THE SEVEN TRUMPETS (4 OF 8)
Scripture: Revelation 8:1-13, Revelation 9:1-21, Revelation 10:1-11, Revelation 11:1-19
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The Seven Trumpets (4 of 8)
Series: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Dave Gustavsen
Revelation 8-11
We are taking a few months to walk through the book of Revelation. Unfortunately, Revelation has been misused in a lot of ways. Back in 1987, when I was in college, some well-meaning person handed me a book called ‘‘88 Reasons the Rapture will Happen in 1988.’’ It was based on this author’s interpretation of Revelation, and it sold lots of copies. It was a really bad book. But that’s a perfect example of how Revelation has been used to set dates and draw timelines and guess who the Antichrist might be. And that’s part of the reason I didn’t preach it for the first 25 years of my ministry-I didn’t want any part of that.
But I recently had a change of heart. Because as I looked at what’s happening in the world, I realized the message of Revelation is incredibly relevant right now. It was written around 95AD by John the Apostle, to a group of churches. And if I had to summarize the message, I would say this: The world is getting darker. Opposition to Christ and his church is getting stronger. But God is in control, and in the end God wins. So stand firm in your faith. I think we need to hear that now more than we ever have.
So today we come to a part of the letter that’s all about God’s judgment. For many of us, this is a topic we’d rather avoid. We love talking about God’s grace and forgiveness and mercy, but we get uncomfortable talking about God’s justice. And I believe that part of the reason for that discomfort is that most of us are pretty insulated from the suffering and injustice in our world.
Can I read you a quick news report? This is from The Guardian-a British newspaper-last week:
At least nine people have been killed and 37 injured after Russian forces launched multiple rocket strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in what appeared to mark a change in tactics by Moscow towards bombing civilian areas... [The mayor of the city] ...
Series: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Dave Gustavsen
Revelation 8-11
We are taking a few months to walk through the book of Revelation. Unfortunately, Revelation has been misused in a lot of ways. Back in 1987, when I was in college, some well-meaning person handed me a book called ‘‘88 Reasons the Rapture will Happen in 1988.’’ It was based on this author’s interpretation of Revelation, and it sold lots of copies. It was a really bad book. But that’s a perfect example of how Revelation has been used to set dates and draw timelines and guess who the Antichrist might be. And that’s part of the reason I didn’t preach it for the first 25 years of my ministry-I didn’t want any part of that.
But I recently had a change of heart. Because as I looked at what’s happening in the world, I realized the message of Revelation is incredibly relevant right now. It was written around 95AD by John the Apostle, to a group of churches. And if I had to summarize the message, I would say this: The world is getting darker. Opposition to Christ and his church is getting stronger. But God is in control, and in the end God wins. So stand firm in your faith. I think we need to hear that now more than we ever have.
So today we come to a part of the letter that’s all about God’s judgment. For many of us, this is a topic we’d rather avoid. We love talking about God’s grace and forgiveness and mercy, but we get uncomfortable talking about God’s justice. And I believe that part of the reason for that discomfort is that most of us are pretty insulated from the suffering and injustice in our world.
Can I read you a quick news report? This is from The Guardian-a British newspaper-last week:
At least nine people have been killed and 37 injured after Russian forces launched multiple rocket strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in what appeared to mark a change in tactics by Moscow towards bombing civilian areas... [The mayor of the city] ...
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