FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 1

TITLE: INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND AND PROLOGUE

TEXT: REVELATION 1:1-3

INTRODUCTION: (1) JOHN MACARTHUR IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 1-11 WRITES AND I QUOTE:

* “THE LATE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE DESCRIBED THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AS “A RIDDLE WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY INSIDE AN ENIGMA.”

** MANY CHRISTIANS VIEW THE BOOK OF REVELATION IN MUCH THE SAME WAY.

*** BEWILDERED BY ITS MYSTIFYING SYMBOLISM AND STRIKING IMAGERY MANY BELIEVERS (INCLUDING SOME PASTORS, WHO NEVER PREACH THROUGH REVELATION) AVOID SERIOUS STUDY OF THE BOOK.

**** EVEN JOHN CALVIN, THE GREATEST COMMENTATOR OF THE REFORMATION, WHO WROTE COMMENTARIES ON THE OTHER BOOKS, DID NOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE A COMMENTARY ON REVELATION.”

(2) MACARTHUR GOES ON TO SAY, “SUCH SHORT SIGHTEDNESS DEPRIVES BELIEVERS OF THE BLESSING THE BOOK PROMISES TO THOSE WHO DILIGENTLY READ IT (1:3, 22:7).”

* AND BELOVED HOW UNFORTUNATE TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT NO ONE CAN UNDERSTAND REVELATION, SO WHY STUDY IT?

** TO DO SO IS TO NEGLECT A LARGE BOOK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT WHICH IS INSPIRED. AND SINCE “ALL SCRIPTURE” IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION AND FOR TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, WE LOSE THE EQUIPPING ASPECT OF THIS LARGE NEW TESTAMENT BOOK, II TIMOTHY 3:16&17.

* BEYOND THAT, REVELATION IS THE ONLY BOOK IN THE BIBLE THAT PROMISES A SPECIAL BLESSING FOR THOSE WHO READ, HEAR AND HEED ITS TRUTHS, READ REVELATION 1:3.

** BEYOND THAT, WE LOSE THIS UNIQUE BOOK’S INFLUENCE TO COMFORT, CHALLENGE AND ENCOURAGE US AND WE ARE DEPRIVED OF A RICH TREASURE OF DIVINE TRUTH.

*** BEYOND THAT, FROM BEING THE MYSTERIOUS, INCOMPREHENSIBLE BOOK MANY IMAGINE IT TO BE, REVELATION’S PURPOSE IS TO REVEAL TRUTH, NOT TO OBSCURE IT AND GIVE US AS BELIEVERS HOPE ABOUT OUR FUTURE.

**** REVELATION UNVEILS TRUTHS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND MAKES CLEAR FEATURES OF PROPHETIC TRUTH ONLY HINTED AT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND OTHER NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS.

(3) AND SADLY THIS CLARITY IS OFTEN OBSCURED BY A REJECTION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF LITERAL INTERPRETATION IN FAVOR OF AN ALLEGORICAL OR SPIRITUALIZING INTERPRETATIONS METHOD.

* SUCH APPROACHES ATTEMPT TO PLACE REVELATION’S ACCOUNT TOTALLY IN THE PAST AND PRESENT RATHER THAN THE FUTURE.

** BUT HERE’S THE PROBLEM, ONCE THE PLAIN MEANING OF THE TEXT IS DENIED, AN INTERPRETER IS LEFT TO HIS OWN IMAGINATION AND WISDOM AND THE TRUTHS OF THE BOOK ARE LOST IN A MAZE OF HUMAN IDEAS AND INVENTIONS VOID OF AUTHENTICITY.

*** AND THE EXTREMES OF OVER SENSATIONALIZING TO SAYING REVELATION IS NOT A PROPHETIC BOOK ARE COMMUNICATED TODAY.

**** AND I’M NOT BEING ARROGANT ABOUT THE INTERPRETIVE ISSUES IN OUR STUDY OF THIS BOOK AND THAT I HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT.

