Sunday: A Grace-filled Book of Hope
When most people think about the Bible’s last book, Revelation, they do not think about God’s grace. When they consider God’s last-day message, their thoughts often turn immediately to frightening beasts, mystic symbols, and strange images. The book of Revelation scares as many people as it reassures, which is unfortunate because it is, indeed, saturated with grace and filled with hope. That is, even amid the scary beasts and warnings of persecution and the hard times ahead, God still gives us reasons to rejoice in His salvation.
Read Revelation 1:1-3 and Revelation 14:6. How do these verses together tell us about not just the book of Revelation but about the “everlasting gospel,” as well?
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
Revelation is all about Jesus. It is His message to His people and is especially applicable to His church in the last days. It is a grace-filled message of our end-time hope. Throughout the book, Christ is described as the slain Lamb, and a blessing is promised to those who read, understand, and act on the truths revealed.
According to Revelation 1:5-6, Jesus is the one who “loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father” (NKJV). In Christ we are forgiven. Grace pardons our past, empowers our present, and provides hope for our future. That is, in Christ we are delivered from sin’s penalty and power, and one day soon we will be delivered from sin’s presence. This is the message of the Bible’s last book, Revelation.
And it is also an urgent message, first pictured as an angel flying swiftly in midheaven having the “everlasting gospel.”
The gospel? Salvation by faith in Christ? Christ’s atoning death for us? The promise of eternal life, not because of what we can do but because of what Christ has done for us? All this is at the beginning of the three angels’ messages? Exactly!
No wonder, then, that they are grace-filled messages full of hope and promise for us as broken and suffering beings.
| Though it’s easy to focus on the beasts and warnings of the last days, as depicted in Revelation, how can we learn to balance all these out with what is, undeniably, the most important message of Revelation: Christ’s self-sacrificing death in our behalf? |
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In William Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet", Queen Gertrude makes the comment, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". And when I hear Seventh-day Adventists defending their position(s) I sometimes have the same thought in mind. We underestimate the amount of work that has to go into convincing others that we have got it right.
There are twenty-eight (I think I only had 13 when I was baptised) fundamentals that have to be ticked off and some of them involve a complete paradigm shift in thinking. Then there is all the arithmetic about years and dates. And on top of that, we can spend a lot of time ensuring we have the right nuances on the meaning of justification sanctification, and half a dozen other theological terms. And the big problem is that it is all locked together as the great gird of explanation of nearly everything. I am not trying to mock our beliefs but I think we need to rethink our perspective.
Someone sent me a video clip of part of a sermon by a preacher Alistair Begg who tells the story of the thief on the cross arriving at heaven. He was asked why he was there, and he responded that he didn't know, but "the man on the middle cross said I can come!"
We spend a lot of time justifying why we are the church of the "Three Angels' Messages", but until we get through to the core message of the Gospel we are stuck in a salvation-by-works or getting-our-theology-right mode. It is not about us. It is all about the man on the middle cross. And if we get that right, the other things will fall into place.
We cannot argue our way into salvation. We can only respond to the invitation from the man on the middle cross.
Brilliant!
Yes indeed. So well said by Maurice.
Thank you, Maurice. The simplicity of the gospel is something we should reflect on every day.
The time of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is absolutely right now. Studying for understanding is a privilege of living in the time of the end.
Sadly, it is also a time that unscrupulous preachers conscript Beasts and Warnings to frighten money from the wallets of simple people, while completely ignoring the perfect summary of the entire book, in Rev 1:1-8
Revelation was not given to scare people and bludgeon them into fear and submission. It was not given as the revelation of Masons, Illuminati, Cabals, and Political Intrigue. It was not given as the Revelation of Satan, to glorify his great works on the earth, and expound great things he claims to have done. Yet, here we are, and who could blame the audience of certain TV preachers for thinking this way.
We must not let anyone, whether misguided or charlatans, turn our focus away from "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants... I Am...the Almighty”
Thanks a lot.
Alistair Begg is brilliant, and Robert Capon get's through to me, too.
Walking with Christ daily gives ample reason to study His important messages of love to His people revealed in Revelation. Wonderful things are described of the Father, His Spirit, and the angels who work in our behalf. So much is revealed of Christ and His sacrifice for us which inspires our hearts with courage.
As an attentive elder Brother, He opens future events to us. We in loving obedience respond to His calling and join our brothers and sisters present and past in faithful service to God for the glory of His name till the end. By His grace we aren’t caught by complete surprise as situations unfold leading to the end of this world and His soon return.
It is paramount for me to know that ‘Jesus Christ is with me always’, that He is in me and I in Him. His Spirit lives in my heart and directs me all the days of my life - Gal. 2:20. He gives us the assurance and understanding that “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world” – 1 John 4:4.
The Spirit of God cares for me, and He is always with me; what more can we ask for in order to feel safe?
For me, the greatest testimony to the grace and power of our heavenly Father is Jesus Christ’s resurrection. No matter the power of the sins of man unto death, Jesus Christ's resurrection has shown Him to be the first-fruit of the love of God for mankind to give us a new life. - 1 Cor. 15:20-23
In Him, and by Him, our heavenly Father has proven that man is given to overcome the power of evil with the power of His Holy Spirit, which is in the Word of God. Man's sin crucified our Lord and Savior; our Father’s grace and love resurrected Him. This is the proof that Jesus' gospel and His testimony of the Love of the Father for His children is true. - Matt.24:34-36
I see the Biblical doctrines (teachings of Jesus and the Father) to be of great importance to the disciples of Christ Jesus.
I know that, of my own self, apart from God, I cannot/could not change from doing evil to doing good.
We are encouraged/commanded by the Holy Spirit, in the writings of Paul, to examine ourselves. I understand that to be seeing, if indeed, we are being led by the Holy Spirit, or the impostor.
We must see Revelation differently than just beasts and tragic scenarios because the emphasis must not be on those things but on the blessings! The blessings of a God Who cares for us and is ready to save us even before we fall.
Paul in Romans 8:24-25
explained hope, and told us what to do with hope.
Revelation fills us with hope as does the whole Bible. However Revelation gives us hope for especially these end times. "I John saw"
Brother Rothenbach pointed out, the whole Bible not just Revelation is to be used in understanding and sharing the Gospel. I agree.
Though as Miles pointed out last week, Revelation is a good opener for evangelism. No wonder, it is the book all about Christ victorious. Christ victorious gives us a lot of hope.
John 14:1-3. Hope
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Meet Him in the clouds. More hope
Revelation 20:4-6. And more hope.
The beasts, the dragon, the false prophet, etc., and tragic scenarios are the realities of the world we live in, and yes, it will only get worse. The world is heading for sure destruction. The whole myth of evolution leading on to superior humans, and mankind somehow forging a more utopic world for itself, is not reality. It is the deceptive myth.
The three angels' messages are an urgent cry announcing there is only one solution. God has not left the realities of sin and evil to totally wipe out the human race. He has a most glorious solution!!! -- the everlasting gospel to save any and all who will come to Him. He is urgently calling,