We often associate apocalypse with the dramatic catastrophic events of the Book of Revelation from the Bible. To begin with a definition, note that an apocalypse is not necessarily an unseen disaster (although it may be for some).
laying bare, making naked
a disclosure of truth, instruction
manifestation, appearance
In this case: ‘the revelation‘ or disclosure of Truth, instruction by the Lord Jesus, various appearances of awe-filled scenes taking place in heaven — ALL lay bare to the eyes of mankind the wrath of the Judgement to come upon all the Creation of Almighty GOD!
Revelation
Apocalypse is also the hopeful good word used in the Gospel of Luke by a first century prophet at the Temple of the Jews revealing the child Jesus as their Messiah or the Christ.
A LIGHT FOR REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.”
Luke 2:32 – prophesy of Simeon about Jesus
Christians and unbelievers alike are familiar with it as the title of the last book of the Holy Bible. From the Latin of ancient Rome:
apocalypsis Iesu Christi
Other versions or translations from Greek:
Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
The Revelation from Jesus Christ
The Revelation of Yeshua the Messiah
So whatever section of Revelation you read remember this:
Revelation is NOT bad news about the end of Creation, but Gospel GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior sent in the flesh to a world of sinners.
Roger Harned + talk of Jesus {dot}.com
The Apostle John, who witnessed many miracles of the Lord God, falls prostrate is AWE before these visions laid bare to his mortal eyes. John subsequently obediently begins Christ’s disclosure to the saints of the churches, seven specific first century churches & faithful worshipers of this 21st century day:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw.
apokalypsis of THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Don’t we hate to hear it? While occupied in our own daily trespasses we stop up our ears to any who would warn of our sins: “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold…”
And to make things worse, in the day of our demise the seer such as Amos could well lament, “I told you so, but you refused to listen.”
Now the seer shows signs he tells Israel’s leaders ‘the Lord GOD showed me.’
Would a leader – a king, premier or president – dare ignore something that a seer [Amos] says the Lord God showed me?
How could a priest serving a people pledged to God not hear Amos when he demonstrates ‘what the Lord God showed me?’
Wailing in the streets
16 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,
“There is wailing in all the plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
… For I will pass through you,” Says the Lord.
It is not as if the LORD leads them out of their troubles as before from Egypt through the wilderness and before Israel subduing her enemies in the promised land.
Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! What will the day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:18 CSB
The seer shows the fear of the LORD that will consume a man fleeing an enemy arrived safely at home, but there bitten by a snake.
Are we not all prey of the serpent of eden without the Lord God?
Rather than consuming Israel’s offerings for sin on the altar the Lord would consume Israel!
The Day of the Lord
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
We will have more about festivals to consider
when returning to the Gospel of John shortly.
22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them…
The Lord will no longer accept Israel’s worship!
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!
25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?
Amos reminds that they had nothing to offer there before the pillar of fire of the LORD!
Idolatry
NO OTHER GODS!
The Law of the Living LORD our God is quite clear: He IS GOD and idols (even of good “Saints” or a Jesus of stone) are not. Yet Israel became a whore on the mountaintops of the stone images of idolatry.
27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,” Says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
Woe to those at ease
We have heard this before from the Prophet Isaiah who also preached against rituals and idolatry after Amos. The true prophet so often warns, “This is what the LORD God showed me.”
Warning & Advice to Scoffers Who Rule Isaiah speaks to scoffers of God. Yet are your ears this day so filled with twisted speech that you do not even understand the significance of his warning?
Amos now warns the rich who govern and direct worship in Israel.
3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, Who cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall; 5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; 6 Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
… now go into exile … And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away…
Judgment on Jacob
8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself, The Lord God of hosts says: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, And hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city And all that is in it.”
I will leave it to you to read the five signs Amos tells us, ‘the Lord God showed me.’
Let the Holy Spirit convict the church!
The Lord Jesus, Redeemer of Israel, later showed signs no other Prophet could ever do. Yet even the Messiah Jesus was not believed.
So how do you think Amos was received by the leaders of the land and their appointed teachers and priests?
The five signs build in intensity and importance.
A brief glance
7:2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! … So the Lord relented…
4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! …
“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me,
“Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, “A plumb line.”
Opposition
10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying,
“Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words…
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!
