First, A Word About Hell
In today’s society, we are influenced by a popularization of the term hell, which may lead us to a wrongheaded conclusion. In the early part of this century, we had what was known as hell fire and brimstone preachers. Today, we still have presentations of Satan and hell with flames of fire, which are informed by a literal reading of Scripture.

In the New Testament, Gehenna is the word used which is translated hell. The word is derived from a Hebrew word which is roughly translated: the valley of Hinnon’s son. Hinnom was a valley south of Jerusalem where sacrifices were offered to Moloch in the days of King Ahaz and Manasseh. In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Gehenna was seen as a place of eternal torment in unquenchable fire (Mk 9.43). It is pictured as a fiery abyss (Mk 9.43). Matthew calls it a furnace of fire (Matt 25.41). On the other hand, the place of final punishment is pictured as outer darkness (Matt 8.12; 22.13; 25.30). There is both fire/light and darkness.

These passages in the New Testament suggest that fire and darkness are metaphors used to represent the indescribable. Some of the language of Jesus is more frightening. “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers” (Matt 7.23); “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (Matt 25.12).

The point of hell in the New Testament is exclusion from the presence of God and the enjoyment of his blessings.

In comparison, John paints a picture of the final place of rest for the redeemed in Vision Four of the Revelation.

The Fourth Vision: The Heavenly Jerusalem 21.9-22.5
This vision gives an expanded look at the conclusion of the last vision. John takes his readers on a guided tour of the New Jerusalem. Several things should be noted:

• The walls of an ancient city were used for protection. Some here suggest that the measurement of the walls meant the height. This would be strange in that a 216 foot high wall would hardly protect a city whose height was about 1500 miles. Obviously the walls are symbolic as are the dimensions of the city. Their presence suggests that God’s people are perfectly secure in his presence.
• The city is built like a cube. This symbol suggests that this new paradise which God has created is perfect in every sense.
• He sees a new heaven and a new earth, streets of gold, and gates of pearls. He paints an unpaintable picture of heavenly splendor using human descriptive words. He is trying to describe in human language something which is indescribable.
• There is no Temple in the New Jerusalem. God is its sanctuary.
• There is no night. This new city does not need the sun and the moon, because God’s glory is its illumination.
• There is a crystal clear river flowing from the heavenly throne. The eternal state of the faithful will live at the source of the life-giving stream, which proceeds from the very presence of God.
• The saints shall see the face of God and have received the character of God. We shall be like him for we will see him as he is (1 John 3.2).

The New Heaven And The New Earth
The final state of God’s Kingdom will be the new heaven and the new earth (21.20ff.). The coming of the new heaven and new earth is part of the theology of creation that is seen through Scripture. Prophets in the Old Testament describe the Kingdom as a redeemed earth as in Isaiah 11.6-9 and Amos 9.13-15, and a new heaven and new earth in Isaiah 65.17 and 66.22. The Old Testament picture is not a perfect one because Isaiah still speaks of sin and death in the new earth (Isa. 65.20). However, there is a fundamental theology that underlies the prophet’s expectations even though they must be clarified by progressive revelation. The theological trajectory of the prophets is set in place. Humanity’s ultimate destiny is an earthly one.

God created humans to live on earth and it is a new redeemed earth that redeemed humans will live on for all eternity. This smacks in the face of the popular idea that the goal of life for the redeemed is to get to heaven. Just as the redemption of people in their bodily aspect of their being demands the resurrection of the body, so the redemption of their very physical creation requires a renewed earth as the scene of their perfected existence (Ladd. A Theology of the New Testament, Revised. 682). When John writes of the new earth in Revelation 21, he speaks of the final place of those who are redeemed. The new earth then is the final scene of the final goal of redemption. The Kingdom of God will find its perfect fulfillment in the new earth of the Age to Come.

In the center of the new earth will be a new Jerusalem, a new holy city. The description of this city in Revelation is highly symbolic. The new Jerusalem is the focus for all the activity of the new earth. In Scripture, the idea of a new Jerusalem is referred to in other ways than with the phrase “new Jerusalem.” The book of Hebrews talks about a “heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12.22). It is referred to as the “Holy City” in Revelation 21.2. Revelations 2.7 speaks of a “paradise of God,” which may anticipate the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and 22.

The imagery of Revelation 21.9-22.5 and its meaning is reasonably well established in biblical and extrabiblical patterns. The use of the bride metaphor of 21.2 does not restrict the reference to the church of the New Testament, but should be viewed in its wider biblical usage as a reference to the people of God who are married to the Lord (Isa 61.10; Hos. 1-3; John 3.29; Eph 5.25-33).

How is the reality of the new Jerusalem on the new earth of Revelation 21–22 to be understood?

• Is it merely an allegorical description of the final state of the church with no real future new earth locality in view?
• Is it a literal city that may hover over the millennial earth and house the glorified church-age saints during that period and then be transferred for expanded purposes into the eternal state after the renovation of the earth?
• Is it a literal city distinctly designed as a center focus for all the redeemed in the eternal state?
• Is the vision of John, given in apocalyptic motifs, merely a statement in sophisticated symbolism that God will be victor in the climax of history?

These and other proposals appear in the literature that addresses this interpretive aspect of the new Jerusalem. Many commentaries prefer to focus on an explanation of the larger meaning of the symbolism without addressing this question. Apocalyptic genre neither demands nor excludes a literal future city. It does, however, expect the interpreter to concentrate on the message of the symbolic motifs rather than endeavor to draw a blueprint of the structure.

It may be clearly said that the new Jerusalem will be a place where God is truly and completely in charge. There the redeemed of both testaments will finally see God face to face.

So the Bible ends with a picture of a redeemed society who lives on a new earth that has been completely purged of all evil. God will be dwelling in the midst of his people. Here is the goal of all redemptive history. Praise to God alone!

Conclusion 22.6-21
The purpose of the conclusion of the book is to demonstrate and affirm the authority of the book. The book closes with the warning that the members of the seven churches should not willfully distort the message of this book. It ends with the premise of Jesus coming again and closes with John’s response for him to come.

Previously on Decoding the Apocalypse
We have finished our sessions on Decoding the Apocalypse. Here is an overview:

• In Vision One, we were presented with a vivid word picture of Jesus.
• Next, John followed in Vision Two with a picture of Jesus who was the one who could open the book which revealed the story of the end.
• Then, we saw the breaking of the first six seals, which suggested what would be happening during the course of the age.
• Next, when we thought that the seventh seal would be opened and the end of the age would be revealed, John stood back for a moment and presented a picture-within-a-picture, an Interlude, in which he demonstrated in symbolic language, a before and after picture of the people of God, which suggested that none of the them would be lost in a time of great tribulation.
• Then, we talked about how the seven trumpets were the contents of the seventh seal: How they functioned as a more expanded look at the end.
• Next, we observed John’s renewed calling as told in the story the Angel and the Little Book.
• Then, we took a look at the concept of the Measuring of the Temple, looking at three suggested positions, i.e., a literal rebuilding, that this metaphor might be a Believing Jewish Remnant, or it may be a reference to the church, and that the latter was the most likely.
• Next, we looked at the metaphor of the Two Witnesses and suggested that this was a reference to the church.

Following that, we looked at:

• The Dragon, the Woman, and Her Seed (12.1-17), which is the beginning of Interlude 3 and describes in metaphorical terms the spiritual conflict behind the scenes where there is a heavenly warfare between God and Satan.
• Next, the Two Beasts (13.1-18), which included the Beast From the Sea 13.1-10 and the Beast From the Earth (13.11-18), which is a description of the rise of the Antichrist or the deification of secular authority.
• Then, the Number 666 and indicated that the number likely means “less than perfect” and demonstrates that while God’s Messiah, Jesus is more than perfect, i.e., his number is 888, the Devil’s Messiah, the Antichrist is “less than perfect,” which was a genuine appeal for comfort for the seven churches.
• Next, we suggested the blowing of seven trumpets was yet again simply an expansion of the seventh seal.

Then, in the first part of the Vision Three, we saw:

• The Harlot and the Scarlet Beast (17.1-6), which for John, the harlot is first century Rome. The portrait, of which John paints a word picture, most likely came from Valeria Messalina, the wife of Claudius, whom the Roman world recognized to be the epitome of all that was rotten and corrupt in the empire.
• The Harlot’s Destruction (17.7-18), which we suggested that every great center of power, which has prostituted its wealth and influence, restores to life the spirit of ancient Babylon.
• Babylon Is Declared Desolate (18.1-8), which is a picture of absolute desolation where the proud achievements of man become only the demonic haunts of unclean spirits. In this section kings, merchants, and seamen lament at the loss of thir monetary accomplishments.
• Babylon Destroyed (18.21-24), which demonstrates the collapse from the inside of first century Rome and the final harlot of Babylon.

We ended by suggesting that caution should be taken about dogmatic positions regarding this passage of Revelation. The session ended with the short section of thanksgiving for the fall of Babylon.

Then, in the last part of Vision Three, we talked about the Final Triumph and Consummation (19.6-21.8):

• First, the Marriage of the Lamb (19.6-10), which the event is nowhere described in Revelation
• Then, the Coming of Christ (19.11-16), where we shared that “…if we spoke of Jesus’ royal presence within God’s new creation, rather than thinking of his “coming” as an invasion from outside, our talk about the future might make more sense. It would also be a lot more biblical.
• Next, the Battle of Christ and Antichrist (19.17-21), where we suggested that this battle portrays the eschatological defeat of the Antichrist and that there is no description of the actual warfare.
• Then, the Binding of Satan, the Resurrection, and the Millennial Kingdom (20.1-6). We suggested that there were three forms of Millennialism: Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Premillennialism
• Next, the Final Destruction of Satan & Death (20.7-15). Whenever this occurs, Satan will be released for a short period. He gathers those who have remained hardened toward the Rule of Christ. They are called Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog are symbolic of the nations of the world which band together for a final assault on God and his people.
• Finally, the New Creation (21.1-8), where we suggested that regular devout language about leaving “earth” and going to “heaven” needs to be challenged

We finished in this session with Vision Four by suggesting:

• A word about hell, which in the New Testament is exclusion from the presence of God and the enjoyment of his blessings.
• Then, we said that The Fourth Vision: The Heavenly Jerusalem (21.9-22.5) was an expanded look at the conclusion of the last vision.
• Next, we presented an overview of the New Heaven And The New Earth as a picture of a redeemed society who lives on a new earth that has been completely purged of all evil.
• Then, the purpose of the conclusion of the book is to demonstrate and affirm the authority of the book.
• The book closes with the warning that the members of the seven churches should not willfully distort the message of this book. It ends with the premise of Jesus coming again and closes with John’s response for him to come.

Looking Forward!
So there is your overview. We have come to the end of Decoding the Apocalypse. Hopefully we have offered you informative material that will help you decode this material for years to come. This material is what the Left Behind Series never told you and will most likely never tell you. Use it wisely. Don’t use it for the sake of argument. Remember, even those that are sold out to this Left Behind theology, as misguided as it is theologically, are still your sisters and brothers.

I trust that this study has been a blessing to you as you read/listened and used it to help clarify the text of Revelation. In a day when the church is somewhat confused about who she is, which leads to a complete confusion about what she does, my hope is that the study of Revelation has pointed us toward the fact that in the midst of all confusion and even depression about the state of the church, that we can rest, assured that God is still in control. He is worthy to be praised and worshipped. His wish for his church is that we would rely on him and his direction. Therein is the only real hope for the future.

Question for Discussion

• What are your overall impressions of Decoding the Apocalypse?

Doxology
Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand faultless in his glorious presence with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and for all eternity! Amen (Jude 25)! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen (Rev. 22.21).

• In Vision One, we were presented with a vivid word picture of Jesus.
• Next, John followed in Vision Two with a picture of Jesus who was the one who could open the book which revealed the story of the end.
• Then, we saw the breaking of the first six seals, which suggested what would be happening during the course of the age.
• Next, when we thought that the seventh seal would be opened and the end of the age would be revealed, John stood back for a moment and presented a picture-within-a-picture, an Interlude, in which he demonstrated in symbolic language, a before and after picture of the people of God, which suggested that none of the them would be lost in a time of great tribulation.
• Then, we talked about how the seven trumpets were the contents of the seventh seal: How they functioned as a more expanded look at the end.
• Next, we observed John’s renewed calling as told in the story the Angel and the Little Book.
• Then, we took a look at the concept of the Measuring of the Temple, looking at three suggested positions, i.e., a literal rebuilding, that this metaphor might be a Believing Jewish Remnant, or it may be a reference to the church, and that the latter was the most likely.
• Finally, we looked at the metaphor of the Two Witnesses and suggested that this was a reference to the church.

Following that, we looked at:

• The Dragon, the Woman, and Her Seed (12.1-17), which is the beginning of Interlude 3 and describes in metaphorical terms the spiritual conflict behind the scenes where there is a heavenly warfare between God and Satan.
• Next, the Two Beasts (13.1-18), which included the Beast From the Sea 13.1-10 and the Beast From the Earth (13.11-18), which is a description of the rise of antichrist as the deification of secular authority.
• Then, the Number 666 and indicated that the number likely means “less than perfect” and demonstrates that while God’s Messiah, Jesus is more than perfect, i.e., his number is 888, the Devil’s Messiah, antichrist is “less than perfect,” which was a genuine appeal for comfort for the seven churches.
• Next, we suggested the blowing of seven trumpets was yet again simply an expansion of the seventh seal.

Then, in the first part of the Vision Three, we saw:

• The Harlot and the Scarlet Beast (17.1-6), which for John, the harlot is first century Rome. The portrait, of which John paints a word picture, most likely came from Valeria Messalina, the wife of Claudius, whom the Roman world recognized to be the epitome of all that was rotten and corrupt in the empire.
• The Harlot’s Destruction (17.7-18), which we suggested that every great center of power, which has prostituted its wealth and influence, restores to life the spirit of ancient Babylon.
• Babylon Is Declared Desolate (18.1-8), which is a picture of absolute desolation where the proud achievements of man become only the demonic haunts of unclean spirits. In this section kings, merchants, and seamen lament at the loss of their monetary accomplishments.
• Babylon Destroyed (18.21-24), which demonstrates the collapse from the inside of first century Rome and the final harlot of Babylon.

