Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Read (and listen!) through the New Testament in 8 weeks with your small group or on your own.
Immerse: Messiah is the first of six volumes in Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience. Messiah takes the reader on a unique journey through every book of the New Testament. Each section of Messiah begins with one of the Gospels, and together they combine to provide a life-changing reading experience centered on Jesus. This fresh arrangement of the books highlights the depth of the New Testament’s fourfold witness to Jesus the Messiah. The Son of God, who fulfills all the longings and promises of the collected Scriptures, can be experienced in Messiah through the rich variety of lenses provided by the books of the new covenant.
The Immerse Bible Series is the proud winner of the prestigious Bible of the Year award from the ECPA Christian Book Awards. Immerse: The Reading Bible is specially crafted for a distraction-free listening and reading experience, helping you dive in and get immersed in Scripture. You’ll have a great experience using Immerse by yourself. But for an even richer experience, try reading with friends.
Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience is an invitation to a different kind of community interaction with the Bible. Less like a Bible study, more like a book club.
- 8 or 16-week Bible listening plans take you through a large section of the Bible like the New Testament or the Torah
- Meet once a week for a free-flowing discussion about the text
- Wrestle with questions and celebrate ‘aha!’ moments together
Nothing impacts spiritual growth more than spending time in Scripture. Immerse removes many of the barriers that make Bible reading difficult and invites communities to become transformed together through the power of God’s word.
Welcome to the saddleback church anchored life challenge which can also by found on the saddleback companion app or by purchasing the immerse messiah book from tyndale.
The anchored life challenge includes speakers such as Andy Wood, Rick Warren, and Stacie Wood.
Immerse Messiah 38
===
Andy Wood: [00:00:00] Welcome to Immerse Messiah Reading for
Stacie Wood: week eight. Day 38,
Stacie Wood: immersed in Revelation. The book of Revelation has been interpreted in many ways through the centuries, but the starting point for reading Revelation or any book of the Bible, well is to appreciate the meaning and impact it had on its first readers. The book of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches in the province of Asia.
Stacie Wood: John wrote down the vision he received in order to describe for his readers events that must soon take place. The seven brief letters at the beginning of the book shed much light on the situation facing these believers toward the end of the first century. John himself has already been exiled to the island of Patmos for his testimony about Jesus.
Stacie Wood: The followers of Jesus are experiencing pressure to participate in immoral feasts, honoring the Roman gods and pagan [00:01:00] temples. And local Jewish leaders seem to be denouncing believers as participating in a subversive sect, serving a false messiah. The seven letters to the seven churches, largely worn of suffering and imprisonment, urging believers to remain faithful even when facing death.
Stacie Wood: Adding to this pressure on believers, the Roman Empire was promoting a cult of emperor worship that had its origins a century earlier. A Roman inscription from 4 B. C. describes Caesar Augustus as the God made manifest, the universal savior of human life. Land and sea have peace. The cities flourish in harmony and with an abundance of food.
Stacie Wood: There is an abundance of all good things. People are filled with happy hopes for the future and with delight in the present. This cult was especially strong in Asia Minor, that is, modern day Turkey, where the churches of Revelation were located. And now Emperor Domitian was demanding to [00:02:00] be addressed as Lord and God.
Stacie Wood: Anyone who refused to participate in the cult faced the wrath of the vast majority of citizens who were eager to curry favor with the Emperor. Revelation was written to give strength and courage to Jesus followers in this difficult situation. It urges them to persevere in their worship of the one true God and the one Lord over all other lords.
Stacie Wood: John wrote down the vision that Jesus presented to him, intending for it to be read by the seven churches in Asia Minor that it addresses. The vision is shared in the form of an apocalypse, meaning unveiling, a kind of writing that uses striking imagery in a highly symbolic way. For example, the driving force behind the persecution of believers in these visions is a dragon, which is later identified as that old serpent who is the devil, Satan.
Stacie Wood: The dragon summons a beast whose seven heads represent seven hills, a reference to the city of [00:03:00] Rome, and who is allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. For the original readers, this beast would have been identified as Emperor Domitian, who claimed to be Lord and God. The meaning of many of Revelation's symbols can be discerned in this way.
