The Key to Revelation (Walk Thru the Bible Week 52)

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Before we start today's teaching, I need to ask a favor of you.

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If you have walked with me through the entire Bible from Genesis to now Revelation, I want

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to hear from you.

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Would you please go to our URL at icjusa.org forward slash I walked.

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Let me know what it did in your life, what you learned, how you were blessed by it, and

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in return we are going to send you a free resource.

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So please let me hear from you today.

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Thank you.

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michaels' 12 month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now let's join our host Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there.

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The last couple of weeks we've been discussing that Roman pagan context of some of the epistles

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in the New Testament.

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And today we're now coming to the end of our New Testament this week and next week and

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we're returning to the Hebraic context as we discuss two books written specifically

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to the Jewish believers in Jesus of the early church.

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Even the book of Revelation is written in a very Jewish writing style full of Old Testament

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imagery.

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So stick with me.

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Now I want to welcome everyone to This is Walk Through the Bible Week 52.

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Yes, there is one more week after this.

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We're going to end next week.

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But now we've been reading from the daily Bible to this week the dates of December 24

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through the 30th or page numbers 1646 to 1683.

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So let's do a little review.

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The last couple of weeks we talked about the epistles in the New Testament written to the

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churches throughout the Roman Empire.

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These churches had two influences.

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One was a Jewish influence and some that were known as Judaizers or were teaching that

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the Gentiles had to convert to Judaism in order to be Christians.

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And so the epistles do deal with that issue.

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But then there were a lot of issues coming into the early church from the Roman pagan

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context and society around it.

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So we've been talking about those problems over the last couple of weeks.

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I'm kind of happy to be returning now back to the Hebraic context and the Old Testament

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context through two books that were written specifically to Jewish believers in Jesus.

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I just want to repeat something I've already said about the law, but there's so much misunderstanding

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about the law.

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A lot of churches teach the law was bad, grace is good.

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And we have to understand the role of the law.

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The law was not bad.

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It's just the law could not save.

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The law could not make us righteous.

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But it played a part.

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It taught us about the character of God and it taught us how to please God and how to

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walk in fellowship with Him.

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But it took the death of Jesus on the tree to actually pay the price for our sins and

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to bring salvation.

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So the Gentile world was told through the epistles in the New Testament that you do

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not have to become Jewish in order to be a follower of Christ.

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You can come straight through the door by faith in Christ and be a part of the family.

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But then we discussed how that there were, though, Jewish believers in Jesus that were

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fully observant of the law because they understood they weren't doing it for salvation or for

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righteousness sake.

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They did it because they were a part of the people of Israel and the law of Moses was

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given as a part of their covenant with God.

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It was laws put on them as a nation.

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These laws when they obeyed them reflected who they were and who their God was and the

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calling that he had on them as a people.

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So with that little background, this week we're going to discuss two different books.

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One is the book of James.

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Now the book of James was probably one of the first letters, one of the first epistles

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in the New Testament ever written.

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We're covering it now after we've read all of Paul's writings simply because the compiler

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of the Daily Bible sought to keep us focused on the story of Paul and to go through his

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life and his writings.

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And now we're looking at the book of James, but it's believed that James was one of the

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very first books written that it was even written before the Jerusalem Church Council

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that we read about in Acts 15.

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James was probably written by Yaakov, or we would say in English Jacob, who was the half

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brother of Jesus and he became the leader of the Messianic Church there out of Jerusalem.

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He led that Acts 15 Council.

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He is the one that helped the leadership of the Church to make that decision that, no,

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the Gentiles do not have to convert to Judaism, be circumcised, and come under the law in order

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to follow Jesus.

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So we believe that's who the writer of the book of James is.

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In English they called his name James, but in Hebrew it would have been Yaakov, or what

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we would say is Jacob.

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Now the book is a series of answers to questions that the Messianics were asking and that they

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needed guidance on.