We ended by suggesting that caution should be taken about dogmatic positions regarding this passage of Revelation. The session ended with the short section of thanksgiving for the fall of Babylon.

We continue now with the end of Vision Three.

The Final Triumph and Consummation 19.6-21.8
The Marriage of the Lamb 19.6-10
The establishment of the universal reign of Jesus had begun. The Kingdom of God has become a visible reality. The heavenly multitude sing praises to God as they announce the event of the marriage. This is not the event itself, which is nowhere described in Revelation.

In the ancient world, an engagement was a legal bond between a man and a woman. This is the picture of the Church on earth. She is engaged. She is the bride of Christ during this engagement period, just like Mary was the bride of Joseph during their engagement period. Ephesians 5 speaks about the bride of Christ being presented before him without stain or wrinkle (Eph. 5.27, remember, one of the seven churches was the church at Ephesus, so they would be well aware of this concept). This is the bride making herself ready for the bridegroom. Verse 8 says that she is dressed in fine linen, which stands for the righteous acts of the saints. The righteous acts of the saints in Revelation are her steadfastness to God and the holding of her faith in Jesus rather than turning in apostasy to worship antichrist. There is joy and gladness because the heavenly reward awaits those who were reviled and persecuted for the cause of Jesus. The reward is pictured as a great wedding feast where the bride and the Lamb celebrate their union. The union of Christ and his bride, the Church, is pictured in the announcement of the wedding feast.

The Coming of Christ 19.11-16
One of the great themes in the Revelation is the conflict between Christ and antichrist. A quick overview of the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus will be helpful in order to understand this present section. We will use Matthew 24 as an illustration. This passage gives us a clear view of the pattern of the end time.

• In verses 1-14 we are told the events of the course of this age: wars, famine, earthquakes, etc. The concluding verse in that section (v. 14) tells us that the word of the Gospel must be preached to all nations, then the end will come. This is the history and theology of the world from the ascension of Jesus to his second coming.
• In verses 15-28 we have the description of antichrist.
• Verse 29 describes the signs which we see in the breaking of the sixth seal in Revelation.
• The appearance of the Son of man and the collection of his followers are given by Matthew in verses 30-31.

Readers should note that there is no coming of Christ in Matthew’s account before the time of antichrist. Christ comes after any tribulation period to gather his own.

In 1 Thessalonians 4.13ff. we are told three things about the Second Coming. First, the return of the Lord will occur. Second, the dead in Christ will be resurrected. Third, the church will be called to meet Jesus at his appearing. The theology of the event is that the Church, the living saints will enter into their resurrected bodies without passing through death, while the dead saints will rise from their graves in a resurrected body. The language of being caught up to be with the Lord in the air is the language of passing from mortality to immortality.

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes to correct some misunderstanding which arose from the writing of 1 Thessalonians. He told the church that a rebellion must first come, then the man of lawlessness (antichrist).

There is a perceivable pattern which arises. It is: rebellion, the coming of antichrist, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, the Second Coming of Christ.

One might well note that there is no rapture of the Church mentioned anywhere in the book of Revelation. The point is that no one Scripture tells us everything we need to know about one biblical event. The main theme for John in his telling of the Second Coming in Revelation 19 is to emphasize the triumph of Christ over the forces of evil.

N. T. Wright, along with Marcus Borg, shares the following in their book Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions

The third signpost is the Jewish expectation of the return of YHWH to Zion, reapplied in some early Christian writings to Jesus himself. The Jews had longed for their God to return in judgment and mercy. The Christians believed he had already done so in Jesus, but as the first part of a two-stage process. They therefore reused the language and imagery of return to express their belief that Jesus himself would be personally present as the loving and redeeming center and agent of God’s new creation.

The New Testament often uses the Greek word parousia, frequently translated “coming,” to express this “presence” of Jesus within God’s future recreation of the cosmos. Of course, someone who is present after a time of absence must have “come,” “arrived,” or “appeared.” But the root meaning remains “presence”; the word was often used of the “royal presence” of kings and rulers. If we spoke of Jesus’ royal presence within God’s new creation, rather than thinking of his “coming” as an invasion from outside, our talk about the future might make more sense. It would also be a lot more biblical.

I think Tom Wright is right. It is the concept of “invasion from outside” that generates all the talk about a “coming” of Jesus for the saints and allows for the misconception of a rapture of the church out into the heavens where they escape from the apocalyptic end.

So Chapter 19.11 begins by telling the reader that without warning heaven opens. A white horse appears. Remember, white in Revelation has something to do with God. The rider of the horse, Christ, is pictured as a conqueror. He comes with a penetrating gaze and a robe dipped in blood. This may be symbolic of one who is engaged in battle. We might note that the army does not engage in battle, their robes are white and clean. Verse 15 is a symbolic picture of the word of God. The only weapon that the conquering Jesus needs is his word. He will speak and it will be done.

Evil in the world does not have the last word. Wickedness is not going to prevail. Corruption will not have the final say. Christ will overcome evil with his word. There is a wealth of theological insight in this thought. One might ask: Why is there any need for Jesus to come and fight? Scripture wants us to know that evil is Satanic and that it is greater than humankind. Only the conquering Jesus can and will rid the world of evil once and for all. A holy war will bring to a close the present evil age and the rule of Satan. The judgment of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous will occur.

The Battle of Christ and Antichrist 19.17-21
The battle has arrived. This event will bring to an end the antichrist and its/his forces and usher in the long-awaited era of righteousness. The Kingdom of God has come in finality. There is no description of the actual warfare. This again should remind us that Revelation is dominated by metaphors and symbols. While we must take the apocalyptic language seriously, we should not take it literally. This battle portrays the eschatological defeat of antichrist (an event which takes place in time and brings to a close this present evil age). The beast (antichrist) and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire (a place of final separation from God).

The Binding of Satan, Resurrection, and the Millennial Kingdom 20.1-6
The angel seizes the dragon, binds him and casts him into the abyss for one thousand years. The language of bottomless pit (KJV), the abyss, and the Devil being chained again, gives us a clue that we are dealing with symbolic language.

It is difficult to take the thousand years with strict literalness in view of how numbers are used symbolically in Revelation. It most likely stands for an ideal period of time. There is nothing in 20.1 which places this chapter in a time sequence. The angel who has the key and throws the dragon into the abyss suggests that the angel had authority over the abyss and that he could restrain Satan. All four titles which designate the evil one in Revelation are used: the dragon, the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan. We must understand that the idea of the binding of Satan is a symbolic way of describing the curbing of his power. It does not necessarily mean his complete immobilization.

Millennialism
There are three ways in which this passage of Scripture has been traditionally understood.

► Amillennialism
Amillennialism can in no way be understood as liberalism. Some believe that any position which spiritualizes the words of Revelation is liberal. This position states that Scripture does not predict a period of the rule of Christ on earth before the final judgment. This view holds to a development of good and evil in the world until the Second Coming of Christ. Amillennialism believes that the kingdom of God is now present in the world as the victorious Christ rules his church through the word and the Spirit. It works within a theological premise of recapitulation, which means to go over the same ground again. We have seen this occur in the book of Revelation with the seals, trumpets, and bowls. The binding of Satan is like that of Matthew (12.24ff.). The resurrection in chapter 20 is a spiritual resurrection (John 5.25). This system of belief began with St. Augustine in the fourth century AD.

► Postmillennialism
This view emphasizes the present aspect of God’s Kingdom which will reach fruition in the future. They believe that the millennium will come through Christian preaching and teaching. Such activity will result in a more godly, peaceful, and prosperous world. This period is not necessarily limited to a thousand years. During this age the church will assume greater importance and many economic, social, and educational problems can be solved. The prevailing theology of 150 plus years ago is seen in the commentary of Matthew Henry.

► Premillennialism
This view was the prevailing eschatology during the first three centuries of the Christian Era. It is found in the works of Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. Premillennialists believe that the Kingdom of Christ will be inaugurated in a cataclysm. They believe that the return of Christ will be preceded by signs including wars, famines, earthquakes, the preaching of the gospel to all nations, a great apostasy, the appearance of antichrist, and a great tribulation. These events will culminate in the Second Coming, which will result in a period of peace and righteousness when Christ and his saints control the world.

There are two forms of Premillennialism: dispensational and historic.

► Historic Premillennialism
The natural interpretation of Revelation 20.1-6 is that the Devil is bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years. The purpose of his binding is stated in verse 3: so he can no longer deceive the nations. At the beginning of the thousand years there is a physical resurrection. Verse 5 says that the rest of the dead do not come to life again until after the thousand years. There are two resurrections at the beginning of the thousand years, the redeemed and the resurrection after the resurrection, the rest of the dead, i.e., those who are not redeemed.

► Dispensational Premillennialism
Dispensational theologians believe that the millennium is a Jewish one. The Jews will return to Israel and become a nation. They will rebuild their Temple and reinstitute the sacrificial system. They believe that the promises given in the Old Testament must be literally fulfilled in a nationalist Jewish people.

The Final Destruction of Satan & Death 20.7-15
In verse 7, John says that whenever the thousand years is concluded, Satan is released. The word when (NIV) should be translated whenever, which makes the close of the millennium uncertain and supports a symbolic understanding for the thousand years. Whenever this occurs, Satan will be released for a short period. He gathers those who have remained hardened toward the Rule of Christ. They are called Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog are symbolic of the nations of the world which band together for a final assault on God and his people. There is no specific geographical designation which is intended. They are simply hostiles from across the face of the earth. Then a judgment will occur with the final outcome of death and the grave, being cast into the lake of fire (a place of final separation from God). Along with death and the grave, all those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire.

The New Creation 21.1-8
There is a lot of popular theology about heaven that is not very biblical. If you talk to believers about heaven, for the most part, they know that when they die their spirits go to heaven. Going to heaven when one dies is often seen as the goal of becoming a follower of Jesus. There is this incidious thought that we are redeemed, then siloed in church, then raptured, then resurrected, then we finally go to heaven. Of course, there is some who believe that when we die we go directly to heaven.

Wright says:

Regular devout language about leaving “earth” and going to “heaven” needs to be challenged by Revelation’s picture (chapter 21) of new heavens and new earth, and by Paul’s great image, in Romans 8, of the whole creation groaning in birth pangs, longing for liberation, sharing the freedom and glory of the children of God in the world that is yet to be.

We have been influenced by the Greek world which believes in two realms: the physical realm to which the human body belongs and the invisible realm to which the soul belongs. Greek philosophy held that the wise man was one who cultivated the soul and suppressed the bodily appetites, so that at death the soul would take its flight from the body to be with a god.

Preachers are good at telling us that just on the other side of the threshold of death, just a moment after we have breathed our last breath, that we will receive our heavenly reward. It is often the case that, for homiletical considerations, exegetical accuracy is suppressed. In other words, in order to get effect, preachers are not always accurate to what the Bible teaches.

The destiny of believers is the new earth. This is seen all through the Bible. When God created the earth, he called it good. He has never changed his mind. It is still good. One of the tragedies of the Victorian ethic is that our bodies are evil. It is not true. God gave us our bodies to enjoy the world he created. This is why you will have a resurrected body. Sure, the body may be decaying under the pressure of sin, but it is still the creation of God.

Again from Wright:

Many assume that resurrection simply means “life after death.” Put this together with the prevailing dualism of much Western (and sometimes would-be Christian) culture, and “the resurrection of the body” comes to mean the opposite of what it says. One caller on an Easter phone-in program insisted that he would be going to heaven when he died and wouldn’t be taking his body with him, so he couldn’t see why Jesus hadn’t done the same. If the goodness of God’s present creation, though, is to be reaffirmed at the last, this applies to humans, too. Most Jews of Jesus’ day believed strongly in bodily resurrection…. This was thoroughly in line with their belief, shared by early Christianity, that the redeemer God was also the creator.

It is not resuscitation that will occur but resurrection:

…Resurrection demands, and the New Testament envisages, a great act of new creation, not the reassembling of identical sets of atoms. As Paul insists in 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5, the future embodiedness of God’s people will involve a new mode of physicality, over and above the present one.

Regular talk of “going to heaven” and the reference to “heaven and hell” as final destinies can therefore be misleading, encouraging visions of a disembodied future existence. Paradise (as in Jesus’ words to the dying brigand) was not, for the Jews, a final destiny but a temporary rest before the final glorious new world. When the Wisdom of Solomon says that “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,” it goes on quickly to speak of their future glorious embodied life. The classic Christian hope and prayer for the faithful departed is that they may rest in peace and rise with Christ in glory.

Resurrection life then is life, after life after death!

John saw the new Jerusalem coming down to man. This is the essence of Biblical theology. Salvation is not a soul taking flight to another world, but rather the other world in Jesus coming into this present evil age to bring an end to evil and to redeem humankind.

At the conclusion of this vision, John has a magnificent sight of the final state of things. The renovation of an old order with a new order is common stock of apocalyptic traditions.

John tells his readers that there will be no more sea (21.1). The sea was not a friendly place to the ancient man. It came to be understood as a symbol of evil, for all the hostile elements of the planet. At the close of the age, all evil will be brought under the control of God, crushed and put away from his people forever.

In our next and final session, we turn to the new creation which is expanded in Revelation 21.9-22.5.

Questions for Discussion

• How does the idea of “presence” as an understanding of “coming” cause you to rethink the idea of Jesus coming as an invasion from the outside?
• Scripture doesn’t know of life without a body. In the end, resurrection life is life, after life after death! How does that concept that you don’t go to heaven when you die in some disembodied spiritual life cause to you pause and think about the body you have as something important?

• In Vision One, we were presented with a vivid word picture of Jesus.
• Next, John followed in Vision Two with a picture of Jesus who was the one who could open the book which revealed the story of the end.
• Then, we saw the breaking of the first six seals, which suggested what would be happening during the course of the age.
• Next, when we thought that the seventh seal would be opened and the end of the age would be revealed, John stood back for a moment and presented a picture-within-a-picture, an Interlude, in which he demonstrated in symbolic language, a before and after picture of the people of God, which suggested that none of the them would be lost in a time of great tribulation.
• Then, we talked about how the seven trumpets were the contents of the seventh seal: How they functioned as a more expanded look at the end.
• Next, we observed John’s renewed calling as told in the story the Angel and the Little Book.
• Then, we took a look at the concept of the Measuring of the Temple, looking at three suggested theological positions, i.e., a literal rebuilding, that this metaphor might be a Believing Jewish Remnant, or it may be a reference to the church. We hinted that the latter was the most likely.
• Finally, we looked at the metaphor of the Two Witnesses and suggested that this was also a reference to the church.

