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Amen. Well, uh, if you didn't notice, I'm really excited. Um, I'm really, really excited this morning uh to be starting a brand new journey where for the next six months or so, I don't really know exactly yet, we are gonna be making our way through the revelation, which is the final book of the Bible. And if you're open there, you can see the title there. It says The Revelation. And so um just to let y'all know, this book is not called Revelations plural. Uh a lot of Christians say revelations, and I get where they're coming from. There are a lot of dramatic revelations that we're gonna see, but the book is not called revelations, it's also not called revelation, uh, even though it is one consistent revelation. It is the revelation. And the reason it's called the revelation is because we see right in the first verse what the book is, and that is verse one, if you want to see it for yourself, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so this entire book is exactly that. It is the revelation of Jesus. It is Jesus revealing himself, it is Jesus giving us a window into who he is and to what he's done, and that's really what the book's about. And honestly, um, I never thought that I would teach through the revelation. Uh, I've I've been in pastoral ministry for 18 years. I've never taught this book. I've never had a desire to teach this book. There's still so many like epistles and gospels that never even taught through. I never in my life thought I would be doing this. And just in the past few months, as I was praying about, as we're coming into the end of the disciples series, like, Lord, what am I supposed to teach? I just kept feeling like he was putting the revelation on my heart over and over. And I really tried to like not do it because, like, it's a really crazy book. If you've never read it, you're gonna be like, whoa, what's going on here? And studying it as well is like a lot. And so I was like, I just don't know if I have the capacity to do this right now. And God's like, you do, that's what I want you to teach. And so I was like, okay. I was like, I'll do it, I'll do it. So uh all that's to say, I really believe that this book is is for this season exactly what our church needs, because again, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. I believe that what Jesus wants for our church in this season is to go into a deeper understanding of who he is and what he's done. And no book does that in a better and more beautiful and poetic creative way than the revelation. So as as I even announce, hey, here's what we're doing, here's where we're going, we're jumping into the revelation. Uh, many of us approach this book with different expectations. Like some of you are here this morning, and for for some of you, those expectations are gonna be challenged. And I hope for all of us, our expectations are always being challenged. I hope we're growing in our in our theology and that we're open to discussion and questions and looking at things. But the reality is for each one of us, we we come at this from a different angle because we because we've we've all have a different story that has led us to where we are here today. And so for some of you, you hear the story is going through the revelation and you show up and you're really excited. Some of you here are really excited because maybe you're newer to church, maybe you're newer to the faith, and maybe you've never studied the revelation, and you heard we were gonna do it, and you're like, that sounds really fun. Is that anyone in the room? Are you like excited? Is anyone like, I've never studied this? I'm really excited. Yeah, that's some of you. So, some of you, you're really excited, but for a different reason. You're you're the opposite. You actually grew up in a church culture that talked about the revelation all the time, and you you are so excited because you're hoping that now I will start to give prophecy updates about how things in the news are being fulfilled in the revelation. And so some of you are excited for that reason. You're like, man, I know all about the revelation, and Zav's doing it, and I can't wait to tell me for him to tell me what's happened in the news and what's happened in the Bible and how they connect. And uh, that's some of the expectation that some of you bring here today. For some of you, it's maybe a little different. For some of you, uh, maybe there's just kind of uncertainty, or maybe there's confusion, or maybe curiosity. Maybe you're like, I just have no idea what the revelation is. I have no idea why we're gonna go through this as a church. Maybe you've read it a little bit, you're like, none of this makes any sense. Seems like a weird choice, and maybe that's just where you're at. And if that's so, that's totally cool. So glad that you're here today. Um, for some of you, if you're honest, maybe you come with a little bit of uh anxiety. Maybe the thought that we're going through the revelation produces anxiety, or maybe it produces fear. Um, and and maybe that's uh connected to just some PTSD that you have from a church experience you had in the past. Maybe you were out of church and the way that they taught the revelation was very like, oh gosh, it just produced produces fear in me. And I'm like, I don't know, like I don't know if this is for me, I don't really know how to approach this. And so again, for everybody, our our expectations that we're bringing to the table are different. And and then there's some of you who you just walked in today, you had no idea we were even starting this series, you're brand new here, and you're like, what am I in for? Like, I just walked into church and this we're gonna go through the revelation. This is wild, and and glad you're here as