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So as you're reading through the book of James, you might be able to pick out where

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he's actually responding to some questions that have been asked and some problems that

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have been presented there to the leadership in Jerusalem.

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I just want to make comments on one thing that you're going to find in the book of James,

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which shows that we're back in our Hebraic culture.

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And once again, it is that tension between following the law, obeying the law that we

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know God gave the Jewish people, and not having to obey that law and walking in the freedom

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of Christ.

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And so as I've already explained, the law was not given to Gentiles.

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There was no need for the Gentiles to come under the law when they came into the church.

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But there's a tendency then in the church, throughout all of history actually, because

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of a more Greek approach to the world, that we compartmentalize.

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A Greco-Roman view is to compartmentalize.

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And so what is sacred is sacred, and what secular is secular.

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And so if we go to church and we believe the right thing, it's not so important what we

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do because we don't have to come under the law.

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But it is important what we do.

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And that is where James here, coming from that Hebraic perspective, is telling them,

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well, it's great that you have faith.

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That's how you enter in.

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But faith without works is dead.

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So we read it first in James chapter 2, verse 26.

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He said here, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

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And earlier in his book, in the first chapter, the 27th verse, he said it this way, religion

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that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows in

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their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

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So if you want a definition of pure Christianity, he says here, pure religion that pleases the

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Father is one that does this.

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It looks after the orphans and the widows.

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And it keeps oneself from being polluted by the world.

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So it is important what we do.

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Faith without works is dead.

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And we have to somehow come to terms with this contradiction that we are saved through

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faith, not by works.

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But faith without works is a dead faith.

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So while you're wrapping your head around that, let me just make a few comments.

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The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible, revealed

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himself to his people, not with a book that said, okay, here, I am this, I'm that, I'm

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kind, I'm gentle, I'm loving, I'm forgiving, I'm righteous, I'm holy.

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He revealed himself to his people through his acts.

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So he said, I am the God that brought you out of Egypt.

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I am the God that healeth all your diseases.

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I am the God your provider.

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And as you study the names of God, he's describing himself through his actions.

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That is the Hebrew God that we serve.

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Jesus also revealed himself by his actions.

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And if you'll remember at one point, John the Baptist is in prison.

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It looks like it's getting really bad for him.

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And he sends messengers back to Jesus and says, are you really the Messiah?

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Are you really the one that I've been telling everybody that you are?

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And Jesus didn't say, yes, I am this and I am that.

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And this is the definition of who I am.

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He said, go back and tell John what you've seen me do.

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And the acts that I have performed.

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So Jesus was also revealing who he was by what he did.

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And when you study the life of Jesus, you're going to see that he did think

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things very intentionally to demonstrate who he was, which was demonstrating the father

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to the people.

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And so you and I also demonstrate to the world who we are by the way we live, the way we

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talk, the way we care for people or don't care for people.

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Are we self-centered?

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Are we caring?

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Are we generous?

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By what we do, we're revealing who we really are.

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I'm sorry.

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I can sit here and tell you all day long, oh, I'm wonderful.

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You know, I'm very holy and I'm very this and I'm very that.

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But at the end of the day, if I don't demonstrate that, you know it's not true.

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It's just words.

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So faith without works is dead.

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And the Hebraic mindset is really essential here that your works demonstrate who you are

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and are very, very crucial.

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Even if you don't need to obey the law for salvation, you need to demonstrate that the

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Holy Spirit in you is making you generous, caring, loving, and you are reflecting the

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Holy Spirit, which is the very nature of God that has been planted in your life.

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So it's a very Hebraic letter, the letter of James, and he talks about the power of

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the tongue, the power of what you do, the power of what you say.

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And I'll just throw out here as we go to the next book.

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But you know, I'm very distressed over the deterioration of our language these days.

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And even Christians are entertaining really terrible words, curse words, vocabulary, because

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the world around us is saying these words like every other word is a bad word.

