Introduction. Revelation of Jesus 1

Welcome to a revelation of Jesus. I’m David Lackey, and this video, an introduction to symbols, is the first in a series of seventy videos that cover the entire book of Revelation. You can find a link to the whole playlist in the description.

I’ll just say upfront, the Book of Revelation is hard to understand. I’ve been seriously studying it for over 40 years, and I’m still learning new things all the time. With this series, I want to share the things I have learned. Although the Book of Revelation has always been important, I believe that it is more relevant today than ever before.

By today’s standards, the Book of Revelation wouldn’t even be considered a book, with only 10,300 words. But despite being small and written with simple vocabulary, its meaning is still largely a mystery. It is the only book of the Bible for which there is no consensus as to its general theme, organization, time frame, or target audience.

And although there are many books that are hard to understand, there are none that project such a sense of vital importance, arousing an almost desperate desire to understand its symbolic mysteries. Lots of readers have wondered if Revelation will show them in advance what will happen in the future. Many commentators assume that Revelation must be a symbolic commentary on the political and social conditions of the time it was written, so they apply it to the history of the ancient Roman empire. Other writers assume that Revelation must be relevant to our day, so they try to plug in the current headline news. Thousands of books and videos have been published about Revelation, but if you read or watch a random dozen, you will find a dozen wildly different opinions.

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Most readers start out trying to understand Revelation on their own, but after a few pages, begin to wonder, “What on earth is this all about?” At that point, they may turn to a book or a video about Revelation. But the writers of those books have usually been doing similar research. They compare Revelation with ancient documents that were written around the same time. They read the writings of the “church fathers” or famous commentators to find out what they had to say. They compare Revelation with other “apocalyptic” literature that didn’t make it into the Bible.

While all of these can be helpful, if we consider the source of the Book of Revelation, we will need a different approach to understand it. John, the writer of Revelation, gives us insight and direction in the first two verses.

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place…. His servant John bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw” (Revelation 1:1,2). Here we see five guidelines that can help us to stay on track as we seek to understand this enigmatic book.

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First and foremost, it is a “Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Whatever we may learn about beasts, plagues, or the future is only of value if it teaches us more about Jesus and how to abide in Him. Jesus, often portrayed in Revelation as the Lamb, is the hero of the story as he brings sin and death to a permanent end.

Second, Revelation tells the story of “things which must shortly take place.” Revelation is a book of prophecy. It tells the story of the followers of Jesus from the time it was written by John in the last decade of the first century until the Second Coming of Christ, the millennium, and the ushering in of the eternal kingdom. One of the important tasks of this series will be to develop a timeline of the events that are prophesied in Revelation.

Third, John bore witness to “the word of God.” In John’s time this was the Old Testament, and Revelation is packed with references to verses, themes, and stories from the Old Testament. It’s like hypertext; a word or phrase in Revelation links to an Old Testament passage that helps to unpack the meaning. In order to understand Revelation, we will need to dig deep into the Old Testament scriptures, and this may feel unnatural at first if we are from a faith tradition that considers the Old Testament to be more or less irrelevant.

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Fourth, John bore witness to “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” An angel told John what this means. “I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). The prophets, including John and his fellow apostles, were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit spoke to them in various ways, such as visions, an inner voice, and divine insight into the scriptures, and they were able to know with certainty that they were receiving messages from God.

For us to understand the book of Revelation, we too need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As important as a background in theology or biblical languages may be, without the Spirit’s guidance, Revelation will simply be a confusing jumble of seemingly unrelated and incomprehensible symbols. It is vitally important that you do not take my word or any other commentator’s word for what Revelation means. Before we study, we should pray that the Holy Spirit will give us understanding.

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Finally, John bore witness “to all things that he saw.” Revelation is filled with images and symbols. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures and symbols convey rich, multifaceted messages that touch both the intellect and the emotions. But it is vitally important that we know the explanatory words in order to know what the picture means. If the symbols are not interpreted correctly, the entire meaning is off. It is tempting to use logic, imagination, or the preconceived ideas of our own denominational tradition. To get the symbolism right, we must let the Bible interpret its own symbols.

