Welcome back to part three in my introductory studies of the book of Revelation. As I mentioned in the first two installments of this introductory study of the Book of Revelation, this book is sadly and unquestionably the most controversial and neglected book of all of the sixty-six books of the Bible. This is sadly the case in spite of the fact that Revelation is the only book in the Bible that opens with a promise of a special blessing for those who reads, understands and does the things that are written in the book.
So why is arguably one of the most, if not the most, important book of the bible so neglected and so controversial? Some say that because of the nature of symbolic and allegorical literature, and centuries of vastly differing interpretations and approaches to understanding Revelation, it has just been decided by most Christians that the book of Revelation is one of the hardest books of the bible to understand therefore, it has just simply been avoided.
The truth is that anything is as hard as you want to make it, but the book of Revelation is readily understood when you make a determined effort accompanied with spending time in study. Furthermore, when you simply consider the fact that in the opening verses, God promises a special blessing for those who reads it, is a clear and irrefutable indication that it was God’s intention that His people read it and then also, to UNDERSTAND it. Simply put, many of the fanciful interpretations offered for this book down through the years, can be reigned in by the simple process of carefully observing what the book offers in the way of explaining the meaning of symbols.
In other words, as we will begin to see in more detail in this and in upcoming lessons, there are hermeneutic principles (or rules of interpretation) that should be universally recognized. And when these principles or laws of interpretation are understood, understanding Revelation becomes much more clear. And again, first and foremost among these principles of interpretation, is to allow scripture to interpret scripture. Or more simply put, when symbolic or allegorical language is being used in the book of Revelation, the interpretation of that symbolic language explained internally, or within the text itself, and not subject to “private interpretations” or imaginative suggestions by allegorizing expositors.
So, the objective of this lesson, is to unpack the opening of Revelation and at the same time, I want to begin to dispel the myth that Revelation is just too difficult. I often like to use a personal example of something that I experienced several years age. When I was a college freshman, I enrolled in a freshman math class. Little did I know, that the class was actually a college level algebra class. Well, to make a long story short, being that I had not taken algebra in high school, I was like a dear in the headlights sitting in that class. After a few class sessions, I dropped out of that class, and enrolled in a remedial math class that the college offered.
Subsequently, I learned that there were FORMULAS or PRINCIPLES that had to be understood in order to solve algebra problems. Once I understood the formulas, I then enrolled back into that freshman math class and did very well. In that same way, there are formulas or hermeneutical principles of interpretation, that are important when it comes to understanding Bible in general, and the book of Revelation and bible prophecy in particular. And when those principles are
understood and applied, then understanding the book of Revelation becomes much easier and much clearer.
And while the purpose of this series is not to do a verse by verse exposition of the book, but rather to encourage, inspire, and motivate you to develop a hunger for the book, especially in light of everything that we are facing in today’s world. I do however, want to emphasize one principle for interpreting prophecy in particular that is essential. Peter in his second epistle points out that “no prophecy of scripture is of any PRIVATE INTERPRETATION” (2 Peter 1:20).
From Peter’s admonition, combined with the fact that God promises a special blessing to those who reads and does the things that are written, and the fact that by definition, prophecy is “prewritten history,” I think then, that it is safe to assume that, RULE #1 is the fact that the keys to interpreting the book of Revelation are self contained either in the biblical text itself, or in past history relating to prophecy that has been previously fulfilled.
In other words, it is important that the student of prophecy avoid the urge to superimpose his or her traditions, or presuppositions onto the text, but instead, allow the text to interpret itself.
In short, because of the symbolic and allegorical nature of many of the passages, it has led to a myriad human or private interpretations that has contributed to much of the confusion, controversy and neglect of the book. And as you will see just in this introduction in Chapter one, that those keys or the formula are given to us directly and specifically right there in the biblical text.
The Introduction
This book is called sometimes the Revelation and sometimes the Apocalypse. It begins with the words “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” which mean not the revelation about Jesus Christ but the revelation given by Jesus Christ. The Greek word for revelation is apokalupsis, which is a word with a history. Apokalupsis is composed of two parts. Apo means “away from” and kalupsis “a veiling.” Apokalupsis therefore, means an unveiling, a revealing.
The book of Revelation begins with a theme of events that will take place in the near future. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, “who is, who was, and who is to come.”
God in his infinite wisdom chose John to reveal His son and the plan that He has orchestrated in order to bring the age of man to a close and His eternal Kingdom and restoration of the Earth to pass. In other words, in this opening introduction to the Book, God makes it clear that it was not His intent to hide things from His people, but rather to reveal them. This is not to say that there are not things that are difficult to understand, in the book. This is especially true for unbelievers. However as believers, we have to always keep in mind that this Revelation was not given to unbelievers, but instead, it was given to the “His servants” to read and understand.
