The Book of Revelation: Introduction

Intro

my walking through the ANCIENT ROME & AMERICA exhibit February 19 – August 1, 2010

at the constitution center. The National Constitution Center hosted the world debut of Ancient Rome & America—a multi-million dollar, artifact-rich exhibition showcasing the cultural, political, and social connections between the lost world of ancient Rome and modern America.

The National Constitution Center worked for three years to develop the exhibition, which features a unique and unprecedented collection of rare artifacts and artwork, in partnership with Contemporanea Progetti of Florence, Italy, in collaboration with the Ministero per i Beni e Le Attività Culturali, Rome, Italy.

Rome, like the United States, overcame a monarchy to become a republic. Long after the fall of ancient Rome, its heroes and legends have continued to influence future generations. From the battlefields of the revolution to the chambers of Congress, Rome became a part of America’s foundation.

I was enamored and remembered the things I had heard growing up in the church about the book of revelation. I wanted to learn about it not just regurgitate what had been told to me.

Q: Why study John’s Revelation? Not to find the antichrist. or develop charts and “end times’ maps and timelines.

Written to seven churches in modern day Turkey. Map How do we live as Christians In this World, and in this Nation of ours?

Some of the things Jesus says to the seven churches are going to and should chaff us! His words are words of warning, encouragement, and call to action, to conquer.

This letter is for our benefit, it will shape our practices, our disciplines, and form the way we follow Jesus through this life to the very end, together and individually. It should shape the way we teach our children, speak to our neighbor, engage in and look at this world. It will shape and sharpen your worldview.

It is a reminder of what is true reality, man’s need for the gospel, what the gospel island what it is not.

Context

Written in 96 AD by John, a prophet, brother in Jesus, and partner with the seven churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Living or exiled on the island of Patmos he is writing a letter to the Church and each church during the reign of the Emperor Domitian who was setting idols across the empire. You couldn’t escape the cultic roman rituals of emperor worship. Early and widespread testimony attributes the book to the apostle John, and no convincing evidence has been advanced against this view.

Irenaues who was a disciple of a disciple of a disciple of John the Apostle attributed this letter to him. Perhaps we must be satisfied at present with a judgment for this book similar to what Origen suggested for the authorship of Hebrews: “Who wrote the letter, God really knows.” Regardless of the problem of authorship, the church universal has come to acknowledge the Apocalypse as divinely authoritative, inspired Scripture.

He wrote it to encourage the persecuted Christians in Asia Minor but it was not not only to them that he wrote this letter, nor was that the only purpose Jesus had either. It was also a warning to apostate or disobedient Christians and it was to demonstrate Christ’s ultimate victory over and against what was being seen (or is currently seen) in this world.

The Revelation of John is a prophecy cast in an apocalyptic mold and written down in letter form. John writes about the future with implications for the present. Apoocalyptic literature is a specific prophetic literature, a subset of prophecy, style, vision, the prophetic books of Daniel and Ezekielare among these. The focus is always on the source of the message, and in the scriptures the source is always heavenly, it is from the creator God, YHWH. Messages are mediated by heavenly beings, servants, angels. There is a strong presence of symbolism, dreams, and visions. The end in always sight, what is called the eschaton, the drain to a close redemptive history, the story of God. And this genre has implications for how we approach it. This has numerous OT connections and allusions in it. Knowing the OT is helpful. John was a Jewish Christian Prophet. He’s writing this with the OT in his head.

It is also an Epistle, a letter to the church. There is a greeting, a blessing, a conclusion, with instructions to the church. This letter is for our good, we can understand it, it takes some work and knowing the historical context helps alot. But in the end, it’s not a creepy, scary, totally crazy boom that only scholars can understand as some of historically made it out to be. It’s an encouraging, strengthening, christ centered help for the church in these latter days as we await the coming our king.

The call to conquer is in 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21. This formula is not repeated until 21:7 in the New Jerusalem.

John will answer what it means to conquer. What they conquer. What the result is of their conquering.

Engaging in eschatological battle to the very end. The seven letters are the introductions to the areas of specific battlefields for each church, the rest of the book is about how that battle is fought, and what is won.

“In a sense the whole book is about the way the christians of the seven churches may, by being victorious within the specific situations their own churches, enter the new Jerusalem. While the book as a whole explains what the war is about and how it must be won, the message to each church alerts that church to what is specific about its section of the battlefield.”

This book is more than just encouragement through oppression. The visual imagery later in the book brings either consolation and encouragement or warning and fear, depending on which church situation you’re in. By addressing a variety of situations, John is addressing a representation of issues that will plague the church through history. It is a call to every church to conquer these issues, and what was common to churches in Asia Minor, is common to us today. There is room for adjustment for churches in our day dealing with similar and yet very different circumstances/contexts. All that to say, this apocalyptic revelatory letter was written for and to us!!

Outline/Our Focus

Rather than treat this book like a code breaker, I want to trace the themes and truths, and let everything else fall into place for you.

God Breaking Through (The Supernatural into the Natural)

God Bearing Witness (Through His Son and Servants)

God Building His Church (The Spirit of Jesus Among Us)

God Reigning and Ruling Victoriously (The Church Victorious in Christ)

God Redeeming and Restoring (The Final Stretch)

The Text

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God (the father) gave him to show to his servants (the church) the things that must soon (quickly) take place. He made it known (signify) by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

“In the first three verses are the general summary of the whole book.” Beale, G. K.

ἀποκάλυψις, making fully known, revelation, disclosure, of revelations of a particular kind, through visions, etc.: w. gen. of the author ἀ. Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ Gal 1:12; Rv 1:1 (w. ὀπτασία)

It’s Jesus Revelation, not mans. (Galatians 1:12) For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

He does this. He breaks through supernaturally to reveal things. This is important, he breaks through supernaturally to make himself known to us, to you!

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23  d“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name eImmanuel”

(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The supernatural breaking through, God comunicating with us, an angel reveals or exposes what’s going on so that Joseph can have confidence, assurance, and what is promised or revealed comes to pass just as God in sending an angel has said.

Why is it so important that Jesus reveals this to us? Because our God is a God who wants to reveal himself, truth, and exposes the lies that are told to us because, he loves us.

His servant John was an apostle, a prophet, pastor, the one whom Jesus loved

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Blessed, from a transcendent heavenly perspective, greco-roman “one on whom fortune smiled” Fortuna, Why are they privileged?

Genesis 1, Psalm 1, Luke 11:28, John 8:51, 1 John 2:3

It is ok to have a desire to be blessed, it is a good thing, to be blessed is to hear and to obey. John’s theme and pattern, James’ faith and works, Jesus saying “repent and believe!”

Some of us are unconverted christians. Some of us aren’t followers of Jesus. We don’t have time for superstitious tales of dead men rising from the grave, spirits dwelling and in and leading people, a new creation.

The gospel, verse 17, “I died, and now I am alive”

God Breaking Through (The Supernatural into the Natural)

God Bearing Witness (Through His Son and Servants)

God Building His Church (The Spirit of Jesus Among Us)