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Revelation: The Book of the End

CONNIE: It’s time for the credits to roll at the end of earth’s history, don’t you think? Will your name be there? Join us today as we consider the book of Revelation—The Book of the End!

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko.
Connie, the theme song we play at the beginning of our broadcast each week is “Lift up the Trumpet.” It’s been Voice of Prophecy’s theme for as long as anyone can remember. And of course the message of that song is “Jesus is coming again!” And coming soon!

CONNIE: That’s the Christian’s blessed hope, of course. It’s about time for things to get “wrapped up” here on our tired old planet. And the book of Revelation—right at the end of the Bible—tells us how things are finally going to end up, doesn’t it?

LONNIE: It’s interesting that it’s the book at the end, and very much the book about the end, too. To begin our program today, we want to get a quick overview of the book—how it’s put together, what its major themes are—and then in my sermon today I want to focus especially on just how the book wraps up earth’s history—with a good ending, a just, but caring, ending.

CONNIE: For an overview of the subject, we turn to Professor Kendra Haloviak of La Sierra University. Ken Wade spoke with her.

KEN: I want to welcome Dr. Kendra Haloviak of La Sierra University, at the school of religion over there, welcome!

KENDRA: Thank you.

KEN: Now, you’ve recently finished your doctoral dissertation looking at the book of revelation in particular, and of the structure of how it’s read. What was this book originally intended as?

KENDRA: I’m fascinated that after the book begins the Revelation of Jesus Christ, 2 verses later in chapter 1:3, it says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud”, and it seems to me that it is a book that assumes it’s going to be read in community, as believers are gathered in worship. So the first century Christians are reading this in the spirit of worship.

KEN: I appreciated you pointing out that it’s a revelation of Jesus Christ, and I guess that puts a whole new picture in my mind when you talk about somebody standing up in front and reading this, and perhaps doing a dramatic reading of the book of Revelation, that would be an intense experience wouldn’t it?

KENDRA: I think so, and I have had the opportunity of this experience reading the book through with my students from beginning to end, and it’s always a very moving experience.

KEN: You mentioned earlier, that there are quite a few hymns apparently in the book of Revelation.

KENDRA: Yes, 16 hymns.

KEN: So it’s almost like an interactive worship service.

KENDRA: It really is. It’s an opportunity all through out the narrative for many voices to join together in the celebration of the good news of Jesus.

KEN: Wow! So if a person is sitting down to read the book, what sort of counsel would you give them, what is the best advice on how to read this and get the most out of it?

KENDRA: I would first want to not neglect that first phrase and that is that this book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, it’s not primarily the Revelation of scary things or bad news, it’s primarily the Revelation of good news, which is what Jesus the Lamb has done. So that’s a very critical starting point, and yes there are going to be some frightening passages, but for those who are standing with the Lamb this book is good news from beginning to end.

KEN: I’ve always been intrigued by the first part of the book in chapter 4 when it says, there is someone looking to open the scroll and it speaks about the lion and when he turns around he doesn’t see a lion, he sees a lamb. Is that of importance?

KENDRA: Absolutely! Revelation 5 you have this very dramatic scene where John the Revelator is actually weeping because nobody has been found worthy to open the scroll and he desperately wants it opened, and then the lion has conquered, and the verb there insinuates that he has conquered not just something but everything. So John the Revelator turns to see this lion that has conquered everything that had needed to be conquered and he sees a lamb…

KEN: …A lamb that has be slain.

KENDRA: The Christians that would be reading this would immediately know that this was referring to the sacrifice of the Lamb on Calvary.

KEN: How dramatic it would be to read that.

KENDRA: It really is amazingly done.

KEN: You mentioned that the lion has conquered everything and that’s kind of characteristic of this book isn’t it?

KENDRA: Yes, and this type of literature called apocalyptic literature; which is a word that means revealing or unveiling, this kind of literature takes and idea and shows its cosmic dimensions, it takes Jesus dying on Calvary and shows the sacrifice of the one who will redeem the whole globe and beyond. So, it has the widest canvass being painted, and it takes the person that we have been reading about in the Gospels, the man of Galilee, the teacher, preacher, and healer and shows Him as the conqueror of the world through sacrifice.

KEN: We’ve read the little piece about Jesus where He had moved 30 miles from His home and that sort of thing, and now it takes that and puts it for the whole universe.

KENDRA: The writer of the book of Revelation is taking the Gospel story and showing the cosmic importance.

KEN: So, if a person is sitting down to read Revelation what words of counsel would you give them?

KENDRA: The book of Revelation says that the End, with a capitol E, is good news. I know that my friends, my neighbors, my church members desperately need to hear that the end is good news.

