David Pawson "The letters of Jesus to His churches" Pt9
TT 22.9.17
The letters of Jesus, part 9.
“From tribulation to triumph.”
To conclude the series, David Pawson provides us with a summary of Revelation so we can see how easy it is to understand, and therefore to read it.
As we have just finished looking at Revelation 2-3, we’ll move straight onto ch.4-5.
a) 4-5.
Jesus changes John’s vision from ch.4 onwards, from writing to real churches, to being taken up to heaven to record the future. God has warned us. Nearly 90% of Bible prophecies have come true already, leaving only those relating to the very end still to happen.
Unlike on earth, everything is peaceful in heaven. God is on the throne. In the future, Jesus will rule on earth.
b) 6-16
i) Before that happens, there will be tribulation on earth, where the world will have war, bloodshed, famine, disease, disasters, and death, adding up to about half the world population dying. (See the video).
ii) In the last few years of world history as we know it, believers will have tribulation (or big trouble) for 3½ years, where there will be many martyrs. The devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet, will cause many believers to be martyred.
iii) In the middle of the tribulation John saw believers remaining faithful (14.12), and the Greek text shows martyrs coming out of the tribulation one by one, (14.13); it does not use the word for all believers coming out of it all together at one time, which is a different word; (ie there is no ‘secret rapture’, only the noisy rapture’ of 1 Thess.4:16-17.)
c) 17-18
The end is nigh both for the beast and for Babylon
d) 19-22
i) All this will lead to triumph, due to the return of Jesus Christ to earth, (when there will be the first resurrection).
ii) This will be followed by the rule of Christ on earth for 1,000 years; (Rev.20).
iii) Then comes the final judgement, (with the 2nd death in the lake of fire for the devil and his angels and those who refused God’s provision of mercy. (Rev.20:7-15).
iv) Then the new heaven and new earth will come, and the “New Jerusalem” will appear; (Rev. 21) Watch the video for more details…
Revelation ends with a warning to believers from Jesus in Rev. 22:18-20 that those whose names are written in the book of life will be removed if they take anything away from what Jesus has had written.
The church history book ‘Foxe’s Book of Martyrs’ has recorded this statement about the Apostle John, from the records available at that time;- starts...
‘The "beloved disciple," was brother to James the Great. The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatira, were founded by him. From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped by a miracle, without injury. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation’. Ends...
Compare this account of John, with Daniel in the furnace and the lion’s den.
These events occurred before John was sent to Patmos and writing this book which we’ve been studying, and yet John never even mentions his suffering. The book was only all about Jesus. Like John the baptist he could say, “He must increase and I must decrease”. None of these authors begged, boasted or promoted themselves.
David Pawson ends the study with these questions, for us to get something personal from it...
Ref. ch.2-3 ‘Have you an accurate view of your church and how does Jesus see it?’
‘Have you got an adequate view of your Lord?’ (He has 250 names and titles.)
‘Have you an accountable view of your duty?’
‘Have you an ambitious view of your future?’
I’m John Dunning and that’s “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.
For these teaching videos in MP4 format to download, click HERE . For this teaching on DVDs, click HERE.
