,340 that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015, unquote. And that's the period when these 16 00:01:39,340 --> 00:01:45,620 four blood moons would transpire. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he says, the world-shaking event would 17 00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:52,560 signal that God was bringing about doomsday. Well, what happened, huh, with these four blood 18 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:59,000 moons? Nothing. There was no world-shaking event to usher in doomsday. Lo and behold, we're still here. 19 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:04,200 The prophetic clock is still ticking, and Hagee's predictions are an absolute bust, and his book is 20 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:10,379 good for little else than kindling in my fireplace. Now, this is just one example of the contemporary 21 00:02:10,379 --> 00:02:17,639 church's fever about the future, her pagan passion for prophecy, the contemporary church's endless 22 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:25,800 entrapment in end times. Why is this? Why has the modern church gotten revelation so wrong? 23 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:31,800 Well, I submit to you, it's the same problem Hagee has. That is the modern church's faulty 24 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:38,740 interpretive method. That basic method, which lies at fault, is the literal interpretation of 25 00:02:38,740 --> 00:02:46,199 Scripture. Now, Charles Ryrie, in his book, Dispensationalism Today, he defines the literal 26 00:02:46,199 --> 00:02:51,659 method in his chapter, the hermeneutics of dispensationalism. And this is where much of 27 00:02:51,659 --> 00:02:57,439 literal interpretation of revelation comes today, is from dispensationalism. This means 28 00:02:57,439 --> 00:03:03,099 interpretation, as he says, and I quote Ryrie in his book, Literalism. He says, 29 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:09,120 this means interpretation which gives to every word the same meaning it would have in normal usage, 30 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:14,979 employed in writing, speaking, or thinking, unquote. He goes on to characterize it as the plain or the 31 00:03:14,979 --> 00:03:22,099 normal approach to interpreting language, since all languages have this assumed baseline of plainness or 32 00:03:22,099 --> 00:03:28,020 normalcy. But of course, as beguiling and attractive as this method may be on its surface, 33 00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:34,199 literalism, when carried through consistently, which all dispensationalists say must be done, 34 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:40,120 in fact, Ryrie has a whole section on consistency in interpreting the Bible literally, well, 35 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:47,080 it leads to error when applied to prophecy, precisely because the kind of writing that prophecy 36 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:55,740 is takes words and brings to them meanings and significances that transcend their normal or plain 37 00:03:55,740 --> 00:04:02,159 usage. That's the very point of prophecy. One glaring example is that of Revelation's mark of 38 00:04:02,159 --> 00:04:07,419 the beast from chapter 13, verse 17. Not only does the dispensationalist see the mark of the beast 39 00:04:07,419 --> 00:04:13,099 as they think to happen in the future, but also that it must be a literal mark on the forehead 40 00:04:13,099 --> 00:04:19,920 and or hand. Now, various options have been proposed as to what this mark of the beast might be. 41 00:04:20,459 --> 00:04:25,899 Early on, it was speculated that it could be a tattoo like the inmates of Hitler's death camps, 42 00:04:25,980 --> 00:04:32,339 or maybe a brand like slaves in the ancient world. More recently, of course, those on Revelation 43 00:04:32,339 --> 00:04:39,920 red heifer rapture rants speculate that it must be a barcode or even the more recently looming chip 44 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:48,939 inserted just under the skin. Well, why? Why are all of these teachers just red heifers chasing their 45 00:04:48,939 --> 00:04:54,860 tails? Well, I submit to you it is because they take these prophecies literally. Well, then you may ask 46 00:04:54,860 --> 00:05:03,639 me, how should they be interpreted, Mr. Smarty Pants Bible Answer Man? And that's really the pertinent 47 00:05:03,639 --> 00:05:09,259 question, an excellent question. And I would just suggest that rather than interpreting Scripture 48 00:05:09,259 --> 00:05:15,019 literally as a binding principle for all of it, that we must interpret Scripture according to its 49 00:05:15,019 --> 00:05:21,879 genre, to its genre. Now, if you've never heard that word before, genre merely means a type or kind 50 00:05:21,879 --> 00:05:30,319 of writing. All literature is of one type or kind or another. Historical narrative is one genre. Poetry 51 00:05:30,319 --> 00:05:37,399 is another genre of writing. Paul's letters are yet another genre of writing, and so it is that 52 00:05:37,399 --> 00:05:45,980 apocalyptic is yet another genre or type or kind of writing altogether. Apocalyptic and revelation is of 53 00:05:45,980 --> 00:05:55,259 this genre. Apocalyptic. And each genre has its own rules and styles and ways of communicating its intended 54 00:05:55,259 --> 00:06:03,319 meaning. If I say, for example, one of my favorite examples is, you send me to the moon. If I say, you send 55 00:06:03,319 --> 00:06:08,899 me to the moon in a historical narrative, it might mean that NASA is undertaking another Apollo mission. 