Welcome to A Revelation of Jesus. In this video series, we are taking an in-depth look at the Book of Revelation from beginning to end. If you are new to this channel, you can find a link in the description to the other videos in this series. To get us started, there are some foundational principles that I want to cover in this and the next three videos. I call these the Revelation toolbox. As in any toolbox, there are hand tools that require more skill and dexterity, and power tools that can cut through hard material but need care to avoid doing more damage than good.
In the previous video, we looked at one of the most important tools: scriptural links. These consist of words, phrases, symbols, or characters from Revelation that match similar ones in the Old Testament. These Old Testament links have additional information that can unlock the meaning of the link from Revelation. Of course, the trick is to find these Old Testament links. The Old Testament is huge, and a lot of it has little to do with Revelation. I will include an article in the description that talks about some of the most important books and passages of the Old Testament related to Revelation.
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Perhaps one of the greatest challenges is to figure out how Revelation is organized. An important tool that is one of the most obvious organizing features in Revelation is the number seven. Seven and seventh appear 57 times in the Book of Revelation, much more often than any other number. More importantly, whole blocks of Revelation are sets of seven. The seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls each take up multiple chapters with obvious shifts of scenes and themes as the book progresses from one to the next.
As usual, we can start with Old Testament links for insight. It turns out that seven is one of the key numbers in the Bible, starting at the very beginning of Genesis, where God created the world in seven days. “Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:1,2).
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First of all, we see that everything was created, and the creation was complete. This shows us that seven signifies universality and completion. So, for example, when we read that Revelation is directed to “the seven churches which are in Asia,” (Revelation 1:4,11,12) we suspect that it has a broader application than simply the issues of seven small and obscure first-century congregations of believers in Asia Minor. This puts us on the lookout for evidence that Revelation, and particularly the specific messages to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, apply to the universal church in all places and all time periods. We will look at this in video 6; there we will examine the evidence that the messages to the seven churches, besides having a local application and important guidance for all Christians, are also a prophetic overview of the experience of the universal Christian Church, from the time Revelation was written until the time of the end. The number seven is one of the tools that help us reach that conclusion
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Coming back to the seven days in Genesis chapter two, we see that on the seventh day God “ended His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2). The work of creation was finished, and God rested, but we learn elsewhere that God didn’t stop working. Jesus said, “My Father has been working until now” (John 5:17). In the 7 days of creation described in Genesis 1 and 2, God finished the original creation phase of His work. He then proceeded to the work of sustaining His creation, and also the work of redeeming and transforming humanity when they fell into sin. From this pattern we can see that a series of seven completes a particular phase of God’s activity. We see this principle also in Exodus 20, where the seven-day week is a memorial of creation. The seventh day is not only the culmination of the week, but also a preparation through rest for the coming week. The implication for the Book of Revelation is that the seventh of each series of seven is a natural dividing line and a preparation for what comes next.
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The way this works in the book of Revelation is that the seventh in each series gives a preview of the next section. Let’s look at one example. The seven bowls, also called “the seven last plagues” (Revelation 15:1), are found in Revelation chapter 16. They are a series of disasters that fall upon the persecutors of God’s faithful followers. God sends hideous sores, bloody water, scorching heat, and thick darkness to afflict and obstruct “the kings of the earth” as they seek to organize their forces to destroy the faithful followers of Jesus. Finally, “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and… there was a great earthquake… Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people … and great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath” (Revelation 16:17-19).
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As the seventh of the seven last plagues, this brief description of the destruction of “great Babylon” should be a preview of what comes next. And that is what we see. The next section begins with John seeing a bloodthirsty harlot sitting on a scarlet beast. Her name, “Babylon the great,” is written on her forehead. With her immoral relationships, she can “reign over the kings of the earth,” getting these political powers to help her shed “the blood of the saints and… martyrs of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 17:5,2, 6).
But the seventh bowl tells us that this section is not about Babylon’s success, but about its destruction, and that is what we find as we proceed into chapters 18 and 19. Babylon’s demonic deception is exposed, and God’s faithful people sever ties with her. The indulgent, luxurious lifestyle of Babylon is “laid waste in a single hour” (Revelation 18:19), and her army and leadership are completely destroyed.
This was an easy and obvious example of how seven and the seventh are helpful tools. Some of the other sevenths are not quite as obvious. For example, the seven seals are followed by the seven trumpet plagues. The seventh seal is deceptively short and simple: “When [the Lamb] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). There are, however, lots of interpretations of what silence in heaven means, such as awe and reverence, the calm before the storm, heaven emptied as all the angels come to earth at the Second Coming, and many more. Most of these are speculation, and they can’t all be right.
