The Word Revelation in the Greek is apocalypsis. Yes apocalypse.
Some of you didn’t know you knew Greek. Apocalypsis is a word that almost uses
a double negative. it comes from a compound word “apo” which means “away from”
and “clypsos” as in eclipse or hiding or veiling something.
You know a solar
eclipse like the one coming on Aug. 21 is the hiding of the sun or when the
moon comes between the earth and the sun. A lunar eclipse is when the moon is
hidden and the earth comes between the sun and the moon and the moon is
obscured. Apo calypsos means an unveiling. A Revealing of Christ. The book of Revelation is singular. It
is not revelations. It is singularly set on revealing
or unveiling one thing: Jesus Christ.
It may surprise you to know that the word “Revelation” or apocalypses is only used once in the
entire book of Revelation. Only once. But it is frequently used in the new
Testament. Jesus promised in all four gospels not only that he would rise
again, but he also promised that he would COME AGAIN.
The first time Jesus came, He came as a Lamb, but when He
comes again he will come as a lion. How many of you have heard about the Lion
and the lamb? Did you know that the bible never says that the lion will lay
down with the lamb in the end times? It doesn’t! Some of you are writing that
down now to see if what I am saying is true but the Bible never says the lion
will lay down with a lamb but rather the lamb will dwell down with the wolf and
the leopard will lie with a baby goat.
So where do we get the lion and the lamb? We get it from
Revelation chapter 5 where Jesus is referred to not only the Lamb that was
slain, but also the Lion of Judah. And only as the Lamb of God was Jesus worthy to take the scroll from the
right hand of God and only as the Lion
of Judah will the Root of DAVID be
worthy to open the seven seals of the scroll of God.
There are 125 prophecies of Christ coming
the first time in the Old Testament? From Genesis 3:15, where God said from the
seed of a woman, meaning the Virgin
Birth, to Malachi 3:1 which prophesied that Jesus would both be preceded
by a messenger, John the Baptist, at the beginning of this ministry and also
come gloriously into the temple as He did on Palm Sunday at the end of his
earthly ministry.
Would you care to take a guess about how many times the
Bible predicts that Jesus will come a Second Time? The late Tim LaHaye, author
of the Left Behind series, lists 329 distinct prophecies of Christ’s second
coming, from Genesis to Revelation. But if you think about it, the entire book
of Revelation, all 404 verses in the 22 chapters, all point to the Second
coming. nearly triple the amount.
The final words of Jesus in the Bible are found in Rev. 22:
20-21, in which Jesus says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming
quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
