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Amen. We have so much to be thankful
for. There was a young girl who asked
me what the meaning of this picture here was. Were they bowing down
to idols or is this praying to God? This is a picture of early
Christians being killed basically for their faith under Nero. And
they are praying to God and looking forward to going to heaven, is
what that picture is about. So I just thought, just in case
there's others wondering, we'll set that wondering aside. The
reading, we've gotten to the next section, and that's actually
the last paragraph of our introductory principles. And it's on page
16 of your bulletins, reading from the majority text. I, John,
your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and
endurance in Christ Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on
account of the word of God and on account of the testimony of
Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day, and I heard a voice behind me, loud as a trumpet, saying,
Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches,
to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Berkamas, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia,
and to Laodicea. Amen. Father, we thank you for
this, your Word. We pray that as we study it,
that our lives would be conformed to it, that we would learn to
worship you with everything that is in us in every circumstance.
We commit this continued time of worship to you in Jesus' name.
Amen. You may be seated. I know some of you have been
reading through the book of Revelation every week and trying to do so
through the lens of the clues that we've been going through
in these introductory verses. Well, we've come to a couple
of new clues, three actually in verse 9. And in the process,
this verse, I believe, gives us a healthy philosophy of life. John was a companion, or more
literally, he was a fellow sharer in three things. Tribulation,
kingdom, and endurance. And we're only going to look
at the first of those three things, but they do belong together,
and I want to emphasize that in this introduction. Unfortunately,
there are many Christians who unhinge those three things, or
they go to the opposite extreme and they try to embrace those
three things without the strengthening power of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which ends the clause. John was a sharer in the tribulation
and kingdom and endurance, it says, in Christ Jesus. Okay, it was Christ's grace alone
that could enable John to be a sharer with those churches
and those three things. But back to the first extreme,
There are many modern Christians who view the kingdom as something
that completely excludes the ideas of tribulation or endurance. They think that they are mutually
exclusive concepts. And furthermore, they see the
kingdom as something that Christ exclusively does, not something
that we do by God's grace. And they don't see Satan's current
resistance to the kingdom. as being a resistance to the
kingdom. The very fact that there is resistance is proof to them
that we don't live during the time of the kingdom. But Beal's
commentary on Revelation shows how the one Greek article, the,
followed by three words, it's a special form of grammar, the
three are in the dative. if you know Greek, shows that
tribulation, kingdom, and endurance, they're all one unit of thought,
and the first century saints were going through all three,
and each word helps to interpret the other two. And even though
it refers to the first century, by way of application, it gives
us a general philosophy of life that extends even to our time. If you give up at the least resistance,
you've got a faulty view of the kingdom. Resistance and persecution,
they call for endurance. Now of course if Satan's not
resisting you, it's very probable you're not resisting Satan. Okay,
you're not resisting his kingdom. Those three words rise and fall
together in terms of the themes of this book and I believe they
must continue to define the believer. It's become very, very popular
in some circles to believe that Christians will not go through
the great tribulation, and that both tribulation and kingdom
are future to us. And then thirdly, that endurance
is optional. And it's not just the carnal
Christian theory that holds to this viewpoint. That's very distinctive
of dispensationalism. And they say that endurance and
obedience and repentance, that's optional for the Christian. If
you want to get rewards, yeah, you do that. You can get to heaven
on a free ticket even though you're living like the devil
and you're not enduring at all. But it's not just the carnal
Christian theory that is messed up on this. They name it and
claim it health and wealth prosperity gospel, which is really a false
gospel. has also bought into this idea
and it is made for a flabby Christianity that has had very little impact
upon culture despite the fact that millions upon millions of
dollars have been spent on various church programs. And I must say
that the idea that Christians are exempt from going through
tribulation is a weird American concept. There is no way you
would get The believers who were in North Korea to come up with
this idea, oh yeah, we're going to be raptured out of here, we're
never going to go through tribulation. No, they have endured unbelievable
tribulation, and you're not going to pawn off this idea of a pre-trib
rapture upon people in the past who managed to survive some of
the horrors of the Armenian genocide, or the genocide of the Kulaks
in Russia, or the Ukrainians, or the Cambodians. They all have
experienced the horrors of tribulation. Now granted it wasn't the great
tribulation, but it was tribulation nonetheless. And so in contrast
to modern American Christians who hold to a pre-trib rapture,
and who believe that we are not in the kingdom yet, and who believe
that there is no need to endure much of anything. John says that
he is a companion, and the Greek is literally a sharer together. Same word for communion really,
koinonia. He is a sharer together with
them in three things. He shares with them in the tribulation,
the kingdom, and the need to endure, and all through Christ
Jesus. All through Christ Jesus. And
today we're going to just focus on the first word, the Tribulation. Since John claims to be their
companion in the Tribulation, we should expect that the churches
have already been experiencing this Tribulation as well, and
they have. I want you to look, for example,
at Revelation 2, and verses 9 through 10. Jesus says, I know your works,
tribulation, and literally it's the tribulation, and poverty,
but you are rich, and I know the blasphemy of those who say
they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do
not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison
that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days.