(4) BUT THIS BOOK IS A PART OF THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE, THE LAST BOOK IN THAT CANON, SO AGAIN IT IS THE WORD OF GOD AND PROFITABLE AND MUST BE STUDIED.

* AND WE WILL USE THE LITERAL, HISTORICAL GRAMITICO RULES OF INTERPRETATION AS OUR HERMENEUTIC. (EXPLAIN).

** NOW WITH THOSE INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS ABOUT REVELATION IN MIND, I WANT TO GIVE YOU SOME IMPORTANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO LAY A FOUNDATION FOR OUR STUDY THAT WE CAN BUILD ON.

*** THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS PREEMINENTLY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH I’LL EXPAND ON IN OUR FIRST VERSE TODAY.

**** THIS BOOK DESCRIBES JESUS CHRIST BY MANY TITLES FROM THE FIRSTBORN OF THE DEAD TO THE ROOT AND DESCENDANT OF DAVID, THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR, FROM THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH TO THE LAMB OF GOD.

(5) IN FACT IN ONE COMMENTARY I STUDIED FROM, THERE ARE 24 TITLES OF CHRIST USED IN REVELATION.

* THE BOOK OF REVELATION REVEALS CHRIST, NOT IN HIS HUMILITY IN HIS FIRST COMING, BUT AS THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, THE ONE WHO’S EYES ARE AS A FLAME OF FIRE WHO WILL RULE AND REIGN.

** NOW SOME OTHER BACKGROUND MATERIAL AND MUCH OF THIS MATERIAL IS PRINTED AND IN YOUR BULLETIN FOR TODAY.

I. NO. 1 THE AUTHOR: FOUR TIMES IN REVELATION IN THE NAS AND NIV AND FIVE TIMES IN THE MANUSCRIPTS USED BY THE KJV AND NKJV, THE AUTHOR IDENTIFIES HIMSELF AS JOHN (1:1, 4, 9; 21:2; 22:8).

* THE EARLY CHURCH UNANIMOUSLY (UNTIL THE THIRD CENTURY) AFFIRMED THAT HE WAS JOHN THE SON OF ZEBEDEE, ONE OF THE 12 APOSTLES, THE HUMAN AUTHOR OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE 3 EPISTLES OF JOHN.

** EARLY CHURCH FATHERS FROM JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENARUS, TERTULLIAN TO ORIGEN HIPPOLYTUS AND VICTORINUS ALL GIVE TESTIMONY THAT JOHN WAS THE AUTHOR.

*** IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE SECOND HALF OF THE THIRD CENTURY THAT DIONYSIUS, THE BISHOP OF THE CHURCH IN ALEXANDRIA, SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED THE APOSTLE’S AUTHORSHIP OF REVELATION.

**** HIS ARGUMENT AGAINST APOSTOLIC AUTHORSHIP RESTED PRIMARILY ON THE DIFFERENCE IN STYLE AND VOCABULARY BETWEEN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AND HIS EPISTLES AND THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

1. AND THOSE DIFFERENCES IN STYLE BETWEEN REVELATION AND JOHN’S OTHER INSPIRED WRITINGS FORM THE MAIN LINE OF ARGUMENT FOR THOSE WHO DENY THAT THE APOSTLE WROTE REVELATION.

* NOW WHILE THOSE DIFFERENCES DO EXIST, BECAUSE THE NATURE OF THE MATERIAL IS SO DIFFERENT, THEY ARE NOT SIGNIFICANT TO PROVE THAT THE APOSTLE JOHN COULD NOT HAVE WRITTEN REVELATION.

** IN FACT, SOME OF THOSE DIFFERENCES CAN BE EXPLAINED BY THE DIFFERENT LITERARY STYLE OF REVELATION.

*** ON TOP OF THAT, THERE ARE STRIKING PARALLELS BETWEEN REVELATION AND THE APOSTLE JOHN’S OTHER WRITINGS.

**** IN SUMMARY, THE TRADITIONAL VIEW THAT THE APOSTLE JOHN WAS THE JOHN IDENTIFIED AS THE INSPIRED AUTHOR OF REVELATION BEST FITS THE EVIDENCE.

