1. The Book of Revelation A 24 Week Bible Study

2. Part I: Revealing the End of the Biblical Story …4 Weeks Part II: Interpreting the Book of Revelation …4 Weeks Part III: Taking a Grand Tour of the Book of Revelation …12 Weeks Part IV: The Top Ten?’s …4 Weeks

3. Contents at a Glance Part I : Revealing the End of the Biblical Story….4 Weeks Chapter 1: One Man’s Visions, All Humans’ Fate Chapter 2: Setting the Stage: The Apostle John and the World in Which He Lived Chapter 3: The Prequels: Prophecies throughout the Bible Part II: Interpreting the Book of Revelation 4 Weeks Chapter 4: Choosing a Perspective for Understanding Revelation Chapter 5: Deciphering Symbols with Your Secret Decoder Ring

4. Part III: Taking a Grand Tour of the Book of Revelation…12 Weeks Chapter 6: Setting Up the Scope of the Book (1:1–20) Chapter 7: Reading the Seven Letters to Conflicted Churches (1:19–3:22) Chapter 8: Peeking into the Throne Room (4:1–5:14) Chapter 9: Breaking Seven Seals (6:1–8:1) Chapter 10: Sounding Seven Trumpets (8:2–11:19) Chapter 11: A Woman, a Dragon, Two Beasts, and More! (12:1–14:20) Chapter 12: Seven Angels, Seven Bowls, and a Final Showdown (15:1–18:24) Chapter 13: Coming of the Kingdom (19:1–20:15) Chapter 14: Seeing the New Jerusalem and a Triumphant Church (21:1–22:6) Chapter 15: Promising to Return (22:6–21)

5. Part IV: The Top Ten?’s…4 Weeks Chapter 16: Ten Common Questions about the End Times Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Interpreting Scripture and Prophecy Groundrules 1.No Theological debates 2.Questions directed regarding the subject we are on at the time 3.Questions each week to research and answer 4.7:30 – 8:30…9:00 5.I get to keep and use any good theories as my own.

6. Part I Revealing the End of the Biblical Story

7. The Bible in General The Bible is an integrated document…in order to understand the individual books of the Bible, one must understand the whole, and vice versa. One by one the great themes of Scripture emerge in Genesis and are woven together throughout the Old and New Testaments. In Revelation these themes are all brought back together in a grand consummation of earth history requiring just over 400 verses. Revelation, as it is written, describes events occurring in the heavenly realm and then jumps to consider events happening on earth. However, earth clocks and heavenly clocks are not usually in lock-step! There are many symbols in the book of the Revelation, but most of the book is quite literal and real at the same time. Revelation is easier to understand if one can keep these discontinuities in time in mind--and the transitions back and forth between events in heaven and events taking place on earth. One must stop frequently and ask if something is symbolic or literal--or both. Often "both" is the best answer.

8. Where is the Island of Patmos?? Patmos is in the route between Rome and Ephesus. Christians were persecuted in Ephesus by the Roman emperor Domitian. Tradition states that John was exiled to Patmos in that persecution of 95 A.D., though there seems to be no evidence of it being a penal colony. He lived in a cave with his scribe Prochoros, now called the Cave of the Apocalypse. Prochoros was one of the seven deacons ordained by the Apostles and later became the bishop of Nicodemia. Tradition states the John died in 104 A.D. at the age of 99 and was buried in Ephesus. The new emperor Neva gave John permission to return to Ephesus and continue his ministry.

9. Chapter 1 One Man’s Visions All Humans’ Fate In This Chapter _ Understanding why Revelation is important _ Getting a big-picture look at Revelation _ Discovering the five natural divisions of the book _ Looking for clues to the chronology Many people love fantasy stories populated with strange apparitions. Others love a good mystery. And still others love an adventure story full of action and battle scenes. If you fall into one of those camps, you’re in luck. The book of Revelation is all these and more. But Revelation is a challenging book. This chapter doesn’t try to explore the symbolism behind the events that are chronicled throughout Revelation We begin by painting broad strokes of the structure and content of the final book of the Bible.

