Hello my lovely BPC girls! Aren't you glad I finally made our blog?
This is what we attempted to cover quickly in that first meeting. These notes are from a sermon by Francis Chan as well as a couple of commentaries. It is a very very very general overview and we will for sure go much more in depth! But here's all the stuff you missed that first time through :)
Overview
· Revelation: apokalupsis in Greek which means “unveiling” or “an uncovering”
o Revelation is the supernatural communication of truth to the mind (Easton)
· Revelation is written by John, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ
o Jesus speaks to John (via an angel) and allows him to see heaven and obtain this message
o probably written in the 90s
· written in a period while Christians are still being threatened by Rome
· if the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense
· General Structure:
o the first chapter is what John sees immediately: he sees Jesus Christ
o the second chapter is what is “now” (or then): seven letters to seven literal churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey)
o the rest is what will take place later: these are the things of the future or what will happen
Revelation 1
· The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ (like the rest of the Bible because Jesus is the Word)
o Revelation means revealing or unveilingàthis is the revealing of Jesus Christ
o gives depth to the view of Jesus Christ in all of His glory
· we get this book from John, the beloved disciple, via an angel
o John was on Patmos—penal colony; he was there for preaching the gospel
o he was the only disciple that was not martyred; he was put in exile on the island of Patmos instead
· seven churches: there were literally seven churches in the Asian minor
· verse 1:17—gets a glimpse of who’s talking to him and fell over
o it’s Jesus that John sees
· verse 1:19
o write what you see: vision of Christ (chapter 1)
o what is now: letters to the churches (chapters 2-3)
o what will take place later: things of the future (chapters 4-22)
Revelation 2-3
· “angel” can be angelic being or messenger, one who speaks for God, so it’s often interpreted as being the pastor
· Jesus gives messages to the messengers (pastors) of the seven churches
o Ephesus
§ forsaken their first love, their love for God
§ Jesus tells them to turn back to their love for God
§ accept practice of Nicolatians (they were teaching things contrary to God’s word)
o Smyrna
§ heavily persecuted church but had some of the strongest believers that existed at that time
§ Jesus says they’re rich in faith and tells them to stay faithful even to the point of death
o Pergamum
§ some individuals in the church spoiled the reputation of the church—tried to mix Christianity with other teachings and no one is confronting them; don’t deny Jesus but don’t deny other teachings either
§ Jesus tells them to repent or He will fight against Him with the sword of His mouth
o Thyatira
§ very small church in Thyatira but the longest of the letters
§ they love God, have faith, and are doing more and more for the kingdom BUT they tolerate Jezebel—she is unwilling to repent and will suffer greatly along with those who follow her
§ God does NOT want His church to tolerate sin
§ doesn’t mean you won’t sin but it means you should have a desire for holiness and to walk away from sin
o Sardis
§ church had a great reputation, a reputation of being ALIVE but they are DEAD in their character
§ when a church is walking in sin and refusing to repent it kills the reputation of the church (on a whole)
§ Jesus has not found their deeds complete—so what if everyone else does!?
o Philadelphia
§ Jesus has nothing bad to say about the church in Philadelphia
§ Jesus is in control of their salvation and NO ONE ELSE—the false Jews were mocking the Christian church and telling them that they were not loved by God
§ God is so protective of His love for us, so defensive of His love for His people
§ Jesus is coming, hold on!
o Laodicea
§ neither not nor cold—God does not want you to be casual about this relationship with Him
§ Jesus counsels them to become rich in Christ—they thought that they were rich, but they were lacking in spiritual wealth
Revelation 4
- starts getting into the future
- a lot of people believe that the rapture (when God will take all of the believers from the earth) takes place before chapter 4
o people believe this because of chapters 2-3 where He’s talking to the churches and how He stops talking to the churches or mentioning them at all after that so maybe they’re gone
- vision of heaven (glimpse into heaven): John gets to see God in the throne room
- surrounded by elders, who are probably representatives of the church, and four living creatures
Revelation 5
- looking at God on His throne, sees a scroll in His right hand with writing on both sides and seven seals
o in these times, the Roman government used to seal scrolls with wax and signet rings and you could not open the document unless you could show you had correct ring with the insignia that it was sealed with
o there would be a seal, you would open it, then if there’s another seal you could only read that portion of the document if you had the ring
o you have to show you have authority to open the next part (not just the first part)
- everyone in heaven wants to see the scroll but can’t since no one is worthy to open it and John is so devastated that he’s crying until the elder says wait, Jesus can open it
Revelation 6
- Jesus opens the scroll, first of seven seals—Beginning of the End Time Period!