2. THAT EVIDENCE BEING THE STRONG TESTIMONY OF THE EARLY CHURCH, THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN REVELATION AND JOHN’S OTHER WRITINGS, THE ABSENCE OF ANY CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVE AUTHOR, AND THE IMPROBABILITY THAT TWO PROMINENT MEN NAMED JOHN LIVED AT THE SAME TIME IN EPHESUS ARGUE CONVINCINGLY FOR APOSTOLIC AUTHORSHIP, JOHN THE BELOVED DISCIPLE.

II. NO. 2 THE DATE (AND THIS IS IMPORTANT, FOR INTERPRETIVE PURPOSES)

A. TWO MAIN ALTERNATIVES HAVE BEEN PROPOSED FOR THE DATE OF REVELATION: (1) DURING THE REIGN OF NERO A.D. 68 OR (2) THAT OF DOMITIAN AT THE END OF HIS REIGN A.D. 95-96.

* NOW THE EARLIER DATE IS HELD PRIMARILY BY SOME WHO ADOPT THE PRETERIST INTERPRETATION OF REVELATION, WHICH I’LL EXPLAIN LATER.

** AND IT IS BASED LARGELY ON QUESTIONABLE EXEGESIS OF SEVERAL PASSAGES IN THE BOOK AND ATTEMPTS TO RELEGATE ITS PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT ENTIRELY TO THE PERIOD BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70.

*** THOSE WHO HOLD TO THE EARLY DATE SEE IN JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION THE PROPHESIED SECOND COMING OF JESUS IN ITS FIRST PHASE.

**** NOW EXTERNAL EVIDENCE FOR THE EARLY NERONIAN DATE IS ALMOST NON-EXISTENT.

1. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE VIEW THAT THE APOSTLE JOHN PENNED REVELATION NEAR THE END OF DOMITIAN’S REIGN WHO DIED IN A.D. 96 WAS WIDELY HELD IN THE EARLY CHURCH.

* SECOND CENTURY CHURCH FATHER IRENAEUS AFFIRMS THIS, AS WELL AS CHURCH FATHERS CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, ORIGEN, VICTORINUS, EUSEBIUS AND JEROME ALSO AFFIRM THAT REVELATION WAS WRITTEN DURING DOMITIAN’S REIGN WHICH WAS FROM A.D. 81-96.

** AND THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARLY CHURCH THAT REVELATION WAS WRITTEN DURING DOMITIAN’S REIGN IS DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN IF IT WAS ACTUALLY DURING NERO’S REIGN.

*** BEYOND THAT THE CONDITION OF THE 7 CHURCHES TO WHOM JOHN ADDRESSED REVELATION ALSO ARGUES FOR A LATER DATE.

**** THOSE CHURCHES WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PHILADELPHIA HAD SUFFERED SERIOUS SPIRITUAL DECLINE BY THE TIME JOHN WRITES TO THEM WHICH DOES NOT FIT INTO THE EARLIER DATE.

2. BEYOND THAT LAODICEA, ONE OF THE 7 CHURCHES, WAS DEVASTATED BY AN EARTHQUAKE ABOUT A.D. 60.

* BECAUSE OF THAT FOR THE REST OF NERO’S REIGN, THE CITY WAS INVOLVED IN RECONSTRUCTION, AND COULD HARDLY BE CONSIDERED “RICH AND INCREASED WITH GOODS” AS REVELATION 3:17 SAYS.

** SO A DATE DURING DOMITIAN’S REIGN WOULD ALLOW TIME FOR LAODICEA TO REGAIN ITS WEALTH.

*** BEYOND THAT, THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE CHURCH AT SMYRNA WAS NOT FOUNDED UNTIL AFTER PAUL’S DEATH ABOUT A.D. 67.

**** THE POINT BEING IT COULD HARDLY HAVE BEGUN, GROWN TO MATURITY AND DECLINED IN THE BRIEF INTERVAL BETWEEN THE APOSTLE’S DEATH AND THE END OF NERO’S REIGN AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME.

