Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #9 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. We began to look at the last part of verse 5, where it speaks of the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. We were looking at that word “revelation,” and it is the word that is found in Revelation 1:1: regarding the “revelation of Jesus Christ,” and it is the word that the book of Revelation gets its name from. We saw that it has to do with God’s communication to man and the Lord revealing Himself through divine revelation through His Word. We also saw this same word, Strong’s #602 (apokalupsis), used in Romans 16:25 where it speaks of “the revelation of the mystery,” and this identical Greek word is translated as “coming” in 1Corinthians 1:7:

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.

Now think about this. The word “coming” is the word “revelation,” and the Apostle Paul was being moved by God to address the Corinthians and to tell them that they would come behind in no gift, “waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then the following verse refers to being “confirmed to the end” and being found “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So it is said in the context of the time of the end, but that does not make sense if it is referring to divine revelation because God completed the giving of divine revelation before the end of the first century A. D., and never again would He bring further revelation in the sense of adding to the Word of the Bible. It is a complete canon, and once the last chapter of the last book was written, God warned in Revelation 2:18 that whoever adds to the words of this book (the Bible), they would have the plagues written in this book given to them. And, yet, here they were being encouraged to wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall “confirm you unto the end.” So it seems to be saying that at the time of the end there would be revelation of Christ, and that would fit in with Romans 2:5 regarding the “day of wrath” and “revelation.” When is the day of wrath? It comes at the time of the end of the world, and we do know that God speaks of sealing up the word, as He told the prophet Daniel, until the time of the end, and then knowledge would increase. And the implication there is that at the time of the end, the Bible would be unsealed, and knowledge of the Word would increase. That is, God will reveal truth, and revealing truth is very similar to “revelation” and what that word means.

Actually, this word “apokalupsis” used in Romans 2:5 is related to Strong’s #601, which is “apokaluptō,” so they are very similar. The Lord uses this word, Strong’s #601, and we will look at a few places where this word is found. It says in Matthew 16:16:

**And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.**s

The word “revealed” is #601, “apokaluptō,” which is close to “apokalupsis” or “revelation.” And, here, the Lord Jesus was confirming that Peter has it right and, yes, He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and that no man revealed that to him, but God revealed it to him from heaven. He received “revelation.” He received the knowledge of the truth, in other words. It was true biblical teaching. A truth of God was revealed to him by the Father, and that is how this word is being used.

It is also the same word found in 1Corinthians 2:10:

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Then the verses following go on to explain how the Spirit reveals the deep things of God. It is the methodology the Lord lays out of comparing spiritual with spiritual, Scripture with Scripture, and then the Holy Ghost teaches. And when the Holy Ghost teaches, He reveals the things of God. That is the point of teaching: to reveal truths from the Word of God, the Bible. So God has revealed these truths or doctrines unto us by His Spirit. The Spirit of God guides us into all truth, and this is the revealing of revelation. The whole Bible is the revelation of God, but, additionally, it must be “revealed.” The Holy Spirit must guide the reader into understanding, but only those whom God has saved are given spiritual eyes and ears that can follow that guidance and come to understanding as their eyes are opened up to the truths of the Word of God.

We also find that this is the same word used in Luke 17. The context here is important, as we read in Luke 17:26-30:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

This would be Judgment Day, as it is looked at in the overall sense and, therefore, beginning at the house of God. Christ has been “revealed” on the pages of the Bible. The Spirit has revealed Him. It was part of the information that had been sealed, then it was unsealed and the people of God were guided into understanding and able to discern “time and judgment,” regarding the judgment that began at the house of God, and then transitioning into the judgment on the world. The Son of man was first revealed as the Judge of the churches, and then He was revealed as the Judge of the whole earth. All judgment has been placed in the hands of the Son by the Father, and the Son executes the judgment. The Son is the Word made flesh, and it is the Word of God that brings the judgment.

I mentioned this and we talked about this a little bit in our last study. How do we know that God has judged the churches? How do we know the corporate church has been judged by God? And it was in a very awful and destructive way. You know, we understand that the churches have been made spiritually desolate and that a grievous famine has come upon it, not a famine of literal bread and water, but a famine of hearing the Word of God, so that nobody became saved in the churches and congregations after the judgment began. We understand that not one stone was left upon another, and we could go on, and on, regarding the information we have learned about God’s judgment on the corporate church. We know that Satan was instrumental, as he was loosed by God to carry out the destruction on the churches, and he took his seat in the temple, showing himself that he is God. And that is another place we see this word, if we go over to 2Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

There is that word “revealed” in verse 3. The man of sin was revealed, the son of perdition, as he took his seat in the temple. That is, he was ruling in the churches and congregations. And how was he revealed? Did someone receive a vision? Was it through someone that was given the gift of “tongues” and another being given the gift of “interpretation” of that tongue? No – He was revealed through Bible study, through the comparison of Scripture with Scripture, and the Holy Ghost teaches through the faithful methodology that the saints of God have utilized throughout time, or at least since the Bible was completed. God would have us to search the Scriptures, and as we search the Scriptures, He guides us into truth, and we come to knowledge and right conclusions regarding various topics in the Bible.

