A Study of The Book of Revelation
Lesson No. 2: A Survey of the
Book
Date: March 12th and 26th, 2003,
Wednesday Evening Adult Bible Class
Speaker: John Phillis
Note: Much
of the information for this Study of Revelation was taken from the
book “Revelation Through First Century Glasses” by W. B. West. Other sources: “The Living Word, Study
of Revelation, Parts I & II” by Dr. Frank
Pack; “Revelation” by Jim McGuiggan; “Commentary
on Revelation” by Homer Hailey; “Commentary on
Revelation” by Burton Coffman; “The Book of Revelation
– Spiritual Sword Lectureship, October 18 – 22,
1998”; “Commentary on Revelation” by Howard
Winters; “Revelation for Christians Today” by Lonnie
Woodruff; “Unlocking Revelation” by J. Stafford
North.
If there were
to be a theme in the book of Revelation, that grand, glorious,
eloquent theme would be
“Victory!”
“Overcoming” is a key word in that
victory. There is also a key passage, and we’ll be
seeing a number of key passages as we go through.
Revelation 2, verse 10 says, “Be
faithful until death,” [“Do not fear any of those things which you
are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some
of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have
tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will
give you the crown of life.”] The Lord promised “the crown
of life” to those who do remain
faithful, to those who do remain loyal until
death, to those who have been obedient, who have become a Christian
and have been baptized into Christ, those who would be considered
faithful children of God and who will be rewarded. Initial
obedience is absolutely essential. Continued
obedience—remaining faithful until death—is absolutely
essential. The salient point of the book is
“overcome,” and you can—you
will—we all will live eternally with
God.
As we have
pointed out, the very first verse of this book gives us an insight
as to the nature of the book. It is something that is going
to be written in signs and symbols. “Apocalyptic”
is the type of language that is used. The book of Revelation is
unique, in that it is a compilation of the things that John saw,
and that he wrote. John is instructed to write what he saw in
chapter 1, verse 2 [“…John, who bore witness to the
Word of God, and to the Testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things
that he saw.”],and chapter 1, verse 19
[“Write the things
which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which
will take place after this.”]. Thus,
we are reading here in Revelation what John saw on
that occasion,and what he
wrote down over 1,900 years ago.
If you are
familiar with Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones,
where God taught the prophet through a vision that was recorded,
that is similar to what God is doing with John here.
He’s teaching John through the visual things that he
sees. [Ezekiel 37:1-2: “The hand
of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the
LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of
bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold,
there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very
dry.”]
This is not a
“documentary”—this is not something, for example,
as we would have in the Gospels where the life of Christ unfolds
before us as He lived it and as it was recorded; rather, this is an
eye-witness point of view of what was revealed or what was
shown. It is not testimony; it is eyewitness
facts. When we read
Revelation, we are seeing what John saw almost
2,000 years ago. This is a book that is different from the
other books of the New Testament, in that it is not chronological
in its nature. It doesn’t really have a story line, so
to speak, that you can follow all the way through. Now
certainly there is a theme—certainly there is a
thesis—and we’ve already talked about those. But
what we are seeing are these visions that John saw as he is
recording them. Again referring to the Old Testament, it is
not unlike certain parts of Ezekiel and
Daniel, and even Zechariah,
filled with imagery and emphasis on the principle that Truth will
triumph.
We will spend
some time on some of the historical information about the Roman
government at that time, and their persecution of Christians.
I think it will help us to put some of this into perspective when
we read of some of the imagery that we’ll see as we go
through the book. We will, perhaps, have a better
appreciation for what those early Christians would have understood
as they read through it as well.
I thought it
was interesting that there is a “backdrop”for the book
of Revelation. We talked a little bit in the
Introduction lesson about the nature of the book, that it is
written in apocalyptic type language—to
“reveal,” to “draw back the
curtain,” so to speak. But it is also written in
symbols.
The matter
which is addressed has to do with the persecution of the
church. At the time that John writes this, the church has
been under severe persecution by the Roman Empire. I
hadn’t really thought about it in this particular way, but
one of the books I’m using as a reference points this
out. The point here is that there is really a backdrop to
what is going on here in Revelation. This
should not be a surprise that these things are going on.
For example,
in Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12, as part of the
Sermon on the Mount, what does Jesus say here? He
says, “Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile
and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is
your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.” Jesus here introduces this idea of
“persecution” very early in His ministry. Now we
are some years removed from the time that He was on the earth, from
the time of His Own persecution—His suffering and death on
the cross—but, indeed, the fact that the church, that His
followers—His disciples—are being persecuted should not
have been (no pun intended) a “revelation.”
Look with me at
Romans, chapter 8. Jesus will say numerous
things about persecution, not only of Himself, but as well as of
those who will follow Him. Let’s look and see what Paul
says on this matter. In Romans, chapter 8, verse
18, he says, “For I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us.”
“Sufferings”—what’s Paul talking
about? Well, he’s talking about his own sufferings,
certainly, and we know that Paul suffered mightily. But even
at the time that he writes this letter to the church of Christ in
Rome, there are the beginnings of suffering and persecution against
those who would be disciples of Christ—those who would follow
Christ.
And then in
2 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 11 through 13, Paul
says, “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with
Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also
reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny
Himself.” Now there are two key points here.
He talks about “if we died with Him.”
Here’s another reference to baptism. But, look,
“if we endure,”—endure what? Well,
the implication is suffering—persecution—which has
already begun, and will increase in its intensity.
“We shall reign with Him.” Hey, there is
the Message—there is the crux of
Revelation! You are going to
“endure” some things—some things are
already going on. You’re suffering mightily under the
persecution of the Roman government, but, if you
“endure,” you will “reign with
Him.” That’s what Paul said here to
Timothy, but that is the Message, is it not, of the book
of Revelation?
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