well. Hope you hope you enjoy it. Welcome to the story, glad you're here. My name's Av. I'd love to meet you after the service, after we talk about the apocalypse. That'll be really fun. So um, contrary to contrary to what I was taught growing up, um, the revelation is one of the most difficult books to understand and interpret in all of the scripture. The cultural context I grew up in was the revelation is not a hard book to understand. It's very easy. But the more that I've been studying it, I realize the more I don't know or the more that I didn't really see what was going on. And uh that's the reason a lot of churches don't uh teach this, is because it is complex. And that's honestly, that's part of why I wanted to avoid it, is because I wasn't ready to undo some of my baggage that I've kind of had to work through as well. So I'm just being honest with you guys here. It is a very difficult book to understand and to interpret. And in fact, one of the greatest uh scholars of all time, a man by the name of John Calvin, he wrote a commentary on every single book of the Bible except for the revelation. He got to the revelation, he's like, nope, not doing that. Like, this is just too, it's just too much. It's just too so that says a lot. Like John Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible except the because he was like, This is I I just don't know. And sometimes it's okay to say that. And I'm gonna say that throughout this series. Sometimes I'm like, I just don't know, okay? So just be prepared for that. So the revelation is one of those books that if you don't study and interpret it in its proper historical context, it can lead Christians to all sorts of crazy conclusions. Like, and maybe you've been to some around some of those people, maybe you haven't. I found one of them randomly, like two weeks ago. I wasn't even looking for this. I was on this pastor's gram, I was watching a reel, it wasn't even about the revelation. It was like teaching through Psalms or something. And I was like, oh, I like that. What are people saying in the comments? And some random person put this in the comments. Again, his teaching's not even about revelation. Here's what they said, and this is why some Christians are weird. Uh, they said this person says, Book of Revelation cheat sheet. I screenshot it from the Instagram. Book of Revelation cheat sheet. Are you ready? The first beast is Trump, who survived the near fatal head wound and is ushering in the synagogue of Satan. Musk is the second beast and the false prophet. He hit the moon with his ship called the dragon. And Starlink's goal is to pierce the heavens. AI is the beast from the earth. We gave breath to the spark of Satan, and Neuralink is the mark of the beast, mixing humans with AI. Do not take it or you will go directly to hell. The fifth seal is the persecution in Nigeria. The sixth seal are the bunkers and the ten kings of no nations, the Epstein elites who own everything except for nations, and now God's wrath is upon them. And it goes on and on. Like this was so long. I was like, I don't even have time to read this all, but this is crazy. Okay, so I I read that to you, I read that to you to say that that's how some people look at the book of Revelation. It's like you you try to you read it and then you say, Well, what's happening in the news? And is this a fulfillment of this? And is this connected to this? And the church that I grew up in was it was hyper obsessed with the revelation. But what I found was that the obsession with revelation did not lead to a deeper obsession with the person of Jesus. What I found is that the deeper obsession with revelation produced a deeper obsession with speculating on when the end of the world would be, and speculating who the Antichrist was, and speculating when the rapture was gonna happen, and speculating what the number 666 means, and speculating who the beast and the dragons are, and there just became this hyper infatuation with speculating things about the future, and we were missing a clear picture of Jesus Himself. And so that was the cultural context that I grew up in. And I remember specifically, like in the 90s, some of you grew up in this context. At first, uh at first, we knew that the mark of the beast was barcodes and scanning technology. It was and it was all from Revelation, and now there's barcodes, and you can scan stuff and watch out for that because if you do that, that might be the mark of the beast, and you might be going to hell, just like Dan, who confessed and was the bastard's son, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's like, whoa, bro, that's church trauma, right? It's like, so at first it was that. It was like, we know this for sure is the mark of the beast, but then it was like, ooh, watch out for microchips. They're gonna put a microchip in you, and if you get the microchip, you're gonna be able to pay with your wrist or pay with your forehead, and if you do that, that's the mark of the beast. So, like, watch out, and you're like, shoot, I'm never gonna get a microchip put in me, right? Because maybe that's the mark of the beast. And then it was cashless payment systems, and then it was digital ID, like, watch out for digital ID. Like, don't do that, don't let them get your information. That might be the mark of the beast, and you're like, whoa. And then we know what the mark of the beast really was, according to them in 2020. The COVID vax. Can we just say it? It was like, if you get a COVID vax, watch out, that might be the mark of the beast. Don't do it, your DNA is like, and it's just okay, okay. So every five or ten years, the mark of the beast became something different because something different was happening in the news. And by the way, what would that have meant to the churches