I will never forget the occasion that launched me into my love for Revelation and the study of bible prophecy in general. Very early in my Christian walk, I asked a minister, “what would be a good book in the bible to start reading?” He immediately recommended the book of John. Which by the way, was not a bad recommendation. But then he followed that up by saying, “whatever you do, stay away from the book of Revelation.” Later, out of curiosity, I opened Revelation to try to understand why he went out of his way to steer me away from Revelation. And just three verses in, I read that I would be blessed if I read it.
Well to say the least, I begin to intently study the book. And to my absolute astonishment, my studies began taking me on a journey through the entire bible, all the way back to the beginning in Genesis. I began to see that the bible was much more than a collection of sixty-six books full of inspirational stories. I began to see that the bible is actually one big story of redemption. And the climax to the story, is recorded in the book of Revelation. Not only that, but through the years, studying Revelation and prophecy in general, has shaped my worldview, which in turn has helped me gain a different perspective or level of discernment on many of the events happening in the world today.
In other words, by having a biblical worldview, or by seeing history and current world affairs through the lens of God’s prophetic word, as opposed to a secular or worldly lens, it completely changes how you see and understand things like the rise and fall of world governments, economies, modern politics, media reports, and so on. Talk about a blessing!
The Transmission of Revelation
The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John by God “to show his servants what must soon take place.” The Book of Revelation is the culmination of the prophecies about the end times, beginning with the Old Testament after the Fall (See: Genesis 3:15, 12:1-3). In this first chapter God gives John and the church a vision of the majesty of Christ’s mission within the Church and what John observed beginning with the letters for the seven churches of Asia. Or to be more specific, as you can see from the chart below, God gives the revelation to His Son Jesus Christ, who in turn, gives it to the Apostle John through His angel, to show to Christ’s servants.
The Seven Blesseds in Revelation
Just as a side note, there are seven blesseds in the Revelation:
There is the blessed we have just studied (Revelation 1:3). We may call it the blessedness of reading, hearing and obeying the Word of God.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth (Revelation 14:13). We may call it the blessedness in heaven of Christ’s friends on earth.
Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments (Revelation 16:15). We may call it the blessedness of the watchful pilgrim.
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). We may, call it the blessedness of the invited guests of God.
Blessed is he who shares in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:6). We may call it the blessedness of the man whom death cannot touch.
Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book (Revelation 22:7). We may call it the blessedness of the wise reader of God’s Word.
Blessed are those who do his commandments (Revelation 22:14). We may call it the blessedness of those who hear and obey.
Such blessedness is open to every believer.
The Historical Setting
Traditionally, the book of Revelation has been ascribed to the apostle John, son of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21), “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20; 13:23; 20:2), and no creditable argument has been put forward to dispute his authorship. When it was written about AD 95, he would certainly have been a very old man, but by all accounts, the apostle John lived to be nearly 100 years old, dying a peaceful death in the area of Ephesus sometime during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (ad 98-117). John informs us that he “was on the island that is called Patmos” (Revelation 1:9), a small, rocky Aegean island just west of due south from Ephesus, employed as a prison or place of exile by the Roman emperors. Most prisoners were required to work the quarries and mines on the island, but John’s advanced age may have allowed him to avoid such backbreaking labor.
He writes that he was exiled there “for [because of] the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,” an indication that his preaching had come to the attention of the Roman authorities, and judgment had gone against him. It is likely that John had spoken against the emperor cult (the worship of the current Roman emperor as a god, a practice that reached its height under Domitian, AD 81-96), and his exile rather than execution can only be attributed to Jesus’ prophecy of John not facing martyrdom (John 21:22). The apostle perhaps remained on Patmos for less than two years, as such exiles were routinely released upon the death of the emperor who had exiled them.
The apostle is giving the reader vital information about the time setting of his vision and thus the true application of the book of Revelation. Through the agency of God’s Spirit, John received a vision of end-time events and related material that reveal to the church a unique understanding of the day of the Lord. Though couched in late first-century terms and allusions, Revelation is first and predominantly about the time of the end, when God through Christ will intervene in world affairs and establish His Kingdom on the earth. Most of its prophecies are only now beginning to be fulfilled or are still awaiting fulfillment in years just ahead. In a sense, the book of Revelation is as current as today’s newspaper even better, because we have it in advance!
Jesus Christ in the Midst of the Seven Candlesticks: One Like Unto the Son of Man
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle” (Revelation 1:10-13).