And, here, it was not until the time of the end that knowledge all came together regarding who the “anti-Christ” is. It is Satan. He is the one who was in the world in the first century and who would also be present at the time of the end, almost two thousand years later. It could be no other than the devil, the evil one and the enemy of God and His people, and he is the “man of sin.” He is the “son of perdition,” and he has been revealed by God’s opening of the Scriptures, and the Lord’s people “saw” him clearly. We saw him clearly, which is why when God opened up the command for His people to depart out of the midst of Jerusalem, we knew He meant that we must get out of the churches and flee into the world. We had to “go into captivity” from Judah to Babylon, which is another figure used in the Bible. All of this was revealed from the Word of God, the Bible, through very careful examination and consideration of the Scriptures, following the trail that each verse in the Bible gives us. The way God wrote the Bible using words in one verse that we can follow the words to other verses where they are used, and that is comparing “spiritual with spiritual.” And as we do so, amazingly, we begin to develop conclusions and we begin to learn and gain understanding of the verse we were looking at and of other verses. It takes a lot of time, but, eventually, things come together, and knowledge has been increased. And now we know the timeline for the Great Tribulation, and the character of that judgment, which was spiritual, as God judged the churches and used Satan as a destroying weapon to wreak spiritual havoc upon the churches and congregations of the world, and that is exactly what he has done.

So this is how the “man of sin” was revealed, and it is also the methodology whereby the Son of man was revealed in that day (of wrath), and Christ has been seen to be the one who has, indeed, judged the churches. And then when we came to May 21, 2011, guess what happened? The same thing is in view, and now the Lord is judging the world, and He is revealing the day of wrath and revelation of the His righteous judgment. The righteous judgment of God is being revealed in the same manner – through Bible study. The Lord is directing His people, as we compare this verse with that verse, here a little, there a little. And as we arrive at conclusions, we declare those conclusions (as we have always done), but it is only now at the time of the end that there are no barriers or seals (on the Word), so we can move freely, as it were, in end time verses in the Bible. The Lord is revealing, and He is greatly blessing and helping us, and all kinds of information is coming forth revealing His program of judgment, just as He has revealed many, many other things He had kept in reserve. And now information is coming through and showing itself.

Now the Greek word “apokaluptō” is a compound word, and this is where the word “apokalupsis” in Romans 2:5 comes from. The word “apokaluptō” has the word “apo,” which is normally translated as “from.” That is the word used in Revelation 13:8 where it says, “from the foundation of the world.” So the word “apo,” and the word “kaluptō,” and “kaluptō” is a word that is translated as “covered” or “hid” about eight times in the New Testament. The Greek word that is translated as “apo” is also translated as “off” or “out of,” and even the word “from” has the idea of “going away from something,” although not always. I would not say it is always the case, but it does carry that idea of “out of,” as in something coming “out” or “off.” And when we put the two together, it is the idea of being “off covered” or “out of being covered,” or away from being covered. That is what “revealed” means, and, of course, we can see why it would have this word “covered” or “hid,” but now it is away from being covered. And this is because God had hidden secret and deep things, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. He had hidden glorious truths in His Word, the Bible, and He sealed them up until the time of the end. And then at the time of the end, these things were “uncovered.” That is another way of putting it, and we can understand it that way, but it cannot be translated that way. But that is the idea. It is uncovered or revealed now.

So when the Lord refers to “revealing” the Son of man in that day, it is the uncovering of God’s end time judgment program because we are in that (proper) time period. It is the “day of wrath,” and the “day of wrath” is also a day of revelation or a day of revealing the righteous judgment of God. In other words, God is letting His plan be known regarding how He will finalize things for mankind, for this world, and for the entire creation.

That would also explain why God opened up the information concerning “annihilation,” because that also had to do with God’s end time judgment program. That doctrine was opened up during the Great Tribulation period, and it is in character with the opening up of additional information we have been learning. It is “fine tuning” or correcting us to help us get a very purified understanding of the end of the world and the two-fold judgment or the two tribulations: first, the judgment on the house of God, and then the judgment on the world. We now understand the timing of it and the nature of it, which was spiritual.

And the information about annihilation is a comfort to the people of God because we have loved ones (that are not saved). Can you imagine how grief stricken we would be? It is a heavy grief just to hear that God has ended His salvation, but how grief stricken we would be if we thought that on that last day, every unsaved person would be turned into Hell, including our loved ones that God did not save. And we have been given understanding of the year 2033, although we do not know the exact day and month, but He has opened up our understanding that God will simply annihilate all the unsaved. And while it is awful to be annihilated and to lose one’s life eternally, at least there will be no conscious suffering and tormenting of people endlessly into eternity future. And God has revealed that truth to us.

Going back to the word “apokalupsis” used in Romans 2:5, which is Strong’s #602, we find this word in 2Thessalonians 1:4-5:

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God…

And there is that phrase “the righteous judgment of God.” Again it say sin 2Thessalonians 1:5-6:

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

And Judgement Day can also be understood to be a time of “recompense” or repaying to the wicked, the recompensing of tribulation to them. Then it goes on to say in 2Thessalonians 1:7:

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

The Lord Jesus shall be “revealed from heaven,” and for centuries people have thought this moment would take place on the last day. “That is it! It is the very end of the world, and there is Christ coming in the (literal) clouds, and it is all over, instantaneously, when that happens.” But that is not the case. May 21, 2011 is what the Bible has revealed, and that was when the Lord Jesus came in the “clouds of heaven,” as the clouds represent the commandments of God, the Scriptures. So the Lord’s coming is being “revealed” in the Word of God, and it has been revealed to the understanding of the minds of the Lord’s people, so we can see this very clearly and understand that it is the “same cup” that was given first to the churches, and now to the world. This same Judge of the earth has come as a thief in the night in the same way He came to judge the churches, and He is now judging the world.