Revelation 10 (2011)

Transcription

1 (2011) At the conclusion of chapter 9, the judgments of the first half of Tribulation come to an end The Tribulation is now almost half over, with 50% of the earth s population dead SLIDE 10-1 SLIDE 10-2 One third of the earth is uninhabitable One third of all water is undrinkable and unnavigable And the worst is yet to come The mid-point of Tribulation is a moment that receives a great deal of emphasis in Scripture Daniel mentions a mid-point & Jesus references Daniel as well SLIDE 10-3 In both cases, the point is that at the middle of Tribulation things will go from bad to worse As we ll learn over the next five chapters, the mid-point of Tribulation is an important moment for numerous reasons There are many things that conspire together to make it the worst period in the history of the Earth Chapter 10 is the transition chapter into middle Tribulation It is designed to show explain why more time will pass before the Tribulation may end And it will remind us of God s purpose in bringing about the Tribulation in the first place Rev. 10:1 I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; Rev. 10:2 and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; Rev. 10:3 and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.

2 2! Rev. 10:4 When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them. John tells us of another angel coming down from Heaven He says another because there was an earlier distinctive angel who descended from Heaven In chapter 7:2 an angel with the seal of the living God appeared This angel appeared to be strong to John and was clothed in a cloud with a rainbow on his head His face was glowing like the sun and his feet were glowing like pillars of fire This is a fearsome sight and suggests an angel of great authority He carries a curious thing...a little book The word for book in Greek is biblaridion, which the diminutive version of biblos, which is a scroll So John calls it a small or even a miniature scroll The angel reaches the earth and places one foot on the sea and another in the land This angel then cried out a voice so loud and powerful John could only compare it to the sound of a lion roar If you ve ever been in a zoo when a lion decides to let loose with a roar, you have a better sense of how powerful and disconcerting that sound can be In response to that sound, the Heavenly realm responds with seven voices of thunder These voices seems to reveal some deep truth to John because he was about to write what he heard But he s ordered not to write it at all but to seal up what he s heard This means to hide or keep secret what he s heard

3 3! This scene is so odd in all its details, but it was supposed to trigger a memory in the mind of diligent Bible students All these details work together to remind us of a similar moment elsewhere in Scripture In this earlier moment we find an angel appearing in a similar manner near water And another learns of things that must be sealed And this scene is intended to draw our attention back to that earlier moment so that we might understand what s happening here The earlier moment is found in Daniel 12 Dan. 12:1 Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Dan. 12:2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Dan. 12:3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Dan. 12:4 But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. It s very important to understand the context of this moment in Daniel The chapter opens up with Daniel saying Now at that time... The time that Daniel is speaking about is the time described at the end of chapter 11 At the end of that chapter, the topic was how the antichrist would come to power and conquer the world Now in chapter 12, we re told that these events will happen in that same time or in that same series of events The powerful and strong angel Michael will arise In this context arise means to take a stand or take his station At the time Michael takes his stand, a period of great distress unlike any other will ensue

4 4! This is a reference to the Great Tribulation In v1 Daniel is told this will also be a time when Israel will be rescued This confirms that we re talking about the end of Tribulation, when Israel is saved as we ve discussed In v2-3 there is a reference to resurrection and judgment and a coming glory for the righteous All of this fits the general circumstances of the last half of Tribulation It is in this time that Michael will take his stand Daniel for his part is told to take a prophecy he was given and seal it up in a scroll And the prophecy Daniel was given would only be understood and revealed at the end of time This prophecy is different than the ones Daniel was given in the rest of his book It largely concerned things that were to take place sooner in Israel s history This prophecy concerned things for the end of the age In the meantime, many with go back and forth and knowledge will increase The phrase means many things will happen between when Daniel received these words and when the prophecy will be fulfilled And as the appointed time approaches, knowledge will increase concerning these matters I believer we re seeing that coming true even now In the past several decades, our ability to understand and properly interpret Revelation and the related eschatological scriptures has grown tremendously Especially after Israel s arrival as a nation again and the recent events of the Middle East

5 5! So this scene in Daniel 12 is the moment when the little book was written and sealed, according to the instructions of Michael And then in Revelation 10 we see that same angel coming to a new prophet, John And this prophet is about to receive the very same book that Daniel wrote many centuries earlier And now the time has come to reveal the prophecy that Daniel first heard But it falls to John to gives us that revelation Rev. 10:5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, Rev. 10:6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer, Rev. 10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. Rev. 10:8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land. Rev. 10:9 So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. Rev. 10:10 I took the little book out of the angel s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. Rev. 10:11 And they said to me, You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. The angel from Heaven, who we will now call Michael, calls up the Heaven swearing by God He says that there will be no delay any longer He means that there will no longer be a delay in executing the words in the little book That all which was written by Daniel is now to be fulfilled in the Tribulation And these things will be fulfilled according to v.7 in the days of the seven angel sounding