Stacie Wood: With an awareness both of the book's late first century setting and of similar symbols used by First Testament prophets, after a greeting to the churches, John organizes the vision into four key parts, each introduced by the phrase, In the Spirit. John was in the Spirit on Patmos, the vision of the Son of Man and letters to the churches.
Stacie Wood: In Heaven, visions of God's reign in heaven and conflict on earth. In the wilderness, the judgment of Babylon, the Roman Empire. On a high mountain, the glorious New Jerusalem. The book of Revelation brings a clear call to first century believers to remain [00:04:00] steadfast and to patiently endure the suffering that comes from being a part of God's kingdom on earth.
Stacie Wood: But it also brings a fitting close to the story of the entire Bible. Presenting all God's people with reasons for a firm hope. God's first intentions for His people and His creation will be realized. God will defeat evil and reveal a new heaven and a new earth. The place where He will come and make His home with us.
Andy Wood: The Book of Revelation. This is a revelation from Jesus Christ. Transcripts provided by Transcription Outsourcing, LLC. God blesses the one who reads the words of this [00:05:00] prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near. This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.
Andy Wood: Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come. From the sevenfold spirit before his throne, and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding His blood for us.
Andy Wood: He has made us a kingdom of priests for God, his father, all glory and power to him forever and never. Amen. Look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. Even those who pierced him [00:06:00] and all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord God.
Andy Wood: I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One. I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering, and in God's kingdom, and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the Word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.
Andy Wood: It was the Lord's Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. It said, Write in a book everything you see and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus. Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, [00:07:00] Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands.
Andy Wood: And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the son of man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.
Andy Wood: He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living [00:08:00] one. I died, but look, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and the grave.
Andy Wood: Write down what you have seen, both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen. This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Andy Wood: Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands. I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people.
Andy Wood: You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. [00:09:00] You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen. Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.
Andy Wood: If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor. You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
Andy Wood: Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the first and the last, who was dead but is now alive. I know about your suffering and your poverty, but you are rich. I know the blasphemy of [00:10:00] those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan.
Andy Wood: Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days, but if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.
Andy Wood: Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.
Andy Wood: I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan's city. But I have a few complaints against you. [00:11:00] You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel.
Andy Wood: He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin in a similar way. You have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.
Andy Wood: To everyone who is victorious, I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven and I will give to each one a white stone and on the stone will be engraved A new name that no one understands except the one who receives it. Write this letter to the angel of the church in tha Tara. This is the message from the son of God whose eyes are [00:12:00] like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze.
Andy Wood: I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance, and I can see your constant improvement in all these things. But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman, that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet, to lead my servants astray.
Andy Wood: She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. Therefore, I will throw her on a bed of suffering, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer greatly unless they repent and turn away from her evil deeds.
Andy Wood: I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. [00:13:00] And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira, who have not followed this false teaching, deeper truths as they call them, depths of Satan actually.
Andy Wood: I will ask nothing more of you, except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over all the nations. They will rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. They will have the same authority I received from my Father, and I will also give them the morning star.
Andy Wood: Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the [00:14:00] sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars. I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Andy Wood: Wake up, strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first, hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don't wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
Andy Wood: Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and His angels that they are mine.
Andy Wood: Anyone with ears to [00:15:00] hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Write this letter to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close, and what he closes, no one can open.
Andy Wood: I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. Look, I will force those who belong to Satan's synagogue, those liars who say they are Jews but are not, to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
Andy Wood: Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to [00:16:00] test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it, and I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God, and I will also write on them my new name.
Andy Wood: Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Write this letter to the Angel of the Church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's new creation. I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold.[00:17:00]
Andy Wood: I wish that you were one or the other, but since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich, I have everything I want, I don't need a thing. And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me, gold that has been purified by fire.
Andy Wood: Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me, so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes, so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love, so be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
Andy Wood: Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was [00:18:00] victorious and sat with my father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. This concludes today's Immerse Reading Experience.
Stacie Wood: Thank you for joining us.