Our Goal

Outline

• Introduction
• Genre of Revelation
• Why was Revelation written?
• Structure of Revelation
• Major Interpretive Approaches
• Where To Go From Here

Introduction

Who wrote Revelation?

Who is this John?

• Definitely NOT pseudonymous.
• Pseudonymity is the practice of an author ascribing authorship of their work to a prominent figure for various reasons, such as increased merit. (Ex: 1 Enoch).
• Either apostle john or  some other John.  Scholars disagree.
• Personal observation: note that John never refers to himself as "the one whom Jesus loved" in Rev despite having an intimate encounter with Jesus. Why would he not do that?
• Yet OTOH, earliest witnesses in the early church attribute the book to the apostle John. It was only later on in the third century that this was disputed, first by Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria. (Seal, D. (2016). Revelation, Book of. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.)
• (IMHO, most likely "the one whom Jesus loved")
• Ultimately, not terribly important which John wrote it.
• Had prophetic recognition within the church. Rev 1:3

When did John compose Revelation?

Genre of Revelation

Apocalypse

• The human recipient of the revelation sees dramatic visions from otherworldly/heavenly beings involving a mixture of otherworldly and earthly elements.
• High usage of symbology, numerology and patterns. 
• Due to the otherworldly sights, the imagery is fantastical. (Ex: multi-headed dragons, anthropomorphic beings with unnatural number of limbs, etc.)
• The interpretation of the vision is always mediated by an otherworldly being as part of the vision(s).
• Pseudonymous authorship in order to give a sense of ancient authority. Classic example: the Book of Enoch.
• But “John” is not a pseudonymous author! This John had authority among the churches of Asia Minor.
• The revelations were to be written down and sealed up for a future time.
• But John was not asked to seal it up for a future time. What he was observing was imminent!
• Soaked in OT allusions, especially the prophetic books (Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, Zechariah).
• Concerned with the eschaton, i.e. the "final state" of the progression of history. The end of the present age and the beginning of the new age.

Prophecy

Epistle

Why was Revelation Written?

Narrative Structure of Revelation

Introduction to John's Letter (Rev 1-3)

John introduces himself as an authoritative bearer of the revelation (apocalypse) of Jesus Christ, Who has revealed it to him. The prophetic revelation concerns things that "must soon take place" and so the reader is exhorted to understand and obey these words.

Christ and the Church are introduced. Jesus is the "Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty", the "ruler of kings on earth". The Church is a kingdom of priests to God by virtue of Jesus's salvific blood. John sees in a vision Jesus appearing in an otherworldly manner that is a fusion of a bunch of imagery in Daniel 7. (Note that the imagery of the Ancient of Days from Daniel 7 is fused with Jesus here!). Jesus asks John to write letters to the 7 churches in Asia Minor. (These could be representative of all churches given the symbolism of the number 7 as "whole" or "complete".) In summary, Jesus is reminding the churches that: persecution is real and was promised by Him; more persecution is to come; various churches have various positives that they should keep up as well as various faults that they must overcome; only those who persevere till the very end (death) in faithfulness to Him will be the "conquerors" and the beneficiaries of His rewards.

Setting the Stage: Vision of God and the Lamb (Rev 4-5)

God's throne room is introduced. God is seated on His throne and is surrounded by 4 cherubim (cf. Ezekiel 1). It's all an awesome sight and alludes to many OT prophetic visions of Him. Special note: His council now includes 24 "elders". Some theorize that these might actually be HUMAN, and not heavenly beings! Those who theorize as such postulate that these are symbolic of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. God presents a scroll with seven seals and the challenge is posed, "is there anyone worthy to open the scroll?" Nobody was found worthy except for Jesus, the conquering Lion of Judah who is the Lamb who was slain. His blood has ransomed God's people from all over the world to be God's kingdom of priests. They will reign on the earth with Him. The entire heavenly and earthly realm worship God and the Lamb in utter awe at this proclamation.