56 00:06:08,899 --> 00:06:14,240 They intend to make me an astronaut. If I say, you send me to the moon in a poem to my wife, 57 00:06:14,660 --> 00:06:20,360 it means that she pleases me very much. If I say, you send me to the moon in some ancient Greek 58 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:27,000 apocalypses, and this phrase is rife there, it means that a witch has placed a spell on me and has me 59 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:34,240 under her control. She's drawn down the moon upon me. So, one and the very same sentence may have a 60 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:40,680 completely different set of meanings depending upon its genre, its type or kind of writing. 61 00:06:41,079 --> 00:06:47,199 This is why revelation must be interpreted according to its genre, not literally. It becomes 62 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:53,240 apparent if we turn to an example, perhaps, of the mark of the beast. For example, number one, two 63 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:58,180 things when we interpret the mark of the beast according to genre. Number one, the mark of the 64 00:06:58,180 --> 00:07:04,220 beast is a counterpoint to the mark of God upon his own. Oh, we run right to the mark of the beast. 65 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:09,879 Don't we? When, long before we come to the mark of the beast in chapter 13, we've seen in 66 00:07:09,879 --> 00:07:16,699 revelation that the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads in chapter 7. Being sealed in 67 00:07:16,699 --> 00:07:22,160 the forehead is a metaphor, a figure of God's sovereign knowledge and care over his own. It's not 68 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:29,160 literal. It harkens back even further to Ezekiel chapter 9, where Ezekiel says, and the Lord said to 69 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:36,060 him, pass through the city, that him is an angel, an angel is sent through the city, through Jerusalem, 70 00:07:36,060 --> 00:07:42,819 and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are 71 00:07:42,819 --> 00:07:50,139 committed in it, unquote. From Ezekiel chapter 9. These, with the marks in their forehead, are the 72 00:07:50,139 --> 00:07:56,160 servants of God who are spared in the destruction of Jerusalem. In the same way that God lovingly, 73 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:02,600 sovereignly marks his own for salvation. So, with the mark of the beast, he marks out the reprobate 74 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:08,660 for judgment and destruction. And secondly, we must note the mark of the beast. When we interpret it 75 00:08:08,660 --> 00:08:15,259 according to its genre, the actual mark is a picture for all that we think and do. We think 76 00:08:15,259 --> 00:08:19,420 with our heads and we do with our hands. All that we think and do is emblemized in our foreheads and 77 00:08:19,420 --> 00:08:26,000 our hands. Those given over to God think and do all in God's name and his word. Those little boxes, 78 00:08:26,279 --> 00:08:32,139 you know, filled with God's word that Jews tie onto their foreheads and their hands. This picture 79 00:08:32,139 --> 00:08:37,240 is what they aspire to. That is to have all that they think and all that they do given over to God 80 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:42,740 in his word. In the same way, those with the mark of the beast have given over all that they think 81 00:08:42,740 --> 00:08:48,059 in the forehead and all that they do in the hand to the beast and the one who stands behind them, 82 00:08:48,059 --> 00:08:54,840 that is the dragon. World and its system is all that consumes them. And then again, not just in the 83 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:01,659 future, but how often has this happened in the world since the beginning of time, huh? Genre is also 84 00:09:01,659 --> 00:09:08,320 crucial when it comes to understanding the numbers of scripture. The genre of apocalypse uses numbers 85 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:16,860 in a highly figurative and symbolic fashion. Almost all acknowledge that the number 666 is such an 86 00:09:16,860 --> 00:09:23,100 example, right? It's the number of the beast. It's the standard number of 6, which is the number of man 87 00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:29,679 and imperfection. The number of 7 and 777 is the number of God and perfection and the number of his 88 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:35,740 name too. 666, the number of the beast. It's also the number of his name, John says, which when interpreted 89 00:09:35,740 --> 00:09:43,919 according to Gematria renders the name of one of the kings of Revelation, right? Well, if this