Revelation’s Message to the Seven Churches

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There is no book in all the New Testament that was characterized by the early church as the worship book to Jesus as the book of Revelation was. Hymns in the early church were written on the basis of the many, many passages in Revelation that spoke about the glory of Jesus Christ. So the purpose of the book, not only to proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ, but also to proclaim the glorious character of our coming King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now in looking at the first matter, proclaiming the wonderful second coming of Jesus Christ, look carefully at verse 7, and I’d like to draw five things to your attention.

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Thank you.

SPEAKER 04 : 1:03

This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher and author, David Hawking. And today on the broadcast, the scene shifts. We’re continuing our look at the seven churches of Revelation chapter one. And as we go to verses seven through 11, the sky opens and Jesus doesn’t just return. He’s seen by every eye, even those who rejected him. And And then a voice like a trumpet, sharp, unmistakable, gives a warning. And not just a warning from a prophet. It’s a declaration from the Son of God himself. Not just symbolic. What it is, is certain, and it’s coming. Well, get ready. Open your Bible. This is Revelation, and it’s closer than you think. First, though… We have David’s original sermon outlines and notes for each message in our current Revelation series.

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You know, these are great for following along through the series and then into the future when you want to review or share it with others.

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Discover and experience Revelation in a deeper, more encouraging fashion with our Revelation radio series on MP3 and David’s message outlines and sermon notes. You know, Jim, the Revelation series sermon notes pack is just ten dollars. That’s sermon notes for each message in the entire series, 48 messages altogether. And you can purchase or download at davidhawking.org or receive them by PDF CD when you call us.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:29

And then you can save and store all your learning in our current series with the Revelation Radio Series Message Pack. All 48 messages on MP3 format. Download or MP3 CD. Special price this month, Jim, just… Just $30. Or on DVD, a special price this month for the DVD set, $50. Go to davidhocking.org or call 1-800-75-BIBLE. In Canada… at 1-888-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the Numbers is 242-53.

SPEAKER 04 : 2:58

And your resource purchase or your donation right now will help the future ministry of Hope for Today. Call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 1-888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or go online at davidhawking.org. I’ll repeat those contact points later on. Right now, turn to Revelation 1, verse 7, and here’s David with today’s lesson.