Amos responds to the priest with the anointing of the Lord in his calling.
“I was no prophet…, But I was a sheepbreeder.
I will spare them no longer
What do you think?
The Lord has relented from punishment for sin. Will you repent?
And once again, the Lord holds back and does not punish. Will you now repent?
So the Lord measures the place of your worship, the people of His pasture. It is a time for harvest, a festival of blessing in times before.
3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration.
“Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!
Silence!”
Do you now FEAR THE LORD?
4 Hear this,
you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail…
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make that grief like mourning for an only son and its outcome like a bitter day.
11 Look, the days are coming— this is the declaration of the Lord God— when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
SILENCE! of the LORD. Do you hear it?
God’s Judgment Unavoidable
Did you repent when you heard the word of the Lord?
And did you bow down when the Lord showed you mercy?
Now, therefore, the Lord stands beside the holy altar of worship and Amos speaks the unspeakable judgment of the Lord upon the people of His Own covenant.
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said,
“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake, And break them on the heads of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
“Though they dig into hell, From there My hand shall take them; Though they climb up to heaven, From there I will bring them down;
The word of the LORD – Amos 9:2 NKJV
The further words of the Lord paint a fearful judgment and death of the people of His promise, a covenant Israel has broken.
The Prophet Amos confronts you and says, God showed me all this that you might repent. Do you?
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Amos 9:10 KJV
The ending that is not yet the end
Amos offers only a distant glimmer of hope.
“On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old…
The Lord God will once again accept worship by the sons of David. Yet how?
We will learn more of this next in returning to the Good News of John.
We have been here before in scripture. You likely know Bethlehem from the New Testament, yet this little town’s importance derives from prophecies in the Old Testament. The Messiah is predicted in prophecies of Isaiah, who we met previously and also Micah of Moresheth-Gath.
Bethlehem
‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’” – Matthew 2:6
(‘ephrath; Ephratha)
The Good News of Matthew quotes the prophecy of Micah 5:2.
Luke tells us why Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the Roman Census commanded by Caesar Augustus.
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
Luke 2:4-5 NKJV
You may have to register for a #census2020. Rome was not so accommodating as to come to you, but ordered citizens to go to the home of your birth. Rome accounted for every captive local and taxed each and every one of them regardless of where they lived.
Matthew records this lineage of Joseph from David. Bethlehem becomes his town of registration because of David.
Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse…
1 Samuel 17:12a NASB
Listen, House of David
Therefore, Jesus is born of the house of David rooted in Bethlehem. Mary and Jesus are also registered as Joseph’s family of the lineage of David. As we learn later even wise men come to this place of the Lord’s birth due to the prophesies of the Old Testament.
More than 700 years Before Christ Ahaz would become a vassal king subjected to Assyria, just as Herod was subjected to the rule of Caesar Augustus. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of the Messiah even in this time centuries before the Messiah Jesus.
13 Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign:
See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
The wise men from the east in generations past understood these prophesies. Isaiah answered Ahaz not in the singular, but in the plural for the descendant house of David. Almost literally the LORD prophesies through Isaiah “the woman pregnant with the Son named [‘el] [`Immanuw’el].
symbolic and prophetic name of the Messiah, the Christ, prophesying that He would be born of a virgin and would be ‘God with us’
And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Isaiah 8:8 KJV
We will speak more of the context of this when we continue, God-willing, but first let’s return to the prophesy of Micah of Moresheth-Gath.
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Listen, all you peoples; pay attention, earth and everyone in it!
The Lord God will be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple. 3 Look, the Lord is leaving his place and coming down to trample the heights of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt beneath him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax near a fire, like water cascading down a mountainside. 5 All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion and the sins of the house of Israel.
Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us;
With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek. 2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
3 Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel.
4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God...
Much prophetic voice here about Jesus the Messiah born in Bethlehem to a trial of the Son of Man in Jerusalem.
Micah foresees and explains the Lord giving up on Israel until the Messiah’s return! The prophecies of Isaiah and Micah speak not only to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, but beyond to a day yet unseen.
8 The remnant of Jacob Will be among the nations, Among many peoples…
10 “It will be in that day,” declares the Lord… “I will also cut off the cities of your land And tear down all your fortifications…