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of
life so that church had already been experiencing some aspects
of the tribulation and there's the Greek article there the tribulation
but verse 10 says that they were going to have 10 days of it again
And this trouble, probably torture, would lead to death. And it is
one of many hints in this book that the Great Tribulation came
in stages and was not experienced everywhere in the empire with
equal severity. For example, if you flip over
to the next chapter, Chapter 3, verse 10 says to the church
of Philadelphia, because you have kept my command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial which is about
to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the
earth. So there was at least one church
that was spared from having to go through the tribulation. The
regional governor decided not to carry out Nero's commands.
But almost every other Christian experienced the tribulation.
We saw last week that it was worst in Israel from 62 through
66 AD, but it was worst in most parts of the empire from 64 through
68 AD. According to the Roman historians,
Nero engaged in arson in the city of Rome. He didn't like
the ramshackle way the city was laid out. He had plans to make
this a beautiful, concentric city so he was lighting arson
fires all over the city ended up burning the city down and
people knew it had to be Nero and when he started getting flack
and there were riots and different things like that he started getting
scared and his wife Jewish wife Papaya and other advisors urged
him to pin the blame on Christians And so that's what they did.
The Christians became the scapegoats and very, very intense persecution. I had already started earlier,
but it really took off. So anyway, there is another reference
to tribulation. Now, verse 22 speaks of great
tribulation. And if you turn over to chapter
7 and verse 14, You will see that term again. Chapter 7, verse 14. Verse 9, first of all, speaks
of a multitude which no man could number from all of the nations,
tribes, peoples, and tongues. And when John looks at them,
one of the elders talks to John and says this. Well, let's begin
reading at verse 13. Then one of the elders answered,
saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes and where did
they come from? And I said to him, sir, you know.
So he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great
tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. So John and the seven churches
had already experienced the Great Tribulation and it was about
to heat up for some churches and within two years, within
two years, a vast multitude of Christian Gentiles are predicted
to be martyred in chapter 7. Well when you once realize that
the Great Tribulation is not future to us, it was in the first
century, there are a lot of other things like dominoes that fall
into place or fall out of place depending on which perspective
you take. But suddenly you realize that
the all of the other connected things, the resurrection, the
imminent coming of Christ and judgment, there's a whole bunch
of things, first resurrection, coming of Christ and judgment,
that fall and hang together. So it's a very huge key to understanding
the book. So where do all mills, this is
the first question I want to answer. Where do all mills and
premills get the idea that the Great Tribulation is future to
us? Well there are four main things
that have led them to this conclusion and you can understand it when
you're looking at it from their perspective. The first is that
they have failed to distinguish between the Great Tribulation
of 62 through 66 AD and that came only upon Christians. and
the Great Wrath of 64 through, excuse me, 66 through
73 AD are the dates of the Great Wrath. And by the way, even some
partial preterists have confused these two events, but they are
quite distinct events, and because I spent so much time on it last
week, I'm not going to continue with them. But that's the first
error. They confuse the Great Tribulation with the Great Wrath.