6 6! This seventh angel is the seventh trumpet that has yet to sound And we know that the seventh trumpet are the seven bowl judgments So the angel is saying that what Daniel was told was the pouring out of God s judgment on the earth and this is now on the verge of happening The angel swears by God Himself that there will be no delay Just as God preached to His servants the prophets, including Daniel Then the time comes for John to take the book from the angel John is told to take the small scroll and eat it Normally scrolls came on papyrus rolls and were not edible (or at least palatable) But in this case, John is able to do what he is told The angel says the book would be sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach We can simulate the experience here at least a little The point the angel is making is to the very nature of prophecy that involves judgment SLIDE 10-4 For the prophet (and for his audience) there is a certain sweetness to delivering God s word To deliver words concerning the future is a privilege and a source of great interest for everyone Bible studies on prophecy are always the best attended But the nature of the events themselves are sobering and a bitter pill to swallow This is especially true for the prophet, for all prophecy is centered on Israel And all prophets are Jewish, and so speaking about these events will make any Jewish prophet bitter and disappointed

7 7! They must bear the weight of knowing what God has planned for His people in response to their sin under the Old Covenant We share in that bitterness to an extent, because we know these events impact far more people than just the Jewish nation By his act of eating, John is symbolically taking in Daniel s teaching and now the angel says he must take these words and share them And in the course of John s revelation, he would prophecy concerning many people and many nations and many tongues and kings Daniel was the prophet called to introduce God s plan for the Age of the Gentiles This is the age of judgment against Israel that began in Daniel s day and continues even now John will be the prophet with the responsibility of explaining how this period of God s judgment will come to an end in the days of Tribulation And so the angel commands John to write what he consumed, so to speak What did John consume? We know it pertains to the events of the seventh angel, the final trumpet judgment, which are the seven bowls But it contained more than just that It also contains all the events of the second half of Tribulation Dan. 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. Dan. 12:6 And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long will it be until the end of these wonders? Dan. 12:7 I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. Dan. 12:8 As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?

8 8! Dan. 12:9 He said, Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Dan. 12:10 Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. Dan. 12:11 From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Daniel has heard about the angel Michael arising in the time of Tribulation and he has concealed the book he wrote And now he finds other angels standing on either side of water while a third angel (called a man) is above the water We know that men do not stand above water normally The reason he is shown standing above water (as opposed to standing on ground) is so that we can understand this is no ordinary man This is an angel One of the angels calls to the angel in white above the river asking how long it will be to the end of these wonders? The wonders refers to the events written in the scroll, to the events of the second half of Tribulation And he asks how long until the end of the these events Not until the start of these events But how long until the end, meaning how long will they last once they begin? Notice what the angel standing above the waters does next He raises one hand and swears by God in heaven Where else have we seen this happen? Michael in Revelation 10 Clearly, this angel is the very same angel repeating the same process The angel Michael receives the book from Daniel and later gives it to John

9 9! In answering the question, Michael says to Daniel that the end of these events will occur after a time, times and half of time This phrase will come back often in Revelation, so let s make sure we understand it properly now A time is an unspecified period It can mean anything, so we look for something else in the text to explain it Times is the plural of time So whatever a time equals, then times is to be understood as twice a time And then half a time is literally one half of our unknown period We could represent this algebraically as X + 2X + ½X = 3½X The only question is what is X? SLIDE 10-5 We received that answer in the final verse I read from Daniel 12 In v.11 the angel says there will be 1,290 days until the end This is a period of exactly 3½ years plus 30 days We ll come to understand why there is an additional 30 days added here later in the study And so we now know that a time is a year Furthermore, the angel gives us the starting point for this 3½ year period It will begin when the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up This is the same abomination that Jesus referenced when He spoke of the events of Tribulation This is the event that marks the middle of Tribulation So the angel says that the events recorded in this little scroll concern the events of the the final 3½ years of Tribulation These events are so terrible, they have no equal and they cannot be revealed until a later time, specifically John s time

