TheRevelation

OfJohn

There are essentially four

ways of interpreting Revelation.

The first, or preterist view, places the events and visions described

as belonging to the past, particularly to the Roman Empire of the

First Century A.D.

The advocates of this position explain the highly-symbolic

character of the book as an endeavor by

John

to hide the real meaning of what he was saying to the

general populace but which would become

apparent to the insiders who lived at the time.

People holding this view believe that the

main purpose of Revelation was to

encourage the early believers that God would ultimately

intervene in the affairs of mankind.

The second view, or the historicist view, says that what we have in

Revelation is a panoramic view of

history from the First Century until the

Second Coming of Christ.

This was the view of most of the Protestant

Reformers. In our opinion, this is an untenable position because historians

have not been able to identify precise events in history which would

correspond to the visions symbolized in

the Book of Revelation.

The third view is the symbolic view which

states that the Book of Revelation portrays the

continuing conflict between the forces of

good and evil throughout the entire

span of human history.

According to this view, the Book of Revelation was mainly designed to give encouragement, since at the end good will triumph over evil.

The fourth view is the futuristic view which

asserts that Rev.4-22 deals with events of

the end time.

According to this view, the Book of Revelation was not concerned with

events of John's own day as much as with

later historical events,

and particularly those happenings that WILL

take place in connection with the

Second Coming of the Lord in the future.

This view takes seriously the

predictive element in the book (Rev 1:19;

Rev 4:1).

Very definitely the final chapters of

Revelation deal with the last days and a definitive change in

the things as they are today.

Rev 1 deals with the past; Rev 2-3 tells us

about things that were current at that particular time and

which were to follow;

Rev 4-22 informs us about the things which

were to follow their time period.

(Morris Bible Book Synopsis)

After the introduction and the apostolic

blessing, 1:1-8, the book contains seven visions or series of

visions, extending from 1:9-22:7, followed by a

conclusion, 22:8-21.

I. The first Vision, 1: 9-3:22, is that of the

glorified Christ in the midst of the Church,

directing John to write letters of reproof, of

warning, of exhortation and of consolation to

seven churches of Asia

II. The second Vision, 4:1-8:1, reveals God as

ruling the world’s destiny, and the Lamb as taking the book of

the divine decrees and

breaking the seven seals of which each one

represents a part of God’s purpose, the first

four referring to the terrestrial, and the last three to the celestial

sphere.

Revelation 5:1 MSG I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on

the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven

seals.

2 I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, "Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who

can break its seals?"

3 There was no one--no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from

the underworld--able to break open the scroll

and read it.

4 I wept and wept and wept that no one

was found able to open the scroll, able

to read it.

5 One of the Elders said, "Don't weep.

Look--the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David's Tree, has conquered. He can

open the scroll, can rip through the seven

seals."

6:1 I watched while the Lamb ripped off the first of the seven seals. I heard one of

the Animals roar, "Come out!"

2 I looked--I saw a white horse. Its rider carried a bow and was given a victory garland. He rode off

victorious, conquering right and left.

3 When the Lamb ripped off the second seal, I

heard the second Animal cry, "Come

out!"

4 Another horse appeared, this one red. Its rider was off to take peace from the earth, setting people at each other's throats, killing one another. He was given a huge sword.

5 When he ripped off the third seal, I heard the third Animal cry,

"Come out!" I looked. A black horse this time.

Its rider carried a set of scales in his hand.

6 I heard a message (it seemed to issue from the Four Animals): "A quart of wheat for a

day's wages, or three quarts of barley, but all

the oil and wine you want."

7 When he ripped off the fourth seal, I heard the fourth Animal cry,

"Come out!" 8 I looked. A colorless horse, sickly

pale. Its rider was Death, and Hell was close on its heels.

They were given power to destroy a

fourth of the earth by war, famine,

disease, and wild beasts.

6:9 When he ripped off the fifth seal, I saw the

souls of those killed because they had held firm in their witness to

the Word of God.

They were gathered under the Altar,

10 and cried out in loud prayers, "How

long, Strong God, Holy and True? How long

before you step in and avenge our murders?"

11 Then each martyr was given a white robe and told to sit back and

wait until the full number of martyrs was filled from among their servant companions

and friends in the faith.

Between the sixth and seventh seals an

episode is introduced to show the safety of the

people of God amid the judgments that are

inflicted on the world.

12 I watched while he ripped off the sixth seal:

a bone-jarring earthquake, sun turned black as ink, moon all

bloody,

13 stars falling out of the sky like figs shaken

from a tree in a high wind, 14 sky snapped shut like a book, islands and mountains sliding

this way and that.

