This is an introduction to one of the most talked about books in the Bible: Revelation. In this sermon four questions will be discussed:
1. What kind of literature is Revelation?
2. What are the four major ways Revelation has been interpreted?
3. How was the Revelation communicated to John?
4. Who is promised a special blessing?
Tune in to find the answer!
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The Book of Revelation: the Prologue
Revelation 1:1-3
The book of Revelation has always been the most difficult of all of the 66 books of the Bible to interpret correctly. John Calvin wrote commentaries on all of the books of the New Testament, except for 2nd and 3rd John and Revelation. That should tell you something. Even an exceptional expositor apparently did not feel adequate to try to expound the Revelation.
It seems like all the cults and fringe groups do something off the wall with the book of Revelation.
David Koresh appeared to believe himself to be the Lamb of Revelation 5 who would slit the 7 seals of the scroll.
William Branham proclaimed himself the angel to the church of Laodicea, the end times prophet of God.
The 7th Day Adventist Church teach that worship on Sunday will be the mark of the Beast.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the 144,000 are faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses who will dwell forever in heaven.
So, because the book of Revelation has been misinterpreted with fanciful interpretations, does that mean we should just ignore it? Should we simply assume that it can’t be accurately interpreted and just set aside? To tell you the truth, this is what I have done with Revelation. I have been teaching through books of the Bible since 1990 – 34 years, and I have never taught through the book of Revelation. I have taught through Mark – Luke – John – Acts – Romans – 1 Corinthians – Galatians – Ephesians – Philippians – Colossians – 1 Thessalonians – 2 Thessalonians – 1 Timothy – 2 Timothy – Titus – Hebrews – James – 1 & 2 Peter, and 1 John. That is 20 of the 27 books of the New Testament. But I have never tried to teach Revelation. And the reason is simple. I’m intimidated by it! If much greater minds than mine have been stumped by this book, who am I to seek to expound it?
All of that should tell us that when we approach this book, we must do so in humility. We must be willing to lay aside our presuppositions, and ask the Holy Spirit to give us light on its intended meaning. We must not be quick to reach dogmatic conclusions.
One reason we can’t just ignore this book is because the book of Revelation itself pronounces a blessing on the one who reads and the one who heeds the words of the prophecy (1:3; 22:7). This is the only book in our Bible with a promised blessing like this. God wants us to read it and heed it. We dare not ignore it. We must seek to understand and apply it.
Originally, I thought I would simply do a series of sermons on the heavenly scenes in the book of Revelation where we see worship. However, now I see that we need to be exposed to the whole book of Revelation, not just the parts that are easiest to interpret.
So, we are going to go back to the beginning of Revelation and start working our way through it.
Today we will begin with the Prologue – Revelation 1:1-3
1. What Kind of Literature is Revelation?
Apocalyptic. 1:1 speaks of the “Revelation” of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for “revelation” is apocalypse. It means the “unveiling” or “revealing.” Instead of obscuring truth, the book of Revelation is intended to reveal God’s truth.
From about 200 BC to about 150 AD, there was a kind of literature amongst Jews called apocalyptic literature. It was different from historical narrative, psalms, poetry, prophecy, parable, and epistle. Apocalyptic literature is full of visions and dreams, cryptic language, and symbols of fantasy. Numbers and places are given much symbolic significance. This genre of literature died out around 150 AD, and we are completely unfamiliar with it. That’s one of the reasons why the book of Revelation seems so strange and difficult to grasp.
John’s original readers would have been familiar with this writing style, which would have enabled them to understand its meaning than we can today.
Prophecy. Notice 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy…” We are also told four times in chapter 22 that this book is a prophecy (22:7, 10, 18, 19). A prophecy is comprised of both foretelling, and forthtelling. We find both in the Revelation. The Revelation predicts what is to come, and it tells its readers what they must do. There is a predictive element to the Revelation.
Letter. Notice how John begins in verse 4, “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace…” That is the standard way all New Testament letters begin. There is a mention of the author, the recipients, and a salutation of grace and peace.