First Set of Seven: Seals (Rev 6-8:5)

	The first four seals are opened in sequence, and these correspond to what is popularly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse (cf. Zechariah 1, 6:1-8) White = Conquest Red = War Black = Famine Pale = Death
	The fifth seal is opened. Those who were martyred for their witness to the gospel of Jesus are under an altar and they cry out to God asking Him when He will avenge their blood and judge those on the earth that are against Him and His people. God replies that they need to rest some more until the full number of the martyrs is achieved, i.e. until the rest of the Christians who are to die for their witness have died.
	The sixth seal is opened. The cosmos is disrupted, for God is finally pouring out His righteous wrath on the earth. This is the Day of the Lord. Some commentators note a relation between Jesus's Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:1-35). The only ones who can withstand the wrath of God are His chosen people who are "sealed" or marked/set apart from the world. (This should evoke Passover memories as well cf. the destroyer omitting houses which have blood on the doorposts). These are 144000 people from the tribes of Israel (12000 per tribe). But then an innumerable crowd composed of people from all over the world are praising God and the Lamb and ascribing to them their salvation. These are identified as martyrs "coming out of the great tribulation". Thus, the full number of the martyrs is accomplished and judgement can continue on the earth. The entire heavenly realm worships God for this awesome occurrence.
	The seventh seal is opened. The prayers of the martyrs are gathered up and judgement on earth ensues.

Second Set of Seven: Trumpets (Rev 8:6-11:19)

	The four trumpets are blown in sequence, and they bear strong resemblances to the Exodus plagues that God afflicted upon Egypt in order to "let My people go!" Hail + Fire = Hailfire. (Mixed with blood too, actually) Sea turned into blood. Poisoned rivers and springs. Extended darkness. The fifth trumpet is blown. A bottomless pit is opened and a host of humanoid locusts swarm out and are assigned to torture those who are against God on the earth, i.e. those who do not have "the seal of God on their foreheads", for a set period of time. Some interpret these locusts due to the description of their appearance to be barbarian hordes that were a threat to Rome. Others interpret these to be demons. The sixth trumpet is blown. More torment is inflicted on the rebellious earth. Four angels (probably demons, since they were "bound" at the Euphrates) are released and they lead hordes of apparently demonic armies to afflict the earth. Some think that the four angels are actually the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
	But despite all of this, the survivors of the above 6 plagues did not repent of their evil (idolatory, violent injustice, sexual immorality, divination).
	The vision interludes into another one involving a mighty angel performing some mighty signs and commanding John not to write these specific ones but to seal them up, which is a departure from the rest of the visions. This sealed mystery will be fulfilled by God when the seventh trumpet sounds. Two prophets who are witnesses of God are introduced. They are assigned to prophesy for a period of 1260 days. (Some commentators see this as an an allusion to the 1290 days from Daniel 12). They will successfully witness for this duration.
	Then the two witnesses are killed by a beast that arises from the aforementioned bottomless pit. The rebellious unbelievers of the earth rejoice at this for a period. But then the witnesses are resurrected and are vindicated. They are also ascended up to heaven. (This is very reminiscent of Christ's death, resurrection and ascension). A great earthquake shakes the earth and thousands are killed. The survivors give glory to God, perhaps alluding to true repentance among the survivors.
	Finally, the seventh trumpet is blown. The entire heavenly realm proclaims the final triumph of God and Christ over the world and the final establishment of His kingdom on earth. The theme is the kingdom of God and Christ—a dual kingdom, eternal in its duration. The image suggests the transference of the world empire that, once dominated by a usurping power, has now at length passed into the hands of its true Owner and King. Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Revelation, Book Of. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1852). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. God's heavenly temple is revealed to hold the  ark of His covenant.

Excursus: The Seven Signs (Rev 12-14)

	Genesis 3:15-16 is masterfully fused into the next few "signs" or "symbols". A pregnant woman (presumably representing Eve) is introduced, and she is laboring for her child to be born in great agony. This child is the Messiah.
	The great dragon - the Devil/Satan - shows up and awaits anxiously beside the woman ready to pounce on the child once he comes out of her womb. His mission fails. The child is protected and the woman is preserved for a time.
	A heavenly war breaks out and the dragon is defeated and is thrown down to the earth. His defeat is linked to the blood of the Lamb (Christus Victor) and the perseverance of the martyrs. The dragon is furious and spends his short allotted time on earth persecuting the offspring of the woman, i.e. those who are faithful to God and Christ.
	The dragon brings forth the two infamous beasts. The beast from the sea and the beast from the earth, the latter being referred to as the false prophet. They exercise authority over all in the earth who are not of Christ  and deceive them with signs and wonders. (This is why the false prophet is colloquially referred to as the anti-christ, which is a concept from 2 Thess 2:3-4 and 1 John 2:18, 4:3). Those who bear the infamous "mark of the beast" are contrasted with those who wear the Shema on their forehead, i.e. those who are sealed by God. You either worship God, or you worship the dragon and his beasts.
	The people of God are called to endure the oppression from the dragon's beasts until the very end, because in the end they will overcome and inherit the New Jerusalem. On the other hand, those who collude with the beasts will join the beasts in God's judgement. A clear allusion is made to Matthew 13:41-42 where Jesus says that He will come with His angels to reap the harvest. This transitions to the "last plagues". After them, the wrath of God against evil will be complete.

