The Book of Revelation
Scripture's Crescendo and
Culmination
I. The Prologue (1:1-20)
Introduction (1:1-3)
Salutation (1:4-8)
John's Commission from Christ (1:9-20)
II. The First Vision
The Letters to the
Seven Churches (2:1-3:22)
The Letter to Ephesus (2:1-7)
The Letter to Smyrna (2:8-11)
The Letter to Pergamum (2:12-17)
The Letter to Thyatira (2:18-29)
The Letter to Sardis (3:1-6)
The Letter to Philadelphia (3:7-13)
The Letter to Laodicea (3:14-22)
III. The Second Vision
The Vision of the
Seven Seals (4:1-7:17)
The Throne of God in Heaven (4:1-11)
The Book of the Seven Seals (5:1-5)
The Lamb Before the Throne (5:6-14)
The First Seal - The White Horse (6:1-2)
The Second Seal - The Red Horse (6:3-4)
The Third Seal - The Black Horse (6:5-6)
The Fourth Seal - The Pale Horse (6:7-8)
The Fifth Seal - The Souls Beneath the Altar (6:9-11)
The Sixth Seal - The Final Judgement (6:12-17)
The Servants of God (7:1-17)
IV. The Third Vision
The Seven Trumpets
(8:1 -11:19)
The Seventh Seal - The Seven Angels with
the Seven Trumpets (8:1-5)
The First Four Trumpets (8:6-13)
The Fifth Trumpet - Locusts from Hell (9:1-11)
The Sixth Trumpet - The Host From Beyond the Euphrates (9:12-19)
The Impenitence of Those Who Remained (9:20-21)
The Angel with the Little Book (10:1-7)
John's Commission to Preach (10:8-11)
The Two Witnesses (11:1-14)
The Seventh Trumpet and the End of the World (11:15-19)
V. The Fourth Vision
The Seven Scenes
(12:1-15:8)
The First Scene - The Great Red Dragon's
Assault (12:1-13:1)
The Second Scene - The Beast from the Sea (13:1-10)
The Third Scene - The Beast from the Earth (13:11-18)
The Fourth Scene - The 144,000 with the Lamb (14:1-5)
The Fifth Scene - The Three Angels (14:6-13)
The Sixth Scene - The Harvest (14:14-20)
The Seventh Scene - The Angels with the Plagues (15:1-8)
VI. The Fifth Vision
The Seven Bowls (16:1-21)
VII. The Sixth Vision
Christ and Anti-Christ (17:1-19:21)
The Great Harlot (17:1-18)
The Defeat of Babylon (18:1-24)
The Church's Victory (19:1-21)
The Marriage Feast of the Lamb (19:1-10)
The Rider on the White Horse (19:11-21)
VIII. The Seventh Vision
The Final Triumph of the Church (20:1-22:5)
Christ and Satan (20:1-3)
The Millennium (20:4-6)
The Defeat of Satan (20:7-10)
The Final Judgment (20:11-15)
The New Heaven and Earth (21:1-8)
The New Jerusalem (21:9-27)
Paradise Restored (22:1-5)
Excursus: The Biblical Doctrine of Heaven
The Message of Revelation
The message of the Book of Revelation is one of comfort and encouragement to beleaguered believers. Be strong in the faith! Take courage and persevere! Things are not as they seem! It may appear that the forces of evil are triumphant on every side but that is not true. God remains in control of His universe and all that takes place within it. Past, present, and future are in His hands alone. Do not despair. With the eyes of faith, look behind the deceiving facade of things as they appear to be and see things as they truly are. With the din of desperate battle raging all around us, listen with the ears of faith to the "distant triumph song"already resounding in the halls of heaven. The foe has already been defeated. Christ has won the victory. Dr. Donald Richardson says it well:
"The Christians of that generation were in the midst of an alien, hostile environment; and in a period of unprecedented persecution. The present was characterized by chaos and confusion, ruin was around them, and the future seemed impenetrably dark. To the ordinary observer it seemed as though the church and all it stood for would be utterly crushed, and that this community of those who followed Christ would be driven into denial of Him or done to death. John, however, with eyes that can see, looks beyond the borders of the visible. He lifts for his companions in tribulation the veil that obscures the far vision. When the hearts of others are failing them for fear, he sounds a clear note of confidence and of sure victory. The golden age, he tells them, is not behind us; the best is yet to be....The joys and sorrows of life, the pain and persecution of the present, are not without meaning. They are only parts of a great plan whose design for the moment we may be unable to see; but the plan is there, and behind it all is God. The present may be dark and troubled and our minds perplexed, but John calls upon the future to carry his readers courageously over the present...The Book of Revelation, says Dr. C.A. Smith, is the Christian epic of the day that is after tomorrow...Think of where you are going instead of where you have been, or now are. Things are bad today, but don't act as if the heavens were falling in bits of blue plaster around your feet. "By God's will doubt not, the last word is still victory." The first word of the book is the key to its content and purpose: "Apocalypse," revelation. The word means