Following that we looked at:

• The Dragon, the Woman, and Her Seed (12.1-17), which is the beginning of Interlude 3 and describes in metaphorical terms the spiritual conflict behind the scenes where there is a heavenly warfare between God and Satan.
• Next, the Two Beasts (13.1-18), which included the Beast From the Sea (13.1-10) and the Beast From the Earth (13.11-18), which is a description of the rise of antichrist which may be the deification of secular authority.
• Then, the we looked at the number 666 and indicated that the number likely means “less than perfect” and demonstrates that while God’s Messiah, Jesus, is more than perfect, i.e., his number is 888, the Devil’s Messiah, antichrist, is “less than perfect,” which was a genuine appeal for comfort for the seven churches.
• Finally, we suggested the blowing of seven trumpets was yet again simply an expansion of the seventh seal.

Now, we turn our attention to the Third Vision.

The Third Vision 17.1-21.8
When we interpret Revelation, we tend to make its facts true for only this generation of believers, which is really not true. This has been the case in the numerous attempts to try to identify the Whore of Babylonia of Revelation 17-18. Here are some of the attempts:

• Babylon is to be rebuilt on the Euphrates
• A great world-city of the last days, either one to be built as the seat of the anti-Christian government, or in an ideal sense; any and all great cities that have directed persecution against the people of God
• The Pope of the Catholic Church
• The apostate church of the future in general: Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and unfaithful Protestantism
• First Century Rome
• The European Common Market
• The Capitalist System

Our attempt in this present study is to demonstrate that it had a meaning for the first hearer and that down through the ages of Church History there have been things which resembled the description of the Babylonian Harlot. Even today, the capitalistic system shows some tendencies of the Whore of Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17-18.

The Harlot and the Scarlet Beast 17.1-6
Verse 1. In Old Testament prophecy, the imagery of a harlot is commonly used to denote religious apostasy. Isaiah laments over the once faithful Jerusalem who has become a harlot (Isa. 1.21). Israel was noted by Jeremiah as a wild ass in heat (Jer. 2.24), and a prostitute (Jer. 13.27). The harlot in Revelation is a pagan city and passages like Nahum 3.4 or Isaiah 23.16-17 may supply the immediate background. In the context of Revelation 17-18, the imagery is of the prostitution of all that is right and noble for the questionable ends of power and luxury. For John, the harlot is first century Rome. The portrait, of which John paints a word picture, most likely came from Valeria Messalina, the wife of Claudius, whom the Roman world recognized to be the epitome of all that was rotten and corrupt in the empire. She was notorious for her promiscuity and harlotry.

Adorned in luxury and intoxicated with the blood of the saints, this great harlot stands for a dominant world system based on seduction for personal gain over against the righteous demands of godliness. Her image is a timely truth and portrays the essential conflicts of humankind from the beginning of time until the end of time. At the close of the first century, the great harlot stood as the final and intensified expression of worldly power. As a reminder that God is still sovereignly occupying his throne over his universe, the text later tells us that the harlot will be stripped naked and destroyed (17.16).

Verse 5. The harlot of Babylon is a system of godlessness which leads men and women away from the worship of God to their own destruction. Specifically, she is first century Rome, who, like Babylon of old, had gained a worldwide reputation for luxury, corruption, and power. Tacitus (ca. AD 55-120), one of the great historians of ancient Rome, describes Rome as the place “where all the horrible and shameful things in the world congregate and find a home.” Juvenal’s account of the vile and debased Messalina, mentioned before, who served incognito in the public brothels, is an indication of the depths of immorality in first century Rome. To put it in perspective in American terms, think of the President’s wife slipping out of the White House every evening and going to the Red Light district of Washington D.C. and being a prostitute for the evening (substitute your country’s leader for the President). Seneca called Rome a filthy sewer and other writers of the period suggested that Rome was the mother of harlots.

The Harlot’s Destruction 17.7-18
Verse 9. In verse 8 the beast was portrayed as an evil power who had appeared throughout history and was about to put in one final appearance which would lead to his destruction. John tells the reader that this image calls for a mind with wisdom. In other words, this is a warning that one must interpret with care. John is saying that although the interpretation of the seven heads is not obvious, it may be understood by those who ponder the riddle with care and wisdom. There is little doubt that a first-century reader would understand this reference in any other way than as a reference to Rome, the city built on seven hills. In John’s day, Rome epitomized all the antagonism and opposition to the Christian faith that could be imagined.

Verse 10. Perhaps the most satisfactory explanation of the seven kings is that the number seven is primarily symbolic and stands for the power of the Roman Empire as a historic whole. For John and the Apocalyptic writers of the day, seven was the number of completeness. It appears that the single purpose of John at this point, supported by other Apocalyptic writings, is to declare the imminent end of the age according to God’s timetable.

Verse 12. The ten kings can be identified as purely eschatological figures representing the totality of the powers of all nations on the earth which are to be made subservient to antichrist. The number ten is symbolic and also indicates completeness. The timeframe “for one hour” is a very short period of time. The Lens Crafters U.S and Canada eyeglass stores have a slogan, “In about an hour.” It does not mean to convey “one hour.” It means to convey that you get your eyeglasses in a very short period of time as compared to a traditional eyeglass store. This is the kind of metaphor that is common to us, but is often taken in a strick liternalness when it is found in Scripture. I wonder why that is?

Verse 18. The woman is the great city which rules over the kings of the earth. For John, this is the city of Rome. She is the wicked seducer whose pernicious influence has permeated the whole of the Mediterranean world. Yet, Babylon the Great, the source of universal harlotry and abomination, is more than first-century Rome. Every great center of power, which has prostituted its wealth and influence, restores to life the spirit of ancient Babylon. John’s words extend beyond his immediate setting in history and sketch the portrait of an eschatological Babylon, which will provide a social, religious, and political base for the last attempt of antichrist to establish its kingdom over against the Kingdom of God.

Babylon Is Declared Desolate 18.1-8
Verse 2. This is a picture of absolute desolation where the proud achievements of man become only the demonic haunts of unclean spirits.

Verse 4. The people of God are called upon to come out of the doomed city. It is a call to each generation of believers to spiritually withdraw from corruption. The persecuted church has always faced the temptation to compromise with worldliness and thus ease the tension of living in a hostile environment. John gives two reasons for separation from the city:

• So that one does not indulge in her sins.
• So that one does not receive her judgment.

Verse 8. The phrase in one day does not designate a span of time, but is a symbolic term for suddenness.

The Laments of Kings, Merchants, and Seamen 18.9-20
This whole section is modeled after Ezekiel’s lamentation over Tyre (Ezekiel 27). Fifteen of the twenty-nine commodities listed in Revelation 18.12-13 are found in Ezekiel 27.12-22. One can even discover the same three groups of mourners.

Kings — 18.9-10. The first lament is from the kings of the earth. These are the governing heads of all nations who have entered into questionable trade with the commercial center of the ancient world. They represent the bankruptcy of an arrogant existence which believed that it was secure because it was living in a long-standing political order. Remember, Rome had been around for several centuries.

Merchants — 18.11-16. Now the lament is taken up by the merchants. They weep and mourn, not out of sympathy for a proud city now brought low, but because with its collapse they have been deprived of their major source of financial gain. No longer is there anyone to buy their merchandise. The excessive luxury of Rome and its passion for the extravagant is well-known.

Here are some illustrations of the extravagance:

• At one of Nero’s banquets, the Egyptian roses which adorned the setting cost nearly $100,000.
• Vitellius, one of the short-lived leaders of Rome between Nero and Vespasian, had a love for delicacies like peacock’s brains and nightingale’s tongues. In less than one year, he spent $20,000,000, mostly on food.
• One Roman, after squandering his immense fortune, committed suicide because he could not live on the pittance which remained—about $300,000.

Seamen — 18.17-19. This group could be either those who made their living on the sea or those who gained their living by the sea, which would refer to all those who would earn their living in connection with the maritime industry.

Each group sees the fall of Rome in terms of their own interest.

Babylon Destroyed 18.21-24
In verses 9-19, one can see how Rome’s political and commercial allies would be affected by her fall. In these verses, John shows her collapse from the inside. The arts, crafts, commerce, and customs of the great city will all be permanently silenced. Six times in verses 21-23, the phrase never, ever…again is stated. The makeup of the Greek expresses an emphatic denial for the future. Never means never!

The stone which is plunged into the sea by the angel is an action symbolizing the disappearance of Rome. It stresses how suddenly and spectacularly the judgment of God will be executed, not only upon an ancient city, but ultimately upon the entire anti-Christian world as it opposes God.

Silence reigns on the fallen city. Where the streets were once filled with sounds of music and voices, silence has taken over. Not only had the music ceased, but the sounds of craftsmen plying their trade. The entire economy has abruptly stopped. The absence of all light adds to the desolation of the fallen city. Rome was a busy city, accustomed to lights which burned by night as craftsmen worked long hours to fill their orders. Now only blackness blanketed the city.

The blood of Christian martyrs ran red in the streets of Rome. The massacre under Nero in AD 64 was certainly a realistic background for the stark reminder of Rome’s brutality.

Summary
All of this is to say that Rome of the first century was certainly in the minds of the first hearers when they read Revelation.

This does not negate the reality that down through history, the Church has been faced with many harlots like Babylon. One of them will be the final fulfillment of Revelation.

Remember, caution should be taken about dogmatic positions regarding this passage of Revelation.

The Thanksgiving for the Judgment of Babylon 19.1-5
Chapter 17 has pictured the apostate civilization which supports antichrist. Chapter 18 pictures the fall of that civilization. In the first five verses of chapter 19, the judgment of Babylon is seen as a cause for giving thanks.

Questions for Discussion

• “Every great center of power, which has prostituted its wealth and influence, restores to life the spirit of ancient Babylon.” How does your country fair under this statement?
• What are some of the extravagances of your national or local government?
• What are some of the extravagances of your church?
• What are some of the extravagances of your family and/or personal life?

• Remember, in Vision One, we were presented with a vivid word picture of Jesus and his message to the seven churches.
• Next, John followed in Vision Two with a picture of Jesus who had the authority to open the book which revealed the story of the end.
• Then, we saw the breaking of the first six seals which suggested what would be happening during the course of the age.
• Next, when we thought that the seventh seal would be opened and the end of the age would be revealed, John stood back for a moment and presented a picture-within-a-picture, an Interlude, in which he demonstrated in symbolic language, a before and after picture of the people of God which suggested that none of the them would be lost in a time of great tribulation.
• Then, we talked about how the seven trumpets were the contents of the seventh seal. How they functioned as a more expanded look at the end.
• Next, we observed John’s renewed calling as told in the story the Angel and the Little Book.
• Then, we took a look at the concept of the Measuring of the Temple, looking at three suggested positions, i.e., a literal rebuilding, as a metaphor for a Believing Jewish Remnant, or as a metahpor of the church We suggested that latter would most likely be understood by the seven churches.
• Finally, we looked at the metaphor of the Two Witnesses and suggested that this was also a reference to the church.

We continue now with our discussion of the end of Vision Two in the Apocalypse (4.1–16.21): with Interlude 3 (12.1-14.20) and the Seven Bowls (15.1—16.21). We stopped short of John’s third Interlude to which we now turn.

Interlude 3: 12.1-14.20
The Dragon, the Woman, and Her Seed 12.1-17
This interlude describes in metaphorical terms the spiritual conflict behind the scenes where there is a heavenly warfare between God and Satan. The dragon is a symbolic picture of the power of the Devil who continues to reign during the course of history. There is a cosmic war going on (12.17), a war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. The good news is that in this war Satan has been defeated.

We know this from the story of Jesus which every first century Christian would have know. The story says that Jesus told the seventy disciples that in their mission he saw Satan fall (Luke 10.18). There is the story recorded for us in Matthew (12.24ff.), about the strong man being bound. The strong man is the Devil. The strong man’s house is the world. Jesus invaded the kingdom of Satan and began the process of taking back what the enemy has possessed. In these acts, the Devil is destroyed. Oscar Cullmann said in his book Christ and Time: The Primitive Christian Conception of Time and History that the Devil is bound with a long rope. The author of Hebrews (2.14) was aware of this story and tells this readers that the Devil had been destroyed, put out of action.

One might ask: “How is this so?” Satan no longer has complete control in this present evil age because the age to come has invaded this age in the ministry of Jesus. In Kingdom of God terms: he is defeated, but not yet! This interlude assures the people of God that the Devil will try to frustrate the people of God on earth, but that the Lamb has conquered. The enemy may be able to get at you, but Jesus has the last word. This brings us to chapter thirteen.

The Two Beasts 13.1-18
The Beast From the Sea 13.1-10
The ancient world commonly associated the sea with evil. For the last great enemy of God’s people to arise from its chaos would be entirely appropriate, a possible echo of Genesis 1.

In order to understand the concept of the Antichrist, we must take a quick overview of Scripture. We must remember that one of the basic characteristics of Biblical prophecy is that it is not exclusively interested in the distant future. It often interprets the distinct future in light of a present situation.

In the book of Daniel (7.1ff.), we see the features of the beast in Revelation 13. The image in Daniel is the composite of all the world’s national powers. The prophetical word of Daniel about the little horn has a double reference. The first reference was the persecution of the Jewish people under Antiochus Epiphanes, who tried to obliterate the distinctiveness of the Jewish nation. But, the little horn is also an anticipation of an antichrist at the close of the age.

The Olivet Discourse also has a double reference. The desolating sacrilege of the Temple was a prophetic word about the historical invasion of Rome, which prefigured the coming of antichrist. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2.1ff., spoke about the man of lawlessness. This was certainly a reference to the Roman Empire of his day, but again was a prefigurement of antichrist at the close of the age.

