End Time Insights

Jesus is the one who unveils the Mysteries of God, and only he is qualified to reveal the nature of the “ unseen God .” In him, all the promises of God find their substance. He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of Bible prophecy, and this is especially so in the  Book of Revelation  where the sacrificial “ Lamb ” reigns over all things.

The relevance of Revelation for today is lost if we ignore its historical context and read it with incorrect presuppositions . The Book of Revelation presents a sweeping picture of the church age that highlights the cosmic “ war ” that is being waged behind the scenes of History with individual “battles” that manifest in the daily struggles of the Assembly. Its visions show God working through the “ Lamb ” to implement His Kingdom, and it begins in the first century with the “ Seven Assemblies of Asia .”

From start to finish, the Book of Revelation is addressed to the “ Seven Assemblies of Asia .” These congregations do not fade from the picture in the later sections of the Book. While it may include a larger target audience, Revelation is first and foremost a message for those Seven Assemblies, and the significance of its visions cannot be understood apart from them.

Through a series of seven beatitudes, Revelation summons believers to faithfulness despite hostility, tribulation, and persecution . The Book of Revelation is not a tool of divination for deciphering future mysteries and events. Instead, it is a summons for God’s people to become vigilant, live righteously, and persevere in testimony during persecution and other trials. Its concern is not when certain events will occur, but how the Assembly of God must “ overcome ” and thus arrive at the city of “ New Jerusalem .”

An angel commanded Daniel “ to close the words and seal the Scroll until the season of the end ” after the last of his visions. In contrast, the Scroll is open in the  Book of Revelation , and its contents are unveiled. Daniel was told to “ seal the Scroll ,” but the angel commanded John  NOT  to seal the Scroll. The verbal parallels are deliberate, and  Revelation  informs us that the time of fulfillment has arrived, and the Book is open.

The first paragraph of  Revelation  presents us with its purpose, key themes, main characters, how it communicates, and its chronological outlook. The  Book of Revelation  reveals rather than mystifies. It is “ THE prophecy ,” singular, sent to the Assemblies of Jesus to “ show them what things must come to pass ,” a declaration that provides the timeframe of these coming “ things ,” namely, “ Soon .” Above all, it is a revelation about “ Jesus Christ .”

The visitation of Jesus to the churches of Asia prepares the reader for the visions that follow the seven letters .  In his vision, John sees a glorious figure “ like a Son of Man…in the midst of seven golden lampstands .” In the interpretation, it becomes clear that this is Jesus (“ I was dead, and I am alive forevermore ”), and the “ lampstands ” are identified as the “ seven churches of Asia ” that are under his ever-watchful care.

The  Book of Revelation  communicates symbolically, and it  provides several interpretations of its images. For example, it states that the “ Seven Golden Lampstands ” represent seven congregations. Likewise, the “ Seven Stars ” held by the “ one like a Son of Man ” symbolize angels or “ Seven Messengers .” Pictures of the smoke of “ incense ” rising to heaven represent the “ prayers of the saints .” And so on.

What was the original language of the documents that became the New Testament? For centuries, the scholarly consensus has been that it was written in the  Koiné  Greek dialect of the Eastern Roman Empire in the first century. However, there is a growing minority within the church that claims the New Testament was composed in the Hebrew or Aramaic language.

Are  Revelation ’s visions presented in chronological sequence as they unfold? If we assume this is the case, things quickly become untenable as key events are repeated over several visions. For example, the  “ sixth seal ”  culminates in the final day of wrath accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, yet the same events also occur in the “ seventh trumpet .”

The Book of Revelation informs the reader from the start that it communicates visually and symbolically . Must prophecy be interpreted only or primarily in the most “literal” fashion possible unless a passage specifically indicates otherwise? Often in our minds, there is an unstated assumption that literal language is more reliable than nonliteral language, an idea that becomes especially problematic when interpreting the visions of  Revelation .

In his first vision, John “ came to be in the spirit ” on the Isle of Patmos where he saw a vision of “ one like a Son of Man ” standing among the “ Seven Golden Lampstands .” The “ lampstands ” represented the seven churches of Asia. In the fourth chapter, he again “ came to be in the spirit .” But this time, he was summoned to heaven to receive a vision of the “ Throne ” at the center of the creation, the “ Sealed Scroll ,” and the slain “ Lamb .”

The book of  Revelation  is an account of the visions received by John while in exile on the Isle of Patmos - “ on account of the testimony of Jesus .” The document was addressed to first-century Christian congregations located in seven cities of the Roman province of Asia, and most likely, it was penned in the late first century when Domitian was emperor (A.D. 81-96).

The  Gospel of John  begins by introducing key themes that are expanded in the body of the book -  Life ,  Light ,  Witness ,  Truth , and  Grace . Jesus is the Light of the World, the source of Grace and Truth, the True Tabernacle, and the only born Son of God who dwells in the “ bosom of the Father .” The Prologue concludes by declaring that he is qualified to interpret the unseen God since he alone has seen Him.

The book of  Revelation  is comprised of a prologue, the vision proper, and an epilogue. The vision falls into four recognizable divisions, and each commences when John finds himself “ in the spirit ” and is transported to a specific location. For example, the first vision begins with John on Patmos where he “ comes to be in spirit ” and sees a vision of the one “ like a son of man .”

The relevance of Revelation for today is lost if we ignore its historical context and read it with incorrect presuppositions .  The book of  Revelation  presents a sweeping picture of the church age that highlights the real “wars” being waged behind the scenes of history, “battles” that manifest in the daily struggles of the church. Its visions show God working through the “ Lamb ” to implement His kingdom, and it begins in the first century with the “ seven churches of Asia .”

The  Book of Revelation  is divided into four main literary units, each identifiable by the entry of John “ in the Spirit ” and his relocation to a new visionary vantage point (Patmos, the Throne, the Wilderness, “ great high mountain ”). Each division is easily subdivided into smaller units; for example, the series of the “ seven seals ” or the “ seven trumpets ” - (Revelation 1:9, 4:1-3, 17:3, 21:10).

The Book of Daniel is a well-structured literary work, not a collection of folk stories or random and unrelated visions. At its beginning, the key themes of the Book are presented in brief, then worked out in detail in its subsequent chapters, and each new vision builds on the preceding ones.