uncovering, unveiling. Christ is unveiled and the future of the church is unveiled. Unveiling is the key to the book. The word opens wide doors, and magnificent visions of conflict and victory and great glory appear. The unveiling of Christ, the final truth about Christ and His Church, that is the purpose of the last book of the Bible. And in this book we have the unveiled Person, the unveiled program of His purpose, and the unveiled power. The central truth which the writer seeks to impress upon his readers is that the world and all of its events and affairs are under the control of Christ. History with all of its powers and forces, is under His direction; and He will ultimately bring about the full and final victory of good. He shows that the conflict between God and Satan, between good and evil, is inevitable, persistent, prolonged. The Church is in the wilderness, meeting with opposition, enduring persecution; but Christ is present with the Church, the source of her life and the assurance of her ultimate victory. Evil for the present seems regnant, but it is only for a time, and times, and half a time. The final triumph of God's purpose and the reign of His righteousness is certain. In the midst of persecution and peril, the Christian should fear none of those things which he is called upon to suffer, but be faithful in his witness to Christ; and in the end he shall receive the crown of life. And so, the true Christian should be constantly looking forward. Of him it is true that hope springs eternal in the human breast; and when the night is darkest, he may be comforted and cheered by the promise of the coming day. There is a divine conviction in the soul of the Christian which causes him to believe that when all human resources have failed and he is utterly helpless, then a Helper is on the way. When man's means are exhausted, God is coming; for man's extremity is always God's opportunity....The coming of Christ is the dominant note of the book. "Surely, I come quickly!" is the word of Christ to His suffering saints...This a book of supreme optimism. There is an undertone of hope running through every page... The Church, with the risen, living Christ in the midst of her is to go into conflict. Her warfare in the world is inevitable. That warfare John pictures for us in all its tragedy. It is the tragedy of the struggle between right and wrong, and often wrong seems to be triumphant; but Christ is in the midst of the Church as she battles for the right. His presence and His power are the Church's assurance of her ultimate victory. And so, the Revelation is the symbolic story of the Church's journey through the wilderness of the world into the land of promise....The story of the Church is a story of unceasing conflict, but also of increasing victory; and in the end, the devil and all his works will go down before her, and she shall issue from the field of battle forever triumphant. That is the message of John, and that is the Christian's sure conviction." (Richardson, pp. 13-14)
The Author and Date of Revelation
The author of the Book of Revelation tells us four times that his name is "John" (Revelation 1:1,4,9; 22:8). The Greek name "Ioannes" is a form of the Hebrew name "Yohanan" which means "Yahweh is gracious!" The name was relatively common among the Jews of the first century. The fact that John considered it unnecessary to further identify himself indicates that he was a well known figure among the churches of Asia Minor who could safely assume that his audience would recognize him and acknowledge the authority of that which he wrote. It is the overwhelming testimony of the fathers of the early church that St. John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and brother of James, was the author of the Book of Revelation.
Tradition indicates that St. John spent the last years of his life in the Greek city of Ephesus, on the western coast of the Roman Province of Asia. It is conjectured that John arrived in the city in the year 69 or 70 A.D. The fathers further indicate that John was later banished from the city to the nearby island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Domitian who reigned from 81-96 A.D. St. Jerome reports:
"In the fourteenth year then after Nero, Domitian having raised a second persecution, John was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote the Apocalypse on which Justin Martyr and Irenaeus later wrote commentaries. But Domitian having been put to death, and his acts, on account of his excessive cruelty, having been annulled by the senate, he returned to Ephesus under Nerva Pertinax and continuing there until the time of the emperor Trajan, founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and, worn out by old age, died in the sixty-ninth year after our Lord's passion and was buried near the same city."