The second thing that they can get confused about is that 1
Thessalonians 5 verse 9, which is a very key verse in their
theology, says that Christians are not appointed to wrath but
to salvation. So if they think that God's wrath
and the tribulation are the same thing, well it makes sense that
they're not going to go through the tribulation. If they're not
appointed to wrath, then they're not appointed to tribulation. So the first error, confusing
the great tribulation with the great wrath, leads to the second
error, that since Christians won't face God's wrath, they
won't have to face tribulation. That's a wrong conclusion. And
before we get to the third error, let me demonstrate that the second
error is contradicted over and over again in the Bible. For example, 1 Thessalonians
3, verse 4, says, for in fact, we told you before when we were
with you that we would suffer tribulation. There's no promise
to escape from the tribulation. In fact, it was a guarantee that
the church would suffer tribulation. In contrast, the church escaped
from the great wrath of God that is listed in your outline. They
didn't escape from tribulation, but they did escape from the
great wrath. Early church fathers tell us
that in obedience to Christ's command, and the church in Jerusalem
saw Jerusalem being surrounded by Roman armies, just like Luke
talked about, They did not go back down into their houses.
They didn't go back down to their fields. They immediately took
off and fled from the city. And remarkably, what happened
at this time is that the Jewish unbelieving factions, they thought
God was behind them. They ran out of the city. and attacked the Romans that
were out there. And by some strange, remarkable
providence of God, the Romans fled, and they were massacred. And this gave great hope to the
insurgents of Jerusalem, and it made them think God is behind
them, and they endured all the way through the war. but the
Christians who were fleeing at exactly the same time that the
others are running out of the city were not involved in that
conflict instead they were able to flee through a split in the
Mount of Olives which by the way you can see in maps even
today if you take a a Google map and look down at it, you
can see it. And they fled to the city through
the Mount of Olives to a city called Pella, where they were
protected for the duration of the war. So they were not appointed
to wrath. God was not angry with those
Christians. But they had clearly been experiencing
intense tribulation at the hands of Jews since 62 AD and they
had been experiencing general tribulation long before that. And the Greek term used in 1
Thessalonians 3 verse 4 is the term for nearness, mellow. Literally the text says, for
in fact we told you before when we were with you that we are
about to suffer tribulation. It was imminent when Paul was
with the Thessalonians. And I've listed a bunch of scriptures
in your outlines that show that Christians not only went through
general tribulation, but they were guaranteed to go through
the great tribulation. And I'm not going to do an in-depth
study of the distinctions that I've listed for you in the outline
there, but I think they're important at the end of that first major
heading point. It's important to keep in mind
there's a distinction between general tribulation that any
Christian can go through, the great tribulation which only
the first century saints went through sometimes called the
tribulation and then the great wrath which was against the unbelieving
ungodly Jews of the first century now doesn't mean that God doesn't
have wrath against other nations he does but that first century
fulfillment shows how God generally works So the first error, confusing
wrath and tribulation, leads to the second error, that since
Christians won't faith God's wrath, they won't face tribulation. But the third reason Amils and
Premils believe the Great Tribulation has to be in the future, is that
Jesus made this prediction in Matthew 24 verse 21. For then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those
days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's
sake those days will be shortened. They think it just can't be true
that the greatest tribulation that the world will ever see
happened in the first century A.D. They think that just can't
be true whether you think the tribulation involves Christians
or Jews or Gentiles or all three mixed together. Surely the tribulation
that Chinese Christians faced under Mao was a whole lot greater.