3. ALSO THE SECT KNOWN AS THE NICOLATIANS THAT PLAGUED THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS AND PERGAMUM IN REVELATION 2:6 AND 15 IS NEVER MENTIONED BY PAUL IN HIS WRITINGS TO EPHESUS OR I AND II TIMOTHY.

* BUT BY THE TIME OF REVELATION THEY WERE SO WELL KNOWN THAT NO DESCRIPTION WAS NECESSARY. THIS AGAIN IMPLIES A LONG TIME GAP BETWEEN THE TIME OF PAUL AND THE TIME REVELATION WAS WRITTEN.

** AND THEN FINALLY A REASON FOR THE LATER DATE IS THE TIMING OF JOHN’S ARRIVAL IN ASIA MINOR.

*** ACCORDING TO TRADITION, JOHN DID NOT LEAVE PALESTINE FOR ASIA MINOR UNTIL THE TIME OF THE JEWISH REVOLT AGAINST ROME IN A.D. 66-70.

**** SO PLACING THE WRITING OF REVELATION DURING NERO’S REIGN WOULD NOT ALLOW SUFFICIENT TIME FOR JOHN’S MINISTRY TO HAVE REACHED THE POINT WHERE THE ROMANS WOULD HAVE FELT THE NEED TO EXILE JOHN TO PATMOS, THE SMALL ISLAND IN THE AEGEAN SEA THAT WAS A ROMAN PENAL COLONY.

4. THE WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE CLEARLY FAVORS A DATE FOR THE WRITING OF REVELATION IN THE MID-NINETIES, NEAR THE END OF DOMITIAN’S REIGN.

* THIS IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT ELIMINATES THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE PROPHECIES IN REVELATION WERE FULFILLED IN THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70.

III. INTERPRETATION

* REVELATION IS A CHALLENGING BOOK TO INTERPRET BECAUSE THERE ARE 4 MAIN INTERPRETIVE APPROACHES TO THE BOOK.

1. THE PRETERIST SCHOOL. NOW THE WORD PRETERIST LIT. MEANS “PAST” OR TO “PASS BY” WHICH REVEALS WHERE THIS SCHOOL OF THOUGHT COMES FROM. THEY BELIEVE BASICALLY THAT THE THINGS IN REVELATION HAVE ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED IN THE PAST, IN THE FIRST CENTURY WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE IN A.D. 70.

* THE PRETERIST APPROACH VIEWS REVELATION NOT AS FUTURE, PREDICTIVE PROPHECY, BUT AS AN HISTORICAL RECORD OF EVENTS IN THE FIRST CENTURY ROMAN EMPIRE.

** THE PRETERIST VIEW THUS IGNORES THE BOOK’S OWN CLAIMS TO BE A PROPHECY (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18-19).

*** TO ADD TO THAT, ALL THE EVENTS PREDICTED AND DEPICTED IN REVELATION WERE NOT FULFILLED IN THE FIRST CENTURY.

**** THE 2’D COMING OF CHRIST DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER 19 HAS NOT YET OCCURRED. BUT THE PRETERIST APPROACH REQUIRES THAT ONE SEES THE WORDS ABOUT CHRIST’S SECOND COMING AS FULFILLED IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN A.D. 70 EVEN THOUGH JESUS DID NOT APPEAR ON THAT OCCASION.

- NOW IS THERE ANY PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURY, WHICH WAS BAD, THAT FITS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE HORRIFIC EVENTS DEPICTED IN CHAPTERS 6-19? (NOTHING CLOSE).

2. NOW THE 2’D SCHOOL IS THE HISTORICAL OR HISTORICIST SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION.

* AND THIS APPROACH, LIKE THE PRETERISTS, TAKES THE EVENTS OF THE BOOK TO BE REAL BUT ASSERTS THAT CHAPTERS 4-19 ARE A PROPHETIC UNFOLDING OF CHURCH HISTORY FROM THE TIME OF THE APOSTLES TO THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST.