SPEAKER 02 : 3:23

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bore witness of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. and they also who pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, Amen. 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 Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Now, we left off last time. In fact, the final statement we were talking about was the end of verse 6, where it says, To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. It was our response. And we were looking at that, and I want to just start there because that’s a doxology. Doxology, a Greek word meaning a word of glory. Glory to God. And you have a few doxologies to take a look at. Turn to chapter 4, verse 11. This doxology, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. The Bible teaches that God created us to be a doxology. He created our lives to be a statement, a message, and a testimony to the glory of Almighty God. The psalmist said in Psalm 115, 1, not unto us, not unto us give glory, but unto him, his holy name. That’s where we should give glory. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we’re to do all to the glory of God. We are to be a doxology in our life, a word speaking glory to God constantly. Look, please, at chapter 4, verse 11. The scene is in heaven. The focus is he who sits on the throne, God the Father. Verse 11. Look at chapter 5, please. Verse 13. Another doxology. Verse 13. Every creature that is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Look at chapter 7, verse 12. In chapter 7, verse 12, it says, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. I think we get the impression in the book of Revelation, do we not, that all that God created is to bring forth praise and honor and thanksgiving unto him. Amen. Now come back to Revelation 1. Let’s begin at verse 7. For those of you who have been outlining or following along with us, we have noticed, beginning with verse 4, under the message to the seven churches, we’ve noticed four things, of which we had a couple of them already. Now the third thing we look at in verse 7 and 8 is the main purpose of the message. What is the main purpose of the message? And it really has two parts. One is to proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ. Why this message to the seven churches of Revelation? And the answer, to proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ. Our responsibility is stated in the first word. It says, behold. Behold. behold. I choose 30 times, would you believe it? John constantly is telling us, behold, behold something. It means look at this or look for yourself. It’s time to pay attention. Behold, here’s what all Christians should be anticipating, that he’s coming with clouds. Amen. We’re supposed to be anticipating the second coming of Jesus Christ. Look at it, he says. The second thing I’d have you notice is the relationship of this coming with clouds. Clouds. Take your Bibles and go back to Daniel chapter 7. He is coming with clouds. It’s relationship to clouds. Now, as we turn to the book of Daniel, we’re going to notice that this verse, Revelation 1-7, quotes Daniel 7-13. In Daniel 7-13, it says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him, and so on. He came, the Bible says, with the clouds of heaven. Now, as I looked at that, a couple of things came to my mind. One is that the book of Revelation, more than any book in the New Testament, quotes voluminously from the Old Testament. I found 348 quotes in the book of Revelation from 24 Old Testament books. Some of the highlights of that, would you believe it quotes 27 times from the book of Exodus, 22 from the book of Jeremiah, 43 from Psalms, 43 times from Ezekiel, 79 times from the prophet Isaiah, and 15 from Zechariah, and 53 times it quotes from Daniel. But this is the thing that interested me. In the book of Revelation, it quotes from Daniel chapter 7 31 times. And you know, you never would think about that unless you just got your concordance out or computer out and start following it down. And it all of a sudden hit me, the importance of this chapter, Daniel 7 to the book of Revelation. 31 times it’s quoted in Revelation. And here is one of them. And he will come with the clouds of heaven. This is repeated in the New Testament. Turn to Matthew, please, chapter 24. Now, clouds represented the glory and majesty and presence of God. For instance, in the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, over the Holy of Holies, a cloud would come down that we call the Shekinah, the dwelling of God. We sang a song about the dwelling of the Most High. And our bodies have become the dwelling place of God himself, according to the New Testament. But that Shekinah glory was visible in a cloud that would literally settle over the Holy of Holies. We are even told in the Old Testament that cloud was so thick at times that the priests could not even minister. It was overwhelming and overpowering, a visible presentation of the great presence of Almighty God. Look at Luke chapter 21. The Gospel of Luke chapter 21. And look at verse 27. And again, these are quotations from Daniel. And they’re also found, of course, in the book of Revelation. So they were spoken by our Lord long before John ever wrote the book of Revelation. Luke 21, 27. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud… with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. I like what one writer says, that the fact that he’s coming in clouds or clouds surrounding him is a part of the visible presentation of his coming at the time of the revelation. It is not going to be something that cannot be observed. The whole world is going to see it. In fact, Jesus said, let no one deceive you. If in the last days somebody comes to you and says, the Messiah is over there, he said, don’t believe him. If they say the Messiah lives out in the wilderness, he said, don’t believe it. So the idea of coming with the clouds of heaven, apparently there’s going to be some sort of conglomeration of clouds around him that will remind especially the Jewish people of the Shekinah glory of God. And it will be awesome. And the whole world will know he’s here. He’s here. And that’s going to be a great day. By the way, just commenting about how many times it quotes out of the Old Testament, I found an interesting little note in an appendix of a Greek New Testament. It says, out of 404 verses in Revelation, 265 contain lines that embrace 550 Old Testament references. That’s in a Greek New Testament that had analyzed it. Obviously, the book of Revelation is understood only when we understand the Old Testament background behind these passages. Go back to Revelation 1, verse 7 again. Our responsibility to behold the relationship to clouds reminding us of the prophecy in Daniel 7.13. By the way, the rapture is going to be like that too. 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, so we’ll be caught up together with them, those who have died in Christ, we who are alive and remain, we’ll be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now the third thing I want you to see in verse 7 is the worldwide recognition of his coming. We just mentioned it. It says, “…every eye shall see him.” Every eye will see him, and he can light up the entire globe of the planet or fill the whole solar system if he wants. He who said, let there be light, and there was light. You see, our God is so powerful, he could diffuse light in the entire system which he created at one moment of time. Let there be light, and zoom, there’s light everywhere. Don’t need to wait for it to travel, folks. That’s why Genesis 1-1 solves so many problems. In the beginning, God. Case closed. That’s all we need. The fourth thing I want you to see in that verse is the special realization of the nation of Israel. I hope you love the Jewish people. The Bible says, I’ll bless those who bless you and I’ll curse him who curses you. That’s never changed. I don’t justify all that they do. And as a nation, a political entity, they do a lot that is wrong. But God told us to bless the people of God. And that doesn’t mean just because they’re believers. And it’s very important to understand this. Because you see, God’s not done with Israel. Biggest mistake people make Paul wrote in Romans, God has not cast away his people. Blindness in part has happened unto Israel till all these things are going to be fulfilled, folks, but the blindness is going to be lifted one day. And the Bible says very clearly in one of the most precious verses in the Bible, just a little phrase nestled right in verse 7. It says, they also who pierced him. Oh, it wasn’t just the Jewish people. Pilate was involved, certainly Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, the Romans who put him on the cross. But the book of Acts is very clear that all of us were there. All the Gentiles were there. All the Jews were there. All of us pierced him. It was our sins that he bore on the cross. But this is definitely a phrase for the nation of Israel. You say, how do you know that? Well, let’s look at the passage from which it’s quoted. Turn to Zechariah just before the last book of the Old Testament. Look at Zechariah, please, chapter 12. This is another quotation. Here in the same verse you have quotations from different books of the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 12. We’re talking about the special realization of the nation of Israel that will occur when Jesus Christ comes in power and great glory. one day they’re going to look on him whom they pierced. And they’re going to mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. They’re going to turn to the Messiah. And Zechariah 13, 8 and 9 indicates that one-third of the Jewish people alive at that time are going to turn to the Lord. Two-thirds will not. But look at Zechariah chapter 12. How’s this all going to happen? They’re going to get saved the same way you and I are saved. We’re saved because of the work of the Holy Spirit. God moving upon our hearts. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That nails it down. The spirit of grace, God giving you what you don’t deserve, and of supplications. What causes people to cry out to God? What causes people to call on the name of the Lord? Some of you need to call on the name of the Lord and get saved. What causes you to do that? According to the Bible, it’s the power and the work of the Holy Spirit of God that causes that. The Spirit will be poured on them. And what will happen? They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. By the way, who is talking here? And we read earlier in the passage that it’s the Lord. Verse 7, the Lord will save the tents of Judah. The Lord will defend the inhabitants. Verse 8, verse 9, I will seek to destroy. I will pour out and they’ll look on me whom they have pierced. The Lord himself is speaking and says, they’re going to look on me, the very one who will fight for them, the very one who will deliver them from all the nations of the world that will gather together against them. That same one says, they’ll look upon me whom they pierced and they’ll mourn for me as one mourns for an only son. Paul wrote, all Israel will be saved. Those whom God has chosen, that wonderful remnant, are going to turn to the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit. And in one day they will look on him whom they pierced and they will be saved. Look and live, my brother, said an old song. Look and live. Look to Jesus now and live. If you’re here and you’re still vacillating about Christianity, it isn’t anything else. It’s not a way of life or a system of doing things. It is Jesus Christ our Lord. You must look to him. And when you see him and you understand who he is and what he can do, you put your faith and trust in him alone and you are saved. That’s the way Gentiles are saved. That’s the way Jews are saved. We all come the same way. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah promised by God, the only one who can save us.