Notice how the Revelation ends in 22:21, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.” That is the way the apostle Paul would often end his letters.
So, the Revelation is a letter. Letters are always occasional. That is, they are written in particular historical situations and deal with particular issues at hand. John is writing this book to seven churches in Asia Minor in his own day, all with their own threats and challenges.
As a young Christian I was taught a particular view of Revelation which saw almost the entire book being fulfilled at least 2,000 years after it was written. It is difficult to see how this book was addressed to the particular concerns of seven first century churches. In fact, it seems that any view of Revelation which assumes that it would have been almost completely irrelevant to its first century readers must be almost certainly incorrect. It was written to them, with its particular situations, challenges and problems.
2. What are the 4 Major Ways Revelation Has Been Interpreted?
Historicism. This school of thought believes that the book of Revelation is predicting major events that would take place throughout church history in a chronological order. They believe that the 7 churches in the book of Revelation represent 7 different ages of the church from the first century to the second coming of Christ. They believe that the various symbols in the book refer to specific people or events down through history. The problem is that the Historicists can’t agree among themselves as to what the symbols represent. This school of thought was popular among the Reformers, who taught that the Pope was the Antichrist. However, this school of thought has all but died out today. There are practically no recognized scholars writing for and advocating for the Historicist interpretation of the Book of Revelation today. I think we can safely set it to the side, as being an incorrect view of the book of Revelation.
Futurists: this school of thought takes everything from Revelation 4 to the end of the book as being about things still yet future. A certain segment of Futurists are dispensational. This has been a very popular view for at least the last 100 years. It was popularized by Hal Lindsay in his book The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970. Even more recently this view has received much attention by the Left Behind series of books. This view believes that the rapture takes place at Revelation 4:1, and that the church is taken out of the world before the tribulation begins in chapter 6. If I were a betting man I would be that this is the view of the book of Revelation that you have heard and been taught. However, you may not know that this view has only been around since about 1830, less than 200 years. The other three views have been around for many centuries.
Of the four views that I’m going to share with you, I would judge the Historist View as least likely to be correct, followed by the Futurist View. Why would I say that? It is for the simple reason that the Book of Revelation was written as a letter to seven churches that existed in John’s day that were suffering persecution and needed encouragement to persevere to the end. Whatever is the true understanding of Revelation, it must be applicable and relevant to the church in the first century. However, it is difficult to see what value the Dispensational Futurist view would have for the church in any century. It is not applicable to any church, because the great majority of its contents are not fulfilled until the last seven years of earth’s history, and when they are fulfilled, the church is already raptured. It is difficult to judge what purpose it serves for God’s people.
Revelation 1:1, 3 “the things which must soon take place… the time is near.”
Revelation 22:6 “the God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.”
Revelation 22:10 “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.”
Daniel 12:4 “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time”
The prophecy of Daniel was sealed up because it would not be fulfilled nor understood for several centuries, until the coming of Christ. However, John is told not to seal up the words of the prophecy of Revelation because the time is near. That must mean that the things written in Revelation must have a fulfilment soon after John wrote them. 2,000 years does not qualify as “near” or “soon.” Therefore, the Futurist View is not likely the correct one.
Preterists: this school of thought is the opposite of the Futurist view. Instead of seeing Revelation fulfilled at the very end of the church age, the Preterist sees it as being fulfilled at the beginning of the church age. The Preterist believes that Revelation is about the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Some Preterists believe it is also about the Fall of Rome in the 5th century.
This view has the strength of taking the statements about the prophecy coming to pass soon, and the time is near, seriously. Of the four views, the Preterist feels most at home with this language.
The Futurist must say that “the things which must soon take place” and “the time is near”, must mean they are soon and near from God’s perspective. For after all, to the Lord a thousand years is as a day. However, we must remember that John did not write this for God to read. He read it for the church to read. And they would not have thought that “soon” and “near” could stretch 2,000 years.
The weakness of this view, if we could call it a weakness, is that it is only practically relevant to the church of the first century, which would see the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
However, there is much to commend in this view, and I will be taking the Preterist View on occasion as we work our way through the book.