15 And then pandemonium,

everyone and his dog running for cover--

kings, princes, generals,

rich and strong, along with every commoner, slave or free. They hid in mountain caves and rocky dens, 16 calling out to mountains and

rocks,

"Refuge! Hide us from the One Seated

on the Throne and the wrath of the

Lamb! 17 The great Day of their wrath

has come--who can stand it?"

8:1 When the Lamb ripped off the seventh seal,

Heaven fell quiet--complete silence for about half an hour.

III. The third Vision, 8:2-11:19, shows us

seven angels, each one having a trumpet. After an angel has offered up the prayers of the saints

to God,

the seven angels blow their trumpets, and

each trumpet is followed by a vision of

destruction on the sinful world,

the destruction of the last three being more

severe than that of the first four.

8:2 I saw the Seven Angels who are

always in readiness before God handed

seven trumpets.

3 Then another Angel, carrying a

gold censer, came and stood at the

Altar.

He was given a great quantity of incense so that he could offer up the prayers of all the

holy people of God on the Golden Altar before

the Throne.

4 Smoke billowed up from the incense-

laced prayers of the holy ones, rose

before God from the hand of the Angel.

5 Then the Angel filled the censer with fire from the Altar and heaved it

to earth. It set off thunders, voices, lightnings, and an

earthquake.

6 The Seven Angels with the trumpets got ready to blow them. 7

At the first trumpet blast, hail and fire

mixed with blood were dumped on earth.

A third of the earth was scorched, a third of the trees,

and every blade of green grass--

burned to a crisp.

8 The second Angel trumpeted. Something like a huge mountain blazing with fire was flung into the sea. A

third of the sea turned to blood,

9 a third of the living sea creatures died, and a third of the

ships sank. 10 The third Angel trumpeted.

A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven,

wiping out a third of the rivers and a

third of the springs.

11 The Star's name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned

water.

12 The fourth Angel trumpeted. A third of the sun, a third of the

moon, and a third of the stars were hit, blacked out by a third, both day and night in one-third

blackout.

13 I looked hard; I heard a lone eagle,

flying through Middle-Heaven, crying out ominously, "Doom!

Doom! Doom to everyone left on earth!

There are three more Angels about

to blow their trumpets. Doom is

on its way!"

9:1 The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss.

2 He unlocked the Well of the Abyss--smoke

poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke

pouring out of the Well.

3 Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the

venom of scorpions.

4 They were given their orders: "Don't hurt the

grass, don't hurt anything green, don't

hurt a single tree--only men and women,

and then only those who lack the seal of

God on their foreheads.“ 5 They

were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain

like a scorpion sting.

6 When this happens, people are going to

prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill

themselves. But they won't find a way--death

will have gone into hiding.

7 The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold

crowns, human faces, 8 women’s hair, the

teeth of lions,

9 and iron breastplates. The

sound of their wings was the sound of

horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.

10 Their tails were equipped with stings,

like scorpion tails. With those tails they

were ordered to torture the human race

for five months.

11 They had a king over them, the Angel

of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek,

Apollyon--"Destroyer."

12 The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to

come. 13 The sixth Angel trumpeted. I

heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden

Altar before God:

14 “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels

confined at the great River Euphrates." 15

The Four Angels were untied and let loose,

Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they

were to kill a third of the human race.

16 The number of the army of

horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand.

I heard the count 17 and saw both horses

and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the

horses breathing out fire and smoke and

brimstone.

18 With these three weapons--fire and

smoke and brimstone--they killed a third of the human

race.

19 The horses killed with their mouths

and tails; their serpentlike tails

also had heads that wreaked havoc.

20 The remaining men and women who

weren't killed by these weapons went on their

merry way--didn't change their way of life,

didn't quit worshiping demons, didn't quit centering their lives

around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and

wood that couldn't see or hear or move.

21 There wasn't a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on

in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.

Between the sixth and seventh trumpets there

is again an episode describing the

preservation of the Church.

10:7 that when the seventh Angel blew his trumpet, which he was

about to do, the Mystery of God, all the plans he had revealed

to his servants, the prophets, would be

completed.

8 The voice out of Heaven spoke to me again: "Go, take the

book held open in the hand of the Angel

astride sea and earth."

9 I went up to the Angel and said, "Give me the

little book." He said, "Take it, then eat it. It will taste sweet like

honey, but turn sour in your stomach."

10 I took the little book from the Angel's hand

and it was sweet honey in my mouth,

but when I swallowed, my stomach curdled.

11 Then I was told, "You must go back and

prophesy again over many peoples and

nations and languages and kings."

IV. The fourth Vision, 12:1-14: 20,

describes the conflict of the world with the Church of

God.

The Church is represented as a

woman bringing forth the Christ, against whom the dragon

representing satan wages war.

In successive visions we behold the beasts

which satan will employ as his agents, the

militant Church, and the advancing stages of

Christ’s conquest. (Berkhof

NT Introductions)