is one 90 00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:49,200 of the interpretive rules of apocalypse, and it is that numbers are highly symbolic and figurative, 91 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:56,600 then why do we suddenly shift to a literal interpretation of the number 1000 when John 92 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:03,779 tells of the time of the millennium to come in Revelation 20? There in Revelation 20, it is said 93 00:10:03,779 --> 00:10:09,879 that in the time of the millennium, Satan will be bound for a thousand years and that the saints, 94 00:10:09,879 --> 00:10:15,200 as the Bible says, will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand 95 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:21,059 years, unquote. According to the rules of literal interpretation, this can mean nothing less than a 96 00:10:21,059 --> 00:10:27,700 literal 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth and a millennium to come. It's a bulwark of 97 00:10:27,700 --> 00:10:35,000 dispensational teaching. It's an important linchpin in their interpretive scheme. The number 1000 must be 98 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:41,440 interpreted literally. As Ryrie might say, giving the word the meaning it would have in normal usage. 99 00:10:42,059 --> 00:10:49,220 Yet is prophecy normal usage? How can this be seriously maintained in a genre of literature 100 00:10:49,220 --> 00:10:56,980 that is type or kind of writing like apocalypse, which Revelation is? So that by its very nature, 101 00:10:56,980 --> 00:11:04,820 it is highly symbolic and figurative and spiritual even. If numbers are this way through 102 00:11:04,820 --> 00:11:12,600 out apocalypse, why are they not here in chapter 20 of Revelation? In fact, the number 1000 is one of 103 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:19,240 the most highly used metaphors and symbols in the Bible. Psalm says, for every beast of the forest is 104 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:26,860 mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. Oh, but on that thousand and first hill, it's open season. Oh, 105 00:11:26,860 --> 00:11:34,320 no, no, no. Or Job says in chapter nine, how can a man be in the right before God if one wished to 106 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:41,580 contend with him? One could not answer him once in a thousand times. No, you can't answer God back once 107 00:11:41,580 --> 00:11:47,139 in a thousand times. But that thousand and first time, oh, you've got God in a corner. No, that's 108 00:11:47,139 --> 00:11:54,440 not what Job is saying, is he? Not at all. Or Joshua says, one man of you puts to flight a thousand, 109 00:11:55,100 --> 00:12:00,039 since it is the Lord your God who fights for you just as he promised you. And then, of course, 110 00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:06,799 that famous verse in 2 Peter chapter 3, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the 111 00:12:06,799 --> 00:12:14,399 Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Oh, symbolic, figurative, spiritual 112 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:23,879 even. The number 1000 throughout the Bible is almost always used as a metaphor for a vast innumerable 113 00:12:23,879 --> 00:12:30,299 amount of a given thing. Whether it's the innumerable hills, the innumerable answers of God, 114 00:12:30,379 --> 00:12:36,960 the innumerable enemies that Israel faced, or the countless years of God's transcendent existence, 115 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:44,580 the number 1000 is consistently used as a metaphor for this state of things. But what does the 116 00:12:44,580 --> 00:12:51,980 dispensational literalist say? No, no, no, no, no, not here. In contravention of all the rules of 117 00:12:51,980 --> 00:12:56,879 interpreting the genre of apocalypse, we're clinging to our ironclad rule of literalism. 118 00:12:56,879 --> 00:13:02,240 It's a binding and absolute rule in all cases. Here, in the most symbolic and spiritual book of 119 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:09,120 the Bible, Revelation, we insist that this number be taken literally. And consequently, I submit to you, 120 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:18,000 dear listener, dispensationalism falls into many hurtful errors interpreting Revelation, especially 121 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:24,960 here. The only thing literalism does in Revelation is literally guarantee that its teachers will fall 122 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:31,580 into many errors interpreting the book. And one of those errors as well is not spiritualizing. We are 123 00:13:31,580 --> 00:13:37,720 meant to spiritualize passages in Revelation. So one of those errors of the literalist is not 124 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:44,700 spiritualizing passages which are meant to be interpreted in a spiritual fashion. For dispensational 125 00:13:44,700 --> 00:13:51,220 literalism to spiritualize a passage of prophecy is tantamount to heresy. And Ryrie tries to be 126 00:13:51,220 --> 00:13:57,779 diplomatic, but his contempt for the non-literalist is evident when