John was writing to 2,000 years ago? Like, like, how would have that been an encouragement to them at all? Like, it doesn't make any sense. And then there was the Antichrist, right? At first in the 90s, it was Yasser Arafat. It was like, the Arafat's the Antichrist, watch out. And it was like, okay, whoa, we're at the end of the world. And then, wait, no, it's actually Obama. Like, Obama's actually the Antichrist. Like, whoa, watch out for Obama. And then it just keeps shifting, right? There's like, no, it's actually Bill Gates. And you're like, whoa, yeah, that guy's got a lot of power. Maybe he's the Antichrist. Maybe we're at the end, and now it's Trump, and now it's Elon. And then it just goes on. So it's like again, every 10 years, there's there's like a new Antichrist, and and we just say, Watch out, like he's here now, so now the rapture's coming. So just get ready because we know that this is the Antichrist, and we know the rapture's happening. And I just want to give you like a spoiler alert if you didn't know this. The spoiler alert is the word antichrist and rapture are never even mentioned one time in the book of the Revelation. I don't know if you knew that or not. Read the book, you will not find Antichrist or rapture mentioned in the book one time. Now, I know for some of you guys, that might come a shock, and maybe even right now it feels like your whole world is collapsing in. And for some of you, you're like, Is Zav even saved now? Like, is he a heretic? What is going on? He's questioning my whole, you know. Look, I I get it because I I grew up in that. And and I know that for if that's how you grew up, you probably have like a million questions, and I did it, and I still do too. But I I just want to encourage you, like, it's gonna be okay, okay? I'll just tell you that. It's gonna be okay. We're gonna we're gonna get through this together. The Lord is gonna meet you in this, and we're we're gonna have a fun time. We're gonna have a fun. The word, the we're gonna be fun. Is anyone excited? This is gonna be fun, right? It's gonna be really fun. I'm excited for it. So I I just wanted to give you guys a little spoiler. There's gonna be lots of spoilers. By the end of this series, probably no one will go to this church, and that's that's totally okay. That's totally okay if you gotta go somewhere else. I don't judge you at all, it's totally fine. So, but here's listen to this. Here's what here's what Michael Gorman says. He has an amazing book. It's called Reading Revelation Responsibly. If this is newer for you, I would encourage you to read this book. Here's what he says Revelation is not about the Antichrist, it is about the living Christ. It is not about a rapture out of this world, but faithful discipleship in the world. So this is what, again, viewing it through this lens, it was all about how do we get out of here? And it was about we're missing the point of what is God doing right here while we are here in the midst of the struggle. And then uh Daryl Johnson, in his book on Revelation called Discipleship on the Edge, another amazing read, he says, Revelation is not a crystal ball revealing esoteric secrets that enable one to escape the harsh realities of life on earth. It is a down-to-earth manual on how to be a disciple of Jesus facing the harsh realities of life on earth. So again, the what the way we read it and approach it, we have to kind of keep that context in mind. And again, if you read the revelation and you become more and more obsessed with speculating future events and trying to interpret the symbolism based off of what's happening in the news today, you have entirely missed the point. And so again, maybe maybe some of you you showed up this morning and maybe that's what you were hoping for. Maybe you were hoping I was gonna break out the big chart, the secret chart to all the answers and tell you exactly when the world's gonna end and who the Antichrist would be, and now you're like super bummed and super disappointed. And if that's you, what I what I want to encourage you in is this I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed if you show up here every single week with an open heart and if the desire of your heart is a deeper revelation of the person of Jesus. Because that's what the book is about. It's not about speculating the future and connecting dots and what's it's to show you who Jesus is and what Jesus wants for your life. And so if that's if if you come every week and you go, I'm here because I want to see Jesus, I'm here because I want to hear from Jesus, I'm here because I need fresh revelation of Jesus. If that's why you come, you will never leave disappointed. I can guarantee you that. So we might disagree on our eschatology, but we can agree that this book gives a profound revelation of the person and work of Jesus. And that's why we're studying it. Because I believe that Jesus wants to show us more of who he is and what he's done. And in fact, a lot of scholars argue that revelation gives us the most complete picture of Jesus than any other book of the Bible, which is really interesting because the entire revelation can be found in every other part of the Bible. Like the in the Revelation, there are 404 verses, and in those 404 verses, there are actually 518 references to earlier scripture. There is in fact not a single Old Testament book that cannot be uh at least alluded to or quoted in the Revelation. So this is really interesting. Like when we approach the revelation, we're like, what new stuff are we gonna learn about the end of the world? And the reality is this everything in the revelation is already found in the previous 65 books of the Bible. You will not learn anything new in the revelation that you could not find in other parts of the scripture because