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Getting
Started with the Book of Revelation
“For
the revelation awaits an appointed time; it
speaks of
the end and will not prove false. Though it
linger, wait
for it; it will certainly come and will not
delay.”
-
Habakkuk 2:3
The
Big Picture
In the simplest terms,
the book of Daniel reveals two great truths for
the final generation. First, the five prophecies
in Daniel operate like “our
Grandfather’s” clock that is faithfully
counting off the years, which God has
predetermined for the duration of sin. In this
sense, the rise and fall of kingdoms are like the
swing of a great pendulum. The second truth
is that God has a definite plan for Earth. He has
not abandoned or forgotten this tiny fallen
planet. God is not preoccupied with more
important things in His ever-expanding universe.
With infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, God has
identified the nations of Earth and their
duration. He has numbered each of our years and
limited sin’s existence. (Daniel 2:45; 4:17;
5:26) The book of Daniel emphasizes this second
point by deliberately using six prophetic time
periods.
The book of Revelation
also contains two great truths for the final
generation. First, Jesus is not to be confused
with the icon that people have made Him to be.
During the past 2,000 years, Christianity has
distorted the character, authority and teachings
of Jesus, and a great gulf exists between
today’s degenerate perception of Jesus and
the actual truth about Jesus. During the Great
Tribulation, this icon will be shattered and the
truth of Jesus will unfold. The second truth is
that humanity has a malicious and deadly enemy
who is intent on our destruction. Because we
cannot see Lucifer and his angels, we grossly
overlook the fact that Lucifer and his demons
have a powerful influence over the attitudes,
decisions and passions of people. Therefore, our
perception of life and human history is
incomplete because we cannot see the intervention
and influence of demons. However, this will
change. During the Great Tribulation, God will
permit the final generation to see Lucifer and
his demons physically so that incarnate evil
might be fully exposed. (Revelation 17:8)
When the books of Daniel
and Revelation are properly aligned, one
harmonious story unfolds. Daniel reveals that
Earth’s days are numbered and Revelation
discloses the importance and majesty of Jesus.
These two books assure us of a wonderful truth:
In God’s time, righteousness will triumph
over evil and the saints will inherit the earth.
Jesus will use circumstances during the Great
Tribulation to separate people who love truth and
righteousness from those who do not. At the end
of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will appear in
the clouds of the brightest glory, majestically
personifying the values and ideals for which many
saints will die.
Obstacles
in Understanding Revelation
Before we examine the
book of Revelation, a few introductory words may
be helpful. Everyone, including me, approaches
the book of Revelation with ignorance, bias and
baggage. Because apocalyptic prophecy
reveals the comprehensive ways of God, the books
of Daniel and Revelation are not easy to
understand at first. It takes determined effort
to become acquainted with all of the parts and
pieces. For this reason, Jesus promised to
generously bless us with inexpressible joy and
peace if we push forward with determination to
understand His Word. (Hebrews 11:6; Revelation
1:3) Various obstacles often skew the intended
meaning of prophecy and here are three
significant hurdles that you should consider.
1. Traditional
Views Conflict with End Time Truth
Because the book of
Daniel was sealed until the time of the end
(Daniel 12:4,9), we must realize that Daniel
cannot be completely understood until the
appointed time arrives. As it turns out, the
intended meaning of Revelation has also been
sealed because many prophecies in Revelation
depend upon certain facts established in the book
of Daniel. The net effect is that traditional
views on prophecy become obsolete when Daniel is
unsealed. Discarding the old and embracing the
new is not easy, but we have to press forward in
faith. Longstanding views on Daniel and
Revelation cannot be deemed accurate and reliable
unless they conform to the rules found in Daniel.
Since the rules of
interpretation were sealed in the book of Daniel,
there was no need for God to seal the book of
Revelation. (Revelation 22:10) When these books
are properly aligned, we can observe that Daniel
mainly concerns the past and Revelation mainly
concerns the future. We also learn that Daniel
and Revelation overlap on five prophetic events.
This overlapping is important because it proves
that Revelation uses the same rules as Daniel. We
have twenty-six centuries of history and
fulfilled prophecy with which to test and verify
the rules in Daniel. If we apply Daniel’s
rules to Revelation, we find perfect harmony
between Daniel and Revelation. Once we have
confidence in the validity of the rules, we then
assemble and understand obscure and mysterious
portions of Scripture with a higher degree of
certainty.
