Revelation - Lesson 2

Gaining Perspective & Momentum

Prayer: God, help us as we consider this magnificent book of prophecy.  Help us to understand it in light of the whole of scripture, and help us to understand it on its own.  Help us to have and keep a healthy perspective while studying, with minds open to what you have to teach us.  Amen!

Last week we got through a whole whopping 3 verses, this week I'm going to attempt to get us through a second portion of chapter 1.  I say attempt because in order to go forward I felt as if it were important to take a step back... let me elaborate.  

Humor me for a moment and imagine you're standing on a rocky beach on the North Shore, and imagine how you might describe the rocks below your feet to a friend.  You might simply continue to stand, and remark about the variety of colors & shapes, and stop there at your explanation - but that wouldn't really do justice to the rocks there.  You might stoop down and take a closer look, picking up individual rocks and noting the various types & their crystalline forms, you might mention agates in particular - doing this would give a friend a better understanding.  You might also give an overview of the topography of the area, how it was shaped & formed (glaciers) - and doing that would provide a friend with an even better understanding.  You could look at the rocks under a high-powered microscope, or attempt to describe the scene as viewed from space - but those descriptions might be more than your friend wants to know.

So what I'm going to try to do is this:  Like your description standing there looking down at the rocks we're going to read the chapter & take it in at face value.  Like your description involving the topography, how things were shaped & formed, I'm going to attempt to do a brief overview of the Bible & Revelation in general.  And like stooping down and examining the rocks I'm going to spend some time picking up and looking at individual verses.  I'm going to try to keep from getting too hung up in minutia, and I'm going to try to keep from backing away so far that you can't see what we're studying.

First, lets simply read this entire chapter out loud, to give ourselves the general picture of what we're studying.  (Rev chapter 1)

Now to some basic things I want you to know about the Bible.  The word Bible simply means Library, what we call our Bible is a library of sorts containing 66 individual books by over 40 different human authors, but acting as a single whole integrated message.  

Central Themes:

Old Testament - account of a nation, Israel.

New Testament - account of a man, the God-man Jesus.

The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the new revealed.

Central Character: Jesus!

Jesus as Creator (John 1:1-3) - the Creator becomes a man, His appearance is central not only to the Bible but to all human history (whether or not people acknowledge Him).

Jesus as Redeemer - He died to purchase our lives, to pay the price for our sins.

Jesus as Sanctifier - He continues to intercede on our behalf, to draw believers into more intimate fellowship with Him.

Jesus as King - Jesus is the Prince of Peace & King of Kings, He reigns in heaven & I believe He will have a literal 1000 year reign on earth from David's throne.

In the Old Testament there are 1845 references to Christ's (Messiah's) rule on the earth, 17 Old Testament books give prominence to that issue.  The Jews were so fixated on the ruling aspect of Messiah that they failed to recognize Him when He came (a warning to us).  The Jews knew the passages about Messiah being a Suffering Servant, such as Isaiah 52:13-53:12, but they didn't think one Messiah could fulfill both rolls (they expected 2 Messiahs), and they didn't expect that Messiah would be God Incarnate (God come in the flesh).

In the New Testament there are 318 references to Jesus 2nd coming, mentioned in 23 of the 27 New Testament books.  For every prophecy of Jesus 1st coming (which were fulfilled literally) there are 7-8 regarding His 2nd coming.

Overview of the Bible as it pertains to Christ:

  Old Testament- Christ in Prophecy - He comes.

  Gospels - Christ in History - He dies.

  Acts - Christ in the Church - He lives.

  Epistles - Christ in Experience - He saves.

  Revelation - Christ in Glory - He reigns.

Just to hint at how integrated this message system we call the Bible is I'm going to mention the book of Joshua.  Joshua, or more accurately Y'Shua, is the Hebrew name that is the same name as Jesus (which is an Anglicized version of the Greek name).  That should be a hint to us to pay attention to that book... it involves some very odd behavior on the part of the people of Israel, especially as involves the battle of Jericho.  If you want to challenge yourself take another look at the book of Joshua again in comparison to Revelation, you'll find there are many strange and interesting parallels.

Back to the Bible as a whole... since it is one message we would expect that things which started at the beginning of the scriptures (specifically in Genesis) would come to a conclusion at the end of the scriptures (in Revelation) - and they do.

The following is from the book The Revelation Record by Dr. Henry M. Morris:

Now on to some overview items/thoughts about Revelation.

Some things that are currently out-of-place are put in place in Revelation (this is not a complete list):

Israel as a nation finally inhabits the whole of the promised land.

The Church, the body of believers, is in heaven.

The Lamb is on His own Throne.

Satan is bound & eventually destroyed.

I want to stop for a second and say something that I'm going to tell you is my opinion, but that I think the scriptures back up.  Take it as simply opinion.  I believe that Israel (faithful Jews) and the Church have different destinies, different purposes.  Though Israel & the Church share a common God and a History they obviously are different.  In fact I think that the Saints, the true believers in God, fall into 3 categories:

Old Testament Saints - faithful Jews of the Old Testament times (perhaps some current & future as well - this is for God to know), Israel is in scripture equated with the Wife of God (at times unfaithful - see Hosea).

New Testament Saints - faithful believers in Christ, the true Church, a.k.a. the Bride of Christ.

Tribulation Saints - those who come to faith during the Tribulation (the Holy Spirit may not be available to them).

That said, it's my opinion and not something to get hung up about.