again, the revelation is the revelation of Jesus, and the truth of the gospel is already completely revealed in Jesus. Jesus came and died and was buried and rose and is all like we we already know it. So the revelation is just giving us another angle of what the rest of the scripture has already spoken to and revealed to us. And so, again, the reason that's important to understand is that all of revelation is reaching back to other parts of the scripture. The reason that's important is because if we look at the revelation in isolation, that's where we're gonna get completely off and not have a complete understanding. But when we look at it in the context as a whole, when John is seeing these crazy visions of beasts and seven-headed creatures and a guy with fiery eyes, and all it's like you gotta go back to the original image. John is not seeing something that is not from uh John is always seeing something that was already seen before. So, again, for us, the most important thing for interpreting the Bible properly and specifically interpreting the revelation properly, we have to always make sure two things. Number one, we have to make sure that uh we are understanding the Old Testament illusions in their original context. So when John goes through a vision and we're gonna go through all of them and they get crazy and they get wild, if you don't go back to what did that mean when Daniel saw that, or what did that mean when Isaiah or Ezekiel said that, if you don't go back there, you're gonna completely misinterpret it. So you always have to go back to the original image, and then second, you have to ask how the author of Revelation, which is John, how he repurposes the Old Testament imagery to give hope to the churches that he was writing to to encourage. So that if if you take if you miss that, you're gonna just go off onto woo-woo land and you're gonna be like just posting like the crazy stuff on the gram about like the end of the world. And it's like, we don't even see that here, okay? So Revelation, remember, it was written by a specific person to specific people living in specific cities at a specific time in history to meet a specific need. That we we have to keep that in mind, and and this means we we if we skip over the historical context, we're not gonna have a proper understanding. Here's the way you look at it, and this is how you look at all the Bible. If it didn't mean what it means to them, then then then we're never gonna know what it means for us. So meaning meaning the starting point is what did it mean for them? How did they read it? How did they interpret it? How did this give them hope? Not we don't start with what does this mean for me, what does this mean for the future, we start with what did this mean for them? And that sets us up for um the understanding the historical context of the letter. So uh again, today is today's a lot of overview. Uh it's a lot of um, it's a lot of just setting the context because we're gonna go through the whole thing uh verse by verse, chapter by chapter, but I want to give you just some big lenses and provide the context so you can understand where where we're looking at it from. So let me give you the context of this letter. Uh, this letter, the revelation was written to seven churches, and we're gonna see that later in the letter, verse four. John says to the seven churches that are in Asia. It was a letter that John wrote to seven churches, which were real churches that were spread out throughout the Roman Empire, and they were they were facing severe persecution. This is uh the apostle John. He was the last living of all of the apostles. All the other apostles had already been martyred for their faith. They'd been crucified, they'd been tarred, they'd been burned at the stake, like they're all dead. John is the last living apostle, and he he wrote this book. Most scholars believe between uh 95 and 96 A.D., there is a minority camp that believes that he wrote it somewhere around uh somewhere closer to like 68 or 69 A.D. But basically, let me explain why he wrote this book. In the 60 ADs, Emperor Nero Nero arose and he was persecuting Christians. He hated them. He was he was crucifying Christians, not just Jesus. He was uh he was killing them at the stake. He was he he was a horrible emperor, and Christianity was uh being severely persecuted. Well, in in the 90s, which most likely is when this book was written, a new emperor arose whose name was Domitian. And Emperor Domitian, he he he was worse than Nero in some respects. He changed the name of the Roman Empire at that time to the eternal empire, and he called himself the everlasting king. So this is the context in which John is writing this. He's like, We're no longer the Roman Empire, we're the eternal empire. And I'm no longer just the emperor, I am the everlasting king. And all the citizens and subjects were required to go into a temple that was built in honor of uh Emperor Domitian, and they were to take a pinch of incense and throw it on the fire of the altar, pledging their loyalty to him, saying, Caesar is Lord. So everybody had to do this. You had to pledge your loyalty to Rome, pledge your loyalty to Domitian, the eternal king of the eternal empire. Well, obviously, for Christians who believe Jesus is Lord, this was a conflicting idea. We we can't do this. I can't go into the temple and say Caesar is Lord. And so during Domitian's reign, over 40,000 Christians were killed because they were unwilling to go into the temple and say Caesar is Lord. Now, one of those people who refused to throw the incense on the altar was the Apostle John. He said, I will not say Caesar is Lord, I I believe Jesus is Lord. And so rather than killing him, because John was such a major figure and an influential figure in the early church, they