Let’s look at some examples of how God’s word can help us interpret Revelation’s symbols. In Revelation 17, one of the most confusing sections of Revelation, John saw a harlot who was “drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:1,6). We definitely need to know who this harlot is. In verse one an angel said to John, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters… And [John] saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast… having seven heads and ten horns” (Revelation 17:1,3).

If we had to guess what the harlot and the scarlet beast symbolize, we would be hard-pressed. But the fact that she sits on “many waters” is a clue. In this case, we don’t have to do much searching for the meaning; a few verses later, the angel gives John the interpretation: “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages” (Revelation 17:15).

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We can learn much more about the harlot and the multitudes of nations by looking for links to the “many waters” in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah chapter 51, the prophet announces the destruction of Babylon, an ancient empire which conquered God’s people and took them into captivity. Jeremiah wrote, “Babylon, O you who dwell by many waters” (Jeremiah 51:12-13). From this Old Testament link, we see that the “harlot sitting on many waters” has some characteristics of ancient Babylon. And in fact, we see in verse 5 that the harlot has the name “Babylon” written on her forehead.

But there are also important differences. Ancient Babylon was just one oppressive nation. In contrast, the many waters that surround the harlot in Revelation 17 are “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.” This shows that there will be an international coalition of nations that will support Babylon-style oppression of God’s faithful people. By studying the Old Testament passages that talk about ancient Babylon, such as the books of Daniel and Jeremiah, we will be able to learn more about what to expect from the persecuting harlot coalition.

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It turns out that there are similar symbols in Revelation chapter 12. There, we also see a woman, but this time she appears virtuous, clothed with the sun. There is also a red dragon monster with 7 heads and 10 horns. But this time the dragon is pursuing the woman, trying to destroy her. He “spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood of water” (Revelation 12:15,16).

This passage describes in symbolic language real historical events. In our efforts to understand what the woman, the dragon, and the earth symbolize. It will help us to know that the earth swallows up water, symbolizing multitudes of people and even nations with different languages. Perhaps you can already guess what some of these symbols mean, but we should put in the time to do the study in order to be sure, because they are used repeatedly.

For example, when we get to chapter 13, we will see the earth again, and this time, there is a beast coming up out of it. This is important because the beast from the earth will impose the mark of the beast and an international death decree against those who refuse to accept it. So getting the symbols right is not just a matter of satisfying our curiosity.

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From this brief example, we can see that the symbols of Revelation are like pieces of a puzzle. The more symbols we identify, the more they help us to interpret other parts of Revelation, until the whole puzzle picture begins to come into focus.

In this first example, Revelation itself provides the meaning of the symbol of water. But the meanings of most of the symbols in Revelation are unlocked by links to Old Testament scriptures. Let’s look at another example. Revelation chapters 4 through 7 present the seven seals, one of the most difficult sections to understand. Many commentaries put most of their focus on the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” and assume that the seals must prophesy disasters in the past or the future. But could the seven seals portray something else?

Revelation 4 begins with John looking through a door in heaven to see God the Father seated on His throne. “And around the throne, were four living creatures…The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Revelation 4:6,7).

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What strange creatures these are! You might wonder why they would be in heaven around God’s throne. First of all, we should keep in mind that if we actually went to heaven, we probably wouldn’t see a race of creatures that looked like lions, oxen, men, and eagles. These four creatures are symbols; we can’t imagine what heaven really looks like.

It would be even more difficult to guess what these strange creatures symbolize, but fortunately, we don’t have to speculate. We find these same four living creatures in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet at a time when God’s representative nation, Israel, had turned away from Him and was worshiping the gods of other nations. This idol worship often involved violence, immorality, and even sacrificing their own children.

Ezekiel saw a vision of God on His throne. Underneath were wheels within wheels with four living creatures in their midst. “Each creature had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion, each had the face of an ox, and each had the face of an eagle…over their heads was a throne…with the appearance of a man high above it” (Ezekiel 1:4-10).