Revelation - a brief outline:

Chapters 1-3: The Church Age

Chapters 4-19: Period of Judgement - Tribulation, split into two halves:

4-11 - first half, 12-19 - second half

Chapter 20: Kingdom Age, 1000 years, Millennium

Chapters 21-22: Eternal Age

Some people point to the fact that the Church is never mentioned after chapter 3 as proof of a Pre-Tribulation rapture of the Church - most who interpret the scriptures with a literal bent follow this line of thinking.  One of the commentators I like to listen to says we'll be "watching from the Mezzanine".

Something you'll come to recognize very quickly is that the number 7 occurs frequently in Revelation.   The number 7 typically represents fullness or completion.

The following is from the book The Revelation Record by Dr. Henry M. Morris:

Something to make you think: why do most cultures throughout the world & throughout history use a 7 day week?  It's not astronomical or physiological.... something to ponder.

In Revelation the 7s are even more interesting when you realize that some major events come in 7s with the 7th event in the series ushering in the next series of 7s:

7 Seals, the 7th of which ushers in...

7 Trumpets, the 7th of which ushers in...

7 Bowls...

It is called a Heptadic (seven-fold) structure.

Lets start looking at the individual stones...

We've already done a lesson on verses 1-3, so we won't be repeating those (see Lesson #1).

v4-6: John - he needs no further introduction, those who initially received this letter would have known him by this singular name.  This is the disciple John, the one called "the beloved", one of the two "Sons of Thunder", a former fisherman in Zebedee's (Dad's) fishing business, business partners with his brother & fellow disciple James, also business partners with the brothers & disciples Peter & Andrew.  John was an early disciple of John the Baptist, later called to follow Jesus.  He was well connected & knew the High Priest & Nicodemus (Israel's most revered teacher).  He was one of Jesus' inner circle which included James & Peter (and on at least one occasion Andrew) who had been given extra exposure to Jesus & His miracles & teachings.  John is the only disciple who visited Jesus while He was on the cross, and was the disciple to whom the care of Jesus' mother was assigned - historical accounts indicate he took this assignment seriously & it is believed that the book of 2 John may have been written specifically to Mary.  He is the writer of the Gospel of John, I-II-III John, and Revelation.

John reaches further back than any other Bible writer to before creation (John chapter 1), and further forward than any other Bible writer (Revelation chapter 22).

I had pointed out to me by a commentator that John was likely the youngest of Jesus 12 disciples, the "baby" of the group & perhaps only a teen when walking with our Lord.  That he was the youngest was indicated by the fact that he leaned against Jesus at the last supper & asked Jesus questions.  In traditional Jewish families at Passover the youngest got to lean against the Father and ask questions.

To the seven churches - in this case "churches" would have a similar meaning to today's use - the gatherings of believers.

Province of Asia: a Roman province, we might call this Asia Minor, today this area is part of the country of Turkey.

Grace & Peace: Charis - typical Greek greeting & Shalom - typical Hebrew greeting, both with much more meaning in the minds of believers.

Who sends Grace & Peace - none other than God the Father (who was & is & is to come), the Holy Spirit (7 Spirits or 7-fold Spirit), and Jesus Christ - all three persons of the Trinity.  Some might argue that the "7 Spirits" are Angels - but the context doesn't bear that out.  In Isaiah 11:2 we get a 7-fold description of the Holy Spirit, or 7-fold may simply be speaking to the fullness/completion of the Holy Spirit.

Normally we read the Trinity in the order: Father, Son, Holy Spirit... but this time the Son is mentioned last, probably to allow for the more expansive description that follows:

Faithful Witness: fulfilled perfectly the Father's will while walking the earth.

Firstborn From The Dead: first to be resurrected. 

Ruler of the Kings Of The Earth - this during His millennial reign.

His titles deal with 3 tenses - His job as Witness is past, completed at the cross.  His job as the Firstborn is present, His current state.  His future role is to be the Ruler from David's throne - in the millennium.

We also see these tenses in the description of the Father, and we see these tenses in the actions that Christ does for us:

Loved us - died for our sakes, and continues to love us.

Frees us from our sins - this is continuous.

Made us to be a kingdom & priests - our future role in service to the Father.

Don't be surprised to see other examples that fit the "tenses" of past / present / future within this book.

Notice that when it says we are a kingdom of priests its to serve His Father - it's interesting that it's worded this way, and it points to the difference in His relationship to His father (only begotten son) and ours (adopted sons).

v7-8: He is returning just as He said He would - Matthew 24:30 & 26:64.  He will be seen by all the peoples of the earth, even those who pierced Him (Jews), and they will mourn - Zechariah 12:10.  That He was pierced is recorded in John 19:34, with a partial fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy noted in John 19:37. 

The first of 7 "I Am" statements is given in verse 8, the Alpha & the Omega.  It's interesting that I had pointed out to me by one commentator that "I Am" as we would use it in casual speech is only one of the two words that gets translated into "I Am", that the two words combined give special emphasis not in casual speech.  It would be more like "I, I Am" or "I Am who I Am", perhaps we might write it "I Am the Self-Existent One".

The following is from The Interlinear Bible, published by Sovereign Grace Publishers:

(to be continued…)

Prayer: Lord God thank you for giving us the ability to look at your word in a variety of ways, and help us as we seek to gain understanding to not get a viewpoint that is either too expansive or too narrow.  Lord for each that is studying this passage help them to come away with something new that they have learned, a precious stone of knowledge they can carry with them.  Amen!