he says that the dispensationalist, 127 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:04,080 and I quote him, charges him with allegorizing or spiritualizing when it comes to the interpretation 128 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:11,120 of prophecy, unquote. Well, dear listener, the book of Revelation itself openly testifies to 129 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:18,639 spiritualizing its contents. If you have a King James version of the Bible, turn to Revelation 1118 130 00:14:18,639 --> 00:14:25,259 and read it. It says, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually 131 00:14:25,259 --> 00:14:34,259 is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, unquote. Ah, here John spiritualizes the text. 132 00:14:34,259 --> 00:14:42,059 In a spiritual fashion, Jerusalem is pictured as Sodom or Egypt. The Greek adjective is pneumatikos, 133 00:14:42,279 --> 00:14:47,539 to spiritualize. That which the inhabitants of Jerusalem worship follow practice as a moral and 134 00:14:47,539 --> 00:14:55,120 spiritual way of life is like unto both Sodom and Egypt spiritually. This is spiritualizing the text, 135 00:14:55,279 --> 00:15:02,159 dear listener, a thing that dispensationalist literalism abhors. But the apostle John employs 136 00:15:02,159 --> 00:15:07,639 to great effect. And he does it throughout the apocalypse too. A couple other examples. For 137 00:15:07,639 --> 00:15:14,879 example, the souls of those slain as martyrs in Revelation 6, 9 through 10 are said to be under the 138 00:15:14,879 --> 00:15:21,120 altar in the heavenly temple. This is a spiritual picture of their sacrifice on behalf of the Lord 139 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:28,799 and Savior in martyrdom, this same Jesus Christ who treasures and keeps them as his own, right? And then 140 00:15:28,799 --> 00:15:37,120 in great contrast, we have elsewhere, the whore of Babylon riding the beast. She is a spiritualized 141 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:43,379 picture of the religion of the Roman empire of John's day. Rome in John's day worshiped in the 142 00:15:43,379 --> 00:15:50,139 same spirit as that of Babylon of old. And then finally, my last example, though there are many more, 143 00:15:50,620 --> 00:15:55,639 in chapter 19 of Revelation, we have the marriage supper of the lamb, which is a spiritual picture in 144 00:15:55,639 --> 00:16:03,399 and of itself, in which it is sung that the bride, that is the church, has made herself ready, clothed in 145 00:16:03,399 --> 00:16:10,320 fine linen, bright and pure, which John then goes on to explain is the righteous deeds of the saints, 146 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:18,620 this linen, bright and pure. Here is a spiritualized picture of our good deeds as fine white linen. 147 00:16:18,620 --> 00:16:26,440 On and on we could go. Apocalypse is a genre, is a type or kind of writing, and Revelation in 148 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:34,519 particular spiritualizes many, many times at every turn, for that matter, to spiritualize. So then to 149 00:16:34,519 --> 00:16:41,340 literalize at every turn guarantees that the reader will misinterpret at crucial junctures in the text. 150 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:47,399 Revelation chapter 20 and the thousand-year millennium as interpreted by the literalist being 151 00:16:47,399 --> 00:16:55,679 exhibit A of this era. Dispensationalism falls then into another critical error too, in pushing all of 152 00:16:55,679 --> 00:17:02,899 Revelation from chapter 4 on into the future. This is called futurism. And those who hold that 153 00:17:02,899 --> 00:17:10,380 Revelation speaks of things to happen in the far future, the distant future in particular, 154 00:17:10,380 --> 00:17:17,299 and undisclosed future time, these are called futurists. But once more, our interpretive 155 00:17:17,299 --> 00:17:25,640 key must not be literalism or futurism, but genre. What type or kind of writing is here? Because it 156 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:33,680 follows certain patterns, certain conventions, certain rules, certain patterns. The genre and 157 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:42,640 Revelation happens to be of the genre of apocalyptic. And if we do this, we come to understand that 158 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:49,559 apocalypse as a genre was invariably written to comfort and encourage the generation in which it 159 00:17:49,559 --> 00:17:56,880 was written, not some far-off peoples 2,000 years away. And more often than not, the generation in 160 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:02,200 which the author of the apocalypse in question composed his work, this generation was oppressed 161 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:09,920 and suffering too. To hear, though, to hear from the apocalypse that God was not only aware of their 162 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:17,539 suffering, but he was working it all to his glory and their good for eternity. Revelation points to 163 00:18:17,539 --> 00:18:24,460 eternity, doesn't it? This brought great encouragement and comfort for the suffering saints of