KEN: Particularly in times where people are afraid of what is going to come next.

KENDRA: Absolutely, and the book of Revelation say’s that the end is in God’s hands, and that it ends with the new Jerusalem coming down, and the tears being wiped from our eyes. That’s the end, it’s not a dreadful fearful end, it’s an end where God becomes one with His creation.

KEN: And everybody said amen, right?

KENDRA: I do.

KEN: Amen! Thanks so much for being hear with us on our show today.

KENDRA: Thank you!

CONNIE: Thanks, Kendra and Ken for that overview of the book of Revelation, and thanks to the National Christian Choir for that short reprise of the book of Revelation: We Will Glorify the King of Kings.

LONNIE: Of course if you’d like to dig a bit deeper in the prophecies of the last book of the Bible, we recommend our prophecy correspondence course called “Focus on Prophecy.” You can enroll in this course and receive the lessons through the mail for free, anywhere in the U. S. or Canada.

CONNIE: And one of our current projects is to make this course available on our web site, VOP.COM, as well. In fact we hope it will be ready by the time this program airs—but we can’t guarantee it.

LONNIE: We’d really encourage you to study these powerful lessons focusing on the great prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, either by correspondence or on the web, so stop by our web page. If you find the course there, you can be one of the first to enroll.

CONNIE: Or write to us at Voice of Prophecy, Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053, and ask to be enrolled in the correspondence course Focus on Prophecy. From Canada you can write to Box 2127, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7V4.

LONNIE: We’ll give those mailing addresses again in a moment, so you might want to get a pencil ready.

CONNIE: But right now, let’s listen to Lonnie’s message for today, “Revelation: the Book of the End.”


Revelation: The Book of the End

Do you enjoy reading a good “revenge story?” Something like Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, where the hero at first suffers injustice at the hands of an evil antagonist, but in the end, he or she comes out on top and gets even?

There must be a lot of people who enjoy a good story like that. Because it’s certainly one of the most popular genres in Hollywood. You know—the type of movie where they bring up the violins at the end as the hero strides off into the sunset, having finally brought justice to an unjust world.

It’s just human nature to want to see the tables turned on people who take advantage of others, isn’t it?

Well, if that’s the type of story you like—you ought to love Revelation! It’s the book at the end of the Bible—it’s the book where the violins play with gusto—along with a lot of trumpets and harps!

But it’s not always a pretty picture.

Because the history of our world has not always been a pretty picture. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Ever since Eve first bought into the devil’s great lie that she could become like God by declaring her independence from God, things have gone from bad to worse to worse yet.

When Adam chose to accept Satan’s lie in place of God’s truth, rulership of this planet changed hands, a placard was hung out on its door stating “Under New Management,” and everything went downhill from there. Because now, instead of people yielding control to a loving God who had the best interests of His creation at heart, they yielded to the rebel warlord, bent on destruction of everything good that God had ever made.

As this message goes out over the airwaves, I have just recently returned from holding evangelistic meetings on the great continent of Africa, and as our team prepared for our work over there, we read extensively, trying to familiarize ourselves with the situation of those we would be meeting and sharing the gospel with.

I have to tell you, it just broke my heart, so often, to hear of the suffering that had come upon people in Liberia, Angola, Congo, and other countries as a result of civil war. As a direct result of rebel armies trying to steal away the wealth of the nation for their own nefarious agendas. Whole villages wiped out as opposing armies, often made up of little boys—orphan soldiers— fought for control of diamond mines or gold mines or oil reserves.

The suffering and bloodshed have been terrible, and it just makes you long for a day when everything will be made right. When true, honest, caring, and just rulers will overthrow any who have a self-centered agenda.

Closer to home, corporate America in recent years has been wracked again and again by scandals in the penthouse offices—where top-level managers have found ways to become wealthy beyond imagination while raiding the pension funds of the people at the bottom of the ladder, then casting them out on the street, penniless and jobless.

When you see that kind of thing, it makes you cry out for justice, doesn’t it?

And that, my friend, is what the book of Revelation—the Book of the End—is all about.

I’m not sure what kind of a rating Revelation would get if it were made into a movie. There’s a lot of violence in it. There’s a lot of illicit sex. Prostitutes and other fornicators have some pretty major roles.

But that’s just because the Bible is not in the habit of mincing words when it describes the slough of sin that our world has sunk into. And so, when Revelation pictures the final scenes of earth’s history, there’s bound to be some rather graphic details we might prefer to ignore or skip over.

But God doesn’t gloss them over. He wants us to know that He knows just how bad it has been down here since Satan took the reigns.

But He also wants us to know that He’s not going to let things go on like that for ever. There is an end in sight.

