HopeLives365

Mark Finley: There's something in the gospel. The gospel provides not only the ability to take away the guilt of the past, but it provides the sanctifying Lord who comes into your life and transforms you by his grace and power and makes you a new man or a new woman. This is the Christ of the book of Revelation.

Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Jesus Unseals Revelation. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Welcome back to our series in the book of Revelation here in these broadcasts. Many people have the idea that the book of Revelation is simply a book of beasts, a book of mystic symbols and cryptic images. But the heart of the book of Revelation is Jesus, and Revelation speaks to a people going through trial and difficulty and challenges and shows the presence of Christ in each of those trials.

What's your deepest trial? What's your greatest heartache? What's the greatest sorrow that you're going through right now? What's the greatest pain in your heart and in your life? The living Christ, like he did for John, will give you a vision of your future. He may not reveal himself as an angel and give you a dream at night, but he will give you conviction in your heart.

He will give the warmth of his presence. Jesus visits us just like he visited John, that ancient apostle on the Isle of Patmos. Jesus draws near to us and gives us hope and encouragement when we feel lonely, when we feel alone, when we feel disappointed. You see, the book of Revelation is a book about the Jesus who intervenes.

He's not a God that merely sits on his throne, but Jesus enters into the affairs of life. He enters into the trauma, the heartache, the disappointment of life, and Jesus comes and ministers to us. You know, I love that old song. We've quoted it before: "Just when I need him, Jesus is near. Just when I need him most."

The ancient apostle was sent to this rocky, barren outcropping in Patmos, but it was illuminated with the glory of God. There's no place that you can be sent beyond the glory of God. There's no place you can be sent beyond the presence of God. God will meet you there in your trial, in your difficulty. He'll give you rich revelations like he gave John.

Guest (Male): The prophecies of the book of Revelation outline events that are soon to take place in our world. The Bible says in Revelation 1 that this is the revelation of Jesus. The revelation of who, everybody? Jesus. Now, we want to notice this carefully. Where did Jesus get this revelation from? Who gave it to Jesus?

God gave it to him to show things which shortly must take place, according to Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. So, let's analyze this passage. The revelation does not mean something that is closed; it's the revelation of Jesus. And the word revelation means a revealing, an unfolding.

Does anybody know what the language that the New Testament was written in? Sure, it was written in Greek. That's right. Now, the word for revelation in Greek is the word "apocalypsis." We get that word apocalypse from the word "apocalypsis." And it means this, if you literally translate it: taking away the veil.

So, the word revelation in the Greek language of the New Testament, apocalypsis, means that God is going to take away the veil. When you read the book of Revelation, the veil is taken away from your eyes so you can see Jesus clearly in your life. And you can see Jesus in his activity in the future. So, this is a revealing.

Now, if the book of Revelation reveals the future, and if the book of Revelation reveals Jesus in his activity in overcoming Satan, and if the book of Revelation is Jesus' last-day message for an end-time people, what do you think Satan would want to do about it? If you were the devil, what do you think the devil would want to do?

He would either want to destroy the book of Revelation. He would say, "Oh, you can't understand Revelation. Why even come and try? It's too complicated. It's too confusing." The devil would do one of two things. He would either get people to be so afraid to study Revelation because they thought they'd get confused or it was too confusing, or he would get those who did study it involved in false interpretations, get all confused.

You see, he's got you either way. It doesn't make any difference whether you go off the cliff on the right side of the road or you go into the lake on the left side. You're still a goner, right? So, the devil says, "I don't care if people neglect studying the book of Revelation so they want to run a million miles away from it, or I don't care if they study it and they get confused when they study it because they've accepted all kind of false human interpretations."

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Therefore, we need to stay right with the book of Revelation. Now, notice what God said to the angel in Revelation chapter 22, verse 10. He said, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." Is the book of Revelation sealed? Yes or no? It says, "Do not seal the book of Revelation."

Why? Because the time is at hand. So, is it sealed? Certainly not. It says, "Don't seal it." If it's not sealed, it's revealed. And if it weren't sealed, it would not be revealed. Because it is revealed, it is not sealed. Look, I want you to see this point clearly. The angel says, "Do not seal the words of this prophecy."

Now, let's look at Revelation's origin very carefully. Where did Jesus get Revelation from? He got it from God. Who did Jesus give it to? His angel. What did the angel do with it? He gave it to John. What did John do with it? He wrote it down. So, where is it now? It's in our hands.