the generation 164 00:18:24,460 --> 00:18:30,700 to which the apocalypse was written. That's precisely the case here in Revelation. Revelation, 165 00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:40,059 composed around AD 64, the church was under severe persecution by Emperor Nero at this time. Nero would, 166 00:18:40,140 --> 00:18:46,140 for example, he would sew Christians into animal skins and then he'd feed them to wild beasts or he'd 167 00:18:46,140 --> 00:18:51,140 take the Christians and he'd coat them with tar and pitch and then he'd light them on fire on pedestals 168 00:18:51,140 --> 00:19:00,680 in his gardens to illumine them for his night parties. Can you see why Nero is often characterized as the 169 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:09,740 beast? But then for the Revelation saints of that first century to hear that their suffering and their 170 00:19:09,740 --> 00:19:17,180 martyrdom meant something to God. He saw it. He acknowledged it. In fact, he sovereignly superintended it 171 00:19:17,180 --> 00:19:23,079 to suffer like Christ. Take up your cross and follow me, Christ said, and the saints of that first century 172 00:19:23,079 --> 00:19:28,460 did so. But when they heard that their suffering and their martyrdom really meant something to God 173 00:19:28,460 --> 00:19:35,319 and that he was using it in his providential way to build his church, it lifted up the saints of the 174 00:19:35,319 --> 00:19:43,980 first century. This was John's first audience, not us. No. And the text is clear on this too. Do you read 175 00:19:43,980 --> 00:19:49,940 with the same eyes I do, dear listener? We see in the opening verses of Revelation, for example, 176 00:19:50,140 --> 00:19:56,000 the very first verse says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants 177 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:04,480 the things that must soon take place. The things that must soon take place. In John's own day, that is. 178 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:10,000 And he says in verse four, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed 179 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:17,720 are those who hear and who keep what is written in it. For the time is near. Yes, the time was near in 180 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,980 that very first century. And many of the things, most of the book of Revelation, we might even say 181 00:20:22,980 --> 00:20:29,220 transpired in that first century. And he closes the book by saying, he who testifies to these things 182 00:20:29,220 --> 00:20:36,599 says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. That's from the very last chapter, chapter 22 of 183 00:20:36,599 --> 00:20:43,779 Revelation. Surely I am coming soon. And he did. He came in judgment upon Jerusalem and then later Rome. 184 00:20:43,779 --> 00:20:52,960 We see that in apocalypse, because Revelation is of the genre apocalypse, John fully expected that 185 00:20:52,960 --> 00:21:00,599 much of his apocalypse would transpire within the lifetime of his audience. To cast the book of 186 00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:07,299 Revelation into the future robs these people of their book. This is the literal understanding of 187 00:21:07,299 --> 00:21:11,759 these words too, by the way. This is the literal understanding of these words. It's the normal 188 00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:18,140 usage of these words, the plain meaning of the text. But oddly enough, the literalist refuses to take 189 00:21:18,140 --> 00:21:25,940 them. So of all the verses to take literally, these are it. But their plain meanings are denied by the 190 00:21:25,940 --> 00:21:32,259 futurist. Indeed, they must be denied or explained away. That's what most dispensationalists do with 191 00:21:32,259 --> 00:21:38,559 these verses. They are explained away in order to cast the prophecies of Revelation into the far, 192 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:45,099 far future, i.e. our own day, right? Oh, dear listener. And they do this. They explain away 193 00:21:45,099 --> 00:21:55,759 the contemporary nature of these verses with the idea of imminence. That is, God is imminently at 194 00:21:55,759 --> 00:22:00,500 the door. He's about to rapture us, right? The idea of imminence. That is, it's close. It's almost 195 00:22:00,500 --> 00:22:06,660 here. When that is not the sense of these words. Imminence rather than immediacy. No, this text, 196 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:13,259 these things that must soon take place, the things that are near, the time is near. Surely I'm coming 197 00:22:13,259 --> 00:22:21,119 soon. These are all immediate versus the sense of immediacy, not imminence, dear listener. So when we 198 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:27,480 read Revelation in its first century context, it comes alive, I submit to you. Read it this way. 199 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:33,619 Read Revelation in its first century context because it comes alive with meaning, not only for 200 00:22:33,619 --> 00:22:42,559 John's first century audience, but also for us. When we read Revelation as apocalypse in its context, 201 00:22:42,559 --> 