Dear Friend,
Do you find it difficult to understand the Book of Revelation? If so, keeping these basic facts in mind can help:
1. The Book of Revelation is not the revelation of John, but of Jesus Christ.
2. The purpose of the Revelation was to "reveal."
3. The Revelation letter addresses a select group of people.
4. The Book of Revelation is written in symbolic language.
5. The agent of the Revelation is not a celestial being.
6. The Book of Revelation includes events of the past, present, and future.
7. The Book of Revelation is written in seven series.
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Basic Truth #1
The Book of Revelation is not the revelation of John, but of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
• Revelation of divine truth must come by Jesus Christ.
• Revelation (or an understanding of truth) is a divine property, and ownership has not been relinquished to any man. Ownership implies control and management. God can give to whom He desires or withhold from whom He desires.
• Many in religion are, as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:7, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." It is God's desire that we come to a knowledge of Truth.
• First Timothy 2:4 states, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Truth does not come though human means, only through divine revelation.
• In Job 32:8 Elihu acknowledged the same truth mentioned in Revelation 1:1. He said, "The Almighty giveth them understanding." Both of these Scriptures speak of truth as a property given.
• In order to understand the symbols that are used in the Revelation, we must have a key. It is necessary that we have keys to everything. Without keys our vaults, our automobiles, and our homes would remain locked. Jesus said in Revelation 1:18,
"I . . . have the keys of hell and of death." He has the keys to all eternal things. He said in John 13:3 that the Father put all things into His hands. In Revelation 3:7, we read of Jesus, ". . . he that hath the key of David . . . openeth; and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth."
• Paul said that God "will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Beyond salvation, there is much truth to be understood about the Revelation.
Basic Truth #2
The purpose of the Revelation was to "reveal."
Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
• The word Revelation is translated from the original Greek word apokalupsis, which means "an uncovering."
• The word apokalupsis consists of two parts: apo (away from) and kalupsis (a hiding or veiling). Therefore, the word apokalupsis means "an unhiding, the taking away of a veil, a revealing."
• In order to understand the symbols that are used in the Revelation, we must have a key. It is necessary that we have keys to everything. Without keys our vaults, our automobiles, and our homes would remain locked. Jesus said in Revelation 1:18,
"I . . . have the keys of hell and of death." He has the keys to all eternal things. He said in John 13:3 that the Father put all things into His hands. In Revelation 3:7 we read this of Jesus: ". . . he that hath the key of David . . . openeth; and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth."
Basic Truth #3
The Book of Revelation addresses a select group of people.
Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
• The words "his servants" are plural, not singular (not just for John).
• In Romans 6:22 Paul identified these servants: "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God . . . ." The servants of God are people who are free from sin.
Therefore, the Revelation, or the unveiling of truth, is for all who are free from sin.
Basic Truth #4
The Book of Revelation is written in symbolic language.
Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
• The Greek word for signified is semaino, which means "expressing by signs, to make known, to give a sign."
• Webster's New World Dictionary states that a sign is a "mark or a symbol having a specific meaning."
• The word sign comes from the Latin word signum, and the original Anglo-Saxon word means "token." A token is something serving as a symbol. Thus, the word signified means "made known by symbol and figure."
• Symbolic language is used because men in a lost condition, according to the Bible, are deaf and blind; they cannot comprehend spiritual things. First Corinthians 2:14 tells us, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." If God ever gets spiritual truth to a natural man, He has to use a parable. He has to bring spiritual things down to an earthly level where man can understand.
• Figurative language is not confined just to the Revelation. It is used throughout the Bible to teach spiritual lessons. This is how we answer all the symbols in Revelation. For every symbol there is another Scripture in the Bible that will let us know what the symbol represents.
• Words may be interpreted in many different ways, but symbols cannot. There is only one meaning when a symbol is used.
Basic Truth #5
The agent of the Revelation is not a celestial being.
Revelation 1:1 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
• The Greek word for angel is aggelos, which means "a messenger, minister, or pastor."
• Revelation 1:20 says, "The seven stars are the angel [aggelos, or messengers] of the seven churches [the Greek says 'congregation'] . . . ."
• Each of the seven letters in Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3, was penned to "the angel."
• The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:12, "Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." The clear implication is that angels are unable to comprehend the things of the Spirit. Why? Because they are not
creatures of choice. They have no mortal body to contend with. Since they have never succumbed to sin or been tempted, they have no need of redemption. With that in mind, celestial angels would not be the angels of the congregations spoken of in Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3.
Therefore, the agent of the Revelation is a God-called, Holy Ghost-filled preacher. Revelation of God's truth is revealed through the Spirit, yet God uses human instrumentality to bring it to men.
Basic Truth # 6
The Book of Revelation includes events of the past, present, and future.
• Revelation 1:19 gives a clear scope of the Revelation, stating, "Write the things thou hast seen [past tense], and the things which are [present tense], and the things which shall be hereafter [future tense].
• When the Apostle John received the Revelation (approximately A.D. 96), the Gospel Day had already been operating for sixty-three years (since A.D. 33). Therefore, some of these scenes were things that had already taken place, some were taking place as a present-tense reality, and others would take place in other portions of the Gospel Day.
• There is much truth to be understood about the events portrayed in the Revelation. One of those events is the great battle of Armageddon, the battle of truth against error, which has been going on ever since the Garden of Eden. If we are going to carry on in our walk with Christ, we must know who our enemies are. This is the reason the devil keeps men in darkness. However, the Word of God has been given to bring understanding in these areas.
Basic Truth #7
The Book of Revelation is written in seven series.
The Revelation is not written like a chapter book; it is written in seven series. Each series begins in a certain place in the Revelation and carries the reader through a portion of the Gospel Day, the threshold of the Second Coming of Christ. A new series then starts with the next chapter.
Careful study of the Revelation proves that it is a prophecy of the church, of her conflict with the many adversaries, beginning with Christ's first advent and climaxing with the Second Coming of Christ, which will bring the destruction of the earth and the heavens. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches anything, beyond that, except the judgment scene.
The seven series in the Revelation are as follows:
• Series One: Chapters 1-3 are the letters to the seven churches in Asia, or letters that cover seven periods of time.
• Series Two: Chapters 4 and 5 are a vision of God's throne, the government of the church and the opening of God's plan of salvation.
• Series Three: Chapters 6-11 show the opening of the seven seals and the consequences that follow.
• Series Four: Chapter 12 portrays the parental phase of the church, showing 1) the pure woman, the church, bringing forth her new converts and 2) the power of pagan Rome working in that day to devour those converts.
• Series Five: Chapters 13-19 show the false systems of religion brought forth by the devil and how the church overcame them.
• Series Six: Chapter 20 is a series in itself, picturing the binding and the loosing of the dragon.
• Series Seven: Chapters 21 and 22 give a clear vision of the church in the evening time, letting us see that she is just as complete, perfect, and powerful in the evening time as she was in the morning time.
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