Introduction to Revelation

Pray

Read through Chapter 1

As we read this first chapter, think about these questions: What stands out to you? What important words or ideas do we find here? What people are mentioned and what is said about them?

Revelation 1 BSB

1 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near. 4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, 6 who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen. 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty. 9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest. 14 The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Therefore write down the things you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that will happen after this. 20 This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

What observations or thoughts do you have from the first chapter? What stands out to you?

Introduction

Revelation was not given for our information, but for our transformation! (Just like all of Scripture)

Revelation 1:1–3 BSB

1 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near.

King James Version Chapter 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: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of hthe testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 kBlessed 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.

The Title of the Book

Not “Revelations” but Revelation

Also called “The Apocalypse”

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

-what do you think that means?

Jesus is both the One Revealing and the One Revealed in this book

The Purpose of the Book

Why was Revelation written?

“Revelation of Jesus Christ” -

“To show His servants what must soon come to pass”

The Book of Revelation The Situation of the Churches and the Purpose and Theme of the Book

the focus of the book is exhortation to the church community to witness to Christ in the midst of a compromising, idolatrous church and world.

The Date of the Book

Early Date (before 70 AD) - views the book as prediction of destruction of Jerusalem

Late Date (after 70 AD) - most likely, attested by early Church

Irenaeus (early Church father) writes that John wrote Revelation late in the reign of Domitian, the Roman emperor at the end of the first century (95 A.D. ish). Domitian was especially wicked, persecuted Christians and others, and demanded to be addressed as “Lord and God”. John himself was in exile at the time of writing this book. This kind of persecution is the context of the book of Revelation and helps us understand one of its main themes: God blesses those who faithfully endure persecution.

The Author

Who wrote Revelation?

God’s “servant John”

-John the Elder or John the Apostle or some other John, or someone writing in John’s name

The Genre (Kind of Literature)

apocalyptic, prophetic, and epistolary

The Structure is similar to many of the NT Epistles

The content is similar to many of the OT Prophets

The Book of Revelation Genre

Revelation is “a prophecy cast in an apocalyptic mold and written down in a letter form” in order to motivate the audience to change their behavior in the light of the transcendent reality of the book’s message

The Two-fold Blessing

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 1:3

Revelation 1:3 includes the first of seven beatitudes in the book (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

Phrase-by-phrase study

Main idea of v. 1-8 (from James Hamilton Jr.): “God reveals himself so that those who know him are blessed and praise him regardless of their circumstances.”

Verse 1:

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, ‌(“THE Revelation of Jesus Christ” KJV)

What does this phrase tell us about the theme and purpose of the book?

which God gave Him (“which God gave unto him” KJV)

‌To whom was the revelation given?

to show His servants (“to shew unto his servants” KJV)

‌For whom is this book?

(Christians and professing Christians, not so much for unbelievers)

what must soon come to pass. (“things which must shortly come to pass;” KJV)

‌Compare Daniel 2:28-29 & 45; there are similarities and differences between these revelations. What similarities do you notice, and what differences do you notice?

Daniel 2:28–29 BSB

28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these: 29 As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen.

Daniel 2:45 BSB

45 And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

God is the one revealing mysteries. He reveals them to people through other people.

In Daniel, the visions were about what “will happen in the latter days”, but in Revelation, it’s “what must soon come to pass”; no longer is it a far-off future promise, but now it is a present and imminent reality. The last days have started (see Heb. 1:1-2)

“Soon” or “shortly” - what do you think this means?

-it seems to indicate that the themes and ideas presented in this book are not only future realities, but also an imminent present reality for John and his readers (and us); the word “soon” could also be translated as “suddenly”

The Book of Revelation The Futurist View

The futurist position especially encounters the difficulty that the book would have had no significant relevance for a first-century readership.

Though there is a future focus, the book must have been referring to present or imminent realities for the first century church as well, or it would have been meaningless to them.

He made it known by sending His angel (“and he sent and signified it by his angel” KJV)

‌Similar to many other prophecies and visions in Scripture, this message was communicated from Jesus through an angel (messenger)

The word “signified” (KJV) or “made it known” (BSB) is very important. It’s a common word in John’s writings. This word indicates communication through symbols or signs. This word helps us understand what our method of interpretation should be for the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is truth from Jesus Christ revealed to John through symbols. This means that our regular way of interpreting the text of Revelation is to seek to understand through the context and in relation to other Scriptures what the different symbols mean.

