Revelation is a challenging book and is perhaps the most popular and kin® studied of the prophetic books in the Bible. People sometimes refer to it as The Revelation of Saint John, but that can be a little misleading because, in fact, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). John was simply the recipient who wrote it down for us to read.
From the very beginning John established that this was a message from God about the future (Revelation 1:1-3). The way God revealed that message was through a series of seven visions while John was on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).
The first vision pertained to the early church, around A.D. 81-96. It had been approximately fifty years since Jesus had ascended into heaven, and the church was beginning to drift away from the gospel. Not only were Christians facing persecution, but they were also beginning to accept false teaching and adopt sinful patterns of behavior. You’ll find the messages to the seven churches (Revelation 2-3) fairly easy to understand and very relevant
The subsequent visions about the end of the world are more challenging to understand. Some people have cried to figure out the meaning of every detail in these visions, but that can be confusing at best. You might find it more helpful to reflect on the main themes from these visions, the way you do when you try to remember a dream you’ve had at night.
Probably the biggest theme running through the last chapters of Revela— tion is the final showdown between good and evil, between God and Satan. The descriptions are very dramatic, but the bottom line is that Satan is defeated. The visions also give us a picture of what heaven will be like. our natural curiosity will make us want to get the exact picture of what it will h>€ like. But the truth is, it will be even better than we can imagine. Why? Because the main feature of heaven is that all those who believe in Jesus will be with him forever.
-- Whitney T. Kuniholm (from his book The Essential Bible Guide; Waterbrook Press, 2003).
Week 20 Introduction -- The Revelation
Revelation is a challenging book and is perhaps the most popular and kin® studied of the prophetic books in the Bible. People sometimes refer to it as The Revelation of Saint John, but that can be a little misleading because, in fact, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). John was simply the recipient who wrote it down for us to read.
From the very beginning John established that this was a message from God about the future (Revelation 1:1-3). The way God revealed that message was through a series of seven visions while John was on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).
The first vision pertained to the early church, around A.D. 81-96. It had been approximately fifty years since Jesus had ascended into heaven, and the church was beginning to drift away from the gospel. Not only were Christians facing persecution, but they were also beginning to accept false teaching and adopt sinful patterns of behavior. You’ll find the messages to the seven churches (Revelation 2-3) fairly easy to understand and very relevant
The subsequent visions about the end of the world are more challenging to understand. Some people have cried to figure out the meaning of every detail in these visions, but that can be confusing at best. You might find it more helpful to reflect on the main themes from these visions, the way you do when you try to remember a dream you’ve had at night.
Probably the biggest theme running through the last chapters of Revela— tion is the final showdown between good and evil, between God and Satan. The descriptions are very dramatic, but the bottom line is that Satan is defeated. The visions also give us a picture of what heaven will be like. our natural curiosity will make us want to get the exact picture of what it will h>€ like. But the truth is, it will be even better than we can imagine. Why? Because the main feature of heaven is that all those who believe in Jesus will be with him forever.
-- Whitney T. Kuniholm (from his book The Essential Bible Guide; Waterbrook Press, 2003).