Victory Through The Lamb: A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language

Jesus is called the lamb 29 times in Revelation.

Revelation made easy. Reading or studying Revelation has always felt daunting and overwhelming to many Christians. But Mark Wilson has written "a guide to Revelation in plain language," as the title states. In the non-technical language of non-seminarians, Wilson explains Revelation's many intriguing mysteries, which is so characteristic of apocalyptic literature. Most of the confusing signs, symbols and varied imagery of Revelation find its origins from the Old Testament. Victory Through The Lamb is readable, understandable and insightful, even for those who have not previously read or studied Revelation.

Martyrdom. Each and every chapter begins with a martyr account, followed by Wilson's own English translation of the Greek text of Revelation. The martyr stories are gut wrenching, in particular the recent martyrdom of three Christians in eastern Turkey in the city of Malatya on April 18, 2007. This shocked Turkey's small Christian community as well as many Turkish citizens. Wilson and his wife have lived in Turkey since 2004 and were able to attend their funeral, together with many other Christians from around Turkey. The vivid stories of these and earlier martyrdoms set the mood of the reader into the correct frame of mind for understanding and interpreting Revelation.

Intoxicated with the Maddening Wine of Adultery

"'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,' which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries" (Rev 14:8). "...the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries" (Rev 17:2).

(Today's sermon on The Wrath of God explains how intoxication with the wine of adultery seduces us with min-numbing stupor.)

Why is Babylon regarded as the mother of prostitutes (Rev 17:5)? It is because she is not only a prostitute herself, but she spawns other prostitutes and evils like her own. She is "filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries" (Rev 17:4). She is able to do so very well because the people of the world are only too happy at being seduced by her prostituting herself. Thus, Babylon the prostitute represents society's allure of material prosperity and pleasure, seducing the unwary into adultery against the Lord. The prostitute desires nothing less than we becoming unfaithful to our True Spouse.

Why is the Gospel Eternal? (Rev 14:6-7)

"...he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people" (Rev 14:6).

(Today's sermon on The Wrath of God begins with the proclamation of the eternal gospel.)

The gospel. Like a multifaceted jewel, Scripture describes the gospel with various terms, each looking at it from a different viewpoint: the gospel of God (Mk 1:14; Rom 1:1), the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 4:23; Mt 24:14), the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor 4:4), the gospel of salvation (Eph 1:13). In Revelation, it is the eternal gospel (Rev 14:6).

Why is the gospel eternal? The gospel is "eternal" because it points to a message that is permanently valid. It also provides the means to eternal life.

What is The Meaning of 666?

This is an expanded edited excerpt from my sermon (10/20/2013) entitled The Beast, 666, and The Lamb:

What is the mark of the Beast? What is the meaning of 666 (Rev 13:16-18)?

666 is one of the most fascinating enigmas in the book of Revelation. Countless and exhausting explanations have been given over the last 2,000 years. It is scary and mysterious. So what is it? How might the Christians in the first century have understood 666 when they first heard Revelation read to them?

Eat the Word, Not Spit It At Others (Revelation 10:8-11)

This is my typed recollection of a part of what I preached extemporaneously yesterday. This post could be titled "Take the Word. Eat It. It is Sweet and Bitter."

Yesterday (9/29/13), I preached on the Seven Trumpets (Rev 8:1-11:19) with the title of The Two Kingdoms, and the theme of "The Kingdom of This World Becomes The Kingdom of Christ." In a vision John was told to take and eat a scroll that was in the hand of the angel (Rev 10:8-9), which he did (Rev 10:10), and then he was told to prophesy (Rev 10:11). This is similar to what Ezekial was told to do (Eze 2:8-3:3, 10). Though the scroll Ezekial ate tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth (Eze 3:3), it caused him to be deeply distressed (Eze 3:15).

In my sermon I explained four aspects of how to prophesy, i.e., how to communicate Christ well through Scripture.