The Book of Revelation The Symbolic Nature of the Apocalypse

Therefore, a number of authors of both popular and scholarly commentaries contend that one should interpret literally except where one is forced to interpret symbolically by clear indications of context. But the results of the analysis above of 1:1 indicate that this rule should be turned on its head: we are told in the book’s introduction that the majority of the material in it is revelatory symbolism (1:12–20 and 4:1–22:5 at the least). Hence, the predominant manner by which to approach the material will be according to a nonliteral interpretative method. Of course, some parts are not symbolic, but the essence of the book is figurative. Where there is lack of clarity about whether something is symbolic, the scales of judgment should be tilted in the direction of a nonliteral analysis.

For example, we’ll come across some of the following visions:

Jesus as a Lion and a Lamb

7 Churches as 7 Lampstands

Golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints

A bright red horse

All believers wearing white robes and holding palm branches

John eating a scroll

Witnesses who are olive trees and lampstands

A woman clothed in the sun

A dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns

Hopefully it’s obvious that these are not things to be taken literally, but signs or symbols of truths that God wants to communicate to us. They symbolize or point to realities.

So our general method of interpretation should be symbolic, not literal.

If someone from another church told you “Our pastor is on fire”, would you call 911? Hopefully the way they say it and the context of their words makes it clear that you shouldn’t take it literally. To take that literally would be a wrong interpretation.

John has told us from the beginning how to take most of what he’s writing here (with the exception of ch. 2-3 and perhaps other bits and pieces). This is symbolic. The purpose of this book is to give us physical pictures or symbols that represent spiritual realities and truths. Our job is to work hard to interpret these symbols faithfully and carefully in light of the context and in light of other scriptures.

The Book of Revelation (Symbols as Figurative Comparisons: Metaphor, Simile, and Other Comparative Forms of Speech)

In studying the language of the Apocalypse careful consideration needs to be given to identifying the point(s) of comparison, which are usually multiple for any given symbol. An author may intend one metaphor to have more than one point of comparison. Therefore, to identify more than one point of comparison in a single metaphor is not to be guilty of allegorical interpretation. It is, rather, to discover the original intention of an author’s metaphorical usage.

At least three forms of comparison occur in the Apocalypse.

Formal metaphor in which the literal subject is connected to the figurative subject by a form of “to be” (“The Lord is my shepherd who loves me”).

Simile is when the two subjects are linked by “like” (“The Lord is like a shepherd who loves me”).

Hypocatastasis occurs when the literal subject is not stated but assumed ([The Lord who is like] “The shepherd loves me”).

A figurative comparison is detected when the reader is able to discern that an author intends to transgress word boundaries. Telltale signs of an author’s intent to transgress word boundaries include

(1) formal linking of two words of totally different meanings so that one is compared to the other (1:20: “the seven lampstands are the seven churches”),

(2) use of a key descriptive term to alert the reader to the presence of a comparative relationship (1:20: “the mystery of the seven stars”; see also on 11:8: “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt”),

(3) the impossibility of any intelligible literal interpretation (10:10: “I ate the book”),

(4) a statement that would be outrageously false or contradictory if taken literally (11:3–4: “my two witnesses … are the two olive trees and the two lampstands”),

(5) context that renders a literal interpretation improbable, and

(6) clear and repeated figurative use of the same word elsewhere in the Apocalypse.

The last of these is one of the most helpful.

The Book of Revelation The Symbolic Significance of Numbers

The probability is that the numbers are to be comprehended symbolically for the same reason that the pictorial images of the book are so to be viewed

What are important numbers in Revelation?

7

4

12

10

each of these numbers represents completeness or fullness and 7 & 4 especially represent God’s sovereignty and rule over the universe

So as we read and study Revelation, how should we expect to interpret it?

to His servant John, (“unto his servant John:” KJV)

What does John say about himself?

Verse 2‌

who testifies to everything he saw. ‌ (“Who bare record ... of all things that he saw” KJV)

This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. (“the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ” KJV)

‌

Verse 3

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, (“‌Blessed is he that readeth ... the words of this prophecy” KJV)

John gave a blessing to those who would read these words to their congregations (not everyone could read)

and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, (“Blessed [are] they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:” KJV)

The blessing for the hearers contains a condition. What must the hearer do to obtain the blessing?

compare to James 1:22-25

because the time is near. (“for the time is at hand” KJV)

This doesn’t just mean that these things could happen at any time, but that the beginning of the fulfillment was expected during the lifetime of John and his hearers.