Week 52: Revelation!

Can't believe it, but week 52 is already here! First, I'd like to commend all of you who have followed this blog one way or another. If you have finished all reading: Congratulations, you have read the entire Bible in 1 year!!! This is a big accomplishment, you stuck to it, and you finished it. Well done. If you have not finished all reading, but are now reading your Bible regularly, I’d like to congratulate you as well. I’d say this is even more important than finishing in 1 year. Reading God’s word on a daily basis is one of the most important habits you can develop as a follower of Christ, and it is life changing. Don’t worry about the fact that you haven’t finished the entire Bible in 1 year. I didn’t finish it the first time I’ve tried to read it in 1 year, but you know what… it gets easier every time you try it. Well done!! If you tried, but gave up after a while because you couldn’t keep up, I understand. I would urge you though, to pick it back up. Continue to stick your nose into the only book that can bring about true life transformation. One hint for next year: it’s ok to skip a section if you fall behind for one reason or another. Simply pick up the reading of the current day.

This last week we’ll tackle one of the most intriguing, yet one of the most difficult to understand books of the Bible: the book of Revelation:

• Weekend: Revelation 1 – 3
• Monday: Revelation 4 – 7
• Tuesday: Revelation 8 – 11
• Wednesday: Revelation 12 – 16
• Thursday: Revelation 17 – 20
• Friday: Revelation 21 – 22

There was a time in my life when all I read and studied was the book of Revelation and related prophetic scriptures such as the book of Daniel, Matthew 24, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, etc. In studying this book of the Bible, I have found the following wisdom: there are probably as many different explanations of the book as there are people trying to understand it. And every time someone thinks they understand Revelation, a book is written about it, claiming that the truth about it is now ‘unlocked’. The truth is: the book of Revelation contains a lot of symbolism that was probably well understood by the first recipients of the book in the 1st century A.D., but that is significantly more difficult to understand for a 20th century westerner.

Still, I know many of you have no clue what the book is all about, so I’d like to give you some more information than just saying that the book of Revelation displays an epic battle between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and that the ‘good’ side wins in the end. But the only claim I will make, is that this is my interpretation of what the book is about. By no means is this a complete expository of all the different views and interpretations, such as pre-millennial or post-millennial, pre-, mid- or post tribulation, etc. This simply is a brief summary of my personal view. If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to read many different books and commentaries about it, and then form your own view, or find one that makes most sense to you.

To better understand the book, it’s good to divide it into sub-sections that belong to each other. There are many different ways to do this, but one of the main keys to divide it is given in the book itself in Chapter 1 verse 19: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” This verse provides a natural division of the book into the following five parts:

1) Prologue (1:1-8)
2) “What you have seen” (1:9-20)
3) “What is now” (2:1 – 5:14)
4) “What will take place later” (6:1 – 22:9)
5) Epilogue (22:10-21)

The Prologue tells us who the writer of Revelation is: Jesus Christ himself (verse 1). Jesus had received this revelation from God the Father, and had passed it on to the apostle John, writer of the gospel of John and the 3 letters of John, who wrote it down in this book. In his turn, John sent this book to seven churches in Asia (current-day Turkey). As you will find out, the number 7 plays an important symbolic role in the book of Revelation, and many scholars belief that those 7 churches represent the entire church of the New Testament, over all places and all times.

“What you have seen” refers to the vision of Jesus that John saw. At his first coming, Jesus came as a ‘baby in a manger’. At his second coming, he will come as the Son of Man to judge the world with eyes like blazing fire and a sword in his mouth.

“What is now” refers to the seven churches, and the spiritual state they are in. As mentioned before, these passages can be applied to the church of all places and all times. As such, these passages contain warnings for us, and encouragement for persevering and staying the course. The passage to the church in Laodicea always speaks to me personally: we don’t want to be lukewarm in our faith, but on fire for the Lord. When Jesus stands at the door and knocks, we better hear his voice and let him in.

Chapters 4 and 5 take us into heaven, to the throne of God. We see a beautiful picture of God sitting on the throne, and all of heaven and earth worshipping him, and worshipping the Lamb of God (Jesus), who alone is worthy to open the scroll with its seven seals (5:9). Chapter 5 verse 13 shows us what this book of Revelation is ultimately all about: Every creature on heaven and earth will say: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

Chapter 6 verse 1 to Chapter 22 verse 9 covers the “What will take place later” part of the book. This is the part that’s confusing to many people because of its wealth of symbolism, and the many different explanations that go around. Without going into too much detail, I’d like to give you a birds-eye view of this section. In a nutshell, we see three sevenfold numbered series:

1) Seven seals (Chapter 6)
2) Seven trumpets (Chapters 8 & 9)
3) Seven bowls (Chapter 16)

Many books about Revelation will state that each of these three series of seven contain some sort of judgment of the world. I think that’s definitely true about the seven trumpets and seven bowls, however, in my opinion, the scroll and its seven seals represent a picture of world history during the end-times. I don’t think the white horse in 6:1 is Jesus, as some say, but rather the anti-christ, who is out to conquer the world. I believe that the first 5 seals all talk about the great tribulation that will take place during the reign of the anti-christ. Seals 6 and 7 announce the 2nd coming of Jesus, who will wage war and judgment against the anti-christ.

