There's no reason for anybody who believes the Scripture is to be perplexed about the meaning of history,

or the meaning of your life in history, or the meaning of this church's existence in history,

or the meaning of this little teeny-weeny, short-lived thing called the USA in history.

Where is human history going, and what will life look like in the age to come? John Piper explores

those two questions from Revelation 5 in this episode of Light and Truth. This sermon was originally

preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on January 18, 1998.

One of the great values of the book of Revelation is that while it has many perplexing things,

it's the one book that John Calvin never wrote a commentary up because he didn't understand it.

It's a very perplexing book, but there are a lot of clear things in this book, all right?

A lot of peculiar numbers and symbols. Don't let that keep you from getting what you can get,

and the gettable is worth it. And one of the great values of this book is that it gives you glimpses

of where everything is moving and is going to arrive someday. And when you know where everything

is moving and is going to arrive someday, you know the meaning of the movement.

There's no reason for anybody who believes the scriptures to be perplexed about the meaning of history,

or the meaning of your life in history, or the meaning of this church's existence in history,

or the meaning of this little teeny-weeny short lived thing called the USA in history.

There's no reason anybody should be perplexed about why are we here and where is it all tending?

Because the book of Revelation gives enough snapshots of where it's all moving that you can begin

to get it. I get it. And then you can get on board with it and join God instead of striving against

Him, which is absolutely futile. He's going to win. This thing is coming to pass. It's described as a

done deal, both in Romans 8 and in Revelation. So the glory and the value of the book of Revelation

is that it tells you how the story is going to end and where it's all moving and how you can get

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