This, of course, conforms with the testimony of the text itself, which indicates that at the time when the Revelation came to John he was "on the island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus." (Revelation 1:9) Thus, the date of the Book of Revelation would seem to be in the early to mid nineties, during the last decade of the first century.
Apocalyptic Literature and Revelation
The Book of Revelation calls itself the "Apocalypse" (Revelation 1:1) from the Greek word "apokalypsis" which means "to remove the cover from" or 'to reveal." It shares many basic characteristics with a unique form of literature which flourished among the Jews during the last two centuries B.C. and the first century A.D.
Apocalyptic literature is the product of hard times. It was directed mainly to a people in trouble, as people who saw themselves as God's own, but who were puzzled by the plight in which they found themselves, dominated and oppressed by a succession of foreign conquerors. It is a uniquely Jewish form of literary expression which finds its way into both the Old and the New Testaments, although the great majority of apocalyptic writing is extra-biblical (i.e. The Book of Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, the Assumption of Moses, The Martyrdom of Isaiah, the Apocalypse of Moses, etc.).
The basic characteristics of apocalyptic literature include:
1. Apocalyptic writing deals with secret or hidden information which can only be disclosed by supernatural means through dreams or visions from God or angelic intermediaries.
2. The message of apocalyptic literature is communicated in mysterious, enigmatical forms through the use of bizarre, oftentimes obscure symbolism and imagery. Its fantastic worlds of beasts, signs, colors, numbers, and angels seems to have functioned as a type of code which effectively communicated its message to a select group while concealing the message from the unintiated.
3. Apocalyptic literature is basically pessimistic in its assessment mankind's potential. There is little possibility for progress or positive development within the normal framework of human endeavor. From the apocalyptist's point of view, things are bad and they are only going to get worse as far as men are concerned.
4. Apocalyptic literature is written in times of catastrophic change as previously well-ordered world views collapse. Apocalyptic writers see themselves in the midst of the catastrophic destruction of a way of life, even of the entire universe.
5. Apocalyptic literature proceeds on the firm conviction that in his own good time, God will intervene to bring the evil of this world to an end and proclaim His ultimate victory. It has been aptly described as " the anticipatory raising of the curtain to display the final scene" - it is, in a way, conveying pictorially and in symbol, the conviction of the ultimate victory of God.
6. Apocalyptic literature is rigidly deterministic. All of history is pre-ordained in the power and wisdom of God. Nothing can interrupt or frustrate His plans.
7. Apocalyptic literature is basically dualistic. History is perceived as an ongoing conflict between God and Satan, good and evil.
8. Extra-Biblical Apocalyptic literature is generally pseudonymous, that is to say, written under a false name, most commonly the name of one of the great heroes of the Old Testament.
9. A feature of many extra-Biblical apocalypses is that they take past or present events and rewrite them in the form of predictive prophecy.
10. Apocalyptic writing is produced to bring cheer and comfort to the righteous in the midst of their tribulations.
11. The assertion of the supernatural ability to predict future events is an important component of this type of literature.
