The Book of Revelation

A Unique Promise: Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a special blessing to the reader! The Book of Revelation will become the “Lens” which we will look through when we study the other books of the Bible.

“He Shall Glorify Me”: John 16:14

• Old Testament Christ in Prophecy “Behold, He Comes!”
• Gospels Christ in History “Behold, He Dies!”
• Acts Christ in the Church “Behold, He Lives!”
• Epistles Christ in Experience “Behold, He Saves!”
• Apocalypse Christ in coming Glory “Behold, He Reigns!”

To Whom Is This Given?

The first two verses of Revelation explain that this revelation was given to Jesus so He could show it to the church:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by his angel unto His servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

The title of this book is singular, not plural: the revelation. It is incorrect to refer to it as “Revelations.”

Aποκάλυψις is the noun and is used nineteen times and means “revelation,” or to unveil or uncover.

Aποκάλυπτω is the verb and is used twenty-six times and means “to reveal.”

This revelation was given to Jesus. He, in turn, showed it to His servants through John.

Basic Units

To better understand the Bible, it helps to break it down into basic units.

• The “Alphabet” is the basic unit of a written language
• “Phonemes” would be the basic unit of a spoken sound
• “Pixels” would be the smallest unit of images
• “Sememes” is the basic unit of meaning

The Greek word semaino comes from sema, which means “a mark,” “to give a sign,” “to signify or indicate,” or “to make known.” There are 4,591 semas in the Bible. The word is translated a “code” (Rev 1:1) or “to give a signal,” or “sign” (Rev 15:1), “wonder” (Rev 12:1, 3) and “miracle” (Rev 19:20). This same word is used by John for the miracles of Christ. It’s a “spiritual code,” understood only by those who know Christ personally.

Revelation is in code: every code is explained in Scripture (virtually every other book of the Bible is required)!

The Design

Everything began in Genesis and is consummated in Revelation with an integrated design.

• Catastrophic end-crisis of the present age
• Spectacular reappearance of the King of Kings in His global empire
• Internment of Satan in the Abousso
• Millennial earth-reign of Jesus Christ
• Final insurrection and the abolition of sin
• New Heaven and New Earth

Two Basic Discoveries

1. The Bible consists of sixty-six separate books penned by over forty authors over a period of several thousand years that are an integrated message system.
2. It can be demonstrated that the origin of this message is from outside of our dimensions of space and time.

The Central Theme

• The Old Testament is an account of a Nation
• The New Testament is the account of a Man
• The Creator of the Universe became a Man. His appearance as a man is the central turning point event of all history
• He died to purchase us and He is alive today!
• The most exalted privilege is to know Him. That’s what the Bible is all about

Our Presuppositions

• We believe God means what He says and says what He means
• The Bible is an integrated whole and every detail is there by design (Matt 5:17, 18)
• Nothing is trivial. All things are for our learning (Rom 15:4)
• God is His own interpreter

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Acts 17:11

Luke is warning you. Don’t believe anything that someone else says or teaches. Check it out for yourself!

Revelation: “The Unveiling”

• The consummation of all things
• This is the only book which promises a special blessing to the reader.
• There are 404 verses in Revelation containing over 800 allusions from passages in the Old Testament.
• The book of Revelation presents the climax of God’s plan for mankind.

John, the Author

John, the author of Revelation wrote five books:

• The Gospel of John
• Three Epistles:
  1 John Sermon on love 
  2 John A personal letter to Mary (?)
  3 John A personal note to Gaius
• The Apocalypse: the Book of Revelation

John was born in Bethsaida to Zebedee and Salome. He was a Galilean fisherman and partner with Peter and Andrew. He was an early disciple of John the Baptist and seemed to be well connected. He knew the High Priest personally, and had direct commerce with Nicodemus and others (John 18:15). He and his brothers were known as the “sons of thunder.”