realized if we kill John, that might make things worse. It might it might lead more Christians like into an uprising. So instead of killing John, they said, We're gonna banish him to the island of Patmos. And so John was sent to the island of Patmos, which was 10 miles off the coast of modern day Turkey, where he was sent to spend the rest of his life. And one one one commentator writes it this way, speaking of his uh his uh his exile to the island of Patmos. He says, He was abandoned to the inhospitable solitude of a restless, murmuring sea, and left to rot and bleach upon the rocks. So that was it. John's like, John, John's like, I'm not saying Caesar is Lord. They're like, we could kill you like we do with everybody else, but we're gonna do something worse. We're gonna send you to an island where you're just gonna like lay and starve to death and burn it in the sun and bleach on the rocks. Like that was it. So, in some ways, his his uh punishment was even worse than just like dying instantaneously. And so this is the historical context that sets the stage for the revelation. The the place that this letter comes from is John is on this island, Domitian is killing Christians, Christians who aren't saying Caesar is Lord. He's on this island, the Christians are struggling, they're being killed, the brothers and sisters in Christ are being killed, and he has this vision of Jesus, the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is the historical context of what sets the stage for this book. And that word revelation, by the way, notice just in verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ. That word revelation is the Greek word apocalypsis, which is where we get the word apocalypse. And the sermon series is called the unveiling, because that's what apocalypsis or an apocalypse is. It is to unveil or to open up or to reveal something that's been hidden. And by the way, that's what the graphic is. The graphic is all the beasts of revelation, and through the finished work of Jesus, there is an opening up. The window of time, the window of heaven is being opened, and we're catching a glimpse into the unveiling reality of who God is, even in the midst of all the hardship. That's kind of what the graphic is, just to give you some context for that. So the revelation, the apocalypsis, to unveil, to open, to open up, to be able to see what's really going on. And this word apocalypsis isn't just used in the revelation. Paul used it in Galatians chapter one. If you're a note taker, you can write that down. Paul said, I did not receive the gospel by uh through men, I did not receive the gospel by taught it. I received the gospel by revelation, apocalypsis of Jesus Christ. You guys know the story of Paul the Apostle? Paul the Apostle was killing Christians, he hated Christians, and he was on the road walking to go and murder Christians. And do you know what happened? In apocalypse, in unveiling. He had a vision of Jesus. A light shined on him on the road, and he was blinded, and he heard a voice say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? What happened to Paul was in apocalypsis, in unveiling, his eyes were opened to see Jesus for who he really was. And he said, The gospel came to me through that. It was it was a vision of Jesus, it was it was an apocalypsis. Likewise, in Romans chapter 1, we see the same thing. Paul the apostle writes that the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. And then he says in verse 17, because through it the righteousness of God is apocalypsis, revealed. The gospel is the revelation of God showing us how we can be made right with Him. It is a revelation, our eyes are open. Wow, thank you, God. I can be made right with you because of the gospel, because of the finished work of Jesus. So that's what apocalypsis is: it is to unveil, to open up, to be able to see into reality itself. And again, it's important to understand that because when most of us think of apocalypse, and again, a lot of the way that some people read the revelation, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, most of us what comes to mind is the destruction of humanity and the end of the world and AI robots taking over the human race and the walking dead and terminator and the book of Eli. Like when we think of apocalypse, that's what comes to mind. And most of us are like, that's kind of freaky. Like, I don't know about that. But when the first century church heard this is the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, it would not have put fear into their hearts. They would have said, Praise God, we are getting a window into the reality of what Jesus is doing in the midst of our suffering. Apocalypse isn't, oh no, this is scary, the end of the world and terminator. It's we are seeing what Jesus sees. We are seeing ultimate reality. We are catching a divine perspective of what is happening on earth. And that's what apocalyptic literature seeks to do. It seeks to shed light on the present, but in a way where the invisible realities that the average person doesn't see, we're able to see those. We're able to see behind the curtain. And so, really, what the idea of apocalypsis is, is this to put it simply, there is more than meets the eye. Things are not as they seem. And that's what the revelation is teaching us. What they were going through in the first century, they're like, man, the church is gonna lose. We're gonna die out, we're being persecuted, we're being killed, we're being martyred. We all gave our lives to this Jesus guy, and where's his power now? Rome has all power. Rome's killing our people, Rome's killing our kids. That's what the natural eye would see. But then the revelation of Jesus Christ, they catch an apocalypse, they catch a vision of Jesus, and they realize Rome