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If we use our first tool, Old Testament links, we can get some ideas of what “silence in heaven” might be, and there will be several possibilities to choose from. But we will have to make sure that whatever interpretation we are considering fits with our second tool. The seventh seal, “silence in heaven,” must somehow be an introduction or overview of the seven trumpets, and this rules out some interpretations, such as “heaven emptied for the Second Coming.” When you get to video 26, where we study this and other clues to the meaning of the seven trumpets, you may be surprised at where the evidence leads us.
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Closely related to Revelation’s organization is its chronology, and this is a major stumbling point in most studies of the Book of Revelation. What is the timeframe of the book as a whole, and of the various sections in particular? Is it possible to establish a timeline for Revelation, or does the book bounce around from one timeframe to another?
I believe that we can, and that the Revelation timeline is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox. We will have to wait until video 13 to have enough background to set up a comprehensive timeline. But for now, we can get a rough idea by looking at how God communicates to humanity in the Bible, and more specifically, in eschatological prophecy. Just so you’ll know, I take it for granted that God was actively involved not only in the inspiration of the Bible, but also in directing the selection of its contents and its organization.
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The Bible begins with the creation story, and after the fall in the Garden of Eden, the Bible presents a chronologically linear history of God’s dealings with humanity. Historical highlights in the Old Testament include the universal flood, the selection of Abraham and his descendants as special representatives, and the history of the nation of Israel from Moses on through the time of the judges, the kings, and finally the Babylonian captivity. Through the psalms and the prophets, God sent instruction, rebuke, and encouragement to His followers during all of these periods.
There is a 400-year gap in recorded Biblical history between the Old and New Testaments, but some important transitions are filled in with the prophecies of Daniel. Then comes the most detailed communication from God, when He came to this earth as Jesus Christ, recording His birth, teaching, and sacrifice for our sins. When Jesus went back to heaven, the experiences of God’s followers are again recorded in a linear historical narrative in the book of Acts, supplemented by letters from the apostles. I think it is safe to say that the Bible as a whole can be organized on a linear timeline.
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We can learn more by studying the prophecies of Daniel, the part of the Bible most similar to Revelation. Like Revelation, they portray the cosmic conflict as it plays out on earth. Daniel uses highly symbolic language to describe the succession of world empires that would oppress God’s followers, starting in his time and continuing in order through history, but with its greatest focus on the final events and elimination of evil. Besides the linear narrative of events happening on earth, there are also descriptions of what God is doing in heaven, particularly in chapter 7, where Daniel was allowed to witness a judgment taking place in the heavenly courtroom, which delivered the “saints” into the eternal kingdom. There are also elaborations where an angel explains to Daniel the significance of the things he has seen.
With the pattern in the Bible as a whole and the book of Daniel in mind, we could expect the Book of Revelation to also be a basically linear narrative that traces the experience of God’s followers as they are caught up in the cosmic conflict playing out here on earth. Because the Bible doesn’t cover the 1,900-year “gap” in the history of God’s people from the apostolic period, we could expect that Revelation would begin with a brief prophetic portrayal of that history. We will look at the evidence for that interpretation when we study the seven churches. We would also expect the major focus of Revelation, like the prophecies of Daniel, to be on end-time events. As in Daniel 7, we could also expect the portrayal of events happening in heaven while things are playing out here on earth; this could necessitate two parallel timelines, one for earthly events and one for heavenly activities. Although there could be flashbacks and explanatory elaborations, we would not expect to bounce around aimlessly from one timeframe to another.
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At this point, I want to talk about a “tool” that is often used to establish chronology, which I have not found to be entirely helpful. If you have already read books or watched videos on Revelation you have probably encountered the terms “preterist, historicist, and futurist.” These are models of interpretation that many commentators start with as they seek to make sense of what is arguably the most confusing book of the Bible. I would like to take just a few minutes to discuss these influential models.
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The historicist model of interpretation teaches that the events symbolized in Revelation began during the first century when it was written. According to this model, God inspired John to detail in symbolic language what would happen to the Christian Church throughout history until the time of the end. Several important early church theologians such as Irenaeus and Tertullian were historicists, but this model of interpretation really came into focus during the Protestant Reformation when the reformers used the historicist model to identify the final antichrist as the Roman Catholic Papacy. They needed a model that would take the narrative of Revelation from the first century when it was written to the middle ages. The symbolic representations in the Book of Revelation provided the protestant reformers with multiple opportunities to identify the Roman Catholic Church as Babylon and the papacy as the antichrist.