There is little doubt that the beast for John was the imperial power of Rome and its leader who had set himself up as a god. The historical picture provides a glimpse of what the first beast was like. The beast has been and will be, in a final intensified manifestation, the deification of secular authority.

This can be seen in the rise of Emperor worship during the end of the first century. Domitian was the first to call himself a god and raise idols which were to be worshiped by all in the Roman Empire. He also inscribed the Roman coin with a picture of himself and a declaration that he was a god.

Is antichrist a person, who as some of the Dispensational writers believe, lives in the world today? Or, is the reference to antichrist, which just simply means being against Christ, the deification of secular authority? The latter may well be closer to the truth of the matter. In USAmerica, the church has tried to get in bed with the national interest. In some quarters, the nation and Christianity are seen as one. Is it possible that this notion is creeping closer to a time when the national government of any country will become deified in a way in which folks will worship at her feet? Is that happening now? You be the judge!

The Beast From the Earth 13.11-18
The role of the second beast is to bring mankind to worship the first beast. To achieve this end he is empowered to work miracles. By economic boycott and the threat of death, he intends to make all men worship the image of the beast. In John’s day these were no doubt the ones who were responsible for enforcing emperor worship through Asia.

In this section we have the appearance of antichrist to persecute the Church. The point of John in this section is to demonstrate that antichrist, while trying to imitate Christ, always falls short of his goal.

The number of his name is 666 (13.18). No verse in Revelation has received more attention than this one. Individuals from Nero to Hitler have been slated as the fulfillment of this number. A system called gematria, in which a number’s meaning is arrived at by combining the numerical value of letters of the alphabet, was used.

It seems best to understand this threefold use of six, which falls just short of seven, the number of completeness, to mean incompleteness or imperfection. In a contemporary book of the times, The Sibylline Oracles, there is an illustration of Jesus whose name is 888. If the number of Jesus was 888 and seven was consider to be the perfect number then 666 would simply mean “less than perfect.” The number would suggest that the “beast” is far less than the Messiah. This symbolic number may be captured in the phrase “it is a human’s number.” It would surely help the followers of Jesus in the seven churches to comprehend and not be deceived during their persecution by Domitian and may point to a future time where Christ followers may need the same discernment so they are not led astray. One must also take into consideration that the number could be 616 (a variant reading for this verse).

Here is an illustration of how gematria worked:

• 100=a, 101=b, 102=c, etc. 666 would be Hitler.
• a=6, b=6+6, c=6+6+6, etc. 666 would be Henry Kissinger

Trying to discern this number to be a specific person is like spinning a roulette wheel. I am always amazed at the effort, by those who don’t believe that they will be around when he appears, that goes into trying to figure out who this person, if it is a person, is . Such an oxymoron!

Irenaeus, who lived some one hundred years later, was unable to identify who John meant. He offered two possibilities: One was Titus, the other was the Greek worrd for our English word Empire. Many interpreters think the latter one may have been the better of the two. An additional 1900 years has brought us no closer to an answer.

Is the mark visible? Interesting question. Having asked it, we should also ask if the mark of the believer (14.1) is visible? The answer to the second question seems unlikely. The mark of God indicates a spiritual reality. This leads us to the conclusion that the mark of antichrist also may not be a visible mark. It may represent a sinister mark of satanic ways and worship, which mark out his followers.

Visions of Assurance 14.1-20
Just before the end is fully revealed, John gives his readers more assurances that God is in control and that all of the saints will be preserved.

The Seven Bowls 15.1—16.21
The three preceding chapters formed an interlude between the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the outpouring of the seven bowls. The seven bowls constitute the three woes of the seventh trumpet (11.14). The outpouring of the bowls is on those who bear the mark of the beast and worship the image (16.2). The purpose of these judgments is to bring humankind to its knees in repentance (16.8).

The Preparation 15.1-18
The First Bowl 16.1-2
There are sores on the worshipers of the image of the beast.

The Second Bowl 16.3
The entire sea is turned to blood killing everything in it.

The Third Bowl 16.4-7
All rivers and fountains of water are turned to blood.

The Fourth Bowl 16.8-9
There is scorching heat from the sun.

The Fifth Bowl 16.10-11
The kingdom of the Beast is filled with darkness and its inhabitants are in severe pain.

The Sixth Bowl 16.12-16
The river Euphrates runs dry and there is an invasion from the East.

The Seventh Bowl 16.17-21
The final judgment against Babylon includes lightening, thunder, and a great earthquake.

As before, John expands the seventh bowl in the first part of the third vision: 17.1-20.15.

We will continue with Vision Three in our next session together.

Questions for Discussion

• What do you think about the statement: “The enemy may be able to get at you, but Jesus has the last word?”
• What are your thoughts about the antichrist being the deification of secular authority? How many emails have you received where the nationalistic message is being promoted as the Christian one?
• What strikes you about the present interpretation of 666 in light of what you have been exposed to before?

Previously on Decoding the Apocalypse
We continue with our discussion of Vision Two in the Apocalypse (4.1–16.21). We began with Vision One, which was a vivid word picture of Jesus, followed by the beginning of Vision Two with its picture of Jesus, being presented as the one who could open the annals of history and reveal the story of the end. Next, we saw the preparation to opening the book with the opening of the first six seals. Then when we thought that the seventh seal would be opened and the end of the age would be revealed, John stood back for a moment and presented a picture-within-a-picture, an interlude, in which he demonstrated in symbolic language, a before and after picture, that suggested that none of the people of God would be lost in a time of great tribulation.

The Seventh Seal 8.1
Now we come to the opening of the seventh seal, and the revelation of the end of the story. There is no woe in the breaking of the seventh seal as there was in the other six seals. The breaking of the seventh seal reveals that there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Many interpretations of this verse have been offered, now there’s a shocker! It seems best to observe that within the flow and structure of John’s story that we see this moment of silence as the suspense on the part of the heavenly host as they await the telling of the end, the consummation of the kingdom, and the creation of the new heavens and new earth. This moment of silence may echo an unsaid but implied reference to the first creation story in which God spoke things into existence, presumably breaking a silence to speak. Now this present silence awaits his speaking to bring about his new creation.

The Seven Trumpets 8.2-14.20
The seven trumpets constitute the context of the seventh seal. This seems to be John’s pattern. First, the breaking of the six seals in which the gospel goes forward winning its battles, and other activities are presented as what accompanies life throughout history moving toward God’s creation of the new heavens and new earth. When the seventh seal is broken, John expands the view of the end by presenting the blowing of the seven trumpets. So it would look like this:

• First Seal: The Gospel working in the world and winning victory
• Second Seal: War
• Third Seal: Scarcity
• Fourth Seal: Death
• Fifth Seal: Martyrdom
• Sixth Seal: Cosmic catastrophes bring us down to the end and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
• Seventh Seal: The seven trumpets.

The blowing of the seven trumpets are not a continuation of the story John is presenting. It is as if John is presenting the scene of the end in greater detail. Let’s see how that plays out.

The Six Trumpets 8.2-9.21
Preparation 8.2-6
At the beginning of the Interlude in Chapter 7, we met four angels. Now we meet seven angels who stand before God who are given seven trumpets. Another angel presents the prayers of the saints to God and it seems in response to the prayers, God answers in judgment. This may be a picture that might disturb the individualistic characteristic of the Western world in which we think that the effort of an individual can change the course of history. We are fed this view often. But, together as a community of believers, we can pray to him who rules his creation and he responds. Of course, this juxtaposition of the sovereignty of God and the prayers of the saints is one of the mysteries of our faith. They must be held in tension, each being true at the same time. Has he chosen it to be this way? His part is not done without our part. Our part is not done without his part. We are partners with God as we live in this present evil age.

The First Trumpet 8.7
The first trumpet is blown and hail, fire, and blood which destroy a third of the trees and green grass occurs.

The Second Trumpet 8.8-9
Something like a great mountain afire which turned a third of the oceans to blood and destroyed a third of sea life and ships.

The Third Trumpet 8.10-11
A star called wormwood fell from heaven and destroyed a third of the world’s fresh water supply.

The Fourth Trumpet 8.12-13
One third of the natural light is destroyed.

The Fifth Trumpet 9.1-12
A host of demonic locusts will torture unredeemed humankind for five months which is a round number to indicate a long period of time.

The Sixth Trumpet 9.13-21
The release of four angels which symbolizes the invasion to destroy a third of humankind.

We must notice that in this series of trumpets, that a third is repeated again and again. This is important as we move forward. So stick it in your cap and we will bring it back later.

Here we see the pattern of John again. First, the six seals, then when you expect the seventh one and the end of the story, John pauses with his picture-within-a-picture interlude. Six trumpets have been blown, and John is at it again. You would expect the seventh trumpet to be blown and the end of the story, but instead, John draws up against the end again and steps back with another break.

Interlude 2: 10.1-11.13
This interlude has two parts to it. The story of the angel and the little book and the measuring of the temple and the two witnesses.

The Angel and the Little Book 10.1-11
Again, we have a symbolic representation of John’s renewed and reinforced prophetic call on the eve of the terrible climax of God’s judgments. This is an echo of the same idea found in Ezekiel 2.8-3.3. John is to appropriate the word before communicating it to others. The little book is a message for the church whose contents are found in 11.1-13. The contents of the little book is sweet because it is a word from God that there will be no further delay of the end. It is bitter because of the fierce Satanic opposition in the last days before the end. You’ve seen the sweet and sour commercials. First, they are sweet, then they are sour. Such is the case here in this picture. BTW: Did you know that there is a candy company who is packaging sweet and sour candy in wrappers where each piece is wrapped in a KJV Bible verse. Wow! Now there’s a way to get more fragmented than we alredy are with Scripture and get high on sugar at the same time! Do I sound cynical about this? Shouldn’t we be? I have also seen KJV verses in Chinese styled fortune cookies. Now there’s an oxymoron for you!

The Measuring of the Temple and the Two Witnesses 11.1-13
The Measuring of the Temple 11.1-2
Usually, our first thought when we read the word temple may be of the Temple in Jerusalem, which is part of the set in which the story of Jesus is played out. So that we may be clear, there are two words for temple in the New Testament. One means the inner shrine of the temple, the other means the whole expanse of the temple including the Gentile court. When John wrote Revelation, the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed about twenty-five years prior. He uses the word for inner shrine here and not the word for the whole Temple.

It is important to remember that when teaching about symbols, we must be consistent with the clear teaching of other parts of Scripture. The measuring of the Temple here is clearly symbolic. The question is: Symbolic of what? There are at least three different interpretations of the measuring of the Temple:

► A Literal Interpretation
The literal interpretation is a staple of Dispensational writers like the Left Behind Series whose authors devote a chapter to in their book, Are We Living in the End Times? and mentioned it in their first novel in the Left Behind Series (415). Popular TV evangelists like Benny Hinn are reported as openly promoting the rebuilding of the temple. It sometimes appears that these folks are aggressive and eager to help bring about the second coming by the rebuilding of the Temple.

This interpretation believes that this is a literal prophecy of the rebuilt temple which will be rebuilt by the Jewish people who have and will return to Israel. The Jewish nation is often referred to as God’s time clock of prophecy. Just watch the events in Israel and we can know where we are in reference to the end. A popular but somewhat benign view. Which Jews would this prophecy represent? There are three branches of Judaism:

• Reformed: Who are like liberal Protestants.
• Conservative: Who carry out their Jewish duties on the Jewish Day of Atonement.
• Orthodox. Who hold to the rules and regulations of the Old Testament with firm strictness. They are a minority, but very influential.

► A Believing Jewish Remnant
What does the New Testament teach about Israel? Will it be saved as a nation? Will it become a theocratic nation with a rebuilt Temple with a restoration of the sacrificial system, the people of God as they were in the Old Testament? Are the promises in the New Testament nationalistic? Romans 9 teaches that Israel rejected the Messiah. Romans 10 teaches that God rejected Israel for not believing. Romans 11 teaches that Israel will be grafted back in to the tree and suggests in hyperbolic form that all Israel will be saved. They will enter salvation the same way as anyone else, through Jesus. I don’t believe that Scripture speaks about a restoration of nationalist Israel.

► Symbolic of the Church
The New Testament often speaks of the church as the temple (shrine) of God as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 3.16.

The problem with the literal view is that there are too many representations of Israel from which to choose. Is the temple rebuilt for the literal Jew so that God can reinstitute the sacrificial system as a way of reclaiming the Jews? That flies in the face of the work of Jesus on the cross. Is it for the believing Jewish remnant? Why, would they need it? Is it the church which is the temple of God? I think this is the better choice.

Forty-Two Months 11.3
The text says that the Gentiles will trample the holy city for forty-two months. The term forty-two months or 1260 days (time, time, and half a time) is a primary reference to the period of the Jewish suffering under Antiochus Epiphanes (164 BC.). This number became a conventional symbol for a limited period of time during which evil would be allowed to have free reign. This simply represents a short period of time of intensified persecution.

The Two Witnesses 11.4-13
The two witnesses are symbolic of the church which is called to witness during the course of the age (the white horse). The church’s primary work is to prophesy. Prophesy can be foretelling or forthtelling. The latter seems to be the implication here. The symbol of sack cloth (Isa. 20.2) suggests the prophet’s dress and the nature of the message was a call for repentance in the face of judgment. The death of the witnesses is physical death. But, the witnesses resurrected suggests that the enemy cannot touch the real source of life. The real source of life cannot be destroyed by the enemy. God sends no other agencies to humankind in the time of earth’s distress than the witness of the church about Jesus. The protection of God does not prevent the church from enduring the cost of bearing witness to Jesus before a rebellious generation. They will learn the weight of the cross and the power of the resurrection. The church has something more important to do than simply survive. The church is placed in the world to bear witness to mankind, even when the witness is resisted with force. The darker the hour, the more need for the church to be what they are called to be: lamps, through which the light of Jesus shines in this present evil age.

The Seventh Trumpet 11.14-19
The contents of the seventh trumpet are found in the seven bowls as the content of the seven trumpets is found in the seventh seal. The trumpet sounds and “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Again, we are at what would appear to be the end of the story, but again John steps back and provides yet another story-within-a-story interlude.

We pause here and will begin with Interlude 3 in our next session.