** IN OTHER WORDS THIS INTERPRETATION FINDS IN REVELATION A RECORD OF THE SWEEP OF CHURCH HISTORY FROM APOSTOLIC TIMES UNTIL THE PRESENT.

*** RATHER THAN LIMITING THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PREDICTIONS OF THE BOOK TO ANY ONE PERIOD, THIS METHOD REGARDS REVELATION AS A “CONTINUOUS PICTURE BOOK” OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD.

****HISTORCIST INTERPRETERS OFTEN RESORT TO ALLEGORIZING THE TEXT IN ORDER TO FIND IN IT THE VARIOUS HISTORICAL EVENTS THEY BELIEVE IT DEPICTS.

***** FOR EXAMPLE THE RISE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE ADVENT OF ISLAM, EVEN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, THE SEALED JUDGMENTS, THE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS, THE VIAL JUDGMENTS ALL PICTURE CHURCH HISTORY.

- BECAUSE OF THAT KIND OF APPROACH WHICH IS VERY SUBJECTIVE, AS MANY AS 50 DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION HAVE COME ABOUT DEPENDING ON THE TIME OF HISTORY AND CIRCUMSTANCE OF THE INTERPRETER.

- IT IS AN ALLEGORICAL SYMBOLIC SPIRITUALIZING APPROACH THAT WE REJECT AS A MEANS OF SOUND INTERPRETATION.

3. NOW THE THIRD SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION IS CALLED THE IDEALIST SCHOOL OR THE TOPICAL INTERPRETATION WHICH IS TOTALLY A NON-LITERAL OR ALLEGORICAL APPROACH.

* THIS SCHOOL SAYS DEPICTED IN REVELATION THE TIMELESS STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL THAT IS PLAYED OUT IN EVERY AGE.

** THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS ONE LONG ALLEGORY GOING FAR BEYOND THE NATURAL SYMBOLISM WHICH IS FOUND IN THE BOOK.

*** THIS APPROACH UNDERSTANDS REVELATION IN A NON-LITERAL SENSE.

**** ACCORDING TO THIS VIEW OF REVELATION IT IS NEITHER AN HISTORICAL RECORD NOR A PREDICTIVE PROPHECY.

- THE BOOK IS BASICALLY REDUCED TO A COLLECTION OF STORIES DESIGNED TO CONVEY SPIRITUAL TRUTHS, AGAIN THE EVENTS ARE SYMBOLIC OF THE ONGOING CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.

4. AND THEN NO. 4, THE INTERPRETIVE APPROACH WE ADHERE TO IS THE FUTURIST SCHOOL.

* THIS APPROACH SEES IN CHAPTERS 4-22 PREDICTIONS OF PEOPLE AND EVENTS YET TO COME IN THE FUTURE.

** THE BOOK ON THE WHOLE IS SEEN AS PREDICTIVE RATHER THAN PURELY DESCRIPTIVE.

*** UNDER THIS SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION, THE EVENTS OF CHAPTERS 4 THROUGH 19 RELATE TO THE PERIOD JUST PRECEDING THE 2’D COMING OF CHRIST TO THE EARTH, NOT IN THE AIR, THE RAPTURE.

**** THIS IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS A PERIOD OF 7 YEARS WITH EMPHASIS ON THE LAST 3 ½ YEARS AS THE “GREAT TRIBULATION”.

- CHAPTER 19, THEREFORE, REFERS TO THE 2’D COMING OF CHRIST TO THE EARTH, CHAPTER 20 TO THE FUTURE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM WHICH WILL FOLLOW AND CHAPTERS 21&22 AS ETERNITY FUTURE THE DAY OF GOD.

* NOW ONLY THIS APPROACH ALLOWS REVELATION TO BE INTERPRETED FOLLOWING THE SAME LITERAL, GRAMMATICAL-HISTORICAL HERMENEUTICAL METHOD BY WHICH NON-PROPHETIC PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE ARE INTERPRETED.