Surely the tribulation Christians faced under Stalin was greater. How do I answer that? Well, to
the Amillennialists, we would say that the phrase, nor ever
shall be, you know, until this time, nor ever shall be, indicates
that there is history after the tribulation, right? Whereas the
Amillennialists say, that the Great Tribulation will be the
last three and a half years of world history. There is no history
after their views. That doesn't make any sense out
of nor ever shall be. So the immediate context speaks
against the Aumil view, but the context of the whole chapter
speaks against any futurist view on the Great Tribulation. Let
me just deal with their insistence that there is no historical evidence
at the first century tribulation was greater than the tribulation
faced by Christians in the last two centuries, say. And by the
way, many people see the tribulation as not having to do with Christians
at all. They see the tribulation as being strictly applied to
the Jews, and so they will say, look, The tribulation that Jews
went through in the first century, certainly it was great, but it
couldn't possibly be as great as the tribulation that they
went through under Hitler. Six million Jews being killed. That's their objection. Now once
we get through this book, you will have no such illusion, but
let me remind you of a quick hint that we've already given.
Prior to the war Jews constituted 15% of the entire Roman population. Various historians have looked
at the census figures 15% of the entire Roman population and
after the war they were negligible. So even if you hold to the six
million figure of number of Jews that died under Hitler, which
the Red Cross, by the way, absolutely thought was impossible, impossible
figure. But let's say that it is true. It appears that the Holocaust
in the first century was still greater. The Bible Encyclopedia
says the Jews were almost exterminated, unquote. The Jews were almost
exterminated. And several other scholars have
said the same thing. It was massive. And in fact,
it wasn't just millions of Jews who died. Millions of other nationalities
died throughout the empire during that seven-year period. So if
you include the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Christians in the equation
of the Great Tribulation, as many, many books do, It is a
staggering picture of death and destruction. Now, as you know,
I don't hold to that. I hold that the Great Tribulation
was only against Christians. So the burden of proof on me
is much more difficult than it would, say, be with David Chilton
or with Kenneth Gentry, who kind of lump the two together. Was there really a greater number
of Christians slain under Nero than under Islam or communism? And I have a number of points
designed to answer the skeptics. First of all, Paul promised that
the tribulation, the tribulation, was about to happen. The word
mellow requires that it be first century. 2,000 years later is
not about to happen, okay? So that automatically rules out
their view that it's still future to us. Jesus promised that the
great tribulation would happen before that generation then living
would pass away in fact in the verse that deals with that great
tribulation it says no greater than up to what this time nor
ever shall be so again even there he's indicating that it's a first
century concept so no matter what historical evidences are
available or are not available those biblical statements should
be sufficient But history makes it quite clear that multiplied
millions of Christians were tortured in the most hideous ways and
killed for their faith between the years 62 and 68 AD. B.H. Warmington examined the
secular evidence of persecution of Christians in Rome, the city
of Rome, for example, and he believed, quote, that almost
the entire Christian community at Rome was destroyed. The Right
Honorable Charles Kendall Bush expands this and says that Tacitus
and Suetonius show that, quote, Christians were persecuted and
almost exterminated by Nero. I mean, it's no wonder that chapter
7 says the number of martyrs from among the Gentile Christians
was an innumerable multitude, more than any man could number. And it's no wonder that Jesus
said that the Great Tribulation would have to be cut short or
no one would survive. For the sake of the elect, he
says, he's cutting it short. Otherwise, none of them would
have survived. So it was massive. And Daniel
prophesied that what would happen before 70 AD was exactly this tribulation,
exactly the almost extermination of Christians. That's Daniel
chapter 7. So everything about the kingdom
before 70 AD was provisional on what Christ had done in his
life, death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation. Just think of
it like Joshua's conquest of Canaan. Forty years before he
was given the land of Canaan, but he has to take the conquest
of Canaan, possess his possessions. In the same way, Christ is given
the kingdom at his ascension, but 40 years later, that's the
beginning of the possessing of their possessions around the
world. But it wasn't just the numbers
of Christians that make this the greatest tribulation, it
was how widespread this tribulation was. There was no nation in the
known world that this tribulation did not extend to. Revelation
speaks of a first century multitude of martyrs from all nations,
tribes, peoples, and tongues. And of course Jesus had predicted
that exactly this would happen within a generation of His death.
