T HE B IBLE ’ S BOOK OF REVELATION The Purpose of the Book

T HE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION I believe it is necessary to include the following items, tonight, in view of the limited number of talks on this subject: 1. Preliminary thoughts & an overview of the contents of the book 2. Who wrote it? 3. Why was it written? 4. When was it written? 5. Who was it written for? 6. Can we decide upon a basis for exposition? 7. Concluding thoughts

S OME P RELIMINARY THOUGHTS

A K EY IS R EQUIRED TO UNLOCK OUR UNDERSTANDING Christ, alone, can give us the required key to unlock our understanding of his last prophecy: the prophecy of his ‘Apocalypse.’ Christ has been made “holy” or, separated to God, to fulfil all the types and shadows of the Old Testament and the Law of Moses. He is the ‘truth’ or reality to which all that went before in God’s purpose pointed forward. Christ holds the key to an entrance into the Kingdom of God, spoken of in the promise to king David. We take hold of this key when we understand & believe:“the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” and are baptised into his name (Acts 8:12)

P RELIMINARY T HOUGHTS The book of Revelation can appear to present a bewildering array of complex visions and symbols It is actually a very structured book: there are 7 letters to the Churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 Vials (bowls) & 7 thunders. Seven being the number of completion. It begins with the symbolic “son of man” walking among the 7 candlesticks, or 7 representative Churches of Asia Minor and ends with God “tabernacling with” men and “wiping away every tear from their eyes”! It certainly reads like it’s Christ’s last message: Turn to Revelation 22:6-21

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS Did you notice the two “blessings”? (vs.7 & 14) Actually, there are 7 blessings pronounced upon God’s servants in the book of Revelation. Here is the first example: Turn to Rev.1:3

A N OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS OF REVELATION John was told to (Rev.1:19): “write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” The things which thou hast seen is the opening vision of the “son of man” of chapter one, which immediately preceded v19 of chapter one. John wrote of the things which are in the letters to seven churches of chapters two and three Chapters 4-22 comprise the things which shall be hereafter. That is: those chapters consist of a series of historical prophecies, commencing with John’s time, going right through to the kingdom of God, the millennial reign of Christ and even beyond to the climax of God’s purpose with the earth.

W HO WROTE THE BOOK OF REVELATION ? It has at times been disputed as a canonical book, possibly because of its’ castigation of the false Christian system identified under the “harlot” symbol of Revelation It’s clear from the writings of the (so called) early Christian fathers, that is was known and accepted from the earliest times. I see no reason to doubt that it was the Apostle John who actually wrote down this last message of Christ. However: chapter 1:1 reads: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants — things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John (NKJV)

W HO WROTE THE BOOK OF REVELATION ? Revelation is the sort of book: ‘no man could have written if he would, or would have written if he could’! When one understands just how accurately the detailed visions of the book have been fulfilled throughout history, and indeed are still being fulfilled, one has to agree that it can only be a message from God, which he gave to Christ, who “signified it” to us through his angel. The Greek noun ( semeion ) from which “signified” is derived is usually translated “sign” or “miracle.” In other words, the message is presented in a series of miraculous ‘signs’ or symbolic events.

W HY WAS THE BOOK OF REVELATION WRITTEN ? We just quoted v.1: “to show His servants — things which must shortly take place” The book provided information given to Christ by God after his resurrection. Christ admitted to having limited knowledge, prior to his death and resurrection. In his Mt. Olivet prophecy, speaking of events following the destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews and of his own revelation as Israel’s king, he said this (Matt 24:36): "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (NKJV)

W HY WAS THE BOOK OF REVELATION WRITTEN ? Based (it seems) upon the Olivet prophecy, there was a clear expectation in NT times of the early return of Christ to set up his kingdom, perhaps even immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem and it’s temple. For example, from Heb 10:36-37 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay (ESV) o Again, from the letter of James 5:8: You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (ESV)

W HY WAS THE BOOK OF REVELATION WRITTEN ? It was written, I believe, to provide more information for believers as to how long the call of the Gentiles would be. How long would true believers have to endure the persecutions meted out to them: first by the Jews; then by Pagan Roman and finally by a corrupt, ‘Christianised’ Rome – the Roman Catholic Church! The book of Revelation provided the answers: Have a look at Rev. 6:9-11 Again Rev.7:1-3,9,13-17 Further judgements upon the Roman Empire follow in chapters 8 & 9.