**THE FUTURIST APPROACH, IN CONTRAST TO THE OTHER 3 DOES FULL JUSTICE TO REVELATION’S CLAIM TO BE A PROPHECY.

*** NOW THE FUTURIST APPROACH IS OFTEN CRITICIZED AS ROBBING REVELATION OF ANY MEANING FOR THOSE TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN, SINCE IT VIEWS MUCH OF THE BOOK AS DESCRIBING EVENTS IN THE DISTANT FUTURE.

**** IN REPLY JOHN F. WALVOORD RESPONDS IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION BY SAYING:

**** MUCH OF THE PROPHECY OF THE BIBLE DEALS WITH THE DISTANT FUTURE, INCLUDING THE OLD TESTAMENT PROMISES OF THE COMING MESSIAH, THE PROPHECIES OF DANIEL CONCERNING THE FUTURE WORLD EMPIRES, THE BODY OF TRUTH RELATING TO THE COMING KINGDOM ON EARTH AS WELL AS COUNTLESS OTHER PROPHECIES.

**** IF THE EVENTS OF CHAPTERS 4 THROUGH 19 ARE FUTURE, EVEN FROM OUR VIEWPOINT TODAY, THEY TEACH THE BLESSED TRUTH OF THE ULTIMATE SUPREMACY OF GOD AND THE TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

**** THE IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF DISTANT EVENTS IS FAMILIAR IN SCRIPTURE, AS FOR INSTANCE II PETER 3:10-12, WHICH SPEAKS OF THE ULTIMATE DISSOLUTION OF THE EARTH; NEVERTHELESS THE SUCCEEDING PASSAGE MAKES AN IMMEDIATE APPLICATION: “WHEREFORE, BELOVED, SEEING THAT YE LOOK FOR SUCH THINGS, BE DILIGENT…”(II PETER 3:14).

***** IN SUMMARY, ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE FUTURIST APPROACH LEAVES THE MEANING OF THE BOOK TO HUMAN INGENUITY AND OPINION.

- THE FUTURISTS TAKES THE BOOK’S MEANING AS GOD GAVE IT.

* IN STUDYING REVELATION, WE WILL TAKE THIS STRAIGHTFORWARD VIEW AND ACCEPT WHAT THE TEXT SAYS. WE WILL TAKE THE BOOK AS IT COMES IN THE NORMAL FASHION OF LANGUAGE.

** WHEN APPLIED TO REVELATION THIS METHOD WILL INTERPRET WORDS AND NUMBERS LITERALLY UNLESS THE CONTEXT DEMANDS A FIGURATIVE OR SYMBOLIC SENSE, SOMETHING THAT IS GENERALLY APPARENT IN THE PASSAGE.

*** THIS APPROACH RECOGNIZES FIGURES OF SPEECH AND SYMBOLS, BUT INSISTS THAT EVERY FIGURE HAS AN INTENDED CORRESPONDENCE TO LITERAL FACTS WHICH CAN BE ASCERTAINED ACCORDING TO RULES OF COMMON SENSE AND SCRIPTURE EVIDENCE.

**** DR. D. L. COOPER SAID AND I QUOTE: “WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE OF SCRIPTURE MAKES COMMON SENSE, SEEK NO OTHER SENSE; THEREFORE, TAKE EVERY WORD AT ITS PRIMARY, ORDINARY, USUAL MEANING UNLESS THE FACTS OF THE IMMEDIATE TEXT STUDIED IN THE LIGHT OF RELATED PASSAGES AND AXIOMATIC AND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS INDICATE CLEARLY OTHERWISE.”

- SO AGAIN WE WILL INTERPRET REVELATION FROM THE FUTURIST SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION.

IV. MOVING ON TO NO. 4 KEY VERSE.

A. REVELATION 1:19 WHICH SAYS: THEREFORE WRITE THE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, AND THE THINGS WHICH ARE, AND THE THINGS WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE AFTER THESE THINGS.

* NOW THIS KEY VERSE UNLOCKS THE DOOR TO A SIMPLE OUTLINE OF THE BOOK.