Remember, an important principle of interpretation is that we must understand what the original writing meant to its original readers, before we can understand how it applies to us today. The Revelation can never mean to us what it never meant to its original readers/hearers.
Idealists: this school of thought does not believe that Revelation chapters 6-18 are pointing to any particular people or events in history. Instead, they believe these chapters are teaching recurring principles and themes which recur again and again in all periods of the church. Some of those recurring themes are Christ’s triumph over Satan, the vindication of the martyrs, the judgment of God throughout history, and the sovereignty of God.
The strength of this view is that it avoids having to identify specific passages in Revelation with particular fulfillments. Instead, every passage is relevant and for the church in any era of history. The Preterist sees Revelation as particularly relevant to first century Christians. The Futurist sees Revelation as particularly relevant to Christians in the last generation of history. But the Idealist sees Revelation as relevant for all Christians from the first century to the last century.
The weakness of the Idealist position is that Revelation 1:1 speaks of “things which must soon take place.” This gives us the impression that some particular event or historical situation is intended, and not just general divine principles.
My Position. I will tip my hand here and let you know where I stand right up front. I’m not a Historist and I’m not a Futurist. I find myself primarily holding to the Idealist view, with some Preterist elements. In other words, although I think John is writing mainly of principles that hold true for all Christians of all ages, I also think that there are some symbols in Revelation which speak of particular people or events of the first century. These symbols are examples of a principle which is true in every age.
3. How Was The Revelation Communicated To John?
The are 4 steps in the transmission of the message. God – Jesus – angel – John.
Revelation of Jesus Christ. Is this speaking of Jesus as the Revealer or the One Revealed? The grammar could be understood in either way. Is this the Revelation that Jesus Christ communicated? Or is this the Revelation that is about Jesus Christ? It probably has the meaning of Jesus Christ as the Revealer, because 1:1 goes on to say “and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John.”
Of course it is also true that Jesus Christ is the subject of much of this book! He is described as the Majestic One walking among the lampstands, dictating letters to his churches, taking the scroll out of the right hand of God and slitting its seven seals, etc.
The Revelation begins with God the Father. He gives it to Jesus Christ. Christ communicates the Revelation by His angel to John.
But how did the angel communicate the message to John?
1:1 “to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place”.
1:2 “who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”
1:19 “Therefore write the things which you have seen…”
Show, saw, seen – all of this tells us that John received this prophecy in visual and audible form. I think it was like seeing a movie, rather than listening to a podcast. John saw the visions and recorded them.
4. Who Is Promised A Special Blessing?
He who reads and those who hear. Notice that it is “he”, not “they.” John switches to the plural next when he says “those” who hear. First century Christians did not have the luxury of owning their own Bible. Many were illiterate. Even if they could read, they probably could not afford a copy of the Scriptures, because they had to be hand copied and were very expensive. Therefore, they depended on the Word of God that was read when the church gathered. At a church meeting, a person would read this Revelation, probably from beginning to end in one sitting, to the church. One person would read, the rest would hear.
Those who heed the things which are written in it. This tells us that the book of Revelation is not titillating information to satisfy our spiritual sweet tooth. This was not just mind candy. God intended the hearers of this letter to heed it! In other words, it is to be obeyed.
First century Christians were facing intense persecution and suffering. Some had died for their faith, rather than renounce Christ. They need to persevere to the end in order to be saved. This book was given, among other things, to exhort them to perseverance. They must be faithful unto death in order to receive the crown of life. Those that overcame Satan, the great red dragon, wee those that did not love their life even when faced with death.
Did you know that the purpose of prophecy is not just to give you new information? The purpose of prophecy is to make you holy. Consider these New Testament texts:
1 John 3:2 “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
1 Peter 3:10-11 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”
God has revealed to us what is to come in order to motivate us to godliness and holy living, not to fill our heads with end time charts.
Conclusion
I have an assignment for you this week. Read through the Book of Revelation from beginning to end. Don’t worry about stopping to try to figure everything out as you go. Just let the visions wash over you. Then jot down your overall impressions of the book. What has God communicated to you?
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