John was one of the inner circle:

• At the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17) there were three: Peter, James and John
• At the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Matt 9:18) the same three were included while the others were excluded
• At the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24) the same three were there and they were joined by Andrew to receive a private briefing on His second coming
• Gethsemane (Matt 26:37)
• John was assigned the care of Mary (John 19:26) and wrote a letter to her (2 John)
• Ultimately, John retires to Ephesus after his exile

The Patmos Exile

Patmos is a small island, six by ten miles wide, forty miles from Miletus and twenty-four miles from the coast of Turkey. John was exiled to the island of Patmos by Domitian (AD 81-96), the brother of Titus who destroyed Jerusalem. According to Irenaeus (second century AD), Revelation was written by John during the reign of Domitian.

Irenaeus, Clement, and Eusebius wrote that after Domitian died, John returned to Ephesus, went to the churches, appointed leaders, and set things in order.

Alternative Views of Revelation

• Preterist Then only (events only applicable 
  in the first century)
• Historical History only
• Idealist only Allegorical
• Futurist It is a Prophecy

The Book of Revelation claims to be prophecy all throughout the book (Rev 1:3; 22:7, 10, 18-19; 10:11).

Why Prophecy?

Why are we interested in prophecy?

• In the Old Testament there are 1,845 references to Christ’s rule on the earth. There are 17 Old Testament books that give prominence to the event.
• In the New Testament (216 chapters) there are 318 references to the Second Coming. It is mentioned in 23 of the 27 books.
• For every prophecy relating to His First Coming, there are seven or eight prophecies treating His Second Coming.

Still, most people assume that the future is but a linear extrapolation of the present; life will just go on. But the Bible says otherwise.

Eschatology: Amillenial & Premillenial Views

Eschatology is the study of the last things. Most people believe either Amillennial (do not believe Christ will literally rule on the earth for a thousand years) or Premillennial (believe in a literal millenium where Christ will rule on the earth for a thousand years). Hermeneutics is the theory of interpretation and most people either believe the Bible is “literal” or “allegorical.”

Eschatology

Amillennial Problems

• Messianic Promises are found throughout the Old Testament
• Destiny of Israel is in God’s Covenants (Rom 9-11; Israel has a prophetic destiny)
• Promise given to Mary by Angel Gabriel (Jesus would sit on the throne of David which did not exist at the time)
• Numerous reconfirmations of Christ’s reign are in the New Testament

Premillennial Divisions

The Premillennial views are divided by the question of when does the church get raptured? The Post-Tribulation (at the end), Mid-Tribulation (middle) and Pre-Tribulational (raptured before the Tribulation) all have separate viewpoints.

The Heptadic Structure: The Sevens

Seven Beatitudes

• Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear and keep those things (Rev 1:3)
• Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord (Rev 14:13)
• Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments (Rev 16:15)
• Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9)
• Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection (Rev 20:6)
• Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book (Rev 22:7)
• Blessed are they that wash their robes (Rev 22:14)

(More Subtle) Sevens

• Seven Features (Rev 1)
• Seven Letter Divisions (Rev 2; 3)
• Seven Personages (Rev 12; 13): Woman, Man-Child, Red Dragon, 7-headed Beast, False Prophet, Michael the Angel and Lamb
• Seven Years of Judgments (Rev 11:3; 12:6, 14; 13:5)
• Seven “I Am’s” of Christ (Rev 1:8, 11, 17, 18; 21:6; 22:13, 16)
• Seven Doxologies in heaven (Rev 4:9-11; 5:8-13; 6:9-12; 11:16-18; 14:2, 3; 15:2-4 ; 19:1-6)
• Seven New Things (Rev 20; 21)

...and many, many more.

Tenses of Redemption: Time Dimensional

Three Tenses of “Being Saved”

• You have been saved: from the penalty of sin

– Positionally (Eph 2:8, 9) Called justification

• You are being saved: from the power of sin

– Operationally, by the Holy Spirit, moment-by-moment (Rom 6) Called sanctification

• You shall be saved: from the presence of sin

– Called “the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23) Called glorification

Types

• Abraham and Isaac Genesis 22
• Nebuchadnezzar’s Image Daniel 3
• Redemption of the land Ruth
• Model of the Revelation Joshua
• The Tabernacle Exodus

Idioms

• “Friend of God” (Abraham; Disciples)
• “Dearly Beloved” (Daniel; John)

“Whole Counsel of God”

What is your “protection” with staying on track with all the different viewpoints?