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And the more you hear it, the more it starts coming out of you.

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And I see this happening.

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We are tolerating such a deterioration in our language.

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So think about that when you're reading through the book of James this week.

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The other book we want to talk about that reflects once again the very Hebraic nature

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of Christianity, of our God, of Jesus, of what this is all about is the book of Hebrews.

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Now we do not know who wrote the book of Hebrews, but the title of the book is very clear that

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it was written to the Hebrews.

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And many times when you're reading through Hebrews, you'll see that it talks about we

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in a plural.

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So it may have been some kind of a compendium, a letter from the leadership there in Jerusalem

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to the Jewish believers in Jesus throughout the churches, throughout the Roman world.

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And as you're reading through it, once again, try to pick out, it seems like there were

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some very serious questions that were being asked.

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It seems like the book of Hebrews was written a little bit later than James was.

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And there are some very serious questions that these Jewish believers in Jesus have

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because now it's probably been maybe 30 years, maybe almost 40 years since the death of

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Jesus.

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These Jewish believers have been interacting with the mainstream Jewish leaders, with the

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rabbis who have argued with them over things, who have questioned things that they're believing.

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And so they have doubts.

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And as you're reading through the book of Hebrews, you can probably pick out different

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subjects that they're asking about.

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And the leadership here fills the need to respond to and to answer.

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We know that the book of Hebrews was written before 70 AD.

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Why?

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Because it speaks about the whole temple and the temple sacrificial system in present tense,

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as though it's happening now.

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As of 70 AD, the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem was destroyed, but the temple was destroyed

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and the whole sacrificial system there came to an end.

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So if it had been written after that, it would have spoken of those things in the past tense,

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but it doesn't.

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So it was probably written sometimes in the mid to late 60s.

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It appears that there was a falling away of early Jewish believers in Jesus, and what

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had begun with great enthusiasm that now they were experiencing a falling out of the faith

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and fewer numbers.

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The followers of Jesus seemed to have been feeling a lot of pressure as outcasts amongst

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their countrymen.

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And they faced mounting pressure to reconsider the claims of the Messianic credentials of

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Jesus, to be able to respond to these things, to the non-Messianic community.

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They're needed a record concerning Jesus to be able to stand up to these questions.

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Some of the respected leaders were wavering, maybe even defecting from the group, and they

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were a little demoralized and lacking direction.

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And the book seeks to step in and kind of bring direction and bring encouragement.

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So I'll just give you one example that you'll find in the book of Hebrews.

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It seems like that there were rabbinic confrontations, rejection of Jesus as a priestly figure, as

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a high priest that brought about this sacrifice on behalf of the sins of the world.

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And the argument was that Jesus was not of the lineage of Aaron.

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He wasn't a Levite.

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He wasn't even of the lineage of the priesthood.

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So how could he be?

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And so the book of Hebrews comes and says, because he is of the lineage of Melchizedek.

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And they respond to this accusation.

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So as you're reading through the book of Hebrews, pick out these various subjects and you'll

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begin to piece together what they were being told, what they were hearing, what they were

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questioning.

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Now that brings us to our third book this week and the final book of the whole Bible,

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the book of Revelation.

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And you may be surprised when you hear me say this, but the book of Revelation is also

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a very Jewish book.

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We read it and we look at all this symbolism and we start to get lost in it.

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I know.

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But it's written in a very common Jewish writing style of the time.

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And that is called the apocalyptic style.

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And apocalypse or apocalypsis in Greek is the word for Revelation.

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It does not mean anything ominous.

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It doesn't mean in times.

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It doesn't mean the end of the world.

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The original world apocalypsis just means a revelation.

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It means to reveal something that is hidden.

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And so the apocalyptic style of writing, which lasted for roughly about 500 years, it served

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the Jewish community under these major empires that they were living under.

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And they were suffering under these major empires and they could not speak directly

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against these empires.

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So starting with the Babylonians and then the Persians and then the Greeks.

