Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study. Tonight is study #8 of Romans 2, and we are continuing to read Romans 2:5-9:

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

I will stop reading there. In our last study, we were discussing the “day of wrath,” in verse 5, which speaks of treasuring up to thyself “wrath against the day of wrath.” And now we are going to look at the next part of the sentence that is joined to it with the conjunction “and, “ which says, “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Of course, the righteous judgment of God is synonymous with the day of wrath, but, so, too, is the revelation. Or, to say it another way, when the day of wrath comes, it will be the righteous judgment of God, and along with it will be the revelation of that righteous judgment. And this revelation will take place in the day of wrath in the time of God’s final judgment upon mankind.

Maybe in past generations, as theologians and others would read this verse, they would think that it is when Christ comes on that last day, and they would think of it as one day, and not a prolonged period of time. And at that time when Christ came, it was to reveal His righteous judgment as people had to stand and answer for their sins. And then God would judge them according to His righteous standards or Law, and that would the revealing of the righteous judgment of God.

That was fine for past generations because the Word was sealed up, and God’s end time judgment program was, for the most part, unknowable. They could not have understood how God would work out His final judgment, beginning with the churches and then transitioning to the world, which is why we have so many scenarios that had been developed by churches and theologians: the premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial scenarios, with people doing all kinds of things with that “thousand years.” They believed that there would be a (literal) day of judgment, and then the unsaved would be cast into hell forever and ever. And there were just many errors in understanding during the church age regarding what Judgment Day would look like. And to be fair, they did their best, as they could not have come to truth because God had held that information in reserve; He stored it up until the time of the end.

And it was only at the time of the end when the Lord took the seals off the Bible that knowledge increased concerning God’s end time plan. So now we have a great deal of information concerning the timing, with judgment beginning at the house of God. We have exact dates, like May 21, 1988 when the church age ended and the Holy Spirit departed out of the congregations, and Satan was loosed. And from then until May 21, 2011, there were 23 years (exactly 8,400 days) of judgment on the churches. And then on May 21, 2011 there was the day of transition from judging the churches exclusively to judging the world, and God also revealed that. He revealed the time for the judgment on the churches and the time when judgment would begin on the world. As we have gone further into this judgment period, the Lord has revealed much biblical evidence pointing to 2033 as the time when the judgment will complete on a yet unknown day and month in that year.

So that is all part of what this verse is telling us concerning the “day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” And we have also learned information concerning the character and the nature of the judgment. The judgment on the churches was spiritual. The judgment that began on the world on May 21, 2011 was also spiritual. These were judgments in which the Lord Jesus came as a thief in the night to judge, and He set Himself up on His judgment throne and first judged those that were called by His name, and now He is judging the rest of the unsaved people of the world. Again, we have learned it was all spiritual.

We have learned that Judgment Day is a prolonged period of time, and not a single day. It is actually occurring over several years, and we have learned it is a “recompense of tribulation,” and the people of the world are being troubled during their time of tribulation and judgment. It is very similar to, and following the pattern of, God’s judgment that first came on the churches of the world. And all these things are now known. They were not previously understood, so the Lord has revealed them to us. He has revealed the character of the shut door of heaven and the light of the Gospel going out, and many additional details. Much of what we have been learning since May 21, 2011 has to do with judgment. It has to do with Judgment Day, and how the elect have been left on the earth to go through the judgment. We did not know that before. We knew the elect would go through the time of judgment on the churches, during which time we were called to come out of the churches, but we would still be in the world. But we did not think we would be raptured, but we did expect that the elect would be raptured before God began the judgment process on the unsaved inhabitants of the whole world.

But we were wrong, and now we have received correction, and we have better understanding, and we can see the teaching of the Bible is that God would bring one event unto all, the righteous and the wicked. He brings the same “storm” upon the house of the wise and the house of the foolish. He is the God and Judge who will judge the “quick,” or the living, and the dead. That statement is made at least three our four times in the Bible, and there was just an assumption that when God said He would judge the living and the dead, it was assumed that it had to do with the physically living and the physically dead. And that is a very foolish and careless assumption to make because the Bible is a spiritual book and God is most concerned with the spiritual condition of people. So, of course when we read that He is the judge of the living and the dead, it is a similar statement to the fact that He will judge the righteous and the wicked. Those that are spiritually alive are “righteous.” They are “living” or “quick.” And those that are spiritually dead are the wicked, and they have no life in their souls. And it is God’s program. He will judge both together and both will go through the fire, and the one will be burned up and destroyed, ultimately, at the end, while the other endures and is purified as silver and gold. This is the language of the Bible. It is not language we are making up.

But we had to finally experience it, with the enormous help of God locking in the date of May 21, 2011 as Judgment Day, and even after that day came and went, the Bible continued to lock it in. In doing so, the Bible was insisting that this is the case. This is true. It was Judgment Day, and that is according to all the evidence the Bible provided that revealed the hand of God locking in that day. And because there was no budging of that date, and we just could not move it any distance into the future, it was locked in, and that forces the people of God to say, “Now the Bible has locked in that date of May 21, 2011 as Judgment Day, but we are still here. Nothing physical has happened as far as the destruction of people or the earth, so what is going on?” And that is how we were led by the Spirit to learn that it was a spiritual judgment and a prolonged judgment, and that the Rapture was not at the beginning of Judgment Day, but at the last day of Judgment Day. The Bible had said that: “And I will raise him up at the last day.” So we were able to make correction, and now everything fits in place and it harmonizes with the whole of the Bible, like never before in history. We never had explanation for these Scriptures. We had just not considered them prior to May 21, 2011, as they were not brought to the forefront of our minds: “What does this mean? How can there be a Rapture of the elect when God speaks of bringing His people through the fire?”

