Revelation introduction

Reason for my interest.

Being ask to take the Sunday School class to teach/introduce Revelation a group of teenagers.

Looking back, I must be gullible to agree to take on the task then. You know, the book contains a lot of literal pictures, so I asked them to draw the picture. Thus, used up half of the session time. And the pictures were awful, not because they were bad artists. But some of the description we shall see later is impossible to draw or paint.

During those sessions, I did notice some repeated cycles within the book. But I never really pursue any further for various reasons.

2. Recently, I came across a series of lectures, named Blessed hope by W Godfrey of Ligoniers Ministry.

I find it illuminating and partly confirmed my observation. More important renewed my interest. Most of my sharing will be founded on the exegesis by Godfrey.

Some will be my personal observation and questions.

Godfrey observed that there are 7 major cycles of events with the book. Each cycle has and introduction and 7 sections. Let see how such interpretation affect our understanding of the book and eschatology as a whole.

启示 revelation :

预言 prophesy

1. Futurist

he futurist approach to interpreting the book of Revelation holds that most of the events described in the book will take place in the end times, just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

2. Historicist

This approach to Revelation holds that the book supplies a prophetic panorama of church history from the first century to the second coming of Christ.

3. Preterist.

This approach holds that the prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled in AD 70 when Titus and his Roman army overran Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple. So in this scheme, the book of Revelation does not deal with the future.

4. Idealist.

This view holds that the book of Revelation is primarily a symbolic description of the ongoing battle between God and the devil, between good and evil.

What are yours primary reading of Revelation?