During the past two
thousand years, Bible prophecy has received a lot
of interest, but not much respect. The problem is
that prophetic views come and go like newspapers.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of prophetic views
have been published, and few of them have proven
to have any lasting value. Nevertheless, Bible
prophecy continues to be a subject of interest
because human beings are inherently interested in
“future telling.” Unfortunately, the
failure of prophetic exposition in ages past has
predisposed many Christians to fall for the
argument that a careful examination of prophecy
is not important. Many Christians justify their
indifference toward Daniel and Revelation with
this argument: “All that matters is my
salvation.” Loving the Lord and submitting
to the authority of Jesus is the first step in
salvation, but learning and growing into the
character of Christ (sanctification) through a
study of His Word is not optional. (Ephesians 4;
1 Thessalonians 4; Revelation 2 and 3) Bible
prophecy reveals God’s character, plans and
purposes. Is it possible to truly love our
Savior, eagerly await His arrival, and yet refuse
to examine His purposes and plans? Could our
perception of God and the reality of God be
improperly aligned in our thinking? In other
words, will you be able to explain and justify
the actions of God to others when His wrath
breaks out against Earth? This is one of the
benefits of understanding Bible prophecy. We have
time to study and reflect on the ways of God so
that when He does act, we will not be overwhelmed
with surprise or discouragement.
We live in a world of
many diverse religions that have enormous
blinding power, so God has to level the playing
field for all mankind during the Great
Tribulation. He will test everyone with a simple
test that will not favor any religious body!
Everyone will be forced into making the same
simple choice. The choice will be whether to
reject traditional views that are vigorously
defended by religious leaders, or accept the new
light shinning from God’s Word. God will
test Christians and non-Christians to see who
will receive His truth and reject their religious
heritage. Of course, this will be very hard to
do. Jewish leaders could not bring themselves to
do it when Jesus came to Earth. Later, Catholic
leaders would not accept the claims of
Protestants when Luther revealed God’s truth
to them. Unfortunately, the book of Revelation
predicts religious systems of the last generation
will not be able to abandon their traditions when
the truth is finally revealed. However, there
will be individuals who will abandon the old and
grasp the new because they love truth. If we
exalt religion and our longstanding traditions
above the clearest presentation and evidences of
God’s truth, is that blasphemy? (Mark 7:7)
However, giving up a “comfortable”
church family for the isolation that often
follows a new understanding of God’s Word
can be a very large obstacle. Incidentally, this
same obstacle hindered Nicodemus’ interest
in Jesus for several years. (John 3)
2. Revelation
Depends on Daniel
The book of Revelation is
a continuation of the book of Daniel. If the book
of Daniel is not properly understood, the book of
Revelation cannot be correctly understood either.
These two books produce one integrated story
written by two men who lived about seven hundred
years apart. Because God designed the visions
given to Daniel and John, they are in perfect
harmony and, together, produce a matrix of data,
which positions the timing of each prophetic
event. This matrix spans more than 3,500 years
and includes all the prophetic elements found in
Daniel and Revelation. Some elements in
Revelation require the timing established in
Daniel to make sense, and the opposite is also
true. The story that unfolds from both books is
comprehensive, and it takes diligence, time and
determination to mentally surround all of the
parts and pieces. Unfortunately,, this
prerequisite is a serious obstacle for many
people who are too busy to study God’s Word.
3. Five
Essential Bible Doctrines
The books of Daniel and
Revelation require an understanding of five
essential Bible doctrines (the five S’s)
shown below:
1.
Salvation through faith in Christ
2.
The State of man in death
3.
The Second Coming
4.
God’s seventh day Sabbath
5.
God’s use of parallel Sanctuaries or temples
Notice how these
doctrines contribute to Revelation’s story.
First, the doctrine of salvation through faith in
Jesus explains how a numberless multitude of
people, coming from every culture, religion,
nation and language, will be saved during the
Great Tribulation. (Revelation 7:9-14) Second,
the doctrine of soul sleep explains the necessity
of two resurrections – the resurrection of
the righteous will occur at the Second Coming and
the resurrection of the wicked will occur at the
end of the thousand years. Since people do not go
to Heaven or Hell at the time of death, the
doctrine of parallel temples explains why and
when the judgment of mankind occurs. The judgment
of the dead began in 1844 and the judgment of the
living will begin with the commencement of the
Great Tribulation. The perpetuity of the Ten
Commandments, particularly the fourth
commandment, explains, in part, how the world
will be trapped in a conflict over worship during
the Great Tribulation. The laws of Babylon and
the Antichrist will oppose the laws of God. The
conflict over worship will separate the people of
Earth. One group will choose to obey God’s
commandments, while the other group will choose
to obey the laws of Babylon and the devil.