I’d like to focus on two key texts as we look at the message of this Book of the End. One is found in chapter 16, verse 7. Here it is, from the New Revised Standard Version:

“And I heard the altar respond,

‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty,

Your judgments are true and just!’ ”

Have you ever heard of a talking altar? Why is it the altar before the throne of God that makes this proclamation about God’s justice—proclaiming that His judgments are true and just?

There’s one clue in Revelation 8:3. Listen to this description of the altar and what is on the altar: “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne” (NKJV).

Here’s another clue, found in Revelation 6:9, 10: “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ ” (NKJV).

The altar is the depository of the prayers of all the saints who have been treated unjustly, killed and tortured for their faith. It is the place in heaven where all the cries for justice that have ascended from this tired old earth have been collecting for millennia. It is a place filled with coals of fire of the anger of God at all the unjust things that have been done on earth. And Revelation pictures a time when that fiery feeling will finally be released against all the unrepentant perpetrators of injustice.

But the altar represents something else as well.

Because an altar is always a place of sacrifice.

It’s the place where the lamb—sacrificed to bring forgiveness—was laid every day. Just outside the temple that represented the dwelling place of God.

The altar is a place for forgiveness.

The altar is Mt. Calvary. The place where the Lamb of God died to bear the burden of all the hatred, injustice, and sin that has ever blighted the face of this planet.

The altar is where every sinner can go to have the weight of sin removed, to have the stain of blood bleached from their clothing by the blood of the Lamb! When John the Revelator sees the redeemed of earth, they are described as those who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14, NKJV).

So the altar before the throne of God is the meeting place of the two greatest forces that have played out their battle here on planet earth: The force of selfishness versus the force of selflessness.

Every rebel has been invited to lay down his arms, to cease her rebellion, to repent and lay all their sins on the altar. And for those who have accepted the invitation, the sins have been placed there. They have been taken up by the Lamb of God. And He has died for those sins. Allowed them to be burned up on the altar. They will never again trouble this universe.

But for those who have said NO to God. Who have refused to repent. Who have said “I don’t need a Savior. I’m good enough on my own.” The sins have not been placed upon the altar. They still have to be burned up, though. And they will be. Unfortunately, those sins will be burned up while they are still attached to the unrepentant sinners who clung to them.

That’s why there are so many plagues and so much fire and bloodshed in the book of Revelation. It’s just picturing the natural outcome of the titanic struggle that has gone on down here on earth. Revelation pictures God’s last great call to all who dwell on earth to repent of their rebellion and bow down and worship their Creator. And that’s the key text I’d like to focus on today. It’s found in Revelation 14:7, in the call of a great angel flying in heaven, crying out to the whole world: “ ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ ” (NRSV).

Revelation gives the call to come back to God. And, to demonstrate the importance of our decision in relation to God, it also pictures the result of not surrendering to God.

I’m glad that it’s on the alter that, final decision about justice is made, aren’t you? It’s there—where you and I have the chance to be rid of our sins day by day, moment by moment, that the final examination of the rightness and wrongness of what God has done and what people have done will have to pass muster.

And Revelation says the altar proclaims the justice of God.

Because Calvary proclaims the justice of God. Because that is where sin and Satan met their match. Where hatred was conquered by love. Where rebellion showed its true fruits and love gave itself to redeem all who would accept redemption.

Revelation spends a lot of words describing the final working out of justice against those who refuse God’s forgiveness.

But it doesn’t end that way. The Bible doesn’t end that way. Oh, no, my friend. Revelation, the Book of the End, closes with a glorious, wonderful picture of justice from its positive side: The rewards of righteousness. The good things in store for those who turn to God and make Him their king on a daily basis.

After witnessing judgment and justice meted out against those who wanted no part with God, the apostle John saw another vision—one I’d rather spend my time thinking about. Because it’s nice to have justice done. But the violins and trumpets and harps can’t play their triumphant music unless the justice also includes a reward for the good guys. So that’s what Revelation ends with. That infact, is what the Bible ends with. John’s vision of the good side of justice. Listen to these verses from the last of chapters two the Bible:

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. . . . 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away’ ”

“And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.’ ”

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yeilding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curses, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 21:1, 3, 4, 6, 7; 22: 1-5, NKJV).

There’s been a lot of darkness, and a lot of death on our planet. And Revelation doesn’t mince about words that.

But neither does it fail to remind us that in the end God will rule, and there will be light and life for all who choose to live with Him—for eternity!

I want to do that, don’t you?

Won’t you resolve anew today, to bring yourself to God, surrender yourself to Him on a daily basis? Lay your sins on the altar. Accept the sacrifice of Jesus. And live today, every day, and eternity with Him!