Matthew 24 verse 9, Jesus says, then they will deliver you up
to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by what?
By all nations for my name's sake. And even amillennialists,
by the way, and most historic premillennialists say, verse
9 has to be first century. So there is something in first
century, a tribulation that's extensive enough you could say
all nations were engaged in it. But this brings us to the fourth
reason that premills and omnils believe that tribulation is future
to us. In fact, you can turn there if
you want. It's Matthew 24. and verse 14 and following, make
clear that the gospel had to go into all the world and be
heard by every nation before the great tribulation could occur. And they say, look, Kaiser, the
gospel hasn't even to this day gone to every tribe and nation.
There's still many nations that have not heard the truth of the
gospel, you know, primitive cultures. and tongues that are out there,
and therefore the great tribulation still has to be future to us.
Every nation has to hear the gospel before the tribulation
can occur. And it's actually an interesting
point. So look at Matthew 24, and we've already looked at the
context last week of what the tribulation was all about, but
I want you to notice their objection from verse 14. Verse 14 says,
and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. And
it goes on to talk about the tribulation. They claim that
the gospel was not preached in all of the world prior to 62
AD, so our interpretation of the imminency passages surely
must be mistaken in some way. Or maybe there's a double fulfillment
is what some people say. We still haven't had the gospel
preached to all the nations. You see their argument? It's
actually their best argument. This is a really good argument
on their behalf, but I think it is quite easily disposed of.
The first problem is that it still doesn't take seriously
the imminency passages that are in every passage of the Old and
the New Testaments that deal with this thing. It ties it to
the first century. And I'm just going to read you
one once again. It's verse 34. Well, I'll just
remind you of it. Verse 34 of this passage says
that everything, all these things he's just finished talking about
in verses 4 through 33, all of these things had to happen before
this generation passed away. okay that includes the gospel
being preached in all the nations that had to happen before this
generation could pass away in a generation is 40 years so it
had to happen by 73 AD of course they have an answer and their
answer is that this generation is not at all referring to the
generation of Jesus He said, look at the context, they say,
the generation that would be living when the fig tree of verse
32 starts blossoming. And premillennialists say that
the fig tree is a symbol for Israel and it refers to Israel
coming back into the land. So earlier, premills believed
the fig tree was the Balfour Declaration that said to the
Jews, we're making a land available for you, a state of Palestine
that you can move into. And that was in 1917. Well, you
count forward 40 years, 1957, when the tribulation hadn't happened
yet. They thought, well maybe it's
not the Balfour Declaration, maybe it's when Israel actually
became a state in 1948, and thus the name of a book, 88 Reasons
Why Christ Must Come Back in 1988. Well when that didn't happen,
they thought, well maybe it's the Six Day War in Israel. But
in 2007, 40 years after 1967, it came and went and they are
beginning to realize this is really problematic to try to
put it in the future. In any case, they're missing
the point. The point is not that the fig tree symbolizes Israel
here because the parallel, and Luke says this, look at the fig
tree and all the trees. He's not just focusing on a fig
tree. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. So he's using
an analogy of any tree that buds. When it starts budding, you know
that summer is going to be coming soon. So he says, look at those
trees. When they're already budding,
you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you
also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom
of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this
generation will by no means pass away till all these things take
place. notice he says when you see these
things happening what things the things he's been talking
about in the previous verses he's not talking about Israel
becoming a nation or Israel winning a six-day war that's not even
mentioned in the all of it discourse he's talking about the earlier
verses when you see the things predicted then know that it is
near and All of those happened to a T in the first century.
But more importantly, the phrase this generation never once in
all of scripture refers to a future generation. And I can give you
numerous scriptures that I've written down here that this generation
refers to a generation that's talking about the generation
that Jesus was living in when he spoke that phrase. So it's
a twisting of language to put it off into the future. Okay,
so that's the first. Argument that I would give second
the word world or oikumene is defined by the dictionary as
quote the world as Administrative unit the Roman Empire unquote
and if you don't define it that way you get yourself into trouble
with a number of scriptures like Luke chapter 2 verse 1 that says
that Caesar Augustus taxed the whole world Oikoumene, same Greek
word here. Well, unless you're willing to
say that Caesar Augustus taxed North America and China, then
you need to be fair and use the same approach to Matthew 24,
not use one more extensively than you would use the other.