Final Set of Seven: Bowls of Judgement (Rev 15-16)

	One of the 4 cherubim hands over seven bowls filled with the wrath of God. Chaos ensues! The first five bowls are poured out on the earth in sequence and they are yet another allusion to the Exodus plagues. Sores come upon people Sea turns to blood Rivers and springs turn to blood (basically all bodies of water are now blood) Fierce heat from the sun Darkness And yet again, the people do not repent!
	The sixth bowl is poured out and the Euphrates river dries up. This is significant given the Babylon imagery. This river was fundamental to Babylonian existence, similar to what the Nile was to the Egyptians. The beasts assemble the whole army of the rebellious world to wage war against God on the Day of the Lord. While Armageddon may refer to the plain of Megiddo, there is good reason to believe that it is actually Jerusalem (cf. chapter 41 of Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael Heiser).
	The seventh bowl is poured and the whole earth endures God's wrath once again.

The Fall of Babylon (Rev 17-19:5)

Babylon is represented as a prostitute that feasts on the blood of the people of God with whom the prominent rulers of the earth have colluded. She also wields great economic power among the nations and lives an indulgent, lavish life. She is haughty and immoral. But she will be judged one day and all those who colluded with her will be so stunned at her state that they will feel sorry for her. Babylon is referred to as the great city. Many commentator are convinced that Babylon refers to ancient Rome, the context of persecution against the early Christians.

The Millennium (Rev 19:6-20:6)

After the judgement against Babylon is proclaimed, a myriad of loud voices proclaim with jubilance that the marriage of the Lamb (Jesus) and the Bridge (Church) has arrived. Then Jesus comes on a white horse in glorious array with a robe dipped in blood accompanied by the armies of heaven and overcomes the deceived nations. This leaves behind a bloodbath of an aftermath. The two beasts are thrown into the infamous lake of fire where they will be tormented forever. Jesus has achieved rulership over the earth!

An angel with the key to the bottomless pit  grabs the dragon and throws him into it, shutting it and sealing it for "a thousand years". This is known as the millennium and is arguably the most fascinating and controversial part of Revelation. The dragon will not be allowed to deceive the nations until the end of this period. John sees thrones upon which the resurrected martyrs - those who faithfully resisted the dragon + beasts even to death - are seated. This is called the first resurrection, and they are slated to reign with Christ during this millennium. At this point, the universal resurrection of the dead has not occurred - just the martyrs.

Final Judgement of the Cosmos (Rev 20:7-15)

	After the millennium, Satan (the dragon) IS released from the bottomless pit and he deceives the nations and assembles them for a final battle against Jerusalem, the city of God's people. Fire from heaven decisively destroys this attempt and the dragon is thrown into the lake of fire to be tormented forever.
	God enters the scene (presumably with His heavenly council) and the entire cosmos is disrupted. He is ready to judge The dead across all times and places are judged by God according to their deeds. Those whose names are not written in the book of Life, are thrown into the lake of fire. Death (and Hades) itself is thrown into the lake of fire!

New Heaven, New Earth, The Bride of Christ (Rev 21-22:5)

Epilogue (Rev 22:6-21)

• Will: those who have "washed" their robes. Presumably by the blood of Christ,
• Won't: “Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.” (Revelation 22:15, NLT)

How to Interpret Revelation?

1. the seals, trumpets and bowls are parallel to each other, in that they are referring to the same themes and turn of events but increasingly reveal more details; OR
2. they are distinct, sequential events that will occur (or have already occurred) in the given order.

Preterist

• This view espouses that most of the book's prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70 when Jerusalem was sacked by Rome. The more viable form of this view concedes that the final judgement is yet to take place.
• Read this article for more info: https://www.tektonics.org/esch/pretsum.php
• The first problem is that of necessitating an early date for the book to be written, i.e. pre-70 AD. This is apparently tricky to reconcile.
• Another problem is that Babylon is never used in the OT prophecies to refer to Israel. Additionally, the judgements in Revelation almost always include the keywords referring to the peoples of the world ("nations"), not just Israel.

