Today, we began a four week study of the book of Revelation by laying a proper foundation in order to start building our understanding of this book. Both the Old and New Testaments are divided into three main sections.
Old Testament: History – Genesis to Esther Poetry – Job to Song of Solomon Prophecy – Isaiah to Malachi
New Testament: History – Matthew to Acts Church Doctrine – Romans to Philemon Jewish Epistles / Prophecy – Hebrews to Revelation
Understanding where we are in the church Age, we must be careful to examine scripture through the lens of the Mystery (Christ in you, the hope of glory). Study out all of scripture understanding the principle that all of the Bible was not written to me, but all the Bible was written for me. Knowing that we already have complete victory in Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection, let us all look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13
1 Corinthians 15:57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We saw in Revelation 1:1-3, this book is a book of prophecy, which mean it is not written to us in the Church Age, but it is written for us. We saw that it is divided into three main sections:
Revelation 1:19: Write the things which thou hast seen (past), and the things which are (present), and the things which shall be hereafter (future);
John is commanded to write about the past (ch.1-3), write about the present (ch.4-19), write about the future (ch.20-22). John is given the supernatural ability to write from the perspective of the day of the Lord, which is the time of the tribulation till the 2nd Advent. So, he is already looking back into the Church Age and writing the things he “saw”.
The letters to the seven churches are letters written to real churches with praises and warnings and prescriptions to correct the negative issues of the churches. Only two churches had nothing negative said of them – Smyrna and Philadelphia. I believe all seven churches can be