You can't insist that it means the whole planet Earth in Matthew
24, 14. I'm not actually dogmatic on
what the word means there. It probably refers to the Roman
world, oikumene. But thirdly, I point out even
if you were to take it as a reference to every nation in the whole
globe, You still need to deal with the exegetical evidence
and the historical evidence that by 70 AD the gospel had reached
every nation in the whole world in some sense of the term. For
example, Acts 2 verse 5 says about Pentecost, And there were
dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under
heaven. Wow, that's pretty universal.
Every nation under heaven? So even if you want to take Matthew
24 verse 14 literally, you would still have to say that it was
fulfilled in the first century because men from every nation
under heaven get converted. They have the gospel, right?
Acts 2, 5, and numerous other scriptures say so. In fact, I'm
going to actually have you turn with me because this is something
that may be a bit skeptical of. But turn first of all to Colossians
chapter 1 and verse 6. Now this verse uses the term
cosmos which often does refer to the whole planet. Oikumene
is only a reference to the Roman Empire. But cosmos often does
apply to the whole planet even though it doesn't need to. And
yet Paul claims that the gospel has gone to every part of the
cosmos. And actually let me start reading
at verse 5. because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world,
all the cosmos, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among
you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth."
The gospel, he says, had already gone out to the whole world.
Now take a look at verse 23, Colossians 1-23. If indeed you
continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved
away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached
to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Now the last clause probably
should not be translated to every creature, probably should be
as most versions have it, in, not to, it's the Greek word en,
in the whole creation under heaven. But either way, it's incredibly
universal terms. World and every part of creation
under heaven. Now did that really happen? Well,
there's a lot of historical evidence that it may indeed have happened. By 66 AD, the apostles and other
Christians had brought Christianity to Europe, Russia, China, India,
Africa, Asia, Britain, and a whole bunch of other countries. The
ancient history books tell us that all of the Christians in
some of those regions were completely wiped out in those days and the
apostles themselves were martyred. So there's a sense in which even
these nations that are outside of the Roman Empire were part
of the Great Tribulation because it was exactly the same time
period. And we need to understand it's not just Nero. This was
a demonic, satanic attempt to wipe out Christianity completely
in the first century. But anyway, it's astounding how
far the gospel reached if we can believe the historians of
the first few centuries. Now I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 1 and take a look at verse 8. First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. The word used
here is cosmos. It's often more universal than
Roman Empire, and yet Paul says that news about the Roman church
had gone throughout the whole world. Now however you interpret
that, whether literally or non-literally, it is the same kind of universal
language used in Matthew 24. And it shows that in Paul's mind,
Matthew 24 verse 14 was already fulfilled when he wrote Romans.