If this message comes from God, if it comes from the mind of an all-knowing, all-wise God as he looks into the future and sees the crisis coming, and in his love and compassion God gives that book to us.

Mark Finley: Every time I take the book of Revelation in my hands, I know this is not a human book. This is a book that comes from God. This is God's eternal message. This is God's last message for mankind. Jesus has a special message about God's love for an end-time people, a special message about the nearness of end time, a special message about the events that will take place on planet Earth for an end-time people.

Jesus takes it and gives it to the angel quickly. Jesus whispers in the ear of the angel, and here's the message of the end-time truth. And this message of end-time truth that Jesus gives the angel is given to John. Jesus says, "Take it, reveal it in the visions to the mind of John, and I'll impress John's mind with the words, and he'll write them down and the thoughts he writes down from these visions."

So, God gives it to Jesus, Jesus gives it to the angel, the angel comes from heaven and gives that message to John, John writes it down in the book, and you and I can read it. Heaven's last message for humanity. If this message comes directly from the hand of God, and if God gave it to Jesus, and Jesus gave it to the angel, and the angel brought it to John, do you think it's worth spending time studying it?

If it comes directly from God through Jesus to angels to us, the origin of this message is not earthly; it's eternal. The purpose of the message is to show his servants things which must shortly take place. We're reading about things which are going to take place in our day, things that happen, that take place down through the centuries, but things that will take place. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, God promises you three things if you'll study the book of Revelation. As we go through these presentations, these broadcasts, here's God's promise to you, to me. Revelation 1, verse 3: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written in it."

Now, the first blessing is the one who does what? Who reads. As we read the prophecies of the book of Revelation, God promises to give us a spiritual blessing. Do you want that spiritual blessing? A blessing bigger, greater, and grander than you've ever had in any time in your life before? Do you want that? Don't miss one of these broadcasts.

Guest (Male): Does God promise the blessing? Would God lie to us? I want you to really experience the blessing of the study of the book of Revelation. Every presentation that you listen to, you will receive a special blessing. Pray this way: "God, you promised you're going to give me a new blessing, and Lord, I desire that blessing."

What does our text say? "Blessed is he who does what? Who reads." We're going to read the book of Revelation along with these broadcasts. Read Revelation chapter 1. And then, blessed are those that do what? Who hear.

Mark Finley: You're going to be hearing over the radio these broadcasts, and you'll be blessed. Especially blessed. And blessed are those that do what? To keep. The reason we read and hear is so we'll keep. Revelation is not merely a book that we can tuck in our minds; it's a book to be lived out in our lives.

You're going to learn information in this series that's going to change your life when you study Revelation. And I want to be upfront with you and very honest. Jesus Christ is going to do more than fill your head with speculative information. You will feel yourself strangely drawn to Jesus.

You'll feel yourself strangely drawn to this Christ. You'll feel yourself falling to your knees when you listen to these broadcasts and saying, "Jesus, is there anything in my life that separates me from you? Jesus, I want to know you better. Oh, to know him more, oh, to know him better." You'll find Christ putting demands on your life.

There is a cost to discipleship. It's the living Christ coming into your life and transforming you so that you're a new man, a new woman. To follow Jesus is not the candy-coated, not the sugar-coated gospel of our world that's so superficially preached so many times.

You know, some time ago I was preaching in Portugal, and I was preaching to a large group there, and I said, made a statement like this: "Christianity is more than a candy-coated, sugar-coated gospel." Now, I'm not a Portuguese linguist, but I know enough to know that my translator didn't translate it that way.

He said, "The gospel is not junk food." And I came to him after and I said, "You know, you translated my statement a little differently. The gospel is not junk food." And then he changed it. The next time I made that statement, he said, "It's not plastic." And I said to him, "Hey, what do you mean the gospel is not plastic? You could have used junk food, that's better."

And he said, "You know, in our country, a synonym for junk food is plastic." And I said, "Why is it plastic?" He said, "It's very simple. Plastic has no nutrients, plastic is cheap. Junk food has no nutrients, it's cheap. So, we call it plastic food." Look, any cheap version of the gospel that doesn't ask you for a full commitment, that's a plastic gospel.

That's like junk food. God's going to make some demands on your life. Expect the Spirit to talk to you. Expect the Spirit to ask you to make some changes in your life as we study the book of Revelation. We're going to see Jesus in new, fresh ways. Now, in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, we read this in Revelation 1.