00:22:50,799 in its genre, we come to see that not only God's seal has always been on the foreheads of his elect in 202 00:22:50,799 --> 00:22:55,519 the first century, but it's always been on the foreheads of his elect. That is, God has always 203 00:22:55,519 --> 00:23:02,700 known and kept and loved his own all through the ages, no matter how dire their earthly circumstances 204 00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:10,559 may be. When we read Revelation as apocalypse, when we read it according to its genre in the rules and 205 00:23:10,559 --> 00:23:16,900 conventions of apocalypse, we come to see also, as we understand the genre, that there have always been 206 00:23:16,900 --> 00:23:21,940 beasts from the sea and the land too. There have always been beasts in every generation from the 207 00:23:21,940 --> 00:23:27,839 sea and the land to afflict God's people, not just for some far-off great tribulation. When we read 208 00:23:27,839 --> 00:23:35,779 the book of Revelation according to its genre, its own style and conventions and forms, we come to see 209 00:23:35,779 --> 00:23:42,720 that God has been about conquering his kingdom by the blood of the Lamb throughout the history of the 210 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:48,940 church, and not just for the last seven years of some supposed great tribulation in the far-off future. 211 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:54,559 No, God has always been conquering his kingdom by the blood of the Lamb, the testimony of his saints, 212 00:23:54,559 --> 00:24:01,079 has he not? Political power may come through the barrel of a gun, but the power of God comes through 213 00:24:01,079 --> 00:24:07,380 the blood of the cross. So this book, the book of Revelation, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, 214 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:15,380 is for us here and now, just as it has been for the whole church since it was written. For 2,000 years, 215 00:24:15,460 --> 00:24:21,240 the book of Revelation has been ours, not just for a far-off future generation in which these 216 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:27,160 prophecies supposedly will come true. It speaks eloquently, the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation 217 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:33,079 speaks eloquently and beautifully of our Savior and his bride, the church. The text says, 218 00:24:33,339 --> 00:24:41,319 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches, i.e. the churches 219 00:24:41,319 --> 00:24:46,880 of the first century and the churches subsequently to all through the 2,000-year history of the church. 220 00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:53,599 Jesus goes on to say, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The spirit and 221 00:24:53,599 --> 00:24:59,180 the bride say, come, and let the one who hears say, come. Let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one 222 00:24:59,180 --> 00:25:06,779 who desires take the water of life without price. This is offered to us. It beckons us. It beckons the 223 00:25:06,779 --> 00:25:13,220 whole church of Christ for the last 2,000 years, not just for some seven-year tribulation, dear 224 00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:19,500 listener. He goes on to say, John does, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming 225 00:25:19,500 --> 00:25:24,920 soon. Ah, there we are again. Surely I'm coming soon. He's saying this to his first century 226 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:32,539 believers. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Well, I just hope 227 00:25:32,539 --> 00:25:39,779 that you have seen today how crucial it is to interpret the Bible according to its genre. That 228 00:25:39,779 --> 00:25:46,400 is apocalypse and not in a literalistic fashion because you are guaranteed to come up with many 229 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:52,400 errors in interpreting the book of Revelation when you interpret it literally as dispensationalists do 230 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:59,180 today. And we've seen many of those errors, John Hagee being one. Instead, let us come to the Lord 231 00:25:59,180 --> 00:26:04,920 Jesus in his book, the book of Revelation, because he says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, 232 00:26:05,039 --> 00:26:09,980 Lord Jesus, we say with the whole church. Come, Lord Jesus, and the grace of the Lord Jesus be with 233 00:26:09,980 --> 00:26:16,559 all. Amen. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you, dear listener. Amen. Come and study the book 234 00:26:16,559 --> 00:26:22,400 of Revelation with us. We're doing that now in our worship service. And we meet for holy worship on 235 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:31,099 Sunday at 10 a.m. And we meet at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us 236 00:26:31,099 --> 00:26:36,160 for more information, maybe some comments. Maybe you'd like to make a comment on this broadcast or others 237 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:49,519 in the past. And you can do so by calling us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.