The Book of Revelation
Victory in Jesus- We Win!
 

Many people look at Revelation as the “SCARY” book of the Bible. Its imagery and language tend to lean towards this style of interpretation. It is in fact a very interesting book. It is the end of God’s word! It concludes the entire Bible! For most Christian, it falls into one of two categories: A) we find it scary and confusing so we totally avoid it! B) We find it intriguing and mysterious, so we love talking about it.

In fact, in our culture right now, it is quite trendy! There is a new “horror” TV series, called Revelation, based loosely around the book and its’ prophecies. There is the whole “Left Behind” book series that swept across America. There was the Schwarzenegger movie “End of Days”, there was the Demi Moore movie when I was a kid called “The Seventh Sign”. Culture seems to find the last book of God’s word fascinating! Hollywood, n all of its’ Godlessness, sure likes to focus on this one book. Why do you think this is? Why is it so popular in the world?

Together we will look into this book and see what God is trying to say to us! Revelation comes from the Greek “apokalupsis”, which means “an uncovering, laying bare of, of making naked of”. So Revelation is laying bare of God’s truth! Just what truth is he giving us, is what we hope to discover!
 

HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT REVELATION:

• Author- John. Which John is it? Most likely, it is John the Apostle (son of Zebedee). This seems very logical based on much of the language used (ex: compare 22:8 to John 21:24). There is a small contingent that believes it is a guy named John the Presbyter, but more evidence point towards the former.
• Language of the Book- The book was written in what is called “apocalyptic” style. This simply means it is very symbolic. Apocalyptic writing was a popular way of writing in these times and was quite common. Revelations uses many symbols (stars=angels, lampstands=churches etc…). Many OT books were written with similar style (Ezekiel, Daniel etc). Also note that Revelation has some 278 allusions to the Old Testament.
• Number Seven- the number 7 is used over and over in the book. (approx. 52 times!) It speaks of Seven: churches, spirits, lampstands, stars, seal, horns, eyes, trumpets, signs, crowns, plagues, bowls, hills, kings etc. What is the significance of the number 7? In the Apocalyptic style, the number 7 was used to symbolize completeness!
• Date- Two dates can be ascertained from the book. It seems as if it talks of Nero’s reign (AD 54-68) as well as Domitian’s reign (81-96). ****It is VERY IMPORTANT to note that both of these times were known as times of great persecution for Christians!
• Purpose- Despite what your personal interpretation of the book is, and what theory of interpretation you ascribe to, the purpose of the book remains clear. John writes to encourage the faithful to resist an anti-movement and stay strong! He talks of Christianity’s final showdown, and he encourages them to stand fast…even to death! He also claims victory on the reminder that we will ALL be vindicated upon Christ’s return!!
• Recipients of Revelation- Understanding the conditions of the Christians who first received Revelation is VERY critical. Christianity had remained for several decades unnoticed by Roman government. It was seen as an arm of Judaism, which was a legalized religion of Rome. When it became know that Christianity was not another arm of the Jewish faith, they suddenly found themselves under extreme pressure and difficulty from the government and culture.

Reasons for antagonisms towards Christians:

• It was an illegal religion because the DID proselyte. They did exist to save others.
• They aspired towards universality. To the Romans, the state was the main thing; to the Christians the kingdom of God throughout all the world was the concern!
• Christianity was viewed as an exclusive religion. This was so, because they would not freely mingle with heathen culture and customs. And they would not take part in common idolatrous practices.
• Christians were accused of all kinds of evils! Funny, coming from such a debaucheries culture! But, because they held meetings at night and were fond of one another, their meetings were accused of being for lustful gratification. When they heard them speak of “partaking of Christ’s flesh and blood”, they were accused of cannibalism.
• The Christians at the time would not go to war.
• Most Christians of the time had been pulled in from the poor and outcast, and the Romans saw this as “unrespectable”.
• And quite possibly the biggest reason: Christians refused to worship the emperor!

THEORIES OF INTERPRETATION

There are many different interpretations of the book of Revelation. I personally can think of 4 or 5. How many differing interpretations can you think of? The following is a list of the most common different interpretations:
 

1. The Futurist Method- This theory views the book as completely eschatological (dealing with the end events of the world). A “futurist” sees this is completely unfulfilled prophecy. Subscribers to this belief use common phrases such as “The Rapture”, “Millennial Reign”, “Left Behind” etc. You will probably find that most Christian churches today find themselves somewhere in this category.
   1. Possible objections- This is inconsistent with the statement made by John that the events predicted were soon to come to pass. Also, this theory leaves no way for the book to relate to the needs of the churches of the times to which it was written and addressed and who first received it!
2. The Continuous-Historical Method- This looks at the book as a forecast of what shall come in symbols of the history of the church. The system makes the book out to prophesy in great detail the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church! It sites some of the symbols as actual historical events like the rise of Catholicism, the rise of Islam, the Reformation, etc….
   1. Possible objections- This makes the book COMPLETELY out of touch with the situation of the Christians to whom it was originally given. And it attaches a seemingly undue importance to the apostasy of the Catholic Church. Also, this method would make Revelation basically to have no meaning to countries where Rome had no power!
3. The Preterist Method- This the exact opposite of the Futurist Method. The word literally means “past” or “beyond”. A Preterist sees the fulfillment of Revelation’s visions as all having already taken place in the past. (there are 2 wings of this theory: one respects the book as God inspired. The other does not)
   1. Possible objections- Often, this theory could leave no message for present day Christians. And some give the book NO respect as being God inspired.
4. The Historical Principle Method- (a.k.a. The Prophetic or Philosphy of History Method). This method believes the writer originally wrote the book to encourage and lift up the Christians of his own time, but can also be applies to modern days as well. It believes the book to be entirely symbolic so places much stress on understanding the symbols.
   1. Possible objections- Some argue this theory does not respect the power of prophecy.

I believe this last theory is the one that makes the most sense. We know that all scripture is “God-Breathed”. We know that God gave us ALL of his word to use. I believe Revelations can be JUST as relevant today as it was when written! We will spend several weeks looking into this theory and a possible interpretation, which I think makes a LOT of sense! This is the idea that Revelation’s symbolism is talking about Roman persecution and power over Christians!