Finally, the
comprehensive doctrine of the Second Coming
merges apocalyptic prophecy into a grand
schematic revealing God’s plan to terminate
the problem of sin. Since most of Christianity
rejects one or more of the five doctrines, most
Christians struggle to understand the intended
meaning of Daniel and Revelation. This is most
unfortunate because the five essential doctrines
explain “why” God will do what He has
to do, and apocalyptic prophecy reveals
“how” and “when” God will do
all that, He has to do.
God’s Word is so
vast and man is so finite. Even though the book
of Revelation contains a mere 617 sentences, it
speaks volumes. Contrary to what many people
think, the book of Revelation is not concentrated
on the end of the world! Instead, the book of
Revelation is focused on revealing of Jesus
Christ and His termination of the sin problem.
The book of Revelation describes an intricate
process that climaxes with the glorious
disclosure that Jesus Christ has the same
authority, power and prerogatives as God the
Father. This is why the last book in the Bible is
named, “The Revelation of Jesus
Christ.” (Revelation 1:1)
It is ironic that many
people call this book by its shortened name,
“Revelation,” or
“Revelations,” without realizing that
it predicts the revealing of Jesus. Most
Christians associate the book of Revelation with
the Antichrist or mysterious beasts rather than
the Lamb of God. This perception will change for
many people during the Great Tribulation.
Man’s great need of Jesus will become
evident during the Great Tribulation. The good
news, beaming from the book of Revelation, is
that we have an Almighty Savior in Jesus if we
are willing to love Him and submit to His
authority. The bad news is that we have an
omnipotent enemy in Jesus Christ if we cling to
falsehood and insist on rebelling against Him.
For this reason, the book of Revelation describes
Jesus as a lamb and a lion. When He appears in
glory, the righteous will see Him as “a
lamb” slain for the foundation of the world,
and the wicked will see “a lion” from
the tribe of Judah.
Five
Types of Prophecy in the Bible
1. Messianic
prophecies: These prophecies concern the
appearing and ministry of Jesus in either His
first or second advent. Some scholars say there
are more than 450 Messianic statements or
prophecies in the Bible. Here are two examples of
Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament: Isaiah
53 and Psalms 22. Here are three examples of
Messianic prophecies in the New Testament: John
14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew
26:64.
2. Judaic
prophecies: These prophecies were given to the
biological offspring of Abraham. When God renewed
His covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai, He
promised to send blessing or curses depending on
Israel’s faithfulness to the terms and
conditions stipulated in the covenant. (Exodus
19, Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28) This is a point
that many Christians overlook, even though the
Bible clearly states the promise contains the
possibility of blessings, as well as curses. Most
of the wonderful things God promised to Israel
were not fulfilled because Israel repeatedly
violated their covenant. Therefore, God
implemented the curses instead of the blessings
He promised. (Daniel 9; Hebrews 3:19; Romans
9-11) After the Jews rejected Jesus (John 1,
Matthew23), God redefined the nation of
Israel. Believers in Christ became the
“seed” (Greek: sperma) of
Abraham – the twelve tribes. (Ephesians 2,
Galatians 3:28, 29, James 1:1, 2:1) Judaic
prophecies were abandoned in accordance with the
terms and conditions of the covenant. Judaic
prophecies were not to be confused with the unconditional
promises given to Abraham. (Genesis 15-17)
Everything promised to Abraham will be fulfilled
to the redefined seed of Abraham.
(Ephesians 2; Galatians 3,4; Romans 11; Hebrews
11; Revelation 7:9-11)
3.
Day of the Lord prophecies: These prophecies are
numerous and are scattered throughout Scripture.
Ultimately, these prophecies predict the triumph
of God and/or the vindication of His people.
Elements within these prophecies are general
enough that we can see parallels between them at
different times in human history. Many Bible
students (and scholars) succumb to the temptation
of applying ancient “Day of the Lord”
prophecies to modern settings. For example,
Isaiah 24 and Ezekiel 7 are “Day of the
Lord” prophecies that would have been
fulfilled if Israel had been faithful to God
(what I call “Plan A”). These
prophecies did not happen because Israel rejected
God and God has implemented a new covenant (what
I call “Plan B”). However, there are
direct parallels between ancient “Day of the
Lord” prophecies and modern “Day of the
Lord” prophecies. It is important to keep
“Plan A” and “Plan B”
prophecies separate and distinct. For example,
Matthew 24 concern the end of Jerusalem and the
other specifications apply to the end of the
world. A Bible student must be careful when
studying these types of prophecies to be sure the
specifications are assigned to the right time
period. In other words, details concerning the
end of the world do not belong to the fall of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. “Day of the Lord”
prophecies are noted for their ominous warnings
and God’s vindication over evil through
warfare.
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