It is obvious that when Jesus showed John the four living creatures around the throne of God, He wanted us to remember Ezekiel’s vision. Ezekiel tells us that the living creatures were Cherubim, which are a type of angel. The cherubim went with God as witnesses when He took Ezekiel on a tour of Jerusalem to see the corruption of the spiritual leaders. God said to Ezekiel, “Do you see what they are doing, the great abominations? For they say, ‘the Lord does not see us…they have filled the land with violence” (Ezekiel 8:4-18).

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God showed Ezekiel that His chosen representatives had rejected His leadership, and in doing so had rejected His protection from the powerful enemy nations around them. Those enemies were symbolized by “six men…each with his battle-ax in his hand” (Ezekiel 9:2,6). But God wanted to save whoever he could from this destruction. He instructed an angel, “Put a mark on the foreheads of the people who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” The destroyers were commanded, “Do not come near anyone on whom is the mark” (Ezekiel 9:4,6).

We see in Ezekiel that the four living creatures were present for the investigation and judgment of those who claimed to be followers of God. God wanted Ezekiel to see for himself that many of the religious leaders had forfeited protection from the destruction they deserved. But those who were faithful would be protected; they were marked on their foreheads, and the enemies could not harm them.

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Coming back to Revelation 4, when we see the four living creatures surrounding the throne of God, we would suspect from what we learned in Ezekiel that the Seven Seals are also a description of the investigation and judgment of people who are supposedly followers of God. And our search in Ezekiel also uncovered another parallel that strengthens our hypothesis. In the sixth seal, we see angels “sealing the servants of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 7:3), just like we saw in Ezekiel. And as in Ezekiel, when the sealing is finished, all hell breaks loose with the Seven Trumpets, during which God’s enemies carry out the greatest slaughter in all of human history. But they can only harm “those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4)

We will study this in a lot more detail when we get to the seven seals, starting in video 14. But you can already see how the symbol in Revelation directs us to the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, and this opens up the meaning. The next step will be to look carefully for other links to see if they confirm our hypothesis that the Seven Seals have something to do with judgment. Let’s look for that in our final example.

John saw “Many angels around the throne… and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11).

Notice the number of the angels surrounding the throne. “Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands” is a very specific number that is found in only one other place in the bible: Daniel chapter 7. “[Daniel] watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated… A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9,10). We already suspected from the presence of the four living creatures that this section has to do with the judgment. Now, the very specific number of angels that were also present in Daniel 7, where “The judgment was set, and the books were opened,” supports our hypothesis that the Seven Seals are not just an interesting view of heaven followed by some plagues on earth; This is actually a courtroom scene.

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Although the judgment is something that most people don’t want to think about, it is actually good news. Daniel went on to say, “The Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21,22). Although we may not consider ourselves to be saints, in the Bible, a saint is someone who believes in Jesus and follows Him. The judgment is simply God’s way of showing the myriads of angels who His true followers are. The angels will watch over them until the time comes when they will inherit the kingdom of God for eternity.

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A major takeaway from this video is that the Book of Revelation and its symbols are not so hard to understand if we let the Bible explain itself. The symbols of Revelation are linked to other scriptures in the Bible, and these links help us unpack the meaning of Revelation. In the next four videos, we will look at other tools in the Revelation toolbox that will help us in our understanding. The Book of Revelation is a gift from God, and He did not give it to us to confuse or frustrate us. The Holy Spirit can teach us through the scriptures He has inspired.

Before we finish, I want to reiterate something I said earlier. The Book of Revelation begins with the words, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). If these videos do not help you to come away with a clearer picture of Jesus and a greater appreciation of His love, mercy, and grace, please let me know in the comments. And please feel free to share your insights as well. The Holy Spirit has given spiritual gifts to each one who believes in Jesus, and they are all “for the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12), so that we can learn and grow in grace together.

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If you enjoyed this video, please like it, subscribe to this channel, and click on the bell so that you will be notified of future videos. And if you know people who you think would be interested in learning about the book of Revelation, please share the link to the Revelation playlist that is in the description, or post it on your social media.

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 for free online at RevelationofJesus.net