Questions

• What are your thoughts about the His Part and Our Part configuration? Does that help you understand the power of community? How can you implement this suggestion in your own church?
• Does the pattern/structure that I have proposed help you or hinder you in your reading of the Revelation? How? If it helps, how can you translate that into sharing with your friends about the message of this book?
• Why would the mention of forty-two months be an encouragement to the seven churches? How is it an encouragement to your church? How is it an encouragement to you? [Notice “you” are last in the list? We need to think more and more about community as we learn to live in the Story of God.]

• First Seal: The Gospel working in the world and winning its victories
• Second Seal: War
• Third Seal: Scarcity
• Fourth Seal: Death
• Fifth Seal: Martyrdom
• Sixth Seal: Cosmic catastrophes bring us down to the end and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The opening of these seals was not the opening of the book, only a preparation to opening the book. The six symbols represented what was going to happen during the course of this present evil age, leading toward the end. They were not, as often presented, the signs of the end of the age, they were and are signs to say that the Kingdom has not yet arrived in its fullness.

Interlude: The Two Multitudes 7.1-17
An interlude is a play within a play which was developed as an artistry form in the fifteenth century. John used this sort of play-within-a-play concept in his construction of the Revelation.

The seventeen verses of Revelation 7 present the reader with an interlude, having broken the six with only the seventh seal remaining to be opened so the hearer could hear about the story of the end. But instead of breaking the seventh seal, which looks like what should happen, John steps back from the breaking of the seals story to tell another story. John employs this technique several times in his book to interrupt the flow of the story with a story-within-a story.

John, now I believe speaking about the future in a more specific way, sees the church as standing on the threshold of a great time of tribulation and she needs to be reassured that God will safely see her through her terrible ordeal. John has told the churches that already.

With the breaking of the sixth seal, the question is asked about who can stand before the great day of wrath. The interlude answers that question. Even though the church will suffer martyrdom, those who are sealed will be safely preserved by God from the outpouring of wrath.

The 144,000 7.1-8
John begins by telling his reader that there are four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. It is always interesting to me how those who press a literal reading of Scripture skip over dealing with such verses as Revelation 7.1 with its “four corners of the earth.” They treat such sayings that obviously are not scientifically correct as metaphor. Now there’s an idea! These four angels are holding back the wind, that is, the wrath of God.

Who are the two crowds, the 144,000 and the great multitude, of Revelation 7? This interlude contains a picture of two multitudes. The first group is pictured as having twelve thousand people from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The second is seen as an innumerable group of peoples.

The Dispensational interpreters believe that the easiest way to understand the 144,000 is to take it literally and understand it as a reference to those who are evangelizing the nation of Israel to bring them to salvation during this great time of tribulation. Their position is that Israel was like branches that were broken off the main tree, but would be restored and grafted back on, all in God’s good time. For support they quote “…all Israel shall be saved” from Romans 9-11.

After John sees the four angels holding the wrath of God from the earth, he sees a fifth angel who has the “seal of the living God.” He appears from the east, that is, from toward Palestine. He calls out to the four angels and admonishes them not to allow the earth to be harmed. The listener does not hear about these four angels again. They appear only here. The message of this passage is that God always protects, here under the picture of a seal, his people who are entering into some form of tribulation. This surely helped the people of the seven churches to understand that God would ultimately protect them from the onslaughts of Domitian. And that message of protection is still the message of the book to its readers today.

The story of the Israelites in Egypt, as captive slaves under the ruthless hand of the Pharaoh, is an echo of what is being told here. God sent his wrath on Egypt, but the children of Israel were protected from them. One might note from this Old Testament story that the children of Israel were not taken out of “harm’s way,” but lived in the middle of it without being touched by it. The final plague of the death of the firstborn of every family in Egypt is a sure echo. The firstborn of Israel were spared because they were sealed by the blood of a lamb sprinkled over their door, a seal, if you please, as God moved over them because they were protected from this wrath.

Sometimes it is easy to miss the echoes of the Old Testament in the stories of the New Testament. Could that be because folks in today’s church do not really know the story of the first three Acts of God’s story? Okay, I know, it’s true, we know some of the better known stories, but do we know the Story and what it means?

We will see this sealing idea show up again in the Revelation.

It was common knowledge in the churches that John was speaking to that believers were sealed by the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 1 and 4). So when they heard of the sealing of the saints, they would have recognized what John was talking about.

Who is the 144,000?
Identifying the 144,000 is not an easy task but a doable one. As we earlier noted, the 144,00 is made up of twelve thousand people from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. What we must first notice is that the twelve tribes listed here in this passage are not listed anywhere else in Scripture.

While there are many interpretations of this passage, it seems that what John is referring to is the church. What helps this interpretation along is that there are irregularities in this list which do not agree with any other known list of the twelve tribes of Israel. Certainly, the Jews within the seven churches would have spotted this irregularity in a moment and would have helped the Gentile followers of Christ in these congregations understand.

It may have been common knowledge within the early church that the church was in fact understood to be the new or true Israel of God. John alludes to such in two earlier places in the Revelation. In the letter to Smyrna he speaks of “those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan (see 2.9 and 3.9).

The number 12,000 x 12 is a symbolic way of saying that the full number of God will be protected. Not one will be lost. This number is a large innumerable number. Today, we might express it something like a number to the “inth” degree.

Of course, this all runs contraire to Dispensational Theology, which says that God has two different peoples, Israel and the Church, and God has a plan for each of these peoples (Rom. 2.28; Rom. 4.11, 16; Gal. 3.29; Gal. 6.16; Phil. 3.3; Col. 3.3; Titus 2.14; 1 Peter 2.9ff.; Rev. 2.9; Rev. 3.9)

It is fair to say that tribulation was surrounding these early churches and they needed to know that God was going to protect them. They may lose their present physical life, but Domitian and his crew could not touch the eternal life to which they had become heirs.

Churches brought to life by Paul throughout the Mediterranean world had known tribulation. This was not a guarded secret. While these seven churches may not have had all of what Paul taught to other churches, it is reasonable to believer that Paul taught similar things to all his church plants. One of those teachings was the church would see many tribulations. John speaks about it in his own Gospel (John 16.33).

Tribulation means persecution at the hands of those who hate the Gospel. In USAmerica, we live in a culture that is almost abnormal because there is no real persecution that threatens our lives. When I was stationed in the Air Force in Japan, I saw a bit of persecution of those that accepted Jesus as their guide in this life. Those who did often lost their family, jobs, and friends. I wonder if it is fair sometimes to ask what it really costs us to follow Jesus, or should it cost us anything?

Remember, the normal course of the church through the age will be tribulation. The tribulation of the end times is nothing but an intensification of what the church is to expect during the course of its history until the coming of Jesus to consummate his Kingdom.

The Two Multitudes 7.9-17
The second group is the unnumbered multitude which is also a picture of the church from an entirely different perspective. The first time the group is seen before the tribulation and the second time this group is seen after the tribulation in heaven with God. The same host is seen in chapter fourteen (14.1) and again in 15.2. The complete picture of this interlude suggests that not one of God’s people will be lost due to persecution.

The very next picture in the text at 8.1 is the opening of the seventh seal and, we presume, the opening of the book to reveal the story of the end.

Revelation’s Literary Organization
How John Presents the Story of the End.
Let’s take a moment and talk about two themes that are in Revelation: The establishment of the Kingdom of God and the judgment or wrath of God. The heart of the Revelation is the three series of sevens. In chapter six we covered the seven seals which represent the characteristics of the course of the age that lead up to the end of the age. Each seal was opened moving toward the seventh that would share the end of history. Just before the breaking of the seventh seal is shared, John interrupts the flow of his visions with an interlude about what appears to be two groups of people, the 144,000 and the large multitude, but, in fact, is one group seen two different ways. He gives a picture of the church before and after the tribulation. You’ve seen those advertisements that picture a hefty person who is a bit overweight before she or he goes on a specific diet and then the rather slim flattering picture of the same person after the diet, some even holding up their old big clothes as a second form of proof. This is what is going on here, except it is a word picture. John shows the church before the time of tribulation and then shows the church after the tribulation. He has a point to make. No one in the church will be lost because of tribulation.

Surely, this is a comforting thought to those who were living in a time of tribulation. The message is that not one of God’s children would be lost during this great tribulation period. At this point in the text, John returns to the breaking of the seventh seal, presumably to show the end of world history. There is no woe in the breaking of the seventh seal as there was in the other six seals. Instead, there is silence in anticipation of the end. It is as if heaven is sitting on the edge of its seat waiting to see the end.

After this interlude, chapters 8-9 show judgment poured out on mankind. There are six trumpets that we have not yet covered. The blowing of the sixth trumpet brings us again to the end (11.15). Then, another interlude and, finally, the seventh trumpet are blown. John moves once more to the end, but steps back to give a greater detailed message. Some scholars believe that the seven seals and the seven trumpets are parallel. But a better way of seeing them is that the seven trumpets are the contents of the seventh seal. The sixth seal brought us to the close of the age. The contents of the seventh seal are found in the blowing of the seven trumpets.

In part two of Vision One, John shares seven messages to the seven churches in Asia Minor and we suggested that while there were seven physical locations for these churches that the message was indeed for the whole church and that the commendations and condemnations were meant for a wider audience. As the Revelation was passed around to the seven churches, they would see what Jesus was saying to them and to their sister churches on the Asian mail run. Each read their own mail and read the mail of the other churches. From “losing their first love” to “complete ineffectiveness,” Jesus had words for each of the churches. These words provided in the Revelation may still apply to churches that we participate with today. An inventory from time to time based on these seven letters is often useful. After all, we don’t want to lose our “candlestick” for lack of knowledge about where we are in the eyes of Jesus.

After the first vision of Christ caring and protecting his churches, the revelation of “What must take place after this…” or the coming consummation of the Kingdom of God begins.

Thus, we begin our discourse about Vision Two. As you can see, it comprises a big chunk of text (4.1-16.21).

The Second Vision 4.1-16.21

The Heavenly Throne 4.1-11
Whatever else we may say about these verses, we must conclude from them that the main business of heaven is worship. Chapter Four is filled with word pictures, which the worldview of John’s day would certainly understand.

John is called to come up here in verse one. The Dispensational view, thus the Left Behind Series view, suggests that the rapture of John stands for the rapture of the churchRapture of the Church

The Left Behind Series, beginning in 1996, is the later best selling set of books that propagates this same eschatological theme. The genre of the books may have changed from Lindsey to LaHaye, but the theological message is the same and leads to the same views as those produced by the previous generation raised on the written works of Lindsey. The first book in the series is about the rapture and the the formation of an underground gourp of fellow left behinders to fight the antichrist.. Some of these writers hold that because the word church does not occur after chapter three, we should conclude that the church has been raptured. However, we must conclude from the text itself that 4.1 is addressed only to John and refers only to his reception of the vision at hand. John says that “at once he was in the Spirit.” This may suggest that he received the first vision while in a Spirit trance and now is called into another Spirit trance to receive the second vision. We must not presume that all four of the visions were received by John at one time just because they are presented in writing to us in a group of visions. They may have been received on different occasions on Patmos.

In chapter four, John sees a throne. On the throne God is seated. John described God in terms of the brilliance of precious stones. There is no anthropomorphism here. That is to say that the picture of God here is not seen in human terms, i.e., hands, feet, eyes, mouth, etc. The one who was sitting on the throne had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. Jasper was a stone that was transparent while carnelian was a fiery red stone. The rainbow was not the usual rainbow of different prism colors, but was green. While some have struggled to find meaning for each color, it may be more prudent to understand that different issues of light represented the presence of God in the story of Scripture. This may have been an echo for the readers of the pillar of fire at night or the shekinah of glory in the Holy of Holies. It seems fair to understand that John had a problem that follows him throughout his writing. He was being asked to explain something beyond his present “earthly experience” in present “earthly terms.” He chooses the best language at hand to describe the undescribable. The rainbow was a prevalent part of the story of God and stood for his mercy. Thus, the possible inference here is to see the one sitting on the throne as one who will have mercy and patience on humankind awaiting the end of the age. We cannot in any way assert for sure, however, that this was John’s intended meaning.

Around the throne there are twenty-four elders. Dispensational writers see the elders as the raptured church (Lindsey. There’s a New World Coming. 85). Other writers have seen the twenty-four as twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, the church of the Old Testament and the Church of the New as one. Most likely they are a special group of angelic beings, which help with the government of the universe. The four living creatures may simply be a representation of the totality of God’s creation. Not just humankind, but all the creation is seen as worshiping God. This possible interpretation might fly in the face of the individualism of the Western Christian who thinks basically in terms of human beings worshiping God and even further reduced to worshiping in a building and even more reduced to worship as only occurring in the songs that are sang.

In the text the worship is directed toward God. In some places, what we have come to call worship music is much more about us, what we want, what we need. This may be because we think with an Enlightened mind that the world revolves around us. While worship is a “whole life” experience, our expression is music may need a check up. Listen to what you are singing next time you are in a “worship service.” Are the lyrics about you or about God. It is surely important the we be aware of what we say in worship. For if we say something often enough, we begin to believe it. Bad theology derived from worship songs is a cruel taskmaster. You might want to visit Maggi Dawn’s blog. Maggi is an Anglican priest and here writes about Trinity and worship.

It is apparent then from this picture in chapter four, that one of the main businesses in heaven is the worship of God. It puzzles me that men and women who do not worship here can say that some day they hope to go to heaven. Won’t they will be out of place? When we come together to worship God in his majesty and holiness, we are preparing ourselves for our heavenly destiny. As we live our daily lives as worship to God, we are preparing ourselves for our life on the new earth. Wouldn’t it be prudent to be intentional about “watching” what we say and how we live?

Let me conclude this section with a word from the Late George Ladd’s commentary on Revelation. It sets the stage for what must follow. Remember, the first hearers/readers were being persecuted by a human tyrant, Domitian. Their lives were at risk. Dr. Ladd said:

This Revelation will include the destruction of the powers of evil, of Satan, and of death; But before these evil powers are destroyed, they will break forth in a final desperate effort to frustrate the purposes of God by destroying the people of God. However, the terrible conflict that takes place on earth between the Church and the demonic powers embodied in an apostate civilization—Rome in the first century and Antichrist at the end—are in reality expressions in historical form of a fearful conflict in the spiritual world between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Therefore, the Revelation proper begins with the ultimate eternal fact of God enthroned and ruling in His universe. However fearful or uncontrolled the forces of evil on earth may seem to be, they cannot annul or eclipse the greater fact that behind the scenes God is on His throne governing His universe” (Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John. 70).