10. Why Read Revelation, Anyway? Humans have always had an insatiable curiosity to know their future and what’s going to happen in the “last days.” _ It helps explain the biblical view of God and his relationship with humans. _ It gives readers a glimpse of heaven. _ It offers a message of hope. The first chapter of Revelation serves as a prologue or introduction to the entire book. Its purpose is to provide a context to help you make sense of the rest of the chapters Within the first several verses, you discover that: _ This is an unveiling of the plans of Jesus (from God) (1:1). _ The author is John (1:4). _ The audience is the seven churches of Asia (1:4). _ It was written on the island of Patmos, a Mediterranean island belonging to modern day Greece (1:9). _ Its purpose is to give readers a sneak peek of what will take place (1:1).

11. Although Revelation contains a lot of confusing symbolism and has many interpretations the book actually divides up rather nicely. At the most basic level, you can split Revelation into five major parts: The Basic Structure of Revelation Ch. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 21 22 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Introduction Letters to the Judgments and Vignettes New Beginnings Epilogue Seven Churches God the Father JesusJohn 7 Churches of Asia Angel Other Believers The Passing Down of Revelation…

12. Letters to the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 2–3) Revelation 2–3 details the individual letters that Jesus dictates for the seven churches in Asia. Judgments and vignettes (Rev. 4–20) The primary plot of Revelation 4–20 is a series of progressively severe judgments that are unveiled through seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. These judgments climax with the return of Jesus, the ensuing battle of Armageddon, the Millennium, and the Last Judgment. New beginnings (Rev. 21–22:6) The last you hear of Satan and nonbelievers is at the end of Revelation 20, when they’re thrown into the lake of fire. Epilogue (Rev. 22:7–21) John closes out Revelation with an epilogue that marks the end of the prophecy.

13. One of the keys to understanding Revelation is in 1:19. In this passage, Jesus instructs John, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later.” However, the interpretation that seems to best fit the original grammar of the passage as well as the structure of the book itself is a threefold timing of events: past tense, present tense, and future tense. _ The vision he has already seen (Rev. 1) _ The current state of the seven churches (Rev. 2–3) _ The events that will take place in the future (Rev. 1– 22)

14. Ch. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 21 22 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 What you What is now What will happen later have seen What did John Write About How do the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls Interact SEALS 6,7 TRUMPETS 6,7 BOWLS 16, 17 Second Coming 19 20 Millennium Final Judgment 20 21 New Heaven & New Earth 21 22

15. Monitoring the Book’s Timeline One of the biggest problems most people have with the book of Revelation is that they expect a traditional, linear model of storytelling. However, once in a while, a story comes along that, like the book of Revelation doesn’t fit into this storytelling model. And then some: Interpreting transition phrases Revelation is littered with scores of transition phrases that imply timing. The primary examples include “then I saw,” “and I saw,” “after this,” and “after these things.” Strictly speaking, these transitions may not always translate to the order of prophetic events. Parallelism: Watching things go down at the same time Revelation has a flow of events, but how each section fits into the timeline isn’t always apparent. Perhaps the most obvious example is Revelation 12’s story of the woman in the desert, which is told in two ways in different places in the chapter (12:6 and 12:13– 17). A second example, though more contested, is the 3.5-year period mentioned several times throughout the book (11:3, 12:6, 12:14, and 13:5).

16. CHAPTER 1 REVIEW QUESTIONS: Please place your name on this sheet, photocopy your questions and answers on a separate sheet of paper and turn in at the beginning of class Q1.1 What is the purpose for the Book of Revelation? Q1.2 Why is Revelation so difficult to understand? Q1.3 If I hear someone read the book of Revelation, what is the blessing I will receive? [Rev 1:3] Q1.4 Who greets the seven churches in Asia Minor and what is the meaning of this greeting? [Rev 1:4-5] Q1.5 Why is the Son of Man (Jesus) now portrayed as so awesome, majestic and fearful in Revelation? Isn't He supposed to be the humble Savior who takes away the sins of the world? [Rev 1:10-20]