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Boy, the Greeks.

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That was a bad experience.

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And then here come the Romans.

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And that was a terrible experience.

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So they came up with a writing style that used a lot of symbolism so that the person

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of the Hebrew nation and in this case of the early church would understand the symbolism.

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They would understand what was being conveyed.

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But if one of the officials or governors or somebody got ahold of this writing and read

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it, they would be clueless that it was talking about the emperor or that empire or that pagan

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society, they wouldn't understand what it was talking about.

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So that was the use of the apocalyptic writing style.

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And there were a number of books in this writing style that became a part of the apocrypha,

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which are some books that were written in between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

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Some of those books are included in the Catholic Bible and they were included in the Hebrew

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Bible back at the time of Jesus.

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But they were not included in the Protestant Bible.

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So most of you listening to this, you are Protestant, you're probably evangelical.

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In your Bible, you don't have any of those books.

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But there were some books even quoted in the New Testament.

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They were of this writing style.

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So the book of Revelation is the only book in our Bible that's really of this writing

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style.

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I don't say Daniel was a little bit in that style, but in the New Testament, it's just

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the book of Revelation.

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The book of Revelation also is a letter.

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So it's also an epistle and it's also a prophecy.

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So it's a mixture of apocalyptic, the epistolary style and the prophetic style.

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It is a heavenly vision.

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It spoke to the people at the time it was written.

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But it also went on to talk about future events.

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So it was also something about the future.

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I want to read to you just the very first verse of the book to give an introduction

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to how to approach the book of Revelation.

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So it says here in chapter 1 verse 1, the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave

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him to show his servants what must soon take place.

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Verse 3, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are

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those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

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And then down in verse 19, still of chapter 1, the angel says to John, Right, therefore,

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what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.

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So that is a summary of the book of Revelation.

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It's what John saw in a vision.

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It is what was taking place then, which is now here in this verse, what is now at that

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time and what will take place after this time, what will take place later.

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So when you're reading through the book of Revelation, I want you to remember that it

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is very symbolic, first of all.

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So what John saw was a vision.

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So we don't know that John literally saw heaven and these things were literally taking place

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in heaven, or was it a vision that God allowed him to see these things, to convey to him

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realities of what was happening in heaven.

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So are the angels really doing this?

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Are there really the trumpets being blown?

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Are there really vials being poured out?

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We don't know.

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We know John saw those things, and we know that they are full of meaning that we can

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take from them of what was happening and what will be happening.

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But is it literal or is it symbolic?

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The other thing about the book of Revelation is that it was very historical.

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So it was speaking to first century Christians about things and in ways that they would

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totally understand.

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And then of course it's futuristic.

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It's about events surrounding the second coming of Jesus, which is still in the future.

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And the problem with reading through Revelation is we get a little confused as to what is

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about the first century situation and what is futuristic.

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And that's where we get into different people, have different interpretations and different

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theories.

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And then they come up with timetables and they chart it out how they believe that it's

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going to happen based on what they've read here.

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But there's very large disagreements in these timetables.

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So you'll have people that are premillennial and amillennial and post-millennial.

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And that's because of the nature of the way the book of Revelation is written.

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You may read through it and be very convinced of a certain time sequence.

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But somebody else can read the same thing and have a different interpretation, a different

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time sequence.

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What's important here is that we understand the very Old Testament symbolism that's being

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used here.

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That these things are not all just like, it's not all futuristic.

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It's a very, very Jewish book using very, very Jewish symbols and terms and imagery from

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the Old Testament, from the Hebraic context, so that these early, especially the Jewish

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believers in Jesus, understood what it was talking about.

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Now three of the most important Old Testament books that help prepare you for understanding

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Revelation are Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

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There are a lot of themes that you find in those books that are continued then in Revelation.

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Now I just want to talk about three little picky things.

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You know how I like to pick out little things before I go to a major key that's really going

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to help you.