V. OUTLINE

A. I. THE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, CHAPTER 1, JOHN’S VISION OF THE EXALTED CHRIST WHICH HE ALREADY HAD WHILE ON PATMOS.

* II. THE THINGS WHICH ARE. THE MESSAGES TO SEVEN LITERAL CHURCHES IN ASIA MINOR, THAT LITERALLY EXISTED IN THAT DAY, CHAPTERS 2&3.

** AND NO. III. THE THINGS WHICH SHALL TAKE PLACE AFTER THIS, CHAPTERS 4-22.

*** AND CHAPTERS 4-22 ARE FUTURE AND THE TRIBULATIONS IS TALKED ABOUT IN CHAPTERS 6-18. CHAPTER 19 TALKS ABOUT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB AND THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST TO THE EARTH.

**** CHAPTER 20 TALKS ABOUT THE 1000 YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST ON THE EARTH, THE MILENNIUM AND THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT WHICH FOLLOWS.

1. AND THEN CHAPTERS 21&22 TALK ABOUT THE ETERNAL STATE, THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH.

* AND THAT’S THE SIMPLE OUTLINE I’LL USE. THINGS, PAST, CHAPTER 1; THINGS PRESENT, CHAPTERS 2&3; AND THINGS FUTURE, CHAPTERS 4-22.

VI. NEXT KEY WORDS: I SAW (WITH I BEHELD, I LOOKED USED 49 TIMES)

* SEVEN (AND SEVENTH) – 59 TIMES

** ANGEL – 70 TIMES

*** LAMB – 29 TIMES

VII. NEXT: THE PLACE IT WAS WRITTEN FROM WHICH WAS PATMOS, ACCORDING TO CHAPTER ONE VERSE 9.

* AND PATMOS WAS A SMALL ISLAND IN THE AEGEAN SEA BETWEEN WHAT IS NOW GREECE AND TURKEY.

** IT WAS USED AS A ROMAN PENAL COLONY WHEN CRIMINALS WORKED IN MINES. IT WAS LOCATED ABOUT 37 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE COAST OF ASIA.

*** AND JOHN WAS SENT THERE AS PUNISHMENT FOR HIS FAITH.

VIII. THE RECIPIENTS – THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR WHICH YOU CAN SEE ON THE SCREEN.

* THESE TOWNS WERE CONNECTED BY THE GREAT CIRCULAR ROAD OF ASIA.

** NOW EACH CITY MENTIONED IN REVELATION 2&3 WAS ABOUT 30 TO 50 MILES APART FROM EACH OTHER, ALL ON THE CIRCULAR ROAD.

*** AND THE BOOK OF REVELATION LISTS THEM IN THE SEQUENCE A LETTER CARRIER WOULD TRAVEL, ARRIVING BY SHIP FROM PATMOS TO EPHESUS (CLOCKWISE FROM EPHESUS).

**** NORTH TO SMYRNA AND PERGANUM; EAST TO THYATIRA; SOUTH TO SARDIS; SOUTHEAST TO PHILADELPHIA AND LAODICA; WEST BACK TO EPHESUS.

IX. NEXT WE MOVE TO OLD TESTAMENT USAGE.

A. AND ALTHOUGH THERE ARE NO DIRECT QUOTES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT HAS BEEN COMMUNICATED BY SEVERAL COMMENTATORS THAT JOHN ALLUDES TO OR ECHOES TRUTHS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT IN 278 OF REVELATION’S 404 VERSES.

* THE AUTHOR, JOHN THE APOSTLES HAD A GOOD OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND AS A JEWISH MAN.

X. AND LAST OF ALL TODAY BEFORE MY CONCLUSION, THE THEME.

A. AS REVELATION 1:1 COMMUNICATES THIS BOOK IS THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.

* AND THE WORD REVELATION IN THE GREEK IS AP-OK-AL-OOP-SIS FROM WHICH WE GET OUR ENGLISH WORD APOKALYPSE.

