Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Many great themes wind their way through the Bible, starting in Genesis and then reaching their climax in the book of Revelation. Welcome to Thru the Bible. I'm your host, Steve Schwetz. In our study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee not only highlights some of these themes, but more importantly, he shares the one theme that ties all of scripture together. Can you guess what it is? Well, we'll find out in just a few minutes.

And while you open your copy of God's Word to Revelation, let me share a few letters from fellow travelers on the Bible bus. I got some really good ones this time. First we hear from Jorge, who says this: "I'm grateful to God for allowing you to continue broadcasting this beautiful program in Spanish. I've decided to listen for the next five years. It is my first trip with you, and I am very excited to know that in this long journey I have so many things to learn from the Bible."

"I cannot deny that I have already encountered many obstacles along the way, but I have decided not to get off the Bible bus because I know if I did, the road would get more difficult and much slower in terms of my learning. I pray God helps me to be able to arrive along with you and with your prayers until the last stop. May our good God guide you always to teach the whole truth as you have been doing, and thus through your teaching may we also continue to be blessed."

Another listener, who didn't share his name, tells us this: "Thank you for those who lead this program. It has been such a blessing in my life, helping me grow in faith and drawing me closer to God. It has become a vital source of spiritual nourishment, especially for someone like me. I'm now 70 years old and have been confined to home care for the past year and a half due to limited mobility caused by arthritis."

"Because of this, I can no longer attend church or fellowship in person. That's why this program is so precious to me. For elderly people like myself, or those who are bedridden due to illness or disability, you are a lifeline that helps us remain strong in our faith."

And then our last note comes from Sarah in Georgia. "I continue to pray for God's children around the world and am so thankful some are responding to Dr. McGee's messages. I started listening to him when I was 11 years old at my grandmother's. Now I'm a grandmother and still listen to him. I plan to stay on the Bible bus as long as the Lord allows me." Well, thanks for sharing, Sarah. I'll continue to save you a seat.

Well, we'd love to hear from you as well. To share your story or support the Bible bus, you can send us a note through our app or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And you can also email us at biblebus@ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE and leave a message. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word and the privilege that we have to study it. By your Spirit, Lord, guide our hearts and minds into truth, strengthening our faith and then helping us to walk in obedience every day. We ask this in the precious name of our Savior, Jesus. Amen. Well, we're off to Revelation chapter one on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now today, there is one other introductory matter that we would like to make. When we finished the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, we attempted to tie it into the book of Revelation because we believe there was that tie-in there. As the Old Testament in Malachi closes with a Sun of Righteousness yet to rise, it holds out a hope for a cursed earth and where the curse of sin is, that he's coming to the earth.

And the book of Revelation closes with the Bright and Morning Star and an invitation to the church. Well, the fact of the matter is, that's the hope of the church, the rapture, and the hope of the Old Testament is the revelation. Now, this book will complete the revelation. But I want to tie in today the book of Revelation with Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The first book and the last book of the Bible.

Genesis presents the beginning, and Revelation presents the end. We find all is contrast here. The earth is created in Genesis, and in Revelation the earth passed away. In Genesis, Satan's first rebellion. In Revelation, Satan's last rebellion. In Genesis, the sun, moon, and stars for earth's government. And in Revelation, these same heavenly bodies are for earth's judgment.

And in Genesis, the sun was to govern the day. In Revelation, there's no need of the sun. In Genesis, darkness was called night. In Revelation, there's no night there. In Genesis, the waters are called seas. In Revelation, there's no more sea. In Genesis, we have the entrance of sin. In Revelation, the exodus of sin.

In Genesis, a curse is pronounced. In Revelation, the curse is removed. In Genesis, death enters. In Revelation, there's no more death. In Genesis, sorrow and suffering. And in Revelation, no more sorrow and no more tears. In Genesis, we have the marriage of the first Adam. In Revelation, the marriage of the last Adam.

In Genesis, we see man's city, Babylon. In Revelation, we see man's city, Babylon, destroyed, and God's city brought into view, the New Jerusalem. In Genesis, we have the doom of Satan pronounced, and here in Revelation his doom is executed. We last time attempted to call your attention to the outline of this book, and that John actually outlines it for us.

He was told to write the things which thou hast seen, that's the past. And the things which are, and that's church things, that's in Revelation two and three. And then we have the things which shall be hereafter, or meta tauta, after these things. And those are the things that concern the future. So that when we're dealing with the church in Revelation two and three, we're dealing with present-day things.

But when you come to chapter four, everything is future from there on. Now, we are in this first division where we see the person of Jesus Christ, and it's Christ in glory and the revelation of him in all of his position and glory as the great high priest who's in charge of his church. He's very busy today. We'll see that when we get to it.

Then he is in absolute control from here on. In the Gospels, we find him meek and lowly and humble and that he died upon a cross. He made himself subject to his enemies down here. But you don't find that in the book of Revelation. He is in control. He is still the Lamb of God as we see, but he's the kind of a lamb that can speak of the wrath of the lamb, and it terrifies the earth.