The Seven Seals 5.1-8.1
The next part of the vision is recorded from Revelation 5.1-8.1. History is going somewhere in spite of what we often may hear. For the most part, we do not know where history is going. This should not be a surprise to believers. Revelation 5 sees the whole of human history resting in the hands of God (5.1). The events that next occur in the vision are the events that accompany the end of the age, but are not the end of the age itself. They are the events leading to the end. The contents of the scroll contain both redemptive and judicial events which will accompany the end of the world and the introduction of the world to come. The book is seen as completely sealed (seven seals). For them, there were no books as we visualize them today. So picture a scroll, rolled up, and on the outside were seven seals to keep it completely closed. The breaking of each seal then is not the opening of the book but is precursory to the opening of the book. You might, for visual purposes, roll up a piece of paper and put seven pieces of tape, or seven small post it notes from one end to the other. As you take off one post it note at a time, you have not opened the document, but you are working toward opening the document. This is the picture you must hold when reading the opening of the scroll in Revelation 5.

The Sealed Book 5.1-14
Chapter Five centers its attention on the sealed book of destiny which is in the hand of God. It stresses a truth that is central to Revelation: only the Lamb by virtue of his sacrificial death is qualified to break the seals and open the book. The Lamb has won a victory! He is able to break the seals and open the scroll. In the death of Jesus, he not only procured our salvation, the process of becoming truly human, he also won the victory that would eventually allow him to open the scroll of history and bring history to its divine conclusion.

The opening of the book is about the consummation of the Kingdom. Remember, that the Kingdom of God is the Rule of God. We cannot advance, build, or create it. We can, however, enter it. That is to say. We can place our lives under God’s Rule and care. In Jesus, the Kingdom of God came, but not yet in its fullness. The Kingdom of God is a biblical motif that is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Mosaic Covenant for Israel was an expression of the Kingdom. It was a “Lord–Servant treaty,” the Lord being the ruler of the servant. Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom was present in him. He brought the Kingdom in a way it had not been expressed before him. His life was a Kingdom life. His resurrection was a promise of a Kingdom life yet to be realized by humankind. We now live in between the time of the coming and the consummation of the kingdom. Beginning with Revelation 5, we will see some glimpses of the consummation of the Kingdom.

The Six Seals 6.1-17
Chapter Six begins the breaking of the seals and, we may assume, the opening of the book. Remember, the breaking of the seals is not the actual opening of the book. It is only preliminary to its actual opening. The book contains two ideas that compliment each other:

• The establishment of the Kingdom of God by the gathering of the saints.
• The Judgment of God on the evil demonic powers which have opposed his people.

Meditation
One of the questions that we all ask often is, why? Why did this happen to me? Why did we lose our child? Why was my child born defective? Why did I lose that job? Why aren’t my relatives turning to Jesus? Why am I so broken in my life? Why? There are no easy answers to these questions and hundreds like them, if there are answers at all.

Meditate on this: We can know that we have chosen to follow one who has defeated the controller of this present evil age and has brought us the presence of the future into the present of our lives. We, like the readers and hearers of the Revelation for centuries, can rest assured that the slain Lamb will one day stand in the presence of God, holding the book of history in his hand, ready to open it, and reveal the end of history and bring us to himself at his coming. Then, and only then, will all of our whys be answered.

The First Seal 6.1-2
The White Horse. Dispensationalism sees this figure as the Antichrist. Hal Lindsey believes that there are two Antichrists: one European, one Jewish. For Lindsey, the white horse is the European Antichrist and he believes that this person is alive somewhere in the world at the time when he was writing his book (Lindsey. There’s a New World Coming. 103). However, in the book of Revelation when white appears, it is always related to something which is associated with God or salvation (1.14; 2.17; 3.4, 5, 18; 4.4; 6.11; 7.9-13; 14.14; 19.11, 19.14; 20.11). One must be impressed with this array of evidence from within Revelation and interpret this use of the word white with the consistency of the other interpretations of white. To understand what this white horse represents, we must examine the teaching of Jesus during his own life and ministry.

Remember, I am attempting to interpret Revelation within the framework of what the first readers/listeners could have understood. Even though the Gospels had been written, it is not clear that John or his hearers had them at hand. What is clear is that the oral tradition about Jesus was widespread and may have been the privy of these listeners. The activities mentioned in the written record of Matthew 24.1ff. were oral tradition before they were written tradition. These activities in this age that were spoken about by Jesus do not suggest that the end of time was imminent, but that they are signs that the end is not yet. They are the signs that will take place while the end is delayed. In short, the course of the age will not be easy. It will be marked by trouble, confusion, and chaotic times. But, the good news is that, while the marks of this present evil age are chaotic, the gospel of the Kingdom, which is the only gospel that Jesus suggested his followers share, will be continually preached. The white horse pictures the progress and advancement of the Gospel in the world.

The rider was sent out with a bow, a symbol of a divine weapon (and echo of Habakkuk 9.13). The rider was sent out to conquer. God has given the Church a divine Gospel to proclaim. When we proclaim it, we are to expect it to be effective. During the darkness of this present evil age, the Gospel will be winning its victories. It will change the hearts and lives of men and women, and they in turn can change their spiritual and physical environment.

There has been a form of belief that still pervades some Evangelical thought today that suggests that it is the business of the Church to build the Kingdom of God in the world. The Kingdom will only come as the Church preaches the Gospel in the world. It believes that it is the business of the Church not only to preach salvation for the lost, but also to save the whole of society, to transform political structures. It suggests that by the preaching of the Gospel, that all evil, power politics, graft, and the like, will be eliminated. Economic struggles will be solved. Strife between management and labor and conflict between the nations will all occur as the Church establishes the Kingdom of God on earth. Some of this may happen in time and space as the Gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed. The white horse seen as the spreading of the Gospel best fits the context in which John is producing a message of comfort.

The Second Seal 6.3-4
The Red Horse. Rider loosed warfare and bloodshed on the earth. This horse represents war. War is one of the characteristics that will mark the age down to the end. The present war(s) that are occurring while you are listening/reading this are not signs that the end is close at hand. No! they are signs that the end is not yet. As long as there are wars in this present evil age, those who follow Jesus should never be deceived by a “false Christ” who promises that they are the Messiah. As long as there are wars and rumors of wars, the end of the age is not yet.

The Third Seal 6.5-6
The Black Horse. A quart of wheat was enough for one man’s daily food. Barley was the poor man’s wheat. All that a man could earn in a day would only keep him alive. Oil and wine were also everyday staples (Deut. 7.13). This is a view of scarcity. Economic distress will mark the course of the age.

The Fourth Seal 6.7-8
The Pale Horse. All kinds of violence and death will mark the course of this present evil age.

The Fifth Seal 6.9-11
The prayers are those of the martyrs in heaven who cry for divine vindication. In the Western world, it does not cost us to be a part of the Church. It costs us very little of our time, little to none of our money, and none of our blood. Martyrdom, for these people in these seven churches under the persecution of Domitian, was at the heart of their Christian discipleship.

The Sixth Seal 6.12-17
Cosmic catastrophes are the results of divine judgment. This is the response of God’s holiness to wickedness. He vindicates the martyrs and causes all classes of men to flee, but there is no place to hide. Metaphors like “the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth” are symbols in Scripture that suggest the judgment of God.

So we may conclude that the sixth seal brings us to the threshold of the end. The breaking of the seventh seal will allow the book to be opened and the story of the events of the end time can be seen. But, as we will see, John rather tells the story of the end in greater detail, which is the substance of the remainder of Revelation.

So John takes the scroll firmly in his hand to open the seventh seal, which will open the book to reveal the end. He begins to tear away the seal…

To be continued…

Questions for Discussion

• What do you think about the idea that “we say something often enough, we begin to believe it,” or if we hear something often enough, we begin to believe it?
• How does the idea that God is on his throne quiet your fears about your life in this world, or does it?
• Share your thoughts about the opening of the seals not being the opening of the scroll, but only the preliminary events leading to the opening of the scroll which is supposed to tell us about the end of this present evil age and the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
• Share your thoughts about the white horse being the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom.

The Seven Letters 2.1-3.22
The first Vision in Revelation is covered by Revelation 1.9-3.22. The first part of that Vision is the “vivid word picture” of Jesus found in chapter 1.9-20. We continue then, with the second part of the first vision in Revelation, which is often called the “letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor.”

John was personally acquainted with these seven churches in Asia Minor, which is today’s Modern Turkey. He knew their history and the conditions surrounding them. These seven churches came into existence during Paul’s ministry at Ephesus as recorded in Acts 19.10Acts 19.10

This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (NIV). .

These seven churches were all located on a major mail route beginning with Ephesus. The route then traveled north to Smyrna and Pergamum. It then turned southeast to Thyatira and continued on to Sardis, Philadelphia, and finally ending at Laodicea. As we shall see, this is the exact order in which John orders the messages to the churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation.

Westerners live in a culture where the individual is king. We read the Bible looking for those personal nuggets that will help us in times of need. We very seldom read Scripture with a church or our church in mind. However, this is what these two chapters in Revelation are about. They are about the church, not about specific individuals in the church. As an example, we have read the fault of the Ephesian church, abandoning your first love, personally and maybe never corporately. The message here is not about discovering some emotion that you may have had when you discovered Jesus. The message is to the church who has forgotten its roots.

The seven letters were messages of warning and encouragement, which have a structured common plan.

• In the introduction of each letter, Jesus identifies himself by means of a descriptive phrase which is taken from the vision in Chapter One. In each case, it is appropriate for the specific church. As an example, let’s compare 1.16 with 2.1.

In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance (Rev. 1.16).

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands (Rev. 2.1).

This characterization from the vision in Chapter One is usually adapted to the situation in the local church. In this case, the holding of the seven stars in his right hand signifies the care of Jesus for his churches (Rev. 1.20; John 10.28).

• Jesus gives words of praise for the good qualities he found in the church. There is one exception to this pattern. The church at Laodicea had nothing worthy of praise to be found by Christ.
• There are also words of criticism for the faults of each church. There are also two exceptions: The church at Smyrna and Philadelphia in which Jesus found no faults.
• Each letter is addressed to the angel of a specific church. The angels addressed are either the functioning pastors of each church or the term may be regarded as the personifications of the churches.
• Each of the letters concludes with a promise for those who conquer.

Dispensational writers have taken these letters to be real letters to historical churches, but also see in them a preview of church history as it spirals downward to the lukewarm church at Laodicea. John Walvoord says that to interpret such a progression as pure accident would be incredible. “The order of the message to the churches seems to be divinely selected to give prophetically the main movement of history” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ. 52). One must note that Walvoord infers this. The context of the text makes no suggestion that the history of the church is in view. The purpose of these letters goes beyond the present instruction to these particular churches in the Roman Empire of the first century. They are designed to impress on the church that it is necessary to be patient and endure in a period of persecution. “He who has an ear…” is a recurring phrase in the letters to each church. This phrase implied that the message, which was given to each church, was meant for a wider audience. The number seven provides the clue that the whole church is in view. The message to these seven churches is the message to the whole church.

One Letter, Many Receivers
When today’s readers read the seven letters, the second and third chapters of Revelation, they invariably want to ask something like: Which church is like ours? It is more likely that your church has some of the positive and negative traits of these seven churches. Remember, John wrote one letter (Revelation) to all the seven churches. Each church read each other’s mail and the mail of the other churches.

The Letter to Ephesus: Abandon First Love. 2.1-7
Ephesus was a center of sea and land trade. There were three major trade routes that converged in Ephesus. Ephesus was one of the three most influential cities in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria being the other two. Ephesus was a free city which meant that it had a certain amount of self-rule. Ephesus bragged about its marketplace, stadium, and theater. The theater which overlooked its harbor could seat 2,500 people.

It was the center of Diana worship with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world being the temple of Diana. The temple employed thousands of priests and priestesses many of whom were temple prostitutes for Diana, who was the goddess of fertility. One of the major manufacturing industries in Ephesus was the making of images of its goddess (Acts 19.21-41). In addition, the city was also proud of its imperial cult which saw the ruling Caesar as a god. In John’s time, it would be Domitian.

This is one of those interesting sets of verses that is pulled out of its historical context and quoted as if it were a personal message. We may have been told, “The reason you are having this difficulty is that you have abandoned your first love for Jesus.” The text says that Jesus told the Ephesian church (remember, this was not written to an individual) that what he held against them was their abandonment of their first love. We must ask what that first love was.

To understand this fault, we must look at a short overview of the Ephesian church.

• The book of Acts tells us that Paul taught this church daily for about two years. During that time the seven churches to which John is writing here, were founded. How? Through the evangelistic fervor of the church at Ephesus (Acts 19.10).
• Later, when he is on his way to Jerusalem, he spoke to the elders from this church and told them that they should stand guard for the truth that they had been given (20.17ff.). In short, they should make sure that they keep true to the doctrines that Paul had delivered to them and not let anyone from inside or outside the church detour them from that purpose.
• When Paul wrote his letter to Timothy, he commended the church for teaching sound, healthy doctrine (1 Timothy). They had heeded his word. They had turned their attention to guarding the faith, instead of sharing the faith.

It seems for that reason, Jesus found fault with them. Harmony is interesting. It takes two notes to have harmony. One note just doesn’t get it. The church had focused on one thing to the exclusion of the other. They had, for all intents and purposes, become a “one note” church. They lost their harmony. Producing harmony is truly a work of the Spirit. He called the church to repent and do the things that she had done at first.

The Letter to Smyrna: Thumbs Up! 2.8-11
Smyrna was a port city which was about thirty-five miles north of Ephesus. Smyrna had an exceptional port on the Aegean Sea that rivaled Ephesus for export business. The modern name for Smyrna is Izmir and it is the only one of the seven cities that is still in existence today. Smyrna was one of the two churches that had no fault attributed to it.