SPEAKER 04 : 20:27

Well, that’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and you’re listening to Hope for Today. David’s back in just a moment or two to close out our time with a word of encouragement, some additional teaching. So stick around. 1st Davidson Matt’s here, and together we have a great resource that just might be perfect for your home study library.

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Babylonian civilization was known for its cultural achievements. Advanced architecture, famous hay and gardens, renowned contributions to mathematics, astronomy, law, and serving as a major center of trade in ancient Mesopotamia. The civilization lasted for several centuries. That it influenced subsequent cultures throughout the world. And sadly, the most significant part of that influence was paganism, idolatry, and immorality. Exactly.

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Babylonianism has penetrated and seduced the nations for over 4,000 years. That history, Matt, and Babylon in the prophetic future is covered in 286 Bible references.

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Yeah, Revelation chapter 17 through 18 is one. Yeah. It details the mystery and fall of Babylonianism.

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And the book of Revelation depicts a prostitute on a seven-headed beast with ten horns on its seventh head, symbolizing the Antichrist’s future rise. Apparently, he will emerge from a confederacy dividing the world into ten divisions, attacking Christian beliefs.

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And according to prophecy, Jim, the Babylonian religious system will culminate in a diabolical final seduction of all nations. Like the world has never seen. This month,

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We’re featuring a special price on your dad’s book, Babylon, its history and prophecies. Now, normally $15, just $10 this month.

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You know, this powerful study guide commentary covers scriptures on the history, prophecies, and warning signs for Babylonianism. fortifying readers to stand strong in faith and hopeful for our future. Get Babylon, its history and prophecies, normally $15, just $10 this month when you call 1-800-75-BIBLE, 242-53. In Canada, call 1-888-75-BIBLE or purchase at davidhawking.org.

SPEAKER 04 : 22:38

And if you make this purchase, would you prayerfully consider adding an additional amount as a donation to help us continue the ministry of Hope for Today? Or perhaps send a donation by itself. Either way, your gift will help us continue this outreach. Well, before David returns, we want to take a moment to invite you to reach out. If you need prayer, we’re here for you. So many times I come into the Hope for Today office, and there’s a group of our staff and volunteers praying for prayer requests that have come into the ministry. You know, you might be facing a hard decision, a health struggle, or maybe you just feel spiritually stuck. Whatever it is, let us know. We count it a privilege to pray for our listening family, just like you, one by one. And as you share your request, would you also consider praying for hope for today? We depend on the Lord and the faithful prayer support and financial support of listeners just like you to keep the ministry going strong. To request prayer or to make a donation today, you can call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And you can also contact us or give securely online at DavidHawking.org. Now, if you prefer to write, you can do that. Send your letter to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011. R-P-O, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford. Abbotsford, by the way, is A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D. B-C-V-2-S-8-P-1. And thanks for being a part of this work. As promised, once again, here’s David.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:28

I really love teaching Revelation. I’m sure you all realize it. And that verse 7 is still on my heart. And I hope you enjoyed it. Behold, he cometh with clouds, every eye shall see him, they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen. Well, you really can’t beat that, can you? And it’s been wonderful teaching these opening verses of chapter 1. We’re in no hurry. And if you miss one of the broadcasts, you can go to our website and pick up the one you missed. I hope you’re ready, and I hope you have a personal commitment to the only one who can save you from sin, death, and hell. God bless you.

SPEAKER 04 : 25:23

Well, Fred, if you’re new to the faith, if you’re a new Christian, or maybe you’re not yet a believer, but you’re trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus Christ, well, we’d like to send you two free resources that will help. One is David’s straightforward booklet called What Is Christianity? The other is a Bible study by mail. To get these resources, again, if you don’t know Christ or if you’re new to the faith, Call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And next time on the broadcast, we continue in Revelation chapter 1, verses 7 through 11, where the sky splits, Jesus speaks, and the clock on this world starts ticking quite a bit louder. Every eye shall see him, even those who rejected him. You don’t want to miss this continuing study right here on Hope for Today.