10 10! Lastly, notice why these events must take place, according to the angel In v.7 the angels says they will come to an end as soon as they finish the shattering the power of the holy people The they is speaking of the angels themselves The angelic realm are employed by God in His plan to shatter the power of the holy people We ve been witnessing the angels at work throughout the Tribulation And we re reminded that they re purpose in all this calamity is to shatter the holy people, bringing Israel to their knees So that they might be rescued and saved as he said in v.1 That s why Revelation 10 is our transition chapter into the mid-point of Tribulation It is the moment when John receives Daniel s little scroll and reveals the wonders of God s work in the second half of Tribulation It tells us that all that follows from chapter 10 is the outpouring of what God has prepared for Israel And He had prepared it even back at the time of Daniel when the book was written And now God is preparing to throw the book at Israel, so to speak As we reach mid Tribulation, the timeline of the book of Revelation turns 90 degrees on its head Instead of events appearing in sequence one after another, thy begin to stack on top of one another For example, we just read in chapter 10 that the time has come to describe the events of the second half of Tribulation But the next four chapters described events that are all anchored to mid-tribulation in some way So these chapters don t describe events that happen one after another, but instead they describe a series of simultaneous events

11 ! 11 The thing they all have in common is that they are anchored in some way to mid-tribulation They either take place entirely within the 3 ½ moment or they begin or end at mid-tribulation In chapter 11, we learn about a series of events that took place in the first half of Tribulation But they come to an end at the middle of Tribulation Rev. 11:1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Rev. 11:2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. SLIDE 10-6 John is given the job of measuring a building and court called the temple of God The temple contains an altar And we re told that it contains worshippers Measuring a building or a piece of land signifies ownership John is measuring these grounds to show God s controlling interest in this building But the main reason John is told to measure is so that we might take note of the existence of the building itself This description can mean only one thing: There is a functioning Jewish temple during Revelation This is a significant revelation all by itself, since today no such temple exists No temple has existed since AD 70 We learned in Daniel 9 that the Jewish people would regain the opportunity to sacrifice in their temple This was the event that marked the start of Tribulation, a covenant with the antichrist that allows for sacrifice again

12 12! And now we see John measuring the temple grounds as proof to us that the temple does it fact return But Daniel also told us that the temple sacrifice would come to an end at the middle of Tribulation Dan. 9:27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate. In the middle of the seven year period (the week ), the sacrifice come to an end because the antichrist puts a stop to it And this act comes in conjunction with an abomination that makes the temple desolate Jesus says that event will mark the start of the Great Tribulation in the second half of the seven years When John measures the Temple, he is told not to measure the court outside the temple, since it will be tread under by Gentiles The court outside the temple was originally part of the Temple grounds prior to AD 70 This was the court of the women, as it was known It was restricted to Jews only and it was the closest a Jewish woman could come into the temple In this coming time the Gentiles will still tread down this court and the city of Jerusalem This is keeping with the Age of the Gentiles, as we learned earlier in the study This is the time from 605BC until the return of Christ is designated as the times or age of the Gentiles when Jews and Jerusalem are under judgment and subjected to Gentile authority Since the time of Tribulation still falls within the Age of the Gentiles, this Jewish temple must still be subjected to Gentile trampling, as John is told here

13 13! So John is told not to measure it to remind us that it is not yet the time for the judgment to be lifted But we are given a time when this judgment will come to an end The judgment of trampling will last only another 42 months Forty-two months corresponds to 1,260 days or 3½ years So this moment is anchored to the mid-tribulation point by this reference John is measuring the temple still in service as we approach the midpoint of Tribulation But as Daniel has already told us, the midpoint puts an end to that regular service So the first thing we learn is ongoing during mid Tribulation concerns the temple A temple is built in Tribulation And sacrifice was ongoing in the first half of Tribulation But it comes to an end at mid-tribulation The revelation of an operating temple is then connected to the next curious scene of mid Tribulation Rev. 11:3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Rev. 11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Rev. 11:5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. Rev. 11:6 These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

14 14! Now we have a new scene introduced, but still with another time reference that anchors us to mid-tribulation God will appoint two witnesses that will prophecy and demonstrate great powers on earth Like the 144,000, there has been much speculation about the identities of these two individuals Some go so far as to se these men entirely as symbols, completely divorcing them from the context of Revelation SLIDE 11-1 Like the Twin Towers of New York We can learn quite a bit about them based on Revelation 12 They are two men who serve in a special ministry during Tribulation They prophesy while clothed in sackcloth Sackcloth is the fashion of choice for discriminating prophets It s the tradition material worn by a Jewish prophet called to prophecy judgment against Israel for their sins And the length of time for their ministry is 1,260 days, which is another measure of 3½ years So their ministry is anchored to mid-tribulation Then John is told that these men are the two olive trees and lampstands standing before the Lord This relates back to the reference of the temple a moment earlier and it is a fulfillment of Zechariah 4