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The Preterist model assumes that most of Revelation is a commentary on the social, political, and religious movements of the first and second centuries when it was written. This model teaches that the writer of Revelation simply used highly symbolic language to describe or speculate on the events and trends of the time. According to Wikipedia and many other sources, “Preterism was first expounded by the Jesuit Luis de Alcazar during the Counter-Reformation. The preterist view helped to defend the Roman Catholic Church against attacks by Protestants, who identified the Pope as being the Anti-Christ.” (Wikipedia article Preterism).
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The futurist model of interpretation puts most of the events of Revelation in the future during the Great Tribulation. Like the preterist model, it was developed by Roman Catholics during the Protestant Reformation. “The futurist view was proposed by two Catholic Jesuit writers, Manuel Lacunza and Francisco Ribera… Ribera began writing a lengthy commentary in 1585 on the Book of Revelation, proposing that the first few chapters of the Apocalypse apply to ancient pagan Rome, and the rest he limited to a yet future period of 3½ literal years, immediately before the Second Coming of Christ… This removed the papacy of the Catholic Church from consideration as the Antichrist,” (Wikipedia article Futurism.) Today, many futurists are dispensationalists who believe in the secret rapture of the Christian Church and a “left behind” scenario during which the antichrist will appear.
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Although there is some truth and application in all of these models of interpretation, you can see from this very brief overview that the development of them had less to do with an analysis of Revelation and the Bible, and more to do with the factions and rivalries within the Christian Church. These three models, along with idealism, which treats Revelation as an allegory, are still very widely used frameworks for interpreting Revelation.
But if we start our study of Revelation with a preconceived model, we are likely to let the model determine our interpretation rather than the Bible. For example, if my theology supports a preterist model, I will search for wars and disasters during the Roman Empire that could fit with the Seven Seals, trumpets, and bowls. The antichrist, mark of the beast, and 666 would apply to oppressive emperors such as Nero. This approach may be interesting to history buffs, but it makes Revelation largely irrelevant to most of us today. And it leaves an unexplained gap between first-century events and the obviously end-time events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ that are so prominent in the Book of Revelation.
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If I follow a historicist model, I will tend to see the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and maybe even the seven bowls as repetitive overviews of history. But with this approach, it may be necessary to focus on obscure footnotes of history in order to find historical events that are in the right order and that fit with the symbols of the Revelation narrative. And events that seemed like impressive signs of the end during the Protestant Reformation or the 19th century become increasingly irrelevant as the centuries pass.
If I believe in the futurist/dispensationalist model, I will have to be very selective and creative in order to make the symbolic scenes of Revelation fit into the popular media narrative of the secret rapture and the experiences of those “left behind” during the great tribulation.
So we see that starting with a model gives us an inherent bias that automatically skews our interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Personally, I don’t think that the models are very helpful. Using them encourages us to think that we know more about Revelation than we really do, because the model tells us what the context is rather than a careful study of the text.
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I think that it makes more sense to let Revelation interpret itself using the tools that God inspired John to put within the book to help us unlock its meaning. We will be looking at more tools in the next three videos, including foundations from the book of Daniel, the chiastic literary structure, and symbolism based on the Old Testament sanctuary.
But as important as these tools are, the key to understanding the Book of Revelation is Jesus. Revelation comes to us from the hands of “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead… who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5). A careful reading of the first verse shows us that “the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show His servants… was sent and signified” by Jesus Himself (Revelation 1:1).
In our zeal to understand prophecy, we must first and foremost continue in our quest to know Jesus, the Lamb of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the center and focus of Revelation. Any interpretation of prophecy that is out of harmony with the teachings and character of the Jesus we encounter in the gospels and the teaching of the apostles is inaccurate, no matter how logical or persuasive it may be.
And Jesus Himself pronounces a blessing on our study: “Blessed is the one who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keeps those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). His blessing will empower us in our search for a deeper Revelation of Jesus.
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To see all the videos in this series, check out the Revelation of Jesus playlist. These videos are based on the book “A Revelation of Jesus” by David Lackey; you can order a copy of the book on Amazon or other online bookstores, or read it online at RevelationofJesus.net
Order the book “A Revelation of Jesus”
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