That's when his judgments begin upon the earth. Now we have here the person of Jesus Christ, and he's the theme of this book. He's directing everything. When the scene moves to heaven, we see him moving there, controlling everything. Now, the major theme of the entire Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures are both theocentric and Christocentric.

That means they are God-centered and Christ-centered. And since Christ is God, he is the one who fills the horizon of the total Word of God. And this needs to be kept in mind in a special way in the book of Revelation, more than any other book of the Bible, even more than the Gospels. The Bible tells what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do.

And the book of Revelation emphasizes what he is doing and what he will do, and we need to keep that in mind. Now as we come to verse one, we have the title of the book. And I'm going to read my own translation that I have in my book on Revelation. And you'll find that many of these verses, in fact most of it, I'll give you my translation. It's not that I think it's better because I don't, and it's not that I recommend it because I don't recommend it.

In Southern California for years, we've called my translation the McGeeicus Ad Absurdum translation, and I would not defend it if anybody made an attack upon it. All I attempt to do is just lift out the Greek and get at what John is saying here in the book of Revelation and try to couch it into the language that is maybe a little bit more literal, that is, for our understanding today.

So let me read now verse one with that thought in mind: "The unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his bond-servants things which must shortly come to pass completely, and he sent and signified, that is, he gave a sign of it, by his angel or messenger to his servant John." Now, the word Revelation here, and I hope that you won't really show your lack of knowledge of the book of Revelation by calling it the book of Revelations.

A man came down to me when I was pastor in downtown Los Angeles. He was a retired preacher, and he made an attack upon my interpretation of the book of Revelation, and he says, "You just don't know anything about Revelations," and he gave plural. And I said, "Brother, you know what you're talking about. You're absolutely accurate. I know nothing about the book of Revelations." And I said, "I've never really seen that book."

And he was astounded and he was really embarrassed when he found out later on that you didn't use the plural here. And we need to be careful because it's the unveiling of Jesus Christ. This is absolutely something that's brand new. You remember Daniel was told to seal the book. At the end of the book of Revelation, we'll find out, "Don't seal it." John is told not to seal it.

These things are things that are to be understood. And you remember that the Lord gave in Matthew 13 what's known as the mystery parables. And very frankly, to the majority of the church today, they're still a mystery. But our Lord put it like this in Mark the fourth chapter, at verse 11: "And he said unto them," that is the Lord Jesus, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sin should be forgiven them."

Here you have the unveiling of the glorified Christ in all of his beauty and power and glory. You only have the half story when you read the Gospels. You need the book of Revelation. It is the consummation of it. And it can only be understood if the Spirit of God is our teacher, and we want to make sure of that. This book takes off the veil that you can see him in his unveiled glory.

This book here is the opposite of secret or a mystery. Here you have a disclosure of secrets, and it's called prophecy here in verse two, you notice. The wraps of Christendom were put on in Matthew 13, and the world doesn't understand. When anyone today, especially a so-called Christian, that says, "I don't understand Revelation," it makes you wonder because this is a book the Lord Jesus said it's given to you to understand these mysteries of the kingdom of God, and he made that very clear.

Now, we have here this very wonderful book, and it says here that it is an apocalypse, an unveiling. And it says here, "To show unto his servants." Now, that means by word pictures, by symbols, by direct and indirect representations. And it says that he signified it, that is, he gave a sign of it. Now, symbols are symbolic of reality.

And we need to keep this very much in mind. You remember Peter gave us a great rule for the interpretation of prophecy, and it's found over in 2 Peter the first chapter and verse 20: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." You don't interpret it by itself. And even the figurative language of Revelation is figurative of fact.

And we need to keep that in mind. A symbol is a symbol of something that is real. And he says here of the "things which must shortly come to pass." Now, "the things." That reveals that they are not ethereal and ephemeral dream stuff. There is a hardcore of real facts in this book. Well, what are things? Well, we kept our little grandson, Mrs. McGee and I did the other evening, and we let him play in the den.

And we have a bunch of toys for him in there anytime he comes. And he got all of his things out, and that's what he calls them, his things. And he had them spread all over the den. Well, we were rather indulgent to the little fellow. We didn't make him pick up his toys afterward, and we didn't pick them up either. And so that night, I walked through the den and I want to say that I stepped on things, his things.

I stumbled on them, and I took a tumble on them. And you can say that things are symbols, but you just don't take a tumble on a symbol. It's hard stuff, friends, it's reality. And anytime John uses a symbol, he'll make it clear to you and you can be sure that he's using a symbol because the reality is far greater than the symbol is, and the symbol is a poor representation of the reality.

That is the important thing. Now he says that it "must shortly come to pass." And that word "must" has in it an urgent necessity, but an absolute certainty. It must shortly. Now this word "shortly" here has in it something that I think it's very important for us to note. It's a word that occurs quite a few times in the scripture.

For instance, we have it in Luke 18th chapter, verse eight: "I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Now there's that same word and it's translated, "he'll avenge them speedily." Well, what does that mean? He means that when the avenging begins, it's going to take place hurriedly. There'll be no waiting around for it at all.