• Make sure Christ is always at the center Revelation 1:1
• “More sure word of prophecy” 2 Peter 1:19
• “Search the Scriptures and they 
  are they which testify of me” John 5:39
• “Volume of the book is written of me” Psalm 40:7
• “Testimony of Jesus is the spirit 
  of prophecy” Revelation 19:10
• The Lords Prayer “Thy Kingdom Come” Matthew 6:10

[The early church’s hymnal was the Book of Revelation!]

Climactic Doxologies

• Glory, dominion (Two in Rev 1:6)
• Glory, honor, power (Three in Rev 4:11)
• Blessing, honor, glory, power (Four in Rev 5:13)
• Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, might (Seven in Rev 7:12)

Worship

• Holy, Holy, Holy (a testimony of the Trinity; Rev 4:8)
• Worthy art thou (Rev 4:11; 5:8-10)
• Unto Him that sitteth (Rev 5:11-13)
• Salvation to our God Amen; Blessing (Rev 7:9-12)
• Kingdoms of the world. We give thee thanks (Rev 11:15-18)
• Great and marvelous (Rev 15:2-4)
• Four hallelujahs (Rev 19:1-8)

(It is interesting if you take these above words and combine the amount of times they are in the Old and New Testament, they are always a multiple of seven! For example, there are 24 “Hallelujahs” in the Old Testament and 4 in the New Testament totalling 28, which is a multiple of 7.)

Things Out of Place

There are several things out of place today which Revelation corrects, for example:

• Israel Should be in the Land
• Church Should be in Heaven
• Lamb Should be on His Own throne
• Satan Should be Bound

Three (different) Women

Creation vs. Redemption

There are two big events in Gods plan: the Creation and the Redemption. Which is more important? Lets look at how much space in the Bible is dedicated to each of these.

The Space:

• Creation: There are two chapters in Genesis, a few Psalms, a few chapters in Job and Isaiah.
• Redemption: It speaks of the Redemption in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Joshua, Ruth, the Prophets, the four Gospels, the Epistles and Revelation!

The Price:

• Creation: “Breathed from His nostrils”
• Redemption: Cost God His Son!

Redemption is the restoration of that which was lost to the original owner (Luke 21:28; Rom 8:23; Gal 3:13; Eph 1:14; Dan 8:26; 12:4, 9).

Genesis vs. Revelation

There is a contrast between the book of Genesis and the book of Revelation. Everything in the Bible starts with Genesis and is climaxed in Revelation.

Genesis = Beginning; Creation Revelation = Redemption; Completion

One Integrated Design

The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed; the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.

Prophetic Scriptures

• 8,362 predictive verses
• 1,817 predictions
• 737 separate matters

According to J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy

Major Prophetic Themes

There are major themes going on in the world today, each one of which is a fulfillment of a theme of prophecy.

• Israel
• Jerusalem
• Temple
• Babylon
• Russia (Magog)
• Rise of China
• European SuperState
• The move toward an Ecumenical Religion
• The rise of Global Government
• Rise of the Occult

All of these things are predicted in scripture and all of them, you can track today in an intelligence gathering sense.

Our Challenge

We are being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more than about any other period in history …including the time when Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and climbed the mountains of Judea!

The Ultimate Issue

• We are in possession of message of extraterrestrial origin.
• It portrays us as objects of an unseen warfare.
• Our eternal destiny depends upon our relationship with the ultimate victor in this cosmic conflict.
• Where do you stand with respect to Him?

How to Study

• Always pray first
• Have a relationship with the Author
• Set aside your personal presuppositions
• Note taking
• Your Secret Journal
• Helps (Exegetical and Expositional)

This was an excerpt from the first session of Chuck Missler’s Revelation Commentary Handbook.