We are now approaching the main body of the Book of Revelation itself and the numerous visions which it presents for our consideration. The book of Revelation begins with a vision of Christ, and will conclude with a theme of events that will take place at some point in the future. Jesus Christ describes Himself to John as, the “Alpha and the Omega, who is, who was, and who is to come.” God in his infinite wisdom chose John to reveal His risen Son and the plan He has to bring the age of man to a close. In this first chapter God gives John and the church a vision of the majesty of Christ’s mission within the Church and what John observed beginning with the letters for the seven churches of Asia. In the first part of the first main vision, which extends to the end of Chapter 3, is where John sees a vision of the risen Lord.
In the midst of the lampstands John saw one like a son of man. And the first thing that should jump off of the page if you are critically examining the text, is that the interpretation of John’s opening vision, is contained directly in the text, thereby eliminating any need to superimpose any human interpretation to the passage. The whole vision in Chapter 1, can be divided into two main parts. The first part is covered by our passage, which contains the vision of the glorified Christ walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks and commissioning John to write the things which he saw [Vs 11].
The second part extends to and includes Chapters 2 and 3, which contain the seven-fold message of the Lord which John must deliver to the seven churches located in Asia. Now as I will go into in more detail in part 4 of this study, these were seven literal cities with real Christian communities, that had been started by the Apostle Paul during his three missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts, with real histories, with real issues, that actually existed in the first century or at the time of John’s vision.
The Divine Outline of the Book of Revelation
Revelation 1:19-20 Provide the THREE PART OUTLINE For the Book that John was instructed to write:
Revelation chapter 1 concludes with verses 19 and 20 which gives us the outline or the cypher key for interpreting the remainder of the Book. And again, you can readily see that the interpretations are embedded directly in the text. Thereby, completely eliminating the need for our human doctrines, traditions, theories and presuppositions.
THE OUTLINE What John Saw and Wrote Down
Chapter 1 Have Seen (PAST or The Things in Which John has Seen in the Chapter 1 vision) Jesus died, buried, risen, glorified
Chapters 2-3 What Is Now (PRESENT in the first century) The time John lived in as he was writing the book of Revelation between 95 and 97 A.D, leading up to the present where we are still in the Church Age, until the Church is taken out of this world at the Rapture.
Chapters 4-5, 6-19, 20, 21-22 What Will Take Place Later (FUTURE) Rapture, Tribulation, 2nd Coming, Millennial Kingdom, New Heaven & Earth.
Chapter 4 – The Rapture occurs when a door is open in heaven and John is told, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.
Chapter 5 – The Scroll with 7 seals is open in heaven by the Lamb of God kicking off the 7 year Tribulation period.
Chapters 6-19 – The Tribulation, The Great Tribulation, and the 2nd Coming happen.
Chapter 20 – The devil is thrown into the Abyss and Jesus rules for 1,000 years from Jerusalem with his Church.
Chapter 21-22 – All of God’s people live happily ever after in the new heaven and new earth with Jesus.
Finally, I want to close this lesson by taking this opportunity to reemphasize something that is vitally important to remember as you strive to deepen your understand of how to interpret Revelation. John closes chapter one by writing down the precise interpretation of the visions that he had just seen. Notice that the interpretation of the Seven Stars and the Seven Candlesticks are precisely given in the text itself. There is no vagueness, nor is there any ambiguity. The interpretation is clear: “The mystery of the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20).
Now of course, another major aspect of biblical interpretation does come into play here. And that aspect concerns what I call bridging the linguistic gap. In this case, we have to understand what was meant by the word “Angel.” The Greek word for angel is “Messenger.” In biblical text, depending on the context, could either mean and angelic or a human messenger, again depending on the context. In this case, the word Angel is an obvious reference to the human pastors or the main message or bishop of each of the seven congregations. We can safely presume that because it is not likely that John was given the vision by an actual angelic messenger to write down for another angelic messenger.
Therefore, angel in this context is obviously referring to human messengers.
Unfortunately, however, in spite of the clarity given in the text, there will always be those who will yet insist upon superimposing their human private interpretations onto the text. But I would like to close by admonishing you to observe the literal system of interpretation which centers around resisting the urge to insert the human element, and instead look for answers and interpretations to troubling or confusing passages of prophetic text either directly in the text itself, or in related prophecies (or histories) that has already been fulfilled. Or to put it more simply, while extremely controversial and even looked down upon in some circles, the literal method or rule of interpretation simply says in a nutshell, to view all of Revelation as literal, UNLESS the passage or context makes it obvious that the language is allegorical or symbolic in nature, in which case, you seek to find the interpretation of the allegorical or symbolic text either somewhere in the immediate text, somewhere else in scripture, or a literal prophetic fulfillment somewhere in past history as in the case of Revelation 17:10. This system does not mean that you will be 100% accurate, 100% of the time. But what it does mean, is that you will have the best chance of avoiding the human element and many of the fallacies that has led to so much of the controversy over the years.
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