And that implies he's not coming soon, and we'll see that later. It doesn't mean that this is going to happen soon. But when these things that he's talking about begin to happen, it'll all happen speedily, shortly. It'll take place in a brief period of time. And then he says the way that this has come about, and I want you to notice that.

He says that it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him. Now notice the steps of revelation here. It originated with God the Father, and it was given to Jesus Christ, and he gave it to his angel, and his angel gave it to his servants that they might know what was coming to pass. So that this is the way it came down, from God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ to the angel, from the angel to John, and from John to his servants.

And that is the way it gets to you and me today. These are the steps of revelation. And I probably ought to answer this as we go along. Someone says, "Well, you painted yourself into a corner, preacher, because you said an angel was not connected with the church." I still say that. The angel here, I think, is a heavenly messenger.

But what is John going to talk about here most of all? Future things. What Jesus is going to do in the future. And beginning with chapter four, everything is future, and it takes place after the church leaves the world. So it's very proper here that after the church leaves that we see angels coming back into prominence. So that is true to the way the book moves.

Now we have in verse two the method of revelation: "Who bore witness of the word of God, and of the testimony, or the witness of Jesus Christ, even as many things as he saw." There's an emphasis that we should put here that he bore witness, and this in the Greek is epistolary aorist, which means John moves himself up to where his readers are, where you and I are today.

And he looks back at what he's writing, "who bore witness of the word of God." And the Word of God here, I think, refers to both Christ and to the contents of this book. He is the living Word, and we have the written Word. And when the written Word reveals him to us, it's the living Word you may be sure of that. Now we're told here that it is witness rather than testimony, and I do like that better.

And it occurs 90 times in the writings of John, 50 times in his Gospel, by the way. And it says that he saw, that is, he was an eyewitness. And going back to the word "signify" in verse one, he signified it. He made pictures of it. This is television, friends. This is the first television program that was ever put on, and that was the one that the Lord Jesus Christ put on from heaven through his angel, through John to you and to me today.

That's the way that he wants it. And here's a television program you might do well to take a look at because we read also here in verse two, "even as the things which he saw." In other words, John was an eyewitness of the vision here. And he not only heard, but he saw. These are the two avenues through which we get most of our information. And I sometimes wonder if maybe he didn't smell just a little because parts of these books I think you can catch the odor of it also, and maybe John did that.

Now notice as we come down to verse three. Here is the threefold blessing. In other words, this is the first of seven beatitudes in this book, and we will be dealing with these seven beatitudes as we come to them. Here's the first one: "Blessed is he that readeth." And that means the reader in the church or the teacher. "He that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy."

That means the church, the believers that are in the class or in the church. The reader reads it. They hear it. And both of them are to keep it. "Blessed is he that readeth, they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand." So the threefold blessing here is reading, hearing, and keeping.

And that's important for us today. And I believe that every one of us that go through the book of Revelation are going to get a special blessing. I really believe that because that's what he says. And he says "for the time is at hand." Now that doesn't mean that the things that are mentioned at the end of the book are happening today.

But it means that the beginning of the church on the Day of Pentecost began this movement of the Lord Jesus' ministry in heaven. We're going to see the vision of him here the next two or three times that we have here together. We get a vision of the glorified Christ, and then we see what he's doing today. And that moves right on into the future. So the time was at hand.

When we come to verse four, we come here to the greetings from John the writer and from Jesus Christ in heaven. My, this is tremendous. This is a greeting that comes from John down here and from the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Now he tells us: "John to the seven churches which are in Asia." I'm going into that when we get to chapter two. But I do want to say this about the number seven.

The number seven does not mean perfection. It means completeness, and there's a difference, certainly a distinction. And that is you have here the seven churches, and there were literally hundreds of churches in that area and any seven could have been chosen. These were chosen for a very definite purpose which we're going to see.

And they are representative of the total church throughout all the ages the church is on earth. He says, "Grace to you." And this is a book that reveals the grace of God and peace. And you don't need to be frightened to study the book. You can have the peace of God in your heart. "And the one which is, which was, which is to come." This is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And it's the division of the book. What he has done, what he is doing, what he's going to do. And the seven spirits reveal the Holy Spirit of God, and we'll see something about that next time. And we want to talk some more about this number seven. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: If we can help you find a resource that maybe deepens your own study of God's Word, then you need to visit us at ttb.org or just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. And when you reach out, why don't you let us know how you listen? If it's on the radio, what station do you hear us on? Or if you ride the Bible bus through our app or Alexa or some other way, tell us that, too. Your feedback, well, it not only helps us make wise use of ministry resources, but it's also a big encouragement to everyone working behind the scenes to make Thru the Bible available in the way that works best for you.

What's the meaning of the number seven in scripture? And why is it used so many times in the book of Revelation? Well, find out next time as we make our way through the Bible.

[Music]

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Our story on the Bible bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story, too? I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here next time.