This sermon deals with perhaps the most controversial verse in the chapter - the imminent coming of Christ in judgment (66 AD) contrasted with the distant Second Coming. In the process, this sermon opens up a lot of background material that is critical to understanding the book as a whole.
This sermon deals with perhaps the most controversial verse in the chapter - the imminent coming of Christ in judgment (66 AD) contrasted with the distant Second Coming. In the process, this sermon opens up a lot of background material that is critical to understanding the book as a whole.
This sermon shows how John shared the experience of "the tribulation" with the seven churches. This deals with most of the controversies surrounding the great tribulation and the great wrath. In the process it also gives us a Biblical philosophy for facing tribulation by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This sermon deals with the nature, beginning, and growth of the kingdom. *We apologize for the poor audio quality in this sermon, the recording went particularly bad this week.
This sermon starts with a review of where we have been in the book of Revelation and how this passage fits into the overall picture that Revelation paints. It then looks at how the demonic Caligula (the second horseman) was a judgment of Christ upon both Rome and Israel. In the process, several principles of civics come to light.
This sermon identifies the third horseman of the apocalypse as the demonized Claudius. The Claudian coins clearly show these symbols of horse and hand holding scales. And the reign of Claudius is identified by the New Testament as the period of empire-wide famine. So Claudius is a fantastic case study for understanding the laws of economics and how God's providence enforces those laws. There is much that America could learn from this passage.
This sermon introduces us to the character of Nero and the two demons that influenced him early in his reign. Though the message is sobering, it gives us hope that even in dire circumstances Jesus is sovereign and demons have limitations.
This sermon focuses on the subject of corporate prayer and its place in God's sovereign plan. It also deals with a very specific kind of prayer — the covenant lawsuit brought against Israel and Rome by the early church. As such it has a lot to teach the modern persecuted church. The church is not helpless before its persecutors since it has access to the Judge of the universe. Where there is faith to engage in imprecatory prayers, the same awesome power that was unleashed in the judgments of Revelation 8 can be unleashed once again in our own day.
This sermon deals with the amazing fulfillment of the hail, fire, and blood that fell from heaven in AD 66. It also describes the horrific events that these portents gave warning of. This sermon also tentatively suggests that the modern "blood rains" that have fallen since 2001 may indicate warnings from God. While the pastor is not dogmatic on the significance of the modern phenomena, he does show how the first century signs were immediately followed by a first wave of death and destruction under Cestius, the Legate of Syria who commanded Rome's 12th Legion.
This sermon deals with the second trumpet judgment, which describes an asteroid striking the Mediterranean Ocean and turning 1/3 of it to blood, killing one third of the larger sea creatures, and destroying 1/3 of the Roman ships. These events symbolized God's judgments on Israel (total destruction) and Rome (one third destruction). Though this all occurred in the AD 66, it still has relevance to our age since we live in a similar period of national rebellion against Christ.
This trumpet has brought a lot of confusion to commentaries. This sermon is an attempt to show the literal historical fulfillment of the sign and to show what that sign symbolized. In the process it gives a great deal of historical background that will prove helpful for understanding the second half of the book.
The fourth trumpet deals with the disastrous losses suffered by both the Romans and the Jews in the first part of the war under Cestius. Once again we see a literal fulfillment of the symbols (signs in the sun, moon, and stars) and then discuss the specifics of how those symbols foreshadowed this disastrous part of the war.
This sermon looks at the symbolism of the demons that come out of the bottomless pit. The totems or emblems of Titus' Fifteenth Legion and their supporting Legions and auxiliaries were representations of their "gods," what we would call demons. This sermon looks at the timing, the historical underpinnings of the symbols, and how they would have been instantly recognized by the first century audience. Part 2 will dig much deeper into the theology of demonology.
What are demons? Where do they come from? What are Hades and "the abyss" (sometimes translated as "the bottomless pit")? In this sermon Dr. Kayser explains some of the controversies around Revelation 9:1 ("So the fifth angel trumpeted, and I saw a ‘star’ that had fallen out of the sky to the earth. And to him was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.") and explains the origins of angels and demons.
Dr. Kayser continues his exposition of the Fifth Trumpet in Revelation 9:1-12, going deeper into the theology of demons — Revelation's hints as to the scope of Satan's army, the authority of demons, the binding of demons in the pit, and more.
This sermon finishes the subject of the fifth trumpet, focusing upon the power, character, and activities of demons. The applications made to modern ecology and politics are just two of many practical applications.
This sermon seeks to clear up a number of issues that have been confusing in commentaries. Pastor Kayser shows how the God-given structure of the book (a chiasm) gives us the clue that resolves them perfectly.
This sermon begins the process of working backwards in the book's chiasm. It shows how the grouping of the first three bowls relates to the end of Israel in AD 136. In the process it deals with issues of the problem of evil, God's justice, depravity, pollution, curses, covenant, etc.
This sermon anchors the great battle of Armageddon clearly in AD 70. It also makes practical applications to life.
This sermon deals with both the historical and the symbolic meaning of every detail of this remarkable bowl. Was there hail weighing more than 100 pounds? Was there an earthquake that made islands move so fast that it felt like they were fleeing? Were there mountains that disappeared? Pastor Kayser says "Yes." This sermon examines these and other intriguing questions. It also explains how each bowl landed on a unique festival day in actual history.
This sermon gives the reasons why the first horseman is not Christ, but rather the counterfeit messianic state. It clearly identifies the rider as Caesar Tiberias and applies the passage to the situations we currently face.
This sermon seeks to sort through the numerous interpretations of this controversial passage using inductive and deductive reasoning. In the process it narrows the options down to the first century and gives practical applications.