Jesus is described here from the first vision as: “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again (Rev. 2.8). This phrase fits the local situation at Smyrna. In 600 BC the city was destroyed and lay barren until 300 BC. Its name means “myrrh” a substance used in ancient burials. The reference to “crown of life” would have stood out because Smyrna was famous for its games in which the winner received a “crown.”

Smyrna was praised because they had withstood the slander of the evil one. They would be cast into prison and would suffer persecution for ten days. Ten days was a symbolic way of saying their imprisonment would not be forever. It would be completed. If they died without recanting, they would receive the prize of life after death. Those who were persecuting could not touch real life. This was a message of comfort for them.

The Letter to Pergamum: Following False Teachers. 2.12-17
Pergamum was about forty miles around the coast of the Aegean Sea and then ten miles inland. It was the next stop for a letter carrier. It was an impressive city built on a hill about one thousand feet in height which created a natural fortress. It rivaled Ephesus as the leading city in its region. It was the capital of the province of Asia and the center of culture in Asia.

The problem of the Pergamum church was that some of their members were following the teachings of the Nicolaitans which was essentially the teaching of Balaam. The city was ruled by Satan instead of the Kingdom. In the Old Testament we find the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24. The Moabite king, Balak, was being threatened by the Israelites. He invited Balaam to prophetically curse Israel. God restrained Balaam and, instead of allowing Balaam to curse Israel, God caused Balaam to bless Israel. This disgusted Balak. Becasue of Balaam, Israel became involved in sexual license and the idolatrous worship of Baal. These sins were attributed to the advice of Balaam to Balak (Num. 25.1-3; 31.16). The sin of Balaam was the promotion of idolatry and immorality. The Nicolaitans (nick-oh-LAY-ih-tuns) were an early Christian heretical sect which was made up of the followers of Nicolas. He was possibly a deacon (Acts 6.5) who had gone astray. The Nicolaitans are mentioned only two times in Revelation (Rev. 2.6, 14-15).

The error of the Nicolaitans was moral rather than doctrinal. Many believe that their teaching of sexual laxity was an easy message to entertain in a world of sexual laxity. It seems here as with the Corinthian church earlier, that the church had not impregnated the world as it should have, but the world had impregnated the church as it should not have.

While the exact issues are different, similar compromises face the church today. Each society has its own “idols” that it expects all its citizens to worship, whether those idols be the government itself or some values or practices of the society. These “idols” are the places at which the values of the society conflict with total allegiance to Christ. Furthermore, the Nicolaitans are still with us under a variety of names, for there are always people who in the name of being “realistic” or under any number of other theological justifications counsel compromise with the dominant culture. This passage warns us that Jesus will not “buy” these justifications. He demands nothing less than total loyalty to his own person and directions. Anything less than this will put those who compromise in danger of his judgment. (Kaiser, W. C. Hard Sayings of the Bible. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. 1997. 760)

The Letter to Thyatira: Accommodation. 2.18-28
The mail carrier would leave Pergamum and travel about forty miles southeast, traveling over small hills into the fertile plain of Lycus. There lay Thyatira which was known for its manufacturing.

The fault of the church at Thyatira was that they tolerated Jezebel, a woman claiming to be a prophetess, in their midst. She was teaching members of the church to commit sexual immorality and eat meat offered to idols. These may both be references to worship within a local pagan temple where both issues were part of worship. Some believe that this Jezebel was a teacher in the Nicolaitan group. Like Pergamum, the church had been impregnated by the culture instead of impregnated the culture!

The Letter to Sardis. Looking Alive But Being Dead. 3.1-6
About thirty miles from Thyatira was the next mail stop at the city of Sardis. Sardis was a wealthy city built on two locations. The newer section contained the proud temple of Diana, a theater, and a stadium. Sardis was famous for its minting of gold and silver coins. It claimed to be the discovering city of wool dying. The wealth eventually led to moral self-indulgence.

The challenge to the church at 3.1 was to “wake up!” This reference would have been perfectly understood by the residents of Sardis. Two times in their previous history they had been attacked at night when the city thought it was safe. The church at Sardis was known for its good works. It had an outstanding reputation for life and vitality, but in the sight of God it was dead. This is a picture of being outwardly busy with the externals of religious activity, but devoid of any spiritual life and power. The had external practice without any spiritual punch. This is the most severe denunciation of the seven churches.

The Letter to Philadelphia: Thumbs Up! 3.7-13
Philadelphia lay about twenty-five miles southeast of Sardis. The citizens of Pergamum founded it. It was on the trade routes which led to Mysia, Lydia, and Phrygia. Its economy was based on agriculture and industry. There was no fault found in the church at Philadelphia. This church was the opposite image of the ones mentioned above. The culture was the same, but she had not allowed it to seep into the fabric of the church. So much so, that the followers of Satan would fall at the feet of the church. This was a way of saying that those who were not Christ followers would become followers of Christ. Falling at one’s feet was a metaphor of submission.

The Letter to Laodicea: Ineffectiveness. 3.14-22
At the end of the mail route was the city of Laodicea. It was about forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia. It was the wealthiest of the seven cities mentioned. It was known for its manufacture of rare black wool, its banks, and a medical school that produced eye salve. The city was the center for the imperial cult as well as for the worship of the god of healing (Asclepius) and the chief of gods (Zeus). It had a large Jewish population.

The fault of the church at Laodicea was their indifference and complacency. They were neither cold toward the gospel nor hot with zeal and fervor. They were nauseously lukewarm. Another way of looking at these words is to understand that there was a contrast being made between the hot, medicinal waters of Hierapolis and the cold, pure waters of Colosse. The water hot water coming from Hierapolis was not fit to drink and had to be left in jars to cool and the deposits from the aqueduct could settle. If one drank it as it arrived the person would vomit. Thus, the church at Laodicea was providing neither refreshment for the spiritually weary nor healing for the spiritually sick. It was totally ineffective. This interpretation keeps one from putting Jesus in the position of preferring the church to be cold rather than lukewarm. The church is not being called to task for its spiritual temperature, but for its barrenness of works. (Mounce. The Book of Revelation. 125) The strong language of Jesus that he will spit them out of his mouth is made to rouse the church out of their indifference.

What Jesus Thinks About the Church!
Here’s the list:

1. The Letter to Ephesus: Abandon First Love.
2. The Letter to Smyrna: Thumbs Up!
3. The Letter to Pergamum: Following False Teachers.
4. The Letter to Thyatira: Tolerated Jezebel.
5. The Letter to Sardis. Looking Alive But Being Dead.
6. The Letter to Philadelphia: Thumbs Up!
7. The Letter to Laodicea: Ineffectiveness.

We have lots of opinions about the church. We have lots of dissing of the church. We have some folks happy with the church and some folks unhappy with the church. Often criticism about the church has to do with what the church is doing or not doing. It’s too traditional. It’s too boring. It’s attractional in is flavor. It’s seeker sensitive. It’s classical Pentecostal. It’s liberal. It’s evangelical. It’s out of touch with the culture. It’s, well you fill in the blank! We’ve all heard it. What is important is what Jesus might think about the church. Remember, this is a message to the “churches” not to a specific person.

Notice, the complaints of Jesus are not the complaints we have. He is dealing with the essence of the “churches,” what makes them tick or not tick. Our complaints are often about the symptoms that we see and we set out to fix the symptoms. What are the causes? Does your church have a touch of the illness of abandoning your first love, following false teachers, looking hip but being a rip, or is your church just plain ineffective. While he gave praise for each church, except for Laodicea, he has some serious accusations that should call us to a serious inventory.

What’s the solution? Stop! doing what we are doing and set a journey toward the opposite. That’s repentance! Pick up the first love as the Ephesian church was encouraged to do. Understand that there are those “in the church,” maybe in your church, who can and will deceive you by their teaching. If your church is dead, find a way to bring new life to it, or allow it to actually die gracefully. Become effective! At this point, the words to the Ephesian church should ring loudly in our ears. “Repent…. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” I wonder how many churches are “dead men walking?”

More than likely, a single church today does not have just one of these diseases, but several of them all at the same time. The good and the bad is mixed. The journey of a church is to unhook from the “bad” and get hooked with the “good.” Let’s become Smyrna and Philadelphia churches. What say ye, church?

Questions

• In light of the concerns of Jesus for these seven churches, which concerns would you have about your own church today?
• How does John’s picture of Christ in the first part of Vision 1 and his use of the same images in each of the chats with the seven churches help you understand the text better? Or does it?
• What are some of the ways that churches have lost their way in being a “clear witness” to their communities’ “passion” for planting churches?
• Write out a praise for the church as a whole or for your own community of faith.

NOTE: You may see some bold blue underlined text as you work through this session. If you put your cursor over the word a fly out box will provide you with some additional information. Other blue underlined text may be a suggested book or another web page that might interest you.

Now we begin our excursion through the book of Revelation and some of the world of eschatologyEschatology

Eschatology is the theological word that is used to describe the events which have to do with the end of this age and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. (NIV). . In eschatological writings, biblical writers often used “end-of-the-world language metaphorically to refer to that which they well knew was not the end of the world” (G.B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible xii). This seemed to be a common practice among them. We must keep this thought in mind as we pursue John’s meaning in Revelation.

As we begin, we must remind you that we are not attempting to interpret each word or verse in Revelation, but to give you as a reader an interpretative guide which will help you uncover some of the mystery of the book and possibly help you in decoding some of the metaphors of the author so you can understand what he said.

BackStory
Remember, the book is believed to have been written in about A.D. 95 by John the Apostle, from Ephesus after his imprisonment on the Island of Patmos. The Roman Caesar during the time was Domitian. He was the first in the long line of Caesars that decided to allocate to himself divinity while he was still alive. Folks were commanded to worship him, so he built temples in which he could be worshipped. The largest of these temples was in Ephesus. John, most likely the functional pastor of the Ephesian congregation, did not take kindly to this edict and refused to bow to any other god. Domitian could have martyred him, but martyred heroes only cause the followers to grow in fervor. So, instead of martyrdom, Domitian had John exiled to Patmos not far off the coast from Ephesus (today’s Modern Turkey) in the Aegean Sea. Rome, under Domitian, began to heat up the persecution of those in and around Ephesus. John wrote this book to speak to the churches and assure them that God was bigger than Domitian and that Domitian would eventually loose his grip over them.

INTRODUCTION 1.1-8

Superscription to the Book (1.1-3) Revelation 1.1-3

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (NIV).

The book of Revelation begins by telling its reader that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. The simple definition of the word revelation is to uncover something that has been concealed. However, its use in the New Testament has a distinctly different connotation. The word usually means a supernatural revelation of divine truths which are unknown to humankind and which individuals are incapable of discovering on their own, as Paul suggests in his book to the Galatians and at the conclusion of his book to the Romans (Gal. 1.11-12) Galatians 1.11-12

I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus. (NIV). ; (Rom. 16.25-27) Romans 16-25-27

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (NIV). .

The book of Revelation was meant to be read in Christian worship (1.3)Revelation 1.3

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (NIV). . Notice that there is a blessing attached to the one who reads and to those who listen. We can deduce from that several things. There may have only been one scroll and it was passed from church to church and read aloud while others listened. This also may give us a clue as to how manuscripts were copied in those days: one reader several copiers. This would certainly account for the minor scribal errors that appear in the text of the manuscripts.

Try this on for size. Get a group of people together and read the text of Revelation aloud with this proviso: No discussion about the book, no attempt to interpret what it means, just read and listen. This is about a two hour exercise at the reading rate of five minutes for each of the twenty-two chapters. I took a small group through this process one time and divided it up into two evenings and also divided up the reading among anyone who felt comfortable in reading aloud. At the conclusion of the second week, the reaction was, wow! I heard and saw things that I never knew was there before. It is really worth the time and energy to do this. After all, there is a blessing attached to the reader and the hearers. So why not give it a try.

Greeting and Salutation (1.4-5a)Revelation 4-5a

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (NIV).
John identifies himself in the typical ancient letter format as the author. He wrote to the seven churches in Asia wishing them grace and peace. This is the first occurrence of the number seven in the book. The number seven represents completeness or perfection. In Judaism seven had special significance because of the Sabbath (the seventh day), the sabbatical year, and the Year of Jubilee (the year of release after seven sabbatical years). It may be possible that these seven churches represent the complete church for which Jesus will address his commendation and condemnation. Grace and peace proceed from a threefold source. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The phrase seven spirits represents the Holy Spirit in his fullness of life and blessing. We will take a look at numbers as symbols in our next session.

A Doxology to Christ (1.5b-6)Revelation 1.5b-6

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (NIV).
In this doxology John gave praise for the resurrection, for Jesus being ruler of the world, for the freedom from sin, for making his followers a kingdom of priests. For these acts of God, Jesus deserves our praise.

Why not turn these into four days/weeks of spiritual practices. Try the following:

• Begin by meditating about the resurrection of Jesus. Ask yourself why the resurrection of Jesus is so important to your faith.
• Next, contemplate on Jesus as the ruler/king of the whole world/universe. How does thinking in a concentrated fashion demonstrate his “bigness” over against any “problems of life we face?”
• Then, think about what it means to have an available road that is free to our choice that is free from sin. I know, I know, folks think they have to sin. What if sin was a choice on our end and there was nothing mandatory about it?
• Finally, think about what it means to be a priests. One sent as a minister of Jesus to and for the sake of the world. What ministries for the world are you involved in? By that I mean what ministries for the sake of your community do you participate in? What I don’t mean is ministry to those in the church that you participate with, like Sunday School teacher, usher, choir member, etc. While those are important, we need to be ever reminded that the doors of the church should swing outward toward the community.

The Theme of the Book (1.7)Revelation 1.7

Look, he is coming with the clouds,
     and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
     and all the peoples of the earth will
     mourn because of him.
     So shall it be! Amen. (NIV).
The focus of the book of Revelation is that Jesus is coming again. Yes, it is true, John believed that Jesus who had ascended would return. We have many pictures in the church about what this will look like and only a few pictures in scripture that gives us clues. Of course, we have found text in Scripture that don’t provide the picture that we have developed around said text. Think about 1 Thessalonians 4.13-181 Thessalonians 4.13-18

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. (NIV). . The is a favorite haunt where the pretrib folks love to hang out. They are ecstatic about the words “caught up together” and use it as a “prooftext” for rapture. They fixate on the word “we” and read it as “themselves,” when in fact it refers to Paul and the Thessalonians and points to a reasonable conclusion that Paul believed that he was going to be alive at the close of this age and the consummation of the age to come. By the way, I wrote a parody about the rapture and you can see it here: The Rapture Manifesto.