• This form holds that Revelation is a prophecy of the fall of the Roman Empire, “Babylon the Great,” the persecutor of the saints, in the fifth century A.D.
• This version is more viable than the first form because of the later dating and also because Rome is a more probable identification of “Babylon” than Jerusalem.
• The main difficulty is that of understanding many of the apparent prophecies of final judgment as being already fulfilled in the fall of the Roman Empire during the fifth century AD. In other words, this view must justify that the eschaton arrived in the 5th century AD.
• A variant form of this view is that John was simply wrong about the final judgement prophecies. (Not a great view).
• (My $0.02: This is the weakest form of Preterism.)

Historicist

• Typically some parts of the Apocalypse are identified as predicting the invasions of the Christianized Roman Empire by the Goths and the Muslims.
• Some more predictions:
• the corruptions of the medieval papacy
• the reign of Charlemagne
• the Protestant Reformation
• the French Revolution
• Hitler

Futurist

1. the restoration of ethnic Israel to its land;
2. the church’s rapture into heaven;
3. a seven-year tribulation;
4. the antichrist’s reign;
5. the assembly of evil nations to fight over Jerusalem;
6. Christ’s second coming, when he defeats the evil nations;
7. Christ's millennial reign;
8. Satan’s final rebellion at the end of the millennium, when he gathers together unbelievers from throughout the world to fight against Christ and the saints;
9. lastly, Christ’s eternal reign together with the saints in a new heaven and a new earth.

Idealist

Mix and Match

What about the Millennium?

• Pre-Millennialism
• Premillennialism holds that Christ will return to inaugurate this time period. Since He has not come back yet, the Millennium cannot be equated with anything in the present.
• Christ will return, resurrect those who were martyred on His account, and co-rule the earth with them until Satan is released again.
• Post-Millennialism
• Christ will return to earth at the end of the millennium period, to shut down Satan's final attempt to thwart Christ's dominion.
• Note that a) the martyrs refer to ALL Christians, not just those who have been literally killed for Jesus, and b) Christ will rule the earth THROUGH the Church while Himself still being in heaven.
• In other words, just because Revelation states that the resurrected martyrs will rule with Christ, it doesn't mean that Christ is physically present on earth with them.
• A-Millennialism
• The 1000-year period should be taken metaphorically. There will not be an actual millennium experience between Christ's first and second comings.  (Note that the first coming of Jesus is when He was here on earth and died on the cross).
• What's the metaphor pointing to? Some options:
• It is pointing to nothing other than the final resurrection and glorification of Christians in the New Heaven and New Earth; the New Age to come.
• It refers to the present time between the first and second comings of Jesus.
• Note that if this is true, then Satan is presently bound in chains in the bottomless pit and is powerless against the whole world. This means that all the evil that occurs in the world is fully the responsible of humans and has zero influence by Satan or his minions.

Where to Go from Here

1. Read Revelation again fairly quickly in 1 sitting; absorb all of the imagery without diving too deep.
2. Repeat step 1 two more times. You want to properly understand the structure and become familiar with all of the scenes in John's vision.
3. Separate the book into its scenes and study the imagery.
4. Make connections with the OT.
1. Commentaries will be helpful.
2. It will also be super helpful to read Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah and Jeremiah once or twice so that the connections to the OT arise naturally.
5. After obtaining a decent understanding of each scene, put them all together and see if you better understand what John is trying to communicate. Discuss your findings with your friends.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you fully understand Revelation. If both you and I are still alive at that point, please do not hesitate to share with me your wisdom :)

Recommended Resources

• Dr. Michael Heiser's series on Revelation at the Naked Bible Podcast. Here's the first episode.
• Study Bibles like Faithlife Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, etc.
• Bible Project
• https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/revelation-1-11/
• https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/revelation-12-22/
• Commentaries:
• The Book of Revelation. G. K. Beale. (This one's a really good commentary).
• Revelation: Four Views. Steve Gregg.
• The chapter of the book we're going through; How to Read the Bible For All its Worth. Fee & Stuart.
• Dictionaries
• Lexham Bible Dictionary
• Baker Encyclopaedia of the Bible