After the intermezzo of Chapter 7 about the 144.000 sealed from the nation of Israel, Chapters 8 and 9 show us that the 7th seal ‘unlocks’ the 7 angels with the 7 trumpets. These angels with their trumpets hold judgment against the world and the kingdom of the anti-christ. What is striking to me is the response of ‘mankind’ who were not killed by the plagues from the trumpets: “they still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons…”. Unbelievable how hard someone’s heart can be after seeing all these judgments!

Before the 7th trumpet gets blown in Chapter 11:15, there is first another intermezzo about the angel and the little scroll, and about the two witnesses in Jerusalem. This latter passage contains the time-frame 42 months and 1260 days, which both equal 3 and a half years, which many scholars explain to be the 2nd half of the last ‘year week’ (=7 years), as prophesied in Daniel 9:27.

I believe that the 7th trumpet concludes the judgment, and that the description of the 7 bowls in Revelation 15 & 16 are a detailed description of this last judgment of the 7th trumpet. In other words, chronologically, Chapters 15 and 16 continue where Chapter 11 leaves off.

Chapters 12 to 14 therefore form another intermezzo that depict the world history from a different angle, namely that of the dragon (=devil), the beast of the sea (=anti-christ), and the beast of the earth (= false prophet). One reason that I think justifies the thought that the chronology is temporarily broken in these 3 chapters, is that Chapter 12 shows us the birth of Jesus: I believe that the woman in 12:1 is a picture of the nation of Israel, from whom the Messiah was born. (12:5 is an unmistakable reference to the birth of Christ) Verse 5b then talks about the ascension of Jesus to heaven.

Ok, take a deep deep breath here. I never tried to summarize the book of Revelation in a few pages, and I feel hopelessly flawed in trying to do so. Stick with me though, as we continue this ‘birds-eye view’ of the book.

After the final judgment of Chapters 15 and 16, Chapters 17 and 18 contain another intermezzo about the ‘woman on the beast’, or ‘Babylon the great’. Several explanations exist for this ‘woman’. The most common one is that this woman represents the (non-christian) ‘world religion’ that is followed during the reign of the anti-christ. The woman also represents a city, ‘Babylon’. Many scholars belief that this was a reference to ‘Rome’ (7 hills, see 17:9) and its emperors in the 1st century A.D.. Dependent on how you explain, the 8th king of 17:11 is then either Nero (54-68A.D), or Domitianus (81-96A.D). Without a doubt, the readers in the 1st century A.D. would have made this connection, and I belief part of this scripture is fulfilled in these emperors. However, history has shown us many different ‘anti-christs’, such as Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, or Hitler for that matter. Whenever evil raises its head on a large scale, an anti-christ appears and the devil (dragon) gives his power away to destroy. I belief we still have to expect (at least) one more anti-christ who will fulfill all these scriptures, and who will be the personification of the devil on earth.

Chapter 19 shows us who will ultimately conquer the anti-christ: Jesus Christ and his army of saints (19:14). He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the beast (=anti-christ) and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire, which is a picture of hell.

Chapter 20:1-6 is one of the shortest sections of scripture that has caused great controversy in terms of how to explain it. It talks about the 1000 year reign of Christ, also called the ‘millennium’. Many scholars belief that many of the old-testament prophesies about the restoration of Israel’s kingdom (the day of the Lord), and prophesies from Isaiah about the lion and lamb being together, etc., will take place during these 1000 years. Because of all that’s written about this subject, I will not go into detail here . Let’s just take the text for what it is: after judgment of the anti-christ, Jesus will reign on earth for an extended period of time, together with all the believers who will be resurrected (20:5-6). The devil, who had given his power to the anti-christ, will not be able to do anything for these 1000 years. After those 1000 years, he will have one more chance to wreak havoc, but he too will be thrown into the pit of hell (20:10).

After judgment of Satan, the final judgment will take place before the white throne. I believe this is the judgment of the non-believers, everyone who has willfully denied Christ as their savior. Note how this judgment is called the ‘second death’ (20:14), in contrast to the ‘first resurrection’ of the believers (20:5-6).

Chapters 21 and 22 conclude with a beautiful picture of the new heaven and new earth, and the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. A lot can be said about these two chapters alone, but suffice it to say that the main thing we take away from this is that heaven and earth will become one. God will tabernacle (=reside) among the people, and we will see his face, and that of the Lamb (=Jesus) day and night, and worship him before his throne. Chapter 21:22 says: “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple”. And the glory of God will be its light and the Lamb is its lamp (nice play of words…).

Chapter 22:1-5 contain some of the most encouraging and comforting verses of the entire Bible. This is our hope and future, folks. Hang in there if you are going through a tough time right now. This life is temporary, but the life described in verses 1-5 is eternal!!

The book closes with an epilogue, and a warning for those who read it (22:18-19): we are not to add nor take away from the words of this book. I’m not sure, but I’m afraid many have not taken this warning to heart. I encourage you to see it as an exhortation to take the words of this book very seriously. And not just this book, but the entire Bible.

I hope this 50,000 feet view of the book of Revelation was useful to you. Let me state again that many of the things said here, represents my personal view of the subject. The more you read this book, the more you will shape your own view and thoughts. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them on the blog or in person. Thank you for your faithfulness in sticking with the reading program. We will do it all again next year. And the year after that and after that… until Jesus will come back to establish his kingdom here on earth.

The Spirit and the bride (=we, the church) say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life”. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

In Him,
Dick