W HEN WAS IT WRITTEN ? An important question Important because of the ‘Preterist’ basis of exposition, which sees much of the symbology as fulfilled in the Jewish war with the Romans of AD We are not told in the book when it was written, but an important clue is that the apostle John had been exiled to Patmos, an island off the coast of Asia Minor, when he was given the Revelation. Turn to Revelation 1:9-11 The apostles only left Jerusalem permanently during the war with the Romans, which destroyed it (Acts 8:1) Christ warned them in his Olivet prophecy to leave the city when they saw it “surrounded with armies”(Luke 21:20-24) and knew that “its desolation has come near”

W HEN WAS IT WRITTEN ? From the writings of the early ‘Christian fathers’ we can glean that John set up residence in his latter years - after the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews – in Asia Minor From the letters to the seven churches (Rev.2 & 3) and from his letters 1,2 & 3, we can see that John was well known in his latter years among Gentile Christians. Irenaeus, writing in the 2 nd Century, a leading Christian and a disciple of Polycarp, who was contemporary with John himself, had this to say: “The Apocalypse was seen not long ago, but almost in our generation, near the end of Domitian’s reign.”

W HEN WAS IT WRITTEN ? The Roman Emperor Domitian, brother of Titus, reigned from AD. We saw from Rev.1:9 that John had been exiled to Patmos under “tribulation” (i.e. persecution) when he received the Revelation The ecclesiastical historian Mosheim writes of Domitian: “He was an emperor little inferior to Nero in baseness of character and conduct. His persecution (of Christians) undoubtedly was severe; but it was of short duration, as the emperor was soon murdered.” We conclude that the Revelation was given in the final years of Domitian, probably between AD

W HO WAS IT WRITTEN FOR ? We have seen that the book of Revelation was given to John in his latter years and was addressed to the seven (representative) churches of Asia Minor. We also note that after Christ’s rejection by the nation of the Jews (in the main, that is) they have been replaced by Christians as the primary subjects of Divine favour. Please turn to 1 Peter 2:6-10 Would you therefore think that the book is a Christian prophecy, or a Jewish prophecy? I think we are driven to conclude that Revelation is a Christian prophecy, sent to Christians, in the Christian era.

C AN WE DECIDE UPON A BASIS FOR EXPOSITION ? A number of alternative bases for exposition have been put forward, most notably: The Preterist view – that the prophecy deals with Jewish affairs and was largely fulfilled prior to AD70 The Futurist view – that most of the prophecy relates to latter day events, connected with the restoration of the Jews and the coming of their Messiah (Christ) The Historical view – that the prophecy has been gradually fulfilled throughout the Christian era. That it concerns Christian affairs and Divine judgements upon their persecutors, with the ultimate Revelation (Apocalypse) of Christ as the saviour and rewarder of the faithful and the establishment of his kingdom always in mind.

C AN WE DECIDE UPON A BASIS FOR EXPOSITION ? Bearing in mind what we seen tonight, that Revelation is a Christian prophecy of the Christian era, we can rule out both the Preterist and Futurist interpretations, simply because they make the prophecy a Jewish one, not a Christian. If Revelation was not given before AD70, the Preterist view is anyway completely undermined! The Historical exposition is what we are left with and I believe it to be a sound basis for a correct understand of the book of Revelation. Actually the historical basis used to be strongly favoured amongst Protestants generally, prior to the ecumenical movement, which has sought to heal the rift between Catholics and Protestants. The Historical exposition then lost popularity because it identifies the Romish harlot of Revelation with Roman Catholicism!

C ONCLUDING THOUGHTS I hope our thoughts tonight have ‘set us up’ for next weeks subject on The Structure of the book of Revelation I don’t think we can hope to thoroughly explain this prophecy to you in the four talks of this month (God willing), just put you on the right track. You must do some reading of your own if you want to begin to obtain a good understanding of the book of Revelation. I would particularly recommend the following books as a starting point: Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse – Robert Roberts Revelation Explained – P J Southgate & C J Wharton