Introduction to Revelation

The book of Revelation is one of the hardest books of the Bible to understand because of all of the figurative language and the fact that it is dealing with future events.  There are several different ways that Revelation has been interpreted that range from describing ancient history to current events to future events.  However, it seems best to interpret Revelation according to the way John says he wrote it as reveling God’s plan for the future and how the second coming of Christ will take place.  This was the last book of the Bible to be written and it was written by the last living apostle, John, who wrote from exile.  John records visions that were delivered to him by angels who helped him to understand and interpret the visions that he saw.  He starts with a quick introduction of reviewing how Jesus was presented as glorified in the past and how John came to have this vision.  He then writes brief letters to seven churches who at the present time were the original readers of this Revelation and he warns them to be on the alert for what is happening in their midst.  The majority of the Revelation is to inform these seven churches and all of us about what God has planned for the future.  The New Testament starts with a revelation of how Jesus came the first time and what He did to pay for sins price.  The Epistles inform and instruct us about the Gospel and the task of proclaiming the Gospel to all the nations.  The New Testament ends with the revelation of how the advance of the Gospel will eventually come to a climax in a diabolical battle of the ages that will immediately proceed the second coming of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom on earth as well as a glimpse of the eternal judgment and glory to come.

WHAT WAS: John greets the churches to whom he is writing and gives a beautiful description of our eternal Lord who was, is and is to come.  This Jesus who gave His blood for our sins and then made us to be a kingdom for Him and representatives of Him on this earth, is coming again.  He is the first and last, beginning and end and all glory belongs to Him.  Jesus appeared to John in a vision and John fell on his face at His feet to worship.  This is the only possible response for those who come into the presence of Jesus.  John describes his experience of being exiled on the island of Patmos when he had this vision of the Lord Jesus.  This was John’s personal experience in the past and gives us the setting in which the Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to him.  John was the disciple who was very close to Jesus and so this “reencounter” with Him had to have been an awesome experience for John at a time some close to when he would go and meet Him in heaven.  We get a glimpse of what was revealed to Him as a means of helping us to look forward to that glorious day when we too will meet our Lord Jesus personally in all of His glory.  This knowledge of John’s past is meant to help believer in the present deal with the suffering caused by sin in light of the future promises of being with Jesus.

WHAT IS: John writes specific observations and instructions to each of the seven churches in Asia that were, most likely, the churches under his authority and or influence.  There have been attempts to interpret these churches as having a deeper significance than just themselves.  Some would say that each church is representative of a period of history that the church has passed through.  There are those who would say that the churches are meant to be representative of the different types of churches in every age or history of the church.  I am not sure that John or the Holy Spirit had either of those in mind.  It seems safest to simply interpret them as letters written to specific churches in a specific time but there are definitely lessons that we can all learn from the instructions and warnings given to each of these churches.  We must stand for truth and defend against false doctrines but without allowing our love for the Lord or one another grow cold.  We must stand firm in the face of persecution with our eyes fixed on the Crown of Life that God is preparing for those who suffer in His name.  We must stand fast against false teachings but must be careful to not to allow greed to corrupt our thoughts and motives.  We must be faithful to the love and trust the Lord but must not allow sexual immorality to be tolerated in our lives or churches.  We must protect ourselves from dead religious activity and test our faith to see that it is truly genuine.  Our walk with God must be fervent and whole hearted without allowing a spirit of just going through the motions to take over our lives.  As the church in John’s day had many struggles so each of our own hearts is vulnerable to these sins.  In each case the solution is to repent and to trust the Lord.

WHAT WILL BE: This last section of Revelation is the majority of the book and describes the events that will occur prior to, during and after the second coming of Christ.  The first event seems to be the rapture of the church and a wonderful time of worship in heaven as believers receive their rewards and then use them in their adoration of the Lord Jesus.  There will be people from every nation at this worship service as believers look on from heaven to the events that will be taking place on earth.  This is an encouraging truth because it assures us that the task of missions will be accomplished on earth.  Immediately after the rapture of the church and most likely coinciding with our rewards and worship in heaven.  The Lord Jesus opens a series of scrolls that unleash a series of judgments on the earth.  These judgments describe the experience of those who are on earth living through the tribulation and the reign of Anti-Christ on the earth.  The events described here are catastrophic in nature with “super-natural disasters” as well as world wars, famine, disease and demonic activity.  This time of life on earth will make the plagues in Egypt at the time of the Exodus seem like a walk in the park.  However, throughout these three series of seven judgments, there will also be a great time of spiritual harvest.  As New Testament prophecy begins to come true it seems like there will be a massive spiritual revival among the nation of Israel resulting in 144,000 Messianic Jewish missionaries being commissioned to preach the Gospel all over the world.  This massive missionary effort will also result in people from every nation of the world being saved during the Tribulation period.  Suffering has always been one of the most effective means of seeing people come to Christ.  During this time of judgment we will see ancient false religions be exposed, judged and exterminated from the earth along with their idolatry.  Anti-Christ will insist on being the only objet of worship on earth but he too will see his reign come to a crushing end when the clouds part and Jesus Christ our Lord returns to this earth mounted on a white horse with all of the saints returning with Him in all of His glory.  Satan and Anti-Christ will be thrown into hell, unbelievers will be killed and Jesus will reign on this earth with all the saints over all the nations and all the people who trusted Jesus during the Tribulation for one-thousand years.  At the end of the thousand years Satan will be released and will once again be successful at deceiving the unbelievers who were born during the thousand year reign of Christ and they will attempt an overthrow of the kingdom of God.  The will be completely unsuccessful.  Then Jesus will judge all men sending the unbelievers from every stage of history into eternal and everlasting punishment and welcoming all believers into the New Earth that His is preparing for us.  The New Earth will be our eternal dwelling in the presence of God.  The capital of the New Earth will be the New Jerusalem which will be a cubed city that will occupy an area of land equivalent to over half the land mass of the United States.  Within that massive city will be cultural richness that we have never seen on this earth and most of all true worship like we have never been able to experience in our current sinful surroundings.  Outside of the city there will be kings and kingdoms that will be productive and adventuresome as we work together completely separated from all inklings of sin to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all of eternity.  May He be glorified in and through our lives today and every day as long as we live and then for all of eternity in His glorious presence.  AMEN!!!