I’m in the middle of teaching the book of Revelation for the third time or so and every time I get to the middle of it, I am reminded of my time in seminary and my classes in eschatology – the study of the endtimes. I went back to school when I was 47 years old and to put it bluntly, I was the least theologically educated person in the entire school. In fact, Dr. Branine, the head of the theology department, pulled me aside and let me know that he was personally going to educate me and catch me up to the rest of the students.
In all honesty, I knew he was correct but it was tough for me to admit, even to myself. Janet and I both grew up in the church, but as kids and then young adults, we didn’t learn very much about the Bible. When I was finishing my undergraduate work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I needed two elective courses to graduate and I signed up for two classes, called survey courses. One on the Old Testament and the other on the New Testament. As crazy as it sounds, it was those two courses that allowed me to enter seminary more than a quarter of a century later.
But I was woefully undereducated for what was ahead of me. I am grateful to Dr. Branine, and the rest of the educational staff, for their investment in me – and it all started with the book of Revelation. One of our first assignments was to pick a Bible verse and write a twenty page paper on a topic of our choice. Except Dr. Branine let me know that he was going to choose my verse – I was the only one in the class who had this happen.
He thought that it was very important for me to get immersed in the study of Revelation and that first assignment was the doorway through which I became hooked on studying the Bible in depth. For example, I didn’t realize that Satan still has access to the throne room of God in heaven. I couldn’t believe it. I was encouraged to read the book of Job and it became clear to me that I had a LOT to learn about Satan and his desire to control the cosmos.
In any event, I was given the verse in the Bible when Satan is finally thrown out of heaven and vanquished with his fallen angels (demons) to earth. Admittedly, I learned quite a bit that first semester. The interesting thing about Scripture is that the more you learn, the more you start to piece things together and it has become my opinion that if you learn about Genesis and Revelation, you gain an understanding of the beginning and the end of the greatest story ever recorded. And… it’s true!
Theology and Greek became my favorite subjects during my time in seminary. In fact, I went to school almost ten years during the height of my business career. I actually left my business and attended school full time. I am so glad that Janet and I made the decision for me to attend school and seek advanced education. The campus was like my own personal sanctuary. I experienced a peace and brotherly love that I had never experienced before. It was a very special time.
The friendships that I developed during the classwork are still in place today, more than 25 years later. And iron still sharpens iron. Whenever any one of us has a question, we are quick to pick up the phone and call one another to discuss various points of theology.
It all started with a verse out of Revelation. And that brings us to our verse for tonight. Dr. Branine assigned me Revelation 12:7-9 which gives us the description of the events when Satan was thrown out of heaven to earth. John, the author of this remarkable book, tells us in this verse, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
This war in heaven marks the part of the Tribulation period where things change drastically on earth; and events lead to the ultimate eternal reign of Christ. My encouragement this evening is that we can’t go wrong when we spend time in God’s Word and learn more about our eternal future. And it helps to learn about the past and how we came to this point in history. My prayer is that we will all appreciate the grace and thoughtfulness of God and His son, Jesus, to give us a path to spend forever with them. It’s a grand plan that far surpasses our human understanding. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…