It introduces sevenfold aspects of Jesus' life and character. So, Revelation chapter 1 portrays seven different aspects of Christ's character.

Guest (Male): In Revelation chapter 1, verse 4, we read: "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and is to come, and the seven Spirits are before his throne and from Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God the Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he's coming in clouds." Now, notice. Here's the revelation of Jesus. Who is he? Verse 4: He's the eternal Christ.

You see it there: "He is, he was, and is to come." Jesus never had a beginning. He never had an ending. He's the Alpha and Omega. He's the eternal Christ. So, who gives us the book of Revelation? The eternal Christ. The one who never has a beginning. Was Jesus created? Was Jesus merely a man?

There are some religious organizations today that say Jesus proceeded from the Father, that there was a time he was not. The book of Revelation says that Jesus is eternal. He always was, he always will be. But if he's not eternal, how can he give us eternal life? How can anybody who's less than eternal provide eternal life for us?

I need the eternal Christ to give the eternal life so I can live eternally. Now, the second thing it says about Jesus in these verses is he's the faithful witness. Did you see that in Revelation 1, verse 5, that we read it? "And from Jesus, the faithful witness." What does this mean?

Jesus witnesses your sorrow. Jesus witnesses your heartache. Jesus witnesses when you cry because you can't pay your bills, because you've just been laid off from your job. Jesus witnesses when your child, who you brought up to know him, leaves him and goes out and gets strung out on alcohol and gets into a car wreck and you're crying at night because the kid may never walk again.

Jesus witnesses when your husband or wife walks off with somebody else. Jesus witnesses when somebody comes home and slaps you across the face because they're drunk. Jesus witnesses. He is the faithful witness. Others may witness, but Jesus is the faithful witness. They may not be faithful witnesses.

They may see what happens but they don't care. Jesus is the faithful witness. He's faithful to you. He will never, never, never let you down. He's the faithful witness. He knows what you're going through. Don't you love the song "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"? All our sins and griefs to bear.

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. The faithful witness knows everything about me. Do you know who wrote that song "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"? It was Joseph Scriven. He was brought up in a common laborer's home in the British Isles. He met a young woman in her twenties. He was preparing to marry her, but just shortly before the marriage, she was drowned.

She was out swimming and succumbed to the waves. Mr. Scriven emigrated from England to Canada. He worked out in the forest as a woodcutter. He had great skills as a carpenter and shaped wood. And by his late twenties and early thirties, he met another woman who he fell in love with.

He thought he could never love again. They were engaged, but two months before their marriage, she developed a pulmonary disease and died. He gave up woodcutting and he said, "Lord, I don't know what's happening in my life. Everybody I love is taken from me." In a foreign country, he wandered around.

He didn't know anybody, didn't have any friends. He decided that what he's going to do is this: "I'm going to give my life to helping other people." He just began chopping down wood and cutting it, and he would bring wood to poor people and they'd give him a little money. He lived in a little shack.

The one woman that he loved was his mother. He got a letter that she was dying. He had no money to go to her funeral in England. He wanted to do something for his mother. There in that cabin, he knelt down and said, "Jesus, all I have now is you. Mother's going to die."

The Lord impressed him with these words: "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?"

You see, Jesus is the faithful witness. He is our friend. He witnesses your heartache, but he's faithful to heal your heart. This is the Christ of Revelation. And he's the faithful witness of the Father, of the Father's love, of the Father's grace, of the Father's mercy, of the Father's compassion.

He's the faithful witness of the Father's forgiveness. When Jesus forgives a woman caught in adultery, he says, "That's what the Father is like." When Jesus reaches out and touches the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf and the withered arm of a man and they're healed, he says, "That's what God is like. I'm the witness of the Father. He wants you healthy and well."

When Jesus delivers the demoniacs and has victory over the power of Satan, he says, "That's what God is like. See, God is compassionate, merciful, gracious, forgiving, all-powerful, all-loving." See, the Christ of Revelation is faithful to us. He's faithful in the trials that we go through now.

He will be faithful as well when church and state unite later and when we go through a time of trouble greater than any time of trouble in the history of the world. Revelation reveals Jesus to us. He's the eternal Christ. He is the faithful witness. In Revelation 1, he's the firstborn from the dead.

He's the resurrected Redeemer. You cannot keep Jesus Christ in the grave. You cannot keep him down. So, you and I need not fear death. When that lump under your arm is diagnosed as malignant, you have a resurrected Redeemer. He knows what it's like to go into the grave and come out.

