This book is The REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST. It is a showing of Jesus Christ as Lord of lords, and King of Kings who is coming in the end times to rescue his people, to judge the wicked, and to subdue or to bring under His dominion at last the earth to the will of God. Another title for this book is APOCALYPSE" Which means "A REVELATION" Apocalypse signifies literally a removing of the veil from that which was previously concealed. And this book does show forth things previously hidden. Many of its vision, are identical to those in Daniel, Isaiah, Joel, and others, only now additional details are added. This vision or Revelation was given John while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos. About 95-96 A.D. Purpose of Revelation The book was written at a time when believers were undergoing serious persecution because of the word of their testimony. The Book of Revelation, identifies itself as a prophecy. John in the vision, is appointed the task of writing down what he see�s. Like some of the prophetic books, it contains prophecies, letters, sayings, dialogues, songs and hymns. The songs and hymns are prominent because the presence and glory of God the Father and of the Lamb inspire worship. John had 3 purposes for writing Revelation. 1. The immediate purpose: was to allow Jesus Christ to proclaim, "Behold I come quickly." The seven churches of Asia and their world needed a word of encouragement, counsel, and of warning. 2. The historical purpose: once again was to allow Jesus Christ, to proclaim to his followers and to the world of every generation, again Behold I come quickly. God knows that every generation needs a word of encouragement, counsel, and warning. 3. The godly purpose: was to give the church and the world the unveiling of the person Jesus Christ as the central figure of history and of the message of his heart. Revelations of the Sevens What is the revelation of Jesus Christ? The concern is "things which must shortly come to pass." The book is characterized also by the use of numbers, especially the number seven; seven letters, seven blessings, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven bowls. The seven letters point ahead to end-time events. The 7 seals anticipate those events and lead into them. The 7 trumpets bring partial judgments and lead into the more complete judgments. The seven blessings and seven thunders help to reinforce God�s promises and judgments. Seven was considered a sacred number since God rested on the seventh day. Revelation is so full of symbols that a person must look elsewhere in Scripture to find out what the symbols mean in order to know what their meaning in Revelation mean. So a person must be willing to take the time to search the scriptures if he is going to study Revelation. The message in Revelation is very special to those who study and heed its message. Read Revelation chapters 3:1-22 and chapter 18:19 God intended for the believer to read and understand the book. It was written to be understood. It takes a believer who seriously studies with an open and honest heart who will let the scriptures speak for itself. The believers who first received the Book of Revelation must have been excited over its prophecies, because they focus on Jesus and on the end of this age. And for us today it reminds us that God who loved us enough to have sent Jesus to die for us on the Cross loves us enough to make every provision for us to share in His triumph and glory.
Many VERY Different Interpretations There are Many Different Interpretations of the Revelation 1. The historic view was that they tried to match the events in the book with church history from the first century to the present, and did not see a great tribulation at the end of the age. 2. Preterist: they tried to tie everything but the final end to events in the first century. Preterists believe most ofthe book was fulfilled long ago and has historical interest for us. 3. Idealist: they think that the symbols and figures in the book represent the on going struggle between good and evil saying that righteousness will prevail in the end. They see no literal fulfillment of anything in the book. 4. Futurist: This is the view that my denomination takes and which I believe. We view just about everything after chapter 4 to be fulfilled in a short period. (7 years). A period of tribulation, wrath, and judgment, then Christ will return in glory to destroy the armies of the Antichrist and establish His millennial kingdom. When we speak of the Great Tribulation we are not referring to a general tribulation, suffering, things we see going on in the world today. During the Great Tribulation God will be bring wrath and judgment on a Christ rejecting world. Amillennialists teach that there will be no Millennium, at least not on earth. To them the Book of Revelation is all symbolic and there will be no literal millennium. They expect the Church age to end with a general resurrection and a general judgment of both the righteous and the wicked at the same time, followed immediately by the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth. Amillennialism spiritualizes too much and has no room for either the restoration of national Israel or the reign of Christ on earth. This doctrine is at its core anti-semitic. Post millennialism: it treats the thousand years of the millennium as an extension of the church age. It teaches that the power of the gospel will win the whole world to Christ. And they too are a lot like the Amillennalists they spiritualize too much and has no room for a restoration of national Israel or a literal reign of Christ on earth. Then lastly there is the Premillennalists who take the prophecies of the Old Testament. as well as those of Jesus and the New Testament as literally as the contest allows. We place the return of Christ, the resurrection of the believers, and the judgment seat of Christ before the millennium. There will be a Great Tribulation, followed by the Great White Throne Judgment and then the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth. This is the view of most Christians and evangelicals but not all. This book opens with the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, writing to the seven churches of the Roman Province of Asia.
A BLESSING to HEARERS Revelation Chapter 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. INTRODUCTION Revelation means to uncover or unveil something that is hiding. The purpose of Revelation is to show Gods servants the events which must shortly come to pass. The time is at hand. God is telling us to have an attitude of expectancy. The Christians in Johns day thought these things would happen in their day. But the events in Revelation are yet to happen in the end times. But once again the early believers were doing just what Christ had told them to do, to look and watch for his return. Read Mark 13:32, Matthew 24:42 & 44 God measures time differently than we do. It has been over 2,000 years since this revelation was given to John and Jesus still has not returned to earth and the end of the world has not happened.... YET One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8 Verse 1 Our attitude should be this: We must be expecting Christ to return today, but we must plan as though He will not come a hundred years. One commentary made this statement: The book of Revelation is not for those who profess Christ but fail to serve Him. It is written only for genuine believers. It one studies prophecy at all you will find that the prophecies of Revelation are finally coming to pass in our day. Verse 2 An angel, a messenger, was sent to John to give him the message of Revelation. Why was John Chosen? Because he was available. Christ always chooses a person to carry the messages of God to men. But before he chooses a man that man has to be available. John says he bore witness to what he saw. What did he see? He saw the Word of God. The things of Revelation are the Word of God. John saw all the things that are reported in this Revelation. We either believe that John is telling the truth or he is lying. Which do we believe? Is Jesus Christ returning to earth? Are the events of the end time going to happen as recorded in Revelation or not? Should we be watching for Christ and these events or not? If these things are true, then we must watch and be ready, every event will take place & nothing will stop them. We shall witness every single event either from heaven or from on the earth. Verse 3 The Blessed in this verse is the first of the 7 blessings in the Book of Revelation. Revelation blesses the person who reads, hears, and OBEYS the message. The early church did not have a Bible for each person, one person read while all the others listened. So reading spoken of in this verse implies reading it in the churches where believers gather to hear. The blessing comes to the reader and the listeners who keep the words of this prophecy, who pay attention and takes its message seriously, for to hear also means to OBEY. Reading is not enough. Believers must read, hear, and heed the things written in Revelation. The believer who does what Revelation says shall be blessed richly by God. This is the first blessing of the seven blessings. The Book of Revelation begins with a promised blessing and will close with a promised blessing.