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So the first is there in chapter one, verse seven.

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There is a translation issue I want to bring to your attention.

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I've actually mentioned it earlier and I'll walk through the Bible, but I'm going to

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repeat it now that we're here.

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Verse seven says this, Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him,

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even those who pierced him, and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him.

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So shall it be, Amen.

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Now this verse is talking about the return of Jesus, and look, he's coming with the clouds,

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and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.

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And the translation of all the peoples on earth will mourn him.

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A better translation is all the tribes of the land.

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So this is varying keeping with Zechariah, where it says in Zechariah 10 that they would

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look upon him whom they had pierced and would mourn as for an only son.

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This is talking about the people of the land of Israel mourning.

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Not all the peoples of the earth are going to be mourning when they see the return of

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Jesus.

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It doesn't make sense.

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So that translation will help you.

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The second translation issue I want to mention quickly is out of Revelation 2.9 and 3.9 where

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it talks about the synagogue of Satan.

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I want you to know that the Greek word here used, that's been translated synagogue, means

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assembly.

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And in other scriptures in the New Testament it is translated as assembly because it's

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talking about a Christian assembly.

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The same word can be used for a Christian assembly as for a Jewish assembly.

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The translators here have used the word synagogue because it says that they are people that

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are faking, they're pretending to be Jews when they're not.

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Well that doesn't mean that it's a synagogue.

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That could be happening in the church.

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We've talked about this.

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People coming in and teaching Jewish law when they actually didn't know what they were

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talking about.

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So it could have been they were pretending to be Jewish believers in Jesus when they

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weren't.

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And so this synagogue of Satan makes it sound like, well let me put it this way, anti-Semites

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have used these verses and this translation to say that this is proof.

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There are evil Jews in the world.

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And here we're talking about they are of the synagogue of Satan.

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Well it's a translation issue.

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It could have been translated assembly of Satan.

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It could be talking about a church that is so into false doctrine that it's being called

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here of Satan.

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We don't know.

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So I wish that the translators had stayed less biased here and just said assembly.

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It would have not been used so badly by anti-Semites for centuries against the Jewish people.

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Okay, one last point and then I'm going to wrap all this up.

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You know how we talked last week?

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We talked about the doctrine of the false doctrine of women dominating the men that

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was coming out of the pagan world and the goddess cult of Diana there in Ephesus.

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And if you didn't hear that, I recommend you go back and listen to that teaching.

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But here I wanted to point out to you a perfect example of that that was a much larger problem,

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not just in Timothy's church.

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So here in Revelation 2.20, actually 24 through 25, it talks about this woman who's teaching

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this false doctrine.

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Listen to it.

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You tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.

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And by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food,

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sacrifice to idols.

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I will strike her followers, meaning with judgment.

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But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching, who have not

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learned the so-called deep secrets of Satan, to you I say, hold on to what you have until

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I come.

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So this confirms exactly what I was telling you about last week.

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There were those teaching this deep secret knowledge, gnosis.

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Here it's called the deep secrets of Satan.

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All said they were doctrines of demons and they were taught by women and they were teaching

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a female superiority over men and that it was the females that should be teaching and

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they were teaching magic.

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It's all right here.

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You're tolerating this woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.

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The cult of Diana was full of prophetesses that spoke on behalf of the goddess Diana

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and had authority over men.

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So this is a real confirmation here of what we discussed last week.

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Okay, so let's move on.

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I'm going to wrap up.

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I want to give you a key to understanding what you're going to be reading this week

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in the book of Revelation.

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It is so easy to get lost, but this key that I'm going to give you is really going to help.

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00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,640
We're going to be reading through the book of Revelation and we have seven churches and

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then seven angels and seven trumpets and seven vials and seven this and seven that.

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And it's like all this wrath and judgments and plagues and it's like, we think it's

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all over and then there's more.

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We're like, there's more.