Look at Romans 10 and verse 18. Paul in this verse
quotes a prophecy as proof that all the Gentiles had to hear
the gospel before Israel would be judged. In other words, before
the great wrath. And in that chapter, the judgment
of Israel was very soon. But anyway, verse 18 says, but
I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed. Their sound has
gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the
world. Turn over to Romans 16. and verses 25 through 26. Now to him who was able to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ
according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since
the world began but now made manifest and by the prophetic
scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment
of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. So we've seen that
prior to the first century tribulation The gospel had already gone to
all nations, to the whole oikumene, to the whole cosmos, and to all
creation under heaven. Now with such universal language,
I don't know how anyone can say that Matthew 24 verse 14 has
not yet been fulfilled. Paul explicitly says that it
has. So however you take the universal
language, they fit together like hand and glove. Now, we've seen
so far that it was the greatest tribulation of Christians ever
because of the numbers involved. Secondly, because of the percentage
of Christians that faced this tribulation, virtually all of
them. Third, the fact that it extended to every nation of the
known world. But fourthly, it was the greatest
in terms of the widespread infliction of torture. Now, Christians have
been tortured all through the centuries for their faith. but
never on the grand scale that Nero took it to. I won't read
you the most sickening and perverted ways in which these tortures
by Nero happened. And as I mentioned before, it
wasn't just Nero. He sent commands out everywhere,
and it seems even beyond where his authority extended, it seems
like Satan was doing his utmost to stamp out Christianity. But even the tame reports of
the Roman historian Tacitus use words like exquisite tortures,
extreme punishment, glut of cruelty that happened to virtually all
which he describes as an immense multitude. That's tacitus. Some of what was described by
the early historians is not fit to be spoken from the pulpit,
but suffice it to say Nero was not satisfied. It was like he
had a craving for more and more sadistic cruelty. He was constantly
trying to come up with new and unusual ways of torturing and
killing Christians. Some were torn apart by dogs
and other animals. Others were tortured by fire.
Others were covered with tar and put all over the place on
his palace grounds and he would invite people to parties, orgies
really, and he would light these Christians to illuminate the
parties. They were candles, so to speak.
The guy was sick. He was a demon-possessed man
and none of the tortures after Nero can compare to the sadistic
and twisted things that he did to multiplied millions who died
under his hands. By the way, the demon that made
Nero so beast-like must have been a very very horrible demon
because God had confined him to the bottomless pit up until
the beginning of this tribulation and he was confined to the pit
cast back down into the pit after this great tribulation so it
must have been a particularly vicious kind of a demon And if
you didn't realize that there was a demon called the beast
who came up and possessed Nero, read Revelation chapter 11 verse
7 and chapter 17 verse 8 because both passages talk about the
beast that came up out of the bottomless pit. Well, what comes
out of the bottomless pit? It's demons, right? It's not
humans who come up out of the bottomless pit. And he was cast
back into the bottomless pit when his work was done. And we'll
look at that more when we get into chapter 11, chapter 17,
and the whole issue of how do you deal with the demonic? How
do you overcome Satan when there is demonic affliction against
you? So any angle that you look at the tribulation, and let me
list the nine angles we've covered so far. First of all, it's precursors. Second, its connection to the
beginning of the kingdom. Third, its imminency. Fourth,
the fact that John was experiencing the tribulation. Fifth, the seven
churches were experiencing the great tribulation. Sixth, the
extent of it in every nation. Seventh, the numbers of Christians.
Eighth, the percentage of Christians who suffered. And the ninth,
the external testimony to it. Every angle you might look at
the Tribulation, it meets all the criteria, all of the definitions
of every passage that deals with the Great Tribulation. It is
not future. It is past. But because of the
way that all of these 30 interpretive points that we've been looking
at kind of hang together, and it's actually more than 30 because
I've divided up some of them, but if the tribulation is passed,
the first resurrection that we looked at last week is passed.
Not the second resurrection, but the first. The imminency
passages about Christ's coming and judgment are passed. The
kingdom is started, which is the subject we'll look at next
week. You settle firmly in your mind one of these and the other
connected pieces, they fall in place. Now before I end the sermon,
I want to emphasize that just because the greatest tribulation
ever has already occurred does not mean that Christians are
exempt from tribulation. It is critically important that
we not buy into the health and wealth gospel that promises prosperity
and healing and comfortable living to all who live by faith. I'm
just blown away how many times that Rodney and Gary and I, without
even talking with each other, our talks kind of mesh together.
But this just ties in perfectly with Rodney's introduction. But
Matthew 13, 21 says that if Christians are not prepared to face tribulation,
it is likely that they will stumble. Okay, let me read that. Matthew
13, 21, Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for
a while. For when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. You will get disillusioned
if you have the impression that believing in Jesus fixes all
of your problems and removes any possibility of things going
wrong. You know, when I was a teenager, there was a TV ad that Christians
were putting out that was kind of a takeoff from the Pepsi ad. And it was saying about Christianity,
try it, you'll like it. Okay, try it, you'll like it. Now, there's a certain element
of truth to that statement, because in Christ, we do have joy, we
do have satisfaction, but we also have tribulation, we have
suffering. And it is simply false advertising
to not tell those that you are witnessing to about the cost
of discipleship. Jesus did it with everybody.