When you sit by the bedside of a child who's dying, the Christ in the book of Revelation is not dead. Mao Zedong is in his tomb. Lenin is in his tomb. Mohammad is in his tomb. But Jesus Christ is alive. So, therefore, it gives us assurance that at the time of death, he's the reigning Prince.

I love that one. He is the firstborn from the dead. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. Kings rise and fall, but King Jesus reigns. There may be chaos; Jesus is still on his throne. Jesus still reigns. And a reigning Prince is going to make things come out all right.

When there is injustice in your life, when there is unfairness in your life, the reigning Prince will cause everything to come out all right if you trust him. He is the crucified Redeemer. Who is Jesus? Revelation 1, verse 5: "To him who did what? Loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood."

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, and when sinners plunge beneath that flood, it cleanses all their guilty stains. Who is Jesus of Revelation? He's the one who can take all of your guilt away. He's the one who can set you free from all the guilt of the past.

When guilt like a stone is hanging around your feet and you can't make progress in the Christian life, you can fall down before the Christ of Revelation and say that you are the eternal Christ, you are the faithful witness, you are the resurrected Redeemer, you are the reigning Prince, you are the crucified Savior, and you are the sanctifying Lord. Not only did Jesus die for me, but he lives for me.

Not only will Jesus pardon me from the past, he'll work in my life to change me and cleanse me within. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power. There's something in the gospel more than simply taking away the guilt of the past, as wonderful as that is.

The gospel provides not only the ability to take away the guilt of the past, but it provides the sanctifying Lord who comes into your life and transforms you by his grace and power and makes you a new man or a new woman. This is the Christ of the book of Revelation. And in verse 7, he comes with clouds and what every eye will see him.

He's coming. Now, the book of Revelation is a book of contrast. There are 10 contrasts in the book of Revelation. Here's what they are: two leaders in Revelation, the dragon and the lamb. Everybody in the world one day either follow the dragon or follow the lamb. In the book of Revelation, there are two worships.

You'll either worship the Creator or worship the beast. Revelation 14, verse 7 says, "Saying with a loud voice: Fear God, give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven, earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters." So, Revelation 14:7 calls us to worship the Creator.

Revelation 14:9 tells us if anybody worships the beast. So, there are two worships in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, there are two women. There's the bride of Christ in Revelation 12 and there's the harlot woman in Revelation chapter 17. There's a woman that's faithful to Christ and the woman that's unfaithful to Christ.

There's the true church and the fallen church. And this fallen church, the harlot woman, the Bible says has many daughters or false churches and she passes around her wine cup of false doctrine. In the book of Revelation, there are two cities: one is the New Jerusalem from above, the other is old Babylon from beneath.

And everybody will either line up with the truth of Jerusalem or Babylon. There are 10 contrasts in the book of Revelation. There are two signs: the seal of God—what is that? We're going to be studying it. Revelation 7 and Revelation 14. And there's Satan's mark, the mark of the beast.

What is God's seal? What is Satan's mark? We're going to study that together.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: In the book of Revelation, there are two spirits: there's the Holy Spirit poured out with abundant power so the gospel can go to the end of the earth, and there's the spirit of demons that cause the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet to unite. So, the question becomes: will I receive the Holy Spirit or the spirit of demons?

In the book of Revelation, there are two harvests: the harvest of golden grain—the seed is mature, mature Christian character in end time. God's people have come to him. They know Jesus in their lives. They have totally, absolutely committed themselves to him and he's performed changes in their lives.

They're consecrated to him. It's either golden grain or bloody grapes tread out in the winepress of his wrath. You see, in Revelation there's a contrast. You just can't sit still. The whole book of Revelation points you forward to choices, and in Revelation there are only one of two choices: either be eternally saved or eternally lost.

I appeal to you, my friend, be on Jesus' side. Jesus wants to save you more than you know. And in the book of Revelation, there are only two choices. Eternity lies before us. Just now, choose eternity. Just now, turn from the powers of darkness. Just now, turn from the powers of hell.

Just now, turn from the powers of evil. Just now, turn to Jesus. Turn to the one who can forgive you, who can change you, who can make you over again. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you that we can trust him with all of our hearts.

Thank you that you are coming again. Thank you that we can make a positive choice today while probation is still open, while the doors of mercy are still open, to serve you. In Christ's name, amen.