doesn't win. Rome doesn't have the final say, Caesar's not Lord, Jesus is on the throne, they see what's ultimate reality. God is still in control in the midst of our suffering, and it gives them courage to endure the hardships that they were going through. And so, again, for the first century Christians to whom this book was written, they didn't need a key to unlock the book because they they they they knew what was happening in their culture, they understood the whole culture of scripture, and so basically they they realized in this moment when they saw this opening line, the revelation of Jesus Christ, they said, This is what we need. We need fresh vision of Jesus, we need a fresh encounter with Jesus, we need a fresh understanding of what God is doing even in the midst of our suffering, and this book gave that to them. So the reason I believe revelation is also for the church today is because this. Are you here today and do you need fresh vision of Jesus in your life? If you're here and you do, if you need fresh vision of Jesus in your life today, the revelation is gonna give you that. Because it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus wants to give you fresh revelation and fresh vision for your life. Do you need a fresh encounter with Jesus? Are you like, man, I've been going to church, maybe even praying and reading my Bible a little bit, but I just feel like kind of spiritually, like I'm just spiritually bankrupt a little bit. I feel just like I'm spiritually just kind of like hitting rock bottom, and I don't know, like I'm still going through the motions. I'm not like denouncing my faith, but I'm just kind of like feeling empty. Do you need fresh vision for your life? Do you need fresh uh encouragement for your life and a fresh encounter? The revelation will do that for you. It will stir up your soul, it will wake you up to see what God is doing even in the midst of your complacency. Do you want to see clearly with fresh eyes what Jesus is doing in the world today? If that's you, if you're like, man, I want to know what's Jesus doing, what's he up to? Like what's he saying to his people today, what's he saying to his church today? What does this mean for us today? Then if that's what you want, then revelation is for you. And so again, at the end of the day, if the the revelation, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, if it produces fear in you, if reading this produces fear and anxiety, that is not from the Holy Spirit. That is not the intent or the purpose of this book. If that's what if that's what you're getting, it means you're reading it wrong. If reading this leads you to worship at the feet of Jesus, that means you're reading it right. If if reading this leads you to find hope even in the midst of your suffering and what you are going through, then now you are starting to see what Jesus wants you to see. Now you are seeing what this book was intended to do for the believers to whom it was originally written and what this book has done for believers who are facing hardship and persecution and trial and suffering like we all do throughout every single generation. And so if the revelation is, if if if what it is is to catch a heavenly perspective of what's happening on the earth, to have the curtain or the window opened up for us to be able to see what God is really doing. If that's what the revelation is, then today, in closing, I want to give you, I want to just set the stage for the whole rest of the series, and I want to give you the three primary unseen realities that are the bookends to the revelation. So again, if we want to understand the book as a whole, we have to understand that the beginning and the end of the story are what's going to fill in everything in the middle. And so the beautiful thing is we see here very clearly three present unseen realities, windows that Jesus is wanting us to see that a lot of people don't see in their time and in our time the three unseen realities of the revelation. The first one is this. If you're a note taker, I'd highly encourage, write these down. First one is this the first unseen reality is this Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. If we forget anything else in the for the rest of this book, remember this. This is what this is an unseen reality. Most people don't see it. Jesus wants you to see it. Jesus is coming. The this is bookends, beginning and end. I want you to see it for yourself. Revelation chapter 1, verse 7. It says this behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. So it opens. Hey, guess what? He's coming. And then at the end of the book, the final chapter, Revelation 22, in verse 7, 12, and 20, he says the same thing. I am coming quickly. Three times it's repeated, I am coming quickly. Surely I am coming, I am coming quickly. And so everything John sees in the revelation, in chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all the way through 22, it is all sandwiched between this unseen reality, which is Jesus is coming. And I want you to notice, he doesn't say he will come. He says he is coming. If someone says to me, hey, this person is gonna come to your house, I'll be like, Well, cool, I got I got time then. I know it's kind of messy right now. Like, I don't maybe it's in a few years, maybe it's a few days, I don't know. But if they say someone is coming right now, what does that mean? It means they're on their way. I'm like, dang, bro, I gotta get the house in order then, right? The unseen reality that even most of us, even myself most of the time, I don't acknowledge and see this reality. Jesus is coming. He's not sitting on his throne right now waiting to one day be released. No, he's on the way. He's already in motion. Like he is coming. And when when you see that, when when you see