Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Studies Revelation Are We There, Yet?

Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Studies

Revelation

"Are We There, Yet?"

Bible Studies by Kathleen Dalton

Revelation "Are We There, Yet?"

Table of Contents

Title

Introduction

1. When the Bottom Falls Out, You Need a Plan

2. Ephesus ? Lots of Truth, No Love 3. Smyrna ? Suffering Ahead...Proceed

With Courage 4. Pergamum ? Please, Don't Feed the Bears 5. Thyatira ? Forsaking All Others 6. Sardis ? May be Morning, May be Noon 7. Philadelphia ? Little Strength 8. Laodicea ? The Emperor's New Clothes 9. Ever Wonder Why You Were Created? 10. Heaven Can't Wait 11. Believing is More Than Knowing 12. The Ninety and Nine 13. First, You Have to Get Their Attention 14. You Are What You Eat 15. New Year's Resolutions 16. The Tech Crew 17. How to Recognize the Bad Guys 18. Now That's What I'm Talking About 19. I Hope You Dance 20. Emergency Pants 21. Cute, Purple Dinosaur 22. When the Music Fades... 23. Welcome Back, King Jesus! 24. 2 Births, 2 Deaths, 2 Resurrections 25. Now...We Wait...

Appendage: The History and Future Of the World in 1,000 words or less

Chapter

1

2:1-7 2:8-11

2:12-17 2:18-29 3:1-6 3:7-13 3:14-22 4 5 6 7 8 & 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21&22

Page#

3

8

19 28

35 43 50 59 65 72 79 87 95 109 117 124 133 141 149 165 173 182 191 204 207 213 221

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"Are We There, Yet?"

A Chapter-by-Chapter Study of the Book of Revelation

Are We There, Yet?

Introduction

I've been here. Off for a family trip somewhere, kids riding in the back seat of the car, excitedly anticipating our destination. There's something we've been waiting to see, someone we are so anxious to talk to, people waiting to throw their arms around us, and, even though the children are the ones who will say it, everyone in the car is thinking: "Are we there, yet?"

My goal for this study in Revelation is that we will be overtaken with that sitting-in-the-back-seat-are-we-there-yet?-longing that will only go away once we see the arrival of Jesus Christ into our world for the second time in history. The first time He came as a baby. The second time...oh my... Let's just look at the first verse of the whole book....we'll begin at the beginning so that we don't miss the whole point of this book:

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place..." (Revelation 1:1) What's the whole point of the book? This is all about Jesus. The book of Revelation was given to us so that we could see what is coming in the future. What's coming? The total "revealing" of Jesus. Let's think of the world as a

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stage, and imagine that there are a series of curtains on that stage, curtains that are fairly "see-through", so that as each curtain is removed the one person standing on the stage gets easier and easier to see. That may help us realize what has been happening since the creation of the world, and what will be happening as the events of Revelation unfold. Every event points to Jesus. Every mercy, every disaster, every judgment, every moment of grace - all of them reveal Jesus to us more and more and more, until finally we see Him clearly, mounted on a white horse, returning to be King over the world that was made for Him.

Let's take a minute and see how Jesus has been "revealed" little-by-little, more-and-more, as history has unfolded:

First, Jesus Himself created the world and Adam and Eve. Then the unthinkable happened; they sinned. And as He was telling Adam and Eve what would happen because of their sin, the first curtain is pulled away: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15) Jesus Himself would be the future promised seed of Adam and Eve who would crush the head of Satan.

Then came the time of Noah when the world was overrun with evil. The Lord told Noah to build an ark, and promised that all those who entered the ark would be saved from the coming flood. The ark was the next picture of Jesus, because all who would ever believe whole-heartedly in Him ? would be safe from the future judgment of God.

Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob were chosen to carry within their bodies the seed which would eventually become Jesus, the future Savior of the world. They were promised that He would come, and they were promised that all the world, not just their people, would be blessed through Him.

Then the twelve sons of Jacob became the people of Israel ? the Jews ? and from one of those sons ? Judah - would come the future Messiah of Israel and of the world.

The law that the Lord gave to Moses followed. Every aspect of the law pointed to the need for Jesus. For no man could keep the whole law. His sin nature prevented it. Every man would come to realize, because of the law, that a Savior was needed.

Next, King David showed the world what a true King would be like. He gave us a "shadow" behind that curtain which helped us see even more clearly that this One that was coming would also be a King.

Ezra, Zechariah, Haggai and Nehemiah come along 500 years later to rebuild a broken-down temple and a destroyed City of God. Broken down

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"Are We There, Yet?"

A Chapter-by-Chapter Study of the Book of Revelation

because the sin of the Jewish people had become so great God had had to send an enemy to take them captive...and that enemy had destroyed the Jewish capital and temple in the process. But these ancient men of God rebuilt that city and temple to point again to a Savior who was yet to come. The city and the temple showed that Jesus, Lord of All, wished to live with the people He had created.

There were more prophets who wandered onto the landscape of history...all of them predicted that a time of judgment must come...but that those who would believe in Jesus, the One, True, God, would be saved.

Finally, Jesus Himself appeared on earth, a tiny baby, the perfect Lamb of God. The ultimate sacrifice for sin.

Then He was gone - victorious over death - but physically gone. But, not really gone. He lived within each of His followers, and in the book of Acts and in the letters of the New Testament we continue to see how today He still touches the world, but this time with many hands and many voices. And we see in that the truth that Jesus has work to do before He returns again.

And now, in the book of Revelation, the last curtains will be finally drawn away. Jesus has become clearer and clearer to us as each curtain on the stage has been drawn back. But there is more to see. More to know about our God...the events of Revelation will make this clear to the whole world. Not one person will be confused about Who Jesus is by the time the prophecies of this book are fulfilled.

The mistake most of us make in reading or studying the book of Revelation is that we do it in order to see the future more clearly. Or in order to see the antichrist more clearly. Or in order to try to avoid our own suffering. Or in order to have peace that everything will be OK for us.

But let's not do that. Let's read and study this book together, all the time asking: "Are we there, yet?" "Do I see Jesus better, yet?" "Is the One I love near, yet?" If we do that ? wow! - this book is going to rock our lives.

I think the Bible teaches that when all of this begins, believers in Jesus Christ will have to live through quite a big chunk of the "Last 7 Years", more commonly known as the "Tribulation". In other words, I think the church will be raptured out of the great tribulation, but not until after the Anti-Christ declares himself to be god, and demands the worship of the whole world. I know my view of this isn't what many would agree with....but as we go through this study, I'll explain why I think this is what scripture is saying.

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