He told them, you can't even be my disciple if you're not
willing to pick up your cross and follow me. What does it mean
to pick up your cross? It means that you're willing
to die on my behalf. Certainly it means that you're
willing to suffer on your behalf. And sometimes the greatest tribulation,
which is a word that just means trouble, The greatest tribulation
to new converts is fighting against the intense urgings of the flesh
and defeating those urgings. Wow, can that be tough. It is
a kind of tribulation. It is very troubling in the earlier
stages until you finally gain mastery over them. If you are
suffering right now, you have joined a worthy crowd of saints
from the past who have suffered for Christ's sake. And it's important
to be convinced that no one is absolutely exempt from tribulation
and trouble. Paul assured the Thessalonians
that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,
2 Thessalonians 3.12. As long as Satan is not yet bound
in the pit, and I don't think he's bound in the pit yet, as
long as there's any demons around on this planet Earth, they're
going to do everything that they can to destroy Christianity.
And we're seeing exactly that as you see persecutions of Christians
around the world. Now there is coming a time of
peace when every demon, Satan and every demon, will be bound
in the pit. But even then, you're still going
to have your flesh to contend with. And in this book, all Christians
are called to be overcomers and to endure. It occurs over and
over again in this book. And that's the third thing that
John shared with these saints, endurance. We'll look at it,
Lord willing, next week. Take kingdom and endurance together
because Your conception of the kingdom requires endurance. And if it doesn't, you've got
a faulty view of the kingdom. And the same with tribulation.
It requires endurance. But let's embrace God's call
to pursue first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, even
if it means suffering. God promises a crown of life
to those who endure. In Revelation 2, verse 10, he
says, do not fear any of those things which you are about to
suffer, Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into
prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation
ten days. Be faithful until death, and
I will give you the crown of life." But my final admonition
is that you not try to endure in your own strength. Christ
has promised to help you through it. The first full clause ends
with the words, In Christ Jesus. We should not approach any of
these subjects just in ourselves. It is only in Christ Jesus that
we have the strength to face tribulation, to pursue the kingdom
with all of our hearts, and to endure until we see the victory.
And so make sure that even tribulation is approached from a firm dependence
upon Jesus Christ. Our whole life must be lived
by faith in Him and in His provision. May it be so, Lord Jesus. Amen. Father, we thank you for your
word and the warnings that it gives. That it does not promise
us all a happy-go-lucky life. That there
are sorrows, there are griefs, there are troubles that Christians
go through. And even during the millennium,
there's going to be the sorrows of death. And there are going
to be the sorrows of fighting against our flesh and seeking
to gain the victory. And I pray that you would help
each one here to be forearmed and realize that we are called
to endure trouble, to endure difficulties, to endure tribulation. And Father, may they do so by
your strength. May they constantly, daily, moment
by moment, live in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and
be able to have Paul's testimony that it is not I, but Christ
living through me that accomplishes our Christianity. May we not
live our Christian life by what our own flesh could accomplish,
but may we be more like the Sermon on the Mount, accomplishing things
that it takes grace alone to be able to do. Help us, Father,
to not minimize our Christianity and to not have a flabby Christianity,
but vibrant in the power of Your Holy Spirit to be overcomers
and to endure. We pray all of this in Jesus'
name. Amen.
Divine Guidance for Understanding Revelation, Part 12
Series Revelation
This sermon shows how John shared the experience of "the tribulation" with the seven churches. This deals with most of the controversies surrounding the great tribulation and the great wrath. In the process it also gives us a Biblical philosophy for facing tribulation by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
| Sermon ID | 9932416184360 |
| Duration | 49:18 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Revelation 1:9 |
| Language | English |
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