** AND IT LIT. MEANS TO REMOVE THE VEIL OR COVERING, AN UNVEILING OR UNCOVERING, TO BECOME VISIBLE.

*** THE BOOK OF REVELATION REVEALS THE MAJESTY AND GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE UNVEILING OF CHRIST AS JUDGE IN ALL OF HIS GLORY AND THE ONE WHO WILL RETURN AS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

*** BELOVED, JOHN’S PROPHECY IS PRIMARILY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, NOT JUST THE REVELATION OF FUTURE EVENTS.

**** FOR WE MUST NOT DIVORCE THE PERSON FROM THE PROPHECY, FOR WITHOUT THE PERSON THERE COULD BE NO FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY.

1. SO WE’RE STUDYING THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH IS THE TITLE OF THIS SERIES AS WE STUDY THIS BOOK.

AND AS I WRAP UP THINGS: (1) ONE OF THE THINGS WE’LL DO AS WE STUDY REVELATION IS TO GET TO KNOW OUR SAVIOR BETTER OR YOUR JUDGE, IF YOU ARE WITHOUT CHRIST TODAY.

* FOR THE BOTTOM LINE FOR US AS BELIEVERS IS THAT WE KNOW CHRIST IN A GREATER WAY AND WE DESIRE TO MAKE HIM KNOWN.

** PAUL SAID IN PHILIPPIANS 3:10 - THAT I MAY KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS, BEING CONFORMED TO HIS DEATH.

*** AND CHRISTIAN, THAT SHOULD BE OUR PASSION, NOT JUST TO KNOW ABOUT CHRIST BUT TO KNOW HIM PERSONALLY AND THEOLOGICALLY SO THAT WE WILL MAKE HIM KNOWN TO OTHERS.

(2) AND THEN ONE LAST TRUTH. THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS A BOOK THAT SHOULD GIVE THE CHRISTIAN HOPE AND SHOULD BRING FEAR TO THE NON-CHRISTIAN.

* IT GIVES HOPE TO US OF WHAT’S AHEAD, THINGS WILL GET BETTER, ONE DAY GOD WILL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS, REVELATION 21:4.

** AND GLORY AWAITS US. AND THAT’S SURE HOPE THAT SHOULD HELP AND GIVE HOPE TO THOSE WITHOUT CHRIST IF THEY REPENT AND TURN TO CHRIST.

*** FOR IN REVELATION, IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY, GOD COMPLETES WHAT WAS LOST IN GENESIS. THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS, GENESIS, WOULD BE INCOMPLETE WITHOUT REVELATION.

**** FOR IN GENESIS, PARADISE IS CLOSED TO MANKIND BECAUSE OF SIN, IN REVELATION PARADISE IS OPEN TO MAN THROUGH CHRIST.

(3) IN GENESIS MANKIND IS BARRED FROM THE TREE OF LIFE BECAUSE OF SIN, IN REVELATION THE TREE OF LIFE IS OPEN THROUGH CHRIST.

* IN GENESIS SIN ENTERED BRINGING SORROW. IN REVELATION SIN IS BANISHED WITH SORROW AND PAIN.

** IN GENESIS THE FIRST MURDERER, DRUNKARD AND REBEL APPEAR, AND IN REVELATION THE LAST MURDERER, DRUNKARD AND REBEL ARE BANISHED, REVELATION 21:8.

*** IN GENESIS THE FIRST TEARS ARE SHED, IN REVELATION THE LAST TEAR IS WIPED AWAY.

**** IN GENESIS THE CURSE ENTERS AND BRINGS DEATH AND IN REVELATION THE CURSE IS REMOVED AND DEATH IS BANISHED.

(4) AND LAST OF ALL IN GENESIS, SATAN ENTERS THE WORLD STAGE AND IN REVELATION SATAN IS BANISHED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE, REVELATION 20:10.

* CHRISTIAN THE BEST IS YET TO COME. IF YOU ARE WITHOUT CHRIST, THE WORST IS YET TO COME. REPENT AND TURN TO CHRIST TODAY FOR FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS.