Revelation Studies #10 Why study The Revelation?

Part 2: A Consideration of why the study of Revelation is important for the “ordinary” Christian

The study of the book of Revelation is all too often undertaken with a hyper-dispensational perspective. This results in a strongly Israel-centered and prophecy-focused elucidation of the book, and leaves God’s people without deep and ongoing edification. When the book is approached in this manner many of the greater reasons for studying the book are neglected. I want to mention five reasons why the study of the book of Revelation is important for the “ordinary” Christian.

I. The first reason that the book of Revelation ought to be the subject of serious by the “ordinary” Christian, is that there is no such thing as ‘the ordinary Christian.’

There is a prevailing notion today that there are certain books in Scripture which are apparently intended for some kind of “higher level Christians.” This might include the following books:

Leviticus

Isaiah

Ezekiel

All of the Minor Prophets

Revelation

But, there is no such thing as a “higher level Christian.” The notion that such a thing exists is an outgrowth of early NT Gnosticism.

II. The second reason every saint ought to study the book of Revelation is that the revelation of Jesus Christ is incomplete in the heart of any saint who neglects the book of Revelation.

Omitting the book of Revelation means that our final view of Christ would be of Him taking His leave of His disciples at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts. We would have no clear vision of Him reigning in the churches throughout the ‘Church Age.’ We would have no vision of Him coming again as the Lord of lords and King of kings. We would not see Him as the One who gives absolute victory over all of the forces aligned against the Truth. We would have no vision of Him casting the devil into the lake of fire, and along with the devil, the Antichrist.

III. The third reason every saint ought to study the book of Revelation is that it is the greatest book in the Bible on the final consummation of all things.

There is the consummation of all things human. Humanity has been utterly ruined by sin. Jeremiah 17:9 plainly tells us that ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ But, apart from the book of Revelation we would have an incomplete revelation of God’s judgments upon human sin. For example:

Revelation 9:20-21: 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

· This passage reveals the extreme sinfulness of human sin, since it shows men refusing to repent even in the face of the severest kind of earthly judgment.

Revelation 20:11-12: 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

· This passage reveals the great White Throne judgment against all who die in their sins.

There is the Consummation of All Things Satanic

Jesus teaches us plainly that Satan is a liar and the father of it [the lie]. John 8:44. But, apart from the book of Revelation, the revelation of the final out-workings of his deception would remain incomplete:

=> The victory of the Seed of the Woman over the Serpent Chapter 12

=> The Beast and the False Prophet Chapter 13

=> The revelation of his lying wonders Chapter 13

There is the Consummation of the Revelation of All Things Divine

=> The revelation of God’s holiness

=> The revelation of God’s sovereignty

=> The revelation of God’s perfect justice

=> The revelation of God’s mercy

=>The revelation of God’s redemptive purposes

· Apart from the book of Revelation, all of these would be incomplete.

·

Finally, reconsider John's commission from the Glorified Lord in Revelation 1:10-11:

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

IV. The fourth reason every saint ought to study the book of Revelation is that the Lord Himself attaches peculiar relevance to the book.

Compare Revelation 1:1-3

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

This entire Revelation was given by God to Christ, then to an angel, then to John...then to all saints in all of God's assemblies throughout the Church Age. This establishes that The Revelation is for all of God's people, every saint. And, notice the beatitudes pronounced by the Lord:

a) Blessed is he that readeth

b) Blessed are they that hear

c) Blessed are they which keep

The Lord never says anything like this about any other specific Scripture anywhere in the Bible.

V. The fifth reason every saint ought to study the book of Revelation is so that the Lord may place in our hearts a very clear: “EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS!”

Our hearts tend to be quite ambivalent concerning the end of the age and the consummation of all things at the return of the Lord. A primary reason for this ambivalence is that we generally do not have the same view of these things that God has. The book of Revelation provides this divine view of the consummation of all things at the return of Christ. Only through the study of this book, then, can the Lord give us the same heartbeat He has regarding the coming of His Son!