that reality, which most people don't see, most people live their lives as, well, my life's just kind of about me. I'm just kind of doing my thing, and maybe one day I'll say, no, no, Jesus is coming. Like, see that, understand that. Get that in you, that will wake you up to say, I gotta live my life a little bit different. I I need to figure some things out. I need to give my whole hearted devotion back to He's coming. That is the first reality, and I hope that that wakes you up today. I hope that you wake up each day and realize, wow, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming. That is the unseen reality of the apocalypse. The second unseen reality of the revelation is this the time is near. The time is near. And again, we see this book ends. The book opens and ends with these unseen three realities. The second one, the time is near. Look at Revelation 1:3. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written, for the time is near. The time is near. That's how the book opens. And then the book closes, chapter 22, verse 10. He says, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. So this is another unseen reality that most people don't see in their life. They're like, I got all the time in the world. I can just live my life how I want, I can just do my thing. And Jesus, the revelation says, No, the time is near. And some people read that and go, wait a second, Zav, though, wasn't what didn't John get this vision like 2,000 years ago? Didn't didn't Jesus say this? The time is near and like 2,000 years ago? So how can 20 centuries and two millennia be near? Like how can how can I trust this is real? Because he said it's near and yet thousands of years went by and it doesn't really seem like it. Well, the key to answer that question is to understand that the word John uses here for near is the exact same word that Jesus used when he first began his public ministry. The first thing that Jesus said, first words out of his mouth when he began his public ministry, John chapter or Mark chapter 1, verse 15, he said, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is near at hand. Same word in the Greek repent and believe the gospel. When Jesus came on the scene, he said the exact same thing. Hey, the time is near, the kingdom's near. And the reason for that is because the king was near. Jesus was the king. That's why he said the kingdom's near, because he said, I'm here, I'm on the earth, I'm present. And so if the first unseen reality is true, which is Jesus is coming, then the second one is true as well, which is that the time is near because he is on his way. And whether near means today, or whether it means tomorrow, or a week, or a month, or a year, or another thousand years, it is nearer than it has ever been every single day. So these words are true. So this is an unseen reality. Most people don't live their life thinking that the end is near, the time is near. Christ's coming is near. But when you see that and when you realize that, it does something in you. The revelation of Jesus, the unveiling to see that He's coming and it's near, it wakes you up. And that's what this book was intended to do. And then third and finally, I'll close with this the third and final unseen reality is that Jesus is the Alpha, the Omega, the first, the last, the beginning, and the end. And this is again how the book opens and closes. So everything in between, we're gonna keep these three realities. Jesus is coming, the time is near, and he is the beginning, the end, the first and the last, the alpha and the omega. Here's how the book opens the revelation chapter one, verse eight. He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. And then chapter 22, the revelation ends, the book ends. Again, that same unseen reality. 22, verse 13, he says, I am the Alpha, the Omega, the first, the last, the beginning, and the end. Now, a lot of people read that and say, What does that mean? What does it mean to be the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first, the last? And I want to read a quote from Eugene Peterson's book, uh, another amazing book on the revelation called Reverse Thunder. You could check that out if you want. Listen to what he says about this. He says, Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Omega is the last. Alpha and Omega include between them all the letters. Anything written must use the letters of the alphabet. God is all the letters of the alphabet. All that is written comes from who God is. A revealing God who is complete in Himself has given us a revelation of Himself, which is now complete. The beginning has a conclusion. First and last are both before us. The revelation is entire. The last word of Scripture has the effect then of all well-made conclusions. It gives clarity and sense to the beginning and the middle. What was unknown at the beginning and unfinished in the middle is now known and clear. He says a lot more about it, but the big idea is this there is not a single word or a single sentence or a single story or a single idea in all of human history that did not begin with God and that does not find its way back to him. Every thought you have ever thought, every word you have ever spoken, everything that has ever been processed in your brain, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega, it started with him. It's about him. It ends with him. Everything in all of creation, in all of humanity, in all of redemption and salvation, it begins and it ends with him. He is the beginning, which the word beginning there is arse, which is where we get archetype. He is the archetype, the prototype, the firstborn of creation. He is the beginning and the end. The end telos. Telos means the inherent destiny of all things. And so here's what this means: it means you