And it is due to the time we are living in because we have an advantage, being in a position now to look back on things, and this has assisted us to come to a better understanding of God’s righteous judgment program. This is the time, the day of wrath, when He is revealing these things, and that is what* “revelation”* means. The Greek word translated as “revelation,” which is Strong’s #602, is “apokalupsis,” and it is the word that is used in Revelation 1:1:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ or the revealing of Jesus Christ. God did give John much divine revelation, and John wrote it down, which serves “to reveal,” as God revealed Himself to His Apostle, and the Apostle wrote it down. Through it, God is revealing Himself to us. We are learning about God. That is the nature of revelation, and that is why the whole Bible is the revelation of God. It reveals this invisible Spirit God who we would have no way of knowing apart from the Word of God, the Bible. We would have some inkling due to the Law written upon our hearts and the testimony of the creation, but as far as finer details and particular points of doctrine, there needed to be revelation. God had to communicate His thoughts to us in order to reveal His Person, and that is the nature of the Bible. That is why Jesus is the Word made flesh. The Word of God reveals Jesus Christ, and it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yes – it is particularly true of the book of Revelation, but it is also true of the entire Word. The whole of Scripture is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In the book of Luke, Jesus spoke to the pair on the road to Emmaus, and then He showed Himself to more of the disciples, and it says in Luke 24:27:

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Then it says in Luke 24:44-45:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

All the Scriptures – the Law, the prophets, the Psalms – speak of Him, and that is pretty much summing up all of the Old Testament. They are all things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the Bible reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the way God has determined to do that is by giving a Word that the natural man cannot understand. Even for those that are born again, it still requires the Spirit of God to act as a Guide in order to reveal the infinite mind of God as God reveals Himself. He reveals His thoughts and His truths through His Word. That is what doctrine it – it is the truth of God. These things are all in line with God’s justice, His righteousness, His perfection, and His holiness. These doctrines teach the attributes and characteristics of God, and they reveal God, the brilliant eternal Being that is so glorious and so far above the creature. They are things the little finite mind of man would never know about the Creator unless God told him or showed him, and that is what the revelation is, so when God speaks of the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, it is letting us know of God’s plan to reveal truth about His judgment program to His people.

This same word translated as “revelation,” Strong’s #602, is found in Romans 16:25-27:

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

It is the “revelation of the mystery,” and whenever we see that word “mystery,” it means the hidden things or the secret things, and the parabolic things of God. The Bible reveals them at the leading of God. They are “hiding in plain sight.” The Scripture is right there. The truth is right there for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. And, of course, that is the problem when the (spiritually) dead pick up the Holy Book in their hands, but they are “deaf and dumb” and they have no ability to perceive and grab ahold of the mysteries before them. That is why it is so vital for God to have (first) brought someone to life and to have energized the soul to open up their eyes to understanding: “Let him that readeth understand.” Then they can read the revelation of the mystery. And, again, the Spirit is that essential Guide who directs and leads the elect sinner who is “in over his head,” as the expression goes, as the Bible is too awesome and too much for us to grab ahold of and learn on our own. We need the Spirit’s help and guidance, and that is what God does. His Spirit leads us into all truth, hear a little and there a little: “Come, follow me, and compare this Scripture with this other Scripture and spiritual with spiritual.” Then the Holy Ghost teaches. and doctrine comes forth, and we learn a little bit more about our great God. And that is how God has designed things.

Also, we find this same word “revelation” in 1Corinthians 14:6:

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

He speaks to them by revelation, according to the Word that God has given.

From all these verses, it is obvious that this word “revelation” has to do with the revealing of God, the revealing of truth from the Bible and the revealing of the Word. But this word “revelation” (apokalupsis) is also found in some other interesting places. One is in 1Corinthians 1:4-8:

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you catch the word? Maybe you did not realize it because it is translated in a very different way. It is translated as the word “coming” in verse 7: “…waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So the word “revelation”* (the revealing of God) is translated here as “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We could read it as “the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but God allowed it to be translated as “coming,” and that is important because that is exactly what has happened in God’s judgment program. And as far as Christ coming as Judge of the earth, He has come already. I remember when I read that in Mr. Camping’s book. I think it was the book, “Time Has an End,” and there was a passage where he was discussing that “no man knows the day or the hour,” and Mr. Camping pointed out that Christ had already come as Judge of the churches. He came and the churches were unaware of it and they did not know the day or the hour.

I do not want to get into that, and I am not trying to get into a discussion of “day and hour,” but just to indicate that Christ came as Judge without physically being seen, or without any literal coming in the clouds where people could see it with the naked eye. Nobody saw anything in the visible, physical world. It was an invisible, spiritual coming that was primarily accomplished in what way? How do we know that the churches were under judgment and that it was time to get out because the church age was over? How did we know all these things, like Satan being loosed and taking his seat in the temple to rule as the man of sin? How did we know about the Holy Spirit coming out of the midst of the churches and the end of salvation? You know, there was a great deal of doctrinal information we learned regarding the Great Tribulation and God’s judgment on the churches. How did that happen? It was because the Lord Jesus Christ revealed it. There was revelation of the judgment of God upon the churches and congregations. He opened up the eyes of His people to see it, in other words.