The Divine Imprimatur (1.8)Revelation 1.8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (NIV).
The personal imprint of God is placed on the writing of this book.

THE FIRST VISION. Part 1: 1.9-3.22

The Revelator: The Glorified Christ (1.9-20) Revelation 1.9-20

“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (NIV).
This section describes the occasion of Revelation. It is a vision of Jesus, exalted and glorified and caring for his church. These verses are the background and condition for the entire disclosure of “What must soon take place.” John was in the spirit on the Lord’s day. Believers are all in the Spirit. We live in the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit. Paul wrote, And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (Rom. 8.9b). But, for John this phrase in the Spirit means to have an ecstatic experience, like entering into a trance as Peter (Acts 11.5) and Paul (22.17) did. Or, like the experience that Paul had when he was caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12.2). John sees visions while in this ecstatic state and records the visions, which forms the text of Revelation.

Over the centuries the Spirit has acualized again and again, and the results of his acualization in various groups has caused some serious discomfort with those who practice their Christianity from a cerebral-rational sphere. Don’t get me wrong here, there are always abuses of what the Spirit is actually doing at any given time. There are always cloners who try to duplicate what the Spirit is doing or has done. There are always mourners, who like attending a funeral and burial, have laid to rest the notion that the Spirit has the ability to move in a spontaneous fashion, today. Dispensational theology often fits into the latter category by suggesting that these kinds of ecstatic experiences for the most part have ceased to occur.

There is often a mess when the Spirit reveals himself in presence and power. But, abuse is not a reason for disqualification of activity that may be genuine from the Spirit. Those who make rules in advance to control the Spirit often miss what the Spirit is doing at any given time. Those who make no rules but work afterwards to clean up the mess often get rebuked by the populists who have chosen to believe that the Bible forbids the Spirit to move in a way that they do not understand from a rational standpoint.

Our worldview differs from the worldview of Scripture which causes us to read what happen then as okay, but it’s not okay for the same thing to happen in the present. Within the groups where the Spirit once moved in a certain way, there is always a longing for the good old days and these gourps often try to resurrect the move of the Spirit whose rhythm is no longer present in the same ways. Ever wondered why some always want to go back to the good old days and have difficulty going forward to better days? What gets my goat, (now there’s a figure of speech for you) is that those, in whose presence the Holy Spirit arrived to do his work in a specific way, have now made that way the form in which one is expected to receive from the Spirit or what has been received is not seen as authentic. How do we get there? I better move forward. As one might say in the South, I stopped teaching and gone to meddlin’.

In this vision, John saw the glorified Christ and presented him to his readers in vivid word pictures. Word pictures are important in the book of Revelation.

Scripture is full of similes and metaphors. We use them in our speech often during the course of the day. We think nothing of it. We certainly don’t use them in a way in which we expect the hearer to whom we speak or write, to understand what we have said or written in a “wooden” fashion. Here are just a few to think about:

• A heart of stone.
• He has the heart of a lion.
• She is my compass.
• Love is a lemon - either bitter or sweet.
• She is rolling in dough.
• The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand.
• The boss was boiling mad.
• My desktop is cluttered with icons.
• In Seattle, it is raining cats and dogs.

No one expects us to take these metaphors in a “wooden” fashion; we just know what they mean when we hear them. The same is true for the metaphors in Revelation. The hearers knew what they meant. It is we who needs a bit of help because metaphors don’t necessarily skip across centuries or even within a culture in the same century.

I once saw the following word picture of Jesus sketched out in a piece of art in which each detail was kept in a literal form. It was grotesque, well at least it was to me.

Here is John’s metaphorical picture of Jesus.

• Dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. Jesus wears the high-priestly garments. This suggests that the reader is to understand the high-priestly function of Christ as the one who is being revealed in this book.
• Hair white as wool. A description of God in the Old Testament (Dan. 7.9) is transferred to Jesus. The hoary head was worthy of honor and conveyed the idea of wisdom and dignity.
• Eyes like a flame of fire. This reflects the penetrating insights of the Lord who is sovereign over the churches.
• Feet as burnished brass. The bronze-like feet portray strength and stability.
• Voice of many waters. This represents the awe-inspiring power of a great waterfall. This kind of picture is used of God in Ezekiel 43.
• Seven stars. These are the seven angels (leaders) of the churches (cf. v. 20).
• Double-edged sword. A picture of the irresistible power of divine judgment. It is the word of Jesus that will ultimately prevail.
• Face like the sun shining in all its brilliance. This is a description of the glory of the exalted Christ. Not unlike what John witnessed at the transfiguration (Matt. 17.2).

When John saw the exalted Christ, he fell as dead. A bit different physical response that the seeing the Buddy Jesus in the film Dogma. Jesus reached out to John with his right hand and gave him a word of assurance. The laying of the right hand communicated power and blessing. Jesus declared himself alive and well and that he had power and authority over the domain of death and Hades. Keys in Jewish thought were a symbol of authority. Death had lost its terror. Jesus had the keys that would unlock the grave and lead the dead into life after, life after death. The vision ends with an interpretation by Jesus of the seven stars and the seven lamp stands. The stars are the leaders of the seven churches and the lamp stands are the churches.

Questions for Discussion
Use the comment section below to make comments the following questions.

• Somewhere in the world folks are persecuted for their witness of Jesus. Why do you think those in a free society are afraid to be clear witnesses in a culture where persecution is not a treat?
• What is a clear witness?
• The metaphorical picture of Jesus that John paints with words is majestic. What emotions do you sense when you see Jesus in this light?
• What emotions do you sense when you see the picture of Buddy Jesus?

They are pretribulation, midtribulation, and posttribulation. Sound scary? They really aren’t.

Pretribulation
Those holding the pretribulation view of the Second Coming of Jesus attempt to identify all premillennialists with their view of the end times. However, through most of the history of the church, those who taught premillennialism did not have a detailed pretribulation calendar of events of the end times.

Until the nineteenth century, believers thought in terms of the rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus as the same event. It occurred after the tribulation. In the nineteenth century, a swing to Dispensational Theology appeared.

Dispensational Theology had its roots in J.N. Darby, a Plymouth Brethren minister. He introduced into the church the idea of the coming of Jesus in two stages: one for his saints at the rapture and one with his saints at the Second Coming at the close of the tribulation.

According to his interpretation of prophecy, there was a seven-year period of time that was the seventh week predicted by Daniel (9.24-27)Daniel 9.24-27

. With the church removed, God would resume his dealing with Israel.

Darby’s ideas widely influenced believers in England and the United States. Darby came to the U.S. to hold prophetic conferences and met the mentor of C.I. Scofield. Scofield adopted Darby’s prophetic interpretation from his mentor and incorporated it into his reference Bible (Scofield Reference Bible). This position was taken up by some of the leading theological schools in the nation like Dallas Theological Seminary, Talbot Seminary, etc. The book that brought this system of belief to the populous was The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Lindsey was a product of Dallas Seminary. His book was one of the most favorite books of the Jesus Movement in the ‘60s. Along with this, most of the TV evangelists believe and share this point of view. In today’s world, the Left Behind series has taken this view and made it easy reading in fiction stories. The problem is that folks are learning their eschatology from these fiction stories.

There are several versions of how Darby came by this system of interpretation. Samuel P. Tregelles, who was also a member of the Plymouth Brethren movement, believed that Darby’s view originated during a charismatic service conducted by Edward Irving in 1832.

Other historians believe that this new understanding of the rapture of the church was the product of a prophetic vision given to Margaret MacDonald in 1830. Margaret claimed special insight regarding the Second Coming and began to share her beliefs with others. Her teaching led to a charismatic revival in Scotland. Darby was impressed by this and visited her. By his own testimony, he rejected her claim of a new outpouring of the Spirit, but apparently accepted her approach to the rapture of the church and worked it into his own system.

Darby’s own explanation is based upon his presupposition that the church and Israel are two distinct peoples of God in Scripture. When the church is withdrawn from the world, then the prophetic events involving Israel can be fulfilled.

The pretribulation rapture of the church is based on a literal chronological interpretation of the book of Revelation which takes the following pattern.

The seven letters of Chapters 2 and 3 equal seven successive ages of Church History.

They are Ephesus = Apostolic; Smyrna = Persecution; Pergamum = Patronage; Thyatira = Corruption; Sardis = Reformation; Philadelphia = Evangelization; and Laodicea = Apostasy

The rapture of John in Chapter 4 symbolizes the rapture of the church. Chapters 6–18 equal the Great Tribulation. This period of tribulation will involve the rise of the Antichrist who will promise peace on earth. He will make an agreement to protect the restored state of Israel. However, he will turn to the Jews and demand that they worship him. The ones who will not cooperate will be persecuted. This final holocaust against God’s chosen people will lead them to accept Jesus as their Savior. Plagues will ravage the earth during the time of tribulation and, finally, will come the battle of Armageddon.

Chapter 19 tells that the result of this battle will issue in the visible, personal, victorious return of Jesus to earth; the church safely in heaven has been enjoying the marriage supper. Chapter 20 says that the Lord will bind Satan for a thousand years and rule the world with his followers. Chapter 20.7-22.21 tells us that Satan will be doomed and that the dead will be judged. The description of the new heaven and new earth is then described. Some of the distinctive beliefs of Dispensational Theology are: God’s children are the Jews; Jerusalem and the Temple must be restored; the Jews are protected from the wrath of God; and the Jews suffer persecution of the Antichrist.

In summary, the pretribulation view believes that all the prophecies that were supposed to be fulfilled when Jesus came the first time will come to pass at his Second Coming. The Jewish rejection of Jesus in the first century forced the postponement of the Kingdom of God until the Second Coming. See: The Rapture Question by the Late John Walvoord.

Proponents of this view are: Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and others in the Pre-Trib circle, such as Ed Hindson, Tommy Ice, Chuck Missler, Zola Levitt, Thomas McCall, John Hagee, Grant Jeffrey, Marlin Maddox, Perry Stone, Texe Marrs, and the Late John Walvoord, Others from the TV world that could be included would be the Late Jerry Farwell, Pat Robinson, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network headed by Paul Crouch.

Religious TV and print is full of these voices propagating a soon rapture of the church while reading the “signs of the times” in the present arena of socio-political events. A “pick-up-the-daily-paper or watch-the-latest-news-report and interpret the Bible.

John might “roll over in his grave” if he knew how he has been interpreted. Now, there’s a figure of speech for you.

Midtribulation
The midtribulation rapture of the church became popular in the mid 1950s. One if its leaders was Harold John Ockenga who was a leader in the Evangelical Movement which developed in the U.S. after World War II.

The modification that this view brings to the pretribulation rapture was the limitation of the wrath of God upon the world as described in Revelation 16-18, to the first three and a half years of the tribulation period. The support for this argument came from Daniel 7.25Daniel 7.25

He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. which was believed to indicate that the church will be under the tyrannical rule of the antichrist for three and a half years.

For this view, Daniel 7.27Daniel 7.27

Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.  indicates that an agreement with Christians and Jews guaranteeing religious freedom will be made with the world ruler of the end times.

Revelation 12.14Revelation 12.14

The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. is cited as supporting midtribulationism by predicting a flight into the wilderness by the church during the first three and a half years of the tribulation period.

This view maintains that the rapture is to take place after the fulfillment of certain predicted signs in the first three and a half years as described in Matthew 24.10-27Matthew 24.10-27
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.. When Jesus returns in an impressive display, it will be to draw the attention of the unsaved people of the world who will notice that the Christians are gone. This will draw large numbers into relationship with God. It will be a major revival (Rev. 7.9-14)Rev. 7.9-14

I answered, “Sir, you know.”.

Posttribulation
Those espousing a posttribulation view of the rapture of the Church are uncomfortable with the sharp distinction between the church and Israel that is held by pretribulationists. They find no reason to distinguish sharply between Israel and the Church. The rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus are the same event which appears to occur after the tribulation according to Matthew 24.27-29Matthew 24.27-29

   ”Immediately after the distress of those days”
     ’the sun will be darkened,
     and the moon will not give its light;
   the stars will fall from the sky,
     and the heavenly bodies will be shaken..

They believe that much of the advice, given the church in Scripture relative to the last days, is meaningless if the church does not go through the tribulation. As an example, the church is told to flee to the mountains when certain events occur, such as the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the holy place (Matt. 24.15-20)Matthew 24.15-20

So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
. This view believes that the people of God who face persecution is the Church. They believe that there is no internal evidence in the Bible and Revelation to indicate that the seven churches equal seven time periods and that there is no indication that John’s rapture is the Church’s rapture.

There are four basic varieties of posttribulationism:

• Classic posttribulationism can be found in the works of J. Barton Payne, who taught that the church has always been in tribulation and therefore the great tribulation has largely been fulfilled.
• Semi-classic posttribulationism found in the work of Alexander Reese believes that the entire course of church history is an era* of tribulation, but, in addition, there is to be a future period of great tribulation. See: The Approaching Advent of Christ by Alexander Reese.
• George Ladd espoused futurist posttribulationism. He believed that there would be a seven year period of tribulation between the present era and the Second Coming. He interprets Revelation 8-18 in a natural fashion. He believed that the pretribulation rapture was an addition to Scripture and, as such, obscured the truly important event of the actual appearance of Christ to inaugurate his reign. See: The Blessed Hope and The Last Things by George Ladd.
• Dispensational posttribulationism is forwarded by Robert H. Gundry. This name was given to this view by the Late John Walvoord ( who was a leading proponent of Dispensational Theology and former President of Dallas Theological Seminary. In this view, Gundry combines the pretribulational arguments with an acceptance of the posttribulational rapture. The Church and the Tribulation by Robert Gundry

For a view of all three of these theologies see: Three Views of the Rapture where three professsors from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School take each position and respond to each other.

*After listening to myself, I figured out for the umpteenth time that I can’t spell well, written or oral. Possibly the reason that I never entered a speeelling bee. Nope! I’m not an orthographer or an orthographist.