could look back before the world was ever created, and the only thing that's ever been there is God. And you could look ahead to when this world will one day end, and the only thing that is guaranteed to be there will be God Himself. And you could look at every day of every human story throughout all of human history. You can look anywhere in between before and after, and God is standing in the middle of everything. He is the Alpha, He is the Omega, He is the first, the last, the beginning and the end. He is the archetype of all creation, and He is the destiny to which all creation and all humanity will return. Everything came from Him and everything will return to Him. And that is the unseen reality of the revelation. The world doesn't see it that way. The world says the beginning of me was me, and the end of me is me, and the middle of my life is me, and what I want to do. And the revelation says, that's not you've missed the point. You've missed it. The beginning of you was not you, the beginning of you was God. Because the scripture says that you were even fearfully and wonderfully made, you were knit together in your mother's womb. And the scripture says that at the end of your life, that all flesh will go, and we will go and we'll stand before God and give an account for beginning in it. It's Him. Like, like it or not, believe it or not, that is the reality that we live in. Your life began with God. Your life will end with God. That there is nothing you can do about that. That is the reality. The only thing that we do have, at least we have perceived control over, is the middle of the story. You had no control over the beginning, you have no control over the end, but you do have right now. You do have today. And what the revelation invites us into is will I see who he is today? Will I invite him into my story today? Will I allow him to show me today what is ultimate reality, what is truth, who I am and who he is? Your life began with him, and your life will go back to him. But what the revelation invites us into is today, finding him even in the middle of our story. And so today I just want to encourage you, and this is my prayer for our church, every single Sunday as we continue on this journey, that you would find space wherever you're at in the middle of your story, in the middle of your journey, for your heart to be softened and for your eyes to be opened to the revelation of Jesus Christ. That you would that you would see who he is. And just so you know, you don't have to wait till next Sunday to see who he is. I want to challenge our church to dive for yourself into the revelation in your own devotional time. The challenge I'm putting on myself is I want to read through the revelation every single week while we're in this series, one time through. Every week, start it over, start it over and just soak in it. And I want to encourage you and challenge you to do that too. If you do that, you will begin to have fresh revelation of Jesus. You will have fresh revelation and vision for your life and for what he's doing, and you will begin to see things for what they truly are. So as a church, would we continue to bring ourselves every day, every moment, submitting ourselves, surrendering ourselves under the revelation of Jesus Christ? Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the revelation. Thank you that you, God, have chosen to reveal who you are to us. And apart from revelation, all we have is speculation. Every world, religion in the world, all they have is speculation, God, but we have revelation. We have what you, God, have chosen to reveal of yourself to us. And God, I pray even today that there would be a fresh revelation of who you are, a fresh revelation of what you've done, a fresh revelation of the unseen reality that Jesus, you are coming. Not future, present. You're on your way, you're coming. That we would see behind that veil, we'd we'd see the reality that you're on the way and that the end is near. God, that we wouldn't, that we wouldn't believe the lie that I could just keep doing my thing forever and it's like I'm gonna be. No, no, that the end is near. And I I need to get my, I want to get right with the creator who created me, who was before me, who was after me, the beginning, the end, the alpha, the omega. Today, God. Today we come, we come back to you. Today we invite you back into the middle space. We invite you into the only part of our life that we think we have control over, and we say, God, I want to see you today. I don't want to just wait till the end to see you. I want to see you today. I want to know you today. And so, God, I pray for each person here that you would, and only you can do this, Holy Spirit, that you would open their hearts, that you would open their eyes, that you would open our minds, God, to see the revelation of who you truly are. God, we we we believe the lies of culture so much. We see what's just right in front of us and think that this is gonna be what's best for us. And we we're often missing your heavenly perspective. So, God, I just ask that even this week that we would find ourselves getting fresh vision of who you are through the revelation. I pray that the veil would be opened, and we know that that's already made available to us because the veil of your body was torn and the veil of the temple was torn. So now, God, the veil that's oftentimes over our eyes and heart, that can be torn and we can see what's reality because we know the work is already finished. And so, God, I pray today, fill us afresh with your spirit, give us fresh vision and encouragement and hope for what you're doing in our lives and in our church and in our community and in our families. And bless us as we go out. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Everyone said, Amen.