THE REVELATION
of Jesus Christ
Author:
John, one of the original apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Date:
Probably sometime about 96 AD, though some scholars think it was much earlier than this.
Themes:
John wrote down what Christ had revealed to him (Rev 1:1). It is “prophecy” (Rev 1:3). In it Christ appears in glory. He is the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev 1:5), the One who judges the churches (chapters 2,3), the “Lion” of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5), the glorified Lamb of God (Rev 5:6), the King who will reign over God’s kingdom (Rev 19:15), the Lord of lords (Rev 19:16), the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13). This book contains things to take place after John wrote them (Rev 1:1). The theme in it is the second coming of Christ and the things that will occur before and after that event, things in heaven and on earth. This book is full of figurative language, of symbols, of signs given in language not always easy to understand. However, the leading themes are clear – the condition of churches in general and the promises and warnings Jesus gives to them, the end of this age when evil will develop to the full, the rule of antichrist over the whole earth and his cruel persecution of the people of God, the punishment God will mete out to those who follow the antichrist and the fearful disasters He will send on the earth, the harvest of the earth, the second coming of the Lord Jesus with great power and glory to rule the world, and the glorious future that awaits His followers. Along with the revelation of these events God has given many great promises and words of encouragement to believers, and visions of heaven which are sources of joy and comfort to them.
It is only fair to say that some Bible teachers do not agree that the principal theme of this book is the second coming of Christ and events related to it. Their explanation of the things revealed in this book are quite different from the explanation given in the following notes. Some of them teach that the visions and signs John saw are related to John’s own time and to a large extent have already been fulfilled. Others teach that they began to be fulfilled in John’s day and have been slowly and progressively fulfilled all through this age, that this book is a sort of pre-written church history. Still others teach that for the most part the visions and symbolic language in this book were not meant to indicate literal events, but reveal spiritual principles and lessons which apply throughout this whole age. The writer of the notes given with the text of this book does not accept any of these systems of interpretation. Of course there are spiritual principles and lessons in this book, just as there are spiritual principles and lessons in every part of the Bible, whether literal history, prophecy of future events, poetry, or those portions which give direct instruction. But this does not at all mean that the things revealed in this book do not signify real events which will take place sometime in the future. Symbols are used in other parts of the Bible to indicate literal events, and there is no good reason to think the same is not true in this book.
Contents:
Purpose of this book 1:1-2
A blessing on the obedient 1:3
Grace and peace to the churches from the Trinity 1:4-5
Christ’s love and accomplishment for believers 1:5-6
Christ’s second coming 1:7
The vision of Christ John saw 1:9-16
What John did, what Jesus said 1:17-20
The seven churches 2:1—3:22
Ephesus 2:1-7
Smyrna 2:8-11
Pergamos 2:12-17
Thyatira 2:18-29
Sardis 3:1-6
Philadelphia 3:7-13
Laodicea 3:14-22
A vision of heaven 4:1-11
The Lamb and the sealed scroll 5:1-7
All in heaven praise the Lamb 5:8-14
The Lamb opens the first six seals 6:1-16
The rise of antichrist 6:2
War 6:3-4
Famine 6:5-6
Death and Hades 6:7-8
Martyrs in the Great Tribulation 6:9-11
Signs of the Day of the Lord 6:12-17
The 144,000 7:1-8
A great multitude of saved people 7:9-17
What they say 7:10
What the angel says about them 7:11-12
What an elder said about them 7:13-17
The Lamb opens the 7th seal 8:1-5
The first six trumpets 8:6—9:21
Hail, fire and blood 8:7
Blood in the sea 8:8-9
A star called Wormwood 8:10-11
Darkness 8:12-13
Trouble from the Abyss 9:1-12
Four angels and terrible destruction of life 9:13-19
No repentance 9:20-21
The angel and the little scroll 10:1-11
Measuring the temple 11:1-2
Two witnesses for God 11:3-14
The 7th trumpet 11:15-19
The woman, her offspring, and the dragon 12:1-17
Two terrible beasts 13:1-18
The beast from the sea 13:2-10
The beast from the land 13:11-17
The number of the first beast 13:18
The Lamb and 144,000 14:1-5
Three angels and their messages 14:6-12
A voice from heaven 14:13
Two harvests 14:14-20
The harvest of the earth 14:14-16
The harvest from the earth’s vine 14:17-20
The seven plagues 15:1-8
The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb 15:2-4
Seven angels 15:5-8
The seven bowls of God’s wrath 16:1-21
Painful sores 16:2
Blood 16:3
Blood in the water 16:4
The justice of God’s judgments 16:5-7
Terrible heat 16:8-9
Darkness 16:10-11
Three demons and what they do 16:12-16
A great earthquake and hail 16:17-21
The prostitute and the beast 17:1-18
The fall of Babylon 18:1-24
Joy in heaven and the reason for it 19:1-8
John and the angel 19:9-10
Christ returns in power and glory 19:11-16
A great feast for the birds in the air 19:17-21
The punishment of the beast and false prophet 19:20
Satan’s 1000 year imprisonment 20:1-3
The 1000 year reign of Christ and His people 20:4-6
Satan’s release, its result 20:7-10
The judgment at the great white throne 20:11-15
New heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem 21:1—22:6
God will be with men 21:3-4
God’s promises 21:5,7
The punishment of the unrepentant 21:8
The vision of the city of God 21:9-26
Who gets into the city, who is kept out 21:27
River of the water of life 22:1-2
The glorious future for believers 22:3-5
The last message of the Bible 22:6-21
Jesus is coming 22:7,12,20
Two kind of people, two different futures 22:14-15
The last invitation in the Bible 22:17
The last warning in the Bible 22:18-19
The last prayer in the Bible 22:20
The last word in the Bible – “Amen” 22:21