Martin Franzmann offers this helpful summary of the differences between apocalyptic literature and in general and the Book of Revelation:
"As the man of Jewish descent, language, and culture that he obviously was, John was acquainted with and influenced by a form of Judaic religious literature which modern scholars have classified as "apocalyptic." Apocalyptic literature elaborated certain elements or aspects of Old Testament prophecy, found in such passages and books as Isaiah 24-27, Zechariah 9-14, Ezekiel, Joel, and Daniel. It sought to interpret all history on the basis of purported visionary experiences of the author. It was especially interested in eschatology, that is, in the end of history and the ushering in of the world to come. It utilized pictures, allegories, and symbols (which soon became traditional); numbers, colors, and stars were in these images endowed with a profound significance....Formally, the Revelation to John belongs to this class; apocalyptic furnished the familiar vocabulary of its speech. The influence of apocalyptic on the Revelation to John can be and often has been exaggerated. The Revelation to John is set apart from the general run of apocalyptic literature by profound differences. Apocalyptic itself drew heavily on the Old Testament; John draws even more heavily. In fact, it is the Old Testament itself and not apocalyptic that constitutes the immediate background and the richest source for Revelation. Revelation is at bottom much more deeply akin to the Old Testament than it is to apocalyptic which it resembles so strongly on the formal side. Other differences are equally striking. Apocalyptic works are generally pseudonymous; that is, they claim some great figure from Israel's past, such as Enoch, as author; and the past course of history as known to the actual author is made a prediction in the mouth of the purported author. John, however, writes in his own name. Apocalyptic has speculative interests and seeks to calculate the times of the world's days and of the world's end. John has no such speculative interest; he does not aim to satisfy men's curiosity but to give them hope and courage, and he does not attempt to calculate the approach of the end...The visions of apocalyptic betray their origin; they are fantasies of men. The vision of John have on them the stamp of genuine visionary experience; they are not products of the study. If apocalyptic can be termed literary meditation on prophetic themes, Revelation is genuine prophecy, a prophecy which uses apocalyptic motifs and forms insofar, and only insofar, as they are legitimate explications of Old Testament prophetic themes and are germane to its own thoroughly Christ-centered proclamation." (Franzmann, pp. 27-28)
Interpreting the Book of Revelation
There are four basic interpretive approaches to the Book of Revelation. Their perspectives may be summarized as follows:
1. THE PRETERIST OR CONTEMPORARY HISTORICAL VIEW
This view is favored by theological liberals and those who reject the inspiration of Scripture and the possibility of predictive prophecy. The Preterist View assumes that Revelation is no different than any other example of apocalyptic literature from the period. The author, whomever he may have been (most preterists reject the traditional view that St. John the Apostle was the author of Revelation), is describing events from the recent past and the present as if he were foretelling future events. According to this view the book is a tract on contemporary history written for the First Century. It deals with nothing more than Roman or Jewish persecution of the Christian Church during that period.
2. THE FUTURIST VIEW
This view is favored fundamentalists who subscribe to the theory of dispensational pre-millennialism. It is sometimes called "Dispensational Futurism." According to this view the visions of chapters 4-22 refer exclusively to a future time immediately preceding the end of history. Dispensational Futurists emphasize a rigid literalism through which they decipher a hidden time line for the end of the age. The time line includes these events: 1. The restoration of ethnic Israel to its promised land; 2. The rapture of the Gentile church into heaven; 3. A seven year tribulation period; 4. The reign of the Antichrist in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period; 5. The gathering of the godless nations to battle for Jerusalem; 6. The triumphant return of Christ to defeat His foes in the battle of Armageddon; 7. The thousand year (millennial) reign of Christ on earth; 8. Satan's final rebellion at the end of the millennium; and, 9. The destruction of Satan and the eternal reign of Christ in heaven.
3. THE HISTORICIST OR CONTINUOUS HISTORICAL VIEW
There are many varieties of the Historicist view. It is the traditional viewpoint of mainstream Christendom. In this view, Revelation is seen as predicting the major events and movements of Christian history throughout the first and second comings of Christ. Individual symbols and signs within the Book are specifically identified with personalities, places, and events in Christian history providing a chronological sequence of prophecies which are being continuously and successively fulfilled from the days of John the Revelator until the Last Day. The difficulty with these specific identifications is that they cannot be validated in the text and often tend to focus the applications of the text to persons and events contemporary to the interpreter.
4. THE IDEALIST OR SYMBOLIC VIEW
The fourth and final view is, in a sense, a variation of the Historicist viewpoint that has prevailed throughout much of Christian tradition. The Idealist agrees that Revelation describes and predicts persons and events throughout the New Testament era. However, he disagrees with the Historicist, in that he generally refuses to limit the identification of the symbol or application of the prophecy to only one historical reality. Such specific individual application may be made only when it is facilitated and required by the text of Revelation itself. However, in most cases, the prophecies of Revelation portray events and patterns that are repeated over and over again throughout history. In this way, Revelation is relevant for God's people in every time and place, as pertinent to us today as it was to the First Century believers of John's original audience. Conservative Lutheran scholar Siegbert Becker argues that the idealistic view is based on Scripture's interpretation of itself and is thus the true literal interpretation of the Book:
"The idealistic interpretation is rally only a variation of the church historical interpretation of Revelation...The idealistic or church historical interpretations are really the grammatical-historical method of interpretation applied to this particular form of literature. And it ought to be stressed again and again that the words of the text itself tell us that we are dealing with symbols that stand for something else...The idealistic interpretation is the literal interpretation." (Becker, pp. 18-19)