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Let me give you the key and I'm going to give you at the end a book that I recommend if

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you want to go deeper about this key.

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Here is a pattern that has been detected in the book of Revelation by a Jewish leader,

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a Jewish believer in Jesus leader, a Messianic leader, that for me really helped unlock the

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book of Revelation.

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Just so happens that his book is called Passover, the key that unlocks the book of Revelation.

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You know, the story of Passover, you have your people that are in bondage in Egypt under

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the evil ruler of Pharaoh who has them in slavery will not let them go.

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So God raises up two prophets, Moses and Aaron, to go and to pronounce plagues and

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judgment over Egypt if they don't let his people go.

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During the plagues, which are poured out one after the other, God protects the Israelites

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down in Goshen and they don't suffer from these plagues and especially the last and

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final plague which is one of the death of the firstborns.

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God told them exactly what to do so that they would not suffer under this plague and that

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was to kill a sacrificial lamb and put the blood of the lamb on their doorpost.

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This was the death of the Passover lamb and the plague just did not affect them at all.

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The Israelites then were allowed to leave and they left and then what happened?

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Pharaoh decides to go after them again.

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His heart is hardened again and he pursues them all the way to the edge of the Red Sea

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and that is where he meets his final defeat and his final demise.

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The Israelites are now free, they've crossed over on dry land, they are free to receive

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the covenant of God and to enter into the promised land and all that God has promised

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00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:36,840
them.

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You're going to see this same pattern in Revelation that God's people are on earth

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in bondage to evil and there's rises up this evil anti-Christ figure that is inspired

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and powered by Satan himself.

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He is so evil.

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So God announces these plagues and there's plague after plague but God's people are

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sealed and marked by the Holy Spirit for protection.

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Now there are martyrs, don't get me wrong, it is a hard time and there are martyrs but

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finally this anti-Christ is defeated and there is like an exodus of God's people and

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he calls them up to be with him.

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And there's this thousand year period where there is the kingdom of God on earth, the

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00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:44,760
reign of the Messiah on earth where the nations come up to Jerusalem and celebrate the Feast

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of Tabernacles and worship the God of Israel.

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It's a beautiful time and at the end of it what happens?

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The devil comes out one last time full of wrath to destroy it all but instead he is

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destroyed forever and ever.

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It is over and then the new heaven and new earth come down, the new Jerusalem we see

448
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,080
coming down from heaven.

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God's people enter in to that eternal, beautiful rest in the promised land.

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00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,840
Earth is now a part of heaven.

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00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:33,680
The kingdom of heaven is now on earth and it's heaven all at the same time.

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The people of God or the city of Jerusalem, this is what we are all waiting for.

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And so when you understand this pattern in the Passover you can begin to understand the

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pattern that we will relive in these last days.

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Why?

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Because God is the God of the Hebrews.

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He set these spiritual laws into operation.

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We see these cycles prophetically throughout history and you're going to see it here in

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Revelation.

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So in today's show notes we're going to put a link to this book.

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You can buy it on Amazon about the Passover key to the book of Revelation.

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Enjoy your reading.

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I'll see you back here next week for our final wrap up.

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We're going to finish Revelation and we're going to finish the Bible.

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So I can't wait.

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See you back here then.

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Until then, God bless.

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Hey there.

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I hope you've enjoyed the teaching so far during our walk through the Bible.

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We would like to ask for your help.

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If you've enjoyed it, if you've received from it, if you've learned something and you would

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like to bless others with the opportunity to be a part of these teachings, would you

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please go down below in today's show notes, follow the link there to make a donation.

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You know, it costs a lot of money for us to provide this teaching to you free of charge,

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but we've done so just wanting to bless you.

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I'd like to ask you now, would you bless others, make a donation so that we can get

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this teaching out to more people?

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We would appreciate it.

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We just appreciate your partnership with us in that way.

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God bless you.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or

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wherever you like to listen and learn.

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Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA All Rights Reserved.