o rider on a white horse appears after the first seal is opened—has a crown which signifies that the rider is some type of ruler
o also has a bow (but no arrows are mentioned)
o some sort of ruler who rules by bringing peace on the earth
- Daniel 9—prophesy of 70 weeks
o at the end of the prophesy, another seven week (or year?) period
o someone will come and make a seven year peace treaty with the world and yet he will put an end to sacrifice and offering in the middle of seven years
- there is no temple in Jerusalem now—Jews are fighting with Arabs over it and someone will come alongside and bring peace to situation so temple can be rebuilt (best guess)
o but they will go and break treaty and set up something bad in the temple—statue of antichrist kingdom that will start the war
- verse 3: second seal—fiery red horse (after like 3 ½ years)
o take peace from the earth, brings war and people kill one another
- verse 5: third seal—black horse, rider with scales
o 1 quart of wheat for a day’s wages—not enough for 1 meal; FAMINE conditions
- verse 7: fourth seal—pale horse, rider is death, Hades behind
o power to kill a fourth of mankind through war, famine, and plague
- verse 9: fifth seal—glimpse into heaven, sees all of the Christians who died under tribulation, killed for faith because it has been made illegal to worship God
o they are asking God when He will avenge them
- verse 12: sixth seal—earthquake, sun black, mood red, stars falling from the sky, sky rolling up, mountains receding, everyone hiding in caves and trying to hide from God’s wrath
o earth is getting destroyed and everything is wishing to die because of the wrath of God
Revelation 7
- goes back and fills in a few details
- verse 2: before we pour out wrath on the earth, let’s seal people protected by God who love Jesus
- 144,000 Jewish people who give their lives to Jesus and decide to follow them—remnant of true believers (from Old Testament)
- verse 9: Great Multitude—uncountable!
o believers worshipping lamb—elder asks John who they are and John tells him uhh, you live here, you tell me
o they are the people who come out of the tribulation—perhaps decide to believe during that time
o they’re protected and are comforted
Revelation 8
- seventh seal
o everything is totally quiet in heaven for half an hour; so awesome, so terrifying that there is a HUSH
- God pours out wrath even on creation
- verse 2—seven angels with seven trumpets
o first: hail and fire mixed with blood poured out on the earth, burned it up (a third of vegetation)
o second: one third of the sea turned to blood when mountain on fire falls in
o third: great star falls on rivers—a third of waters turn bitter from wormwood (the star), kills people
o fourth: a third of sun, moon, and stars are struck so that a third of the day and a third of the night are without light
o fifth: right before, an eagle flies by saying if you thought those were bad, wait until you see the others
Revelation 9
- fifth angel—star falls, given key to open shaft to the abyss where demons are bound
o star can also refer to angels/angelic beings (maybe even satan—the fallen angel)
o locusts come down and harm people without the seal of God—torture them for five months; sting them and they can’t die
- sixth angel—angels released to kill a third of mankind—4 demonic angels bound at the river Euphrates are released
o God releases army that’s been bound up here over by Asia—angels release army to go kill a third
o maybe these are actual people, 200 million troops (some people think it’s like the Red China Army that already number over 200 million)
- the rest STILL DID NOT REPENT—WHAT!? still don’t finally bow down to God, they go right back to their sin
Revelation 10
- mighty angel with little scroll, loud shout then seven thunders speak BUT John is told not to write that down (we don’t even know why other than God said so)
- John is told to eat the little scroll—he asks for it and eats it
o it’s sweet but turns sour in his stomach
o maybe represents big scroll—sweet because Christ is coming but very devastating and bitter when you realize what this means
Revelation 11
- God will give power to two witnesses that will prophesy for 3 ½ years
o they will be telling people about the truth
o their enemies are thwarted—fire comes out of their mouths to consume them
o they’re killed after their allotted time by the beast from the abyss and their bodies are left on the streets of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days—people all over the world see it and celebrate (they send each other gifts when they see this broadcasted)
o they’re later brought back to life which terrifies everyone, then they’re taken into heaven and there’s an earthquake
- seventh angel—actual return of Jesus Christ
o the very END
Revelation 12
· Chapters 12 and 13 are from satan’s perspective or what he’s doing during this time, the rest (before this) is GOD
o this is satan, what he’s doing, and his role in history/the tribulation
· 3 main characters
o The woman represents Israel (and the twelve stars are the twelve tribes)
o the child is Jesus Christ
o the dragon is satan
· Israel gives birth to Jesus Christ, He is snatched up to heaven
o Israel flees into the desert where God takes care of her for 3 ½ years—Israeli remnant that’s sealed
· war in heaven—Michael and angels fighting against Satan and his angels—satan loses and he and his angels are thrown to the earth
Revelation 13
· what satan does during the tribulation
· satan is on the seashore and beast comes out of the ocean—antichrist, ruler that brings peace to earth through first seal, one world ruler
o slanders God, His dwelling place, exercise authority for 42 months, war against saints, authority over everyone
· second beast—false prophet, will make everyone worship the first beast
o power to do signs and because of them can deceive nations
o set up image of first beast, gives breath to image so that it can speak and have everyone who refuses to worship it and be killed
o causes everyone to receive mark of the beast
· second person gets everyone to worship the first guy through miraculous signs—creates statue of first guy and empowers it to speak; people worship him because of the signs
· have to take mark because they cannot buy or sell without it—one world economy
Revelation 14
· very end of time, Jesus comes back and stands on Mount Zion, right outside of Jerusalem
· first angel comes and says worship the true God
· second angel comes and says Babylon the great has fallen (end time kingdom the antichrist leads)
o the antichrist reign is over
· third angel says if anyone will worship the beast and receive the mark, he will be tormented under God’s wrath
o automation condemnation forever and ever
Revelation 15
· seven angels with seven last plagues that completed God’s wrath
· seven angels with bowls—seems to happen quickly
· pour out bowls of wrath on the land
Revelation 16
· bowls are poured out
· first angel and bowl: ugly, painful sores break out on people
· second: poured out on the sea, turns it to blood, everything in sea dies
· third: springs/rivers turned to blood
· fourth: sun was given power to scorch people with fire
o people curse God and still refuse to repent
· fifth: poured on throne of beast, his kingdom plunged into darkness, men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed God, still refuse to repent
· sixth: pours out bowl on great river Euphrates, dries up water to prepare way for kings from east
o 3 evil spirits (frog-looking) out of mouth of dragon, beast, false prophet
o spirits go call all of nations to one place for great final battle/war—giant valley (literal place) called Armageddon
§ huge open plane
o Jesus returns during war and people fight against Him, God then decides He’s killing them all and wipes them all out
· seventh: pours out on air, voice from the temple says it’s done—lightning, thunder, and severe earthquake; city cracks into three parts
Revelation 17
· John gets to see what happens to antichrist kingdom
· one world religion—great whore
o church is the bride of Christ, world system is harlot/prostitute—don’t get involved
· it will all fall
Revelation 18
· she’s (prostitute) will fall—world peace, world system will fall in ONE DAY
o only takes one day to destroy the entire world system
Revelation 19
· people in heaven celebrate because it’s over
· Christ rides on white horse (verse 11)
o He returns with mighty armies, white robe dipped in blood
Revelation 20
· angel with the key to the abyss comes down from heaven with great chain and binds dragon for 1000 years, thrown into pit
· people who were killed for Christ come back to life and reign with Christ
· satan is then released and tries to deceive again
· satan, beast, false prophet, anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life are thrown into the lake of fire
o satan’s doom
o tormented day and night forever and ever
Revelation 21
· NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
· GOD DWELLS WITH MEN!
· NO MORE DEATH!
· eternal state, believes are with God forever and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes
Revelation 22
· God tells John to share this
· if you’ve heard all of these messages and still decide to go back to your sin, God says go back to your sin; there’s no hope for you
· if you will worship, keep worshipping no matter how hard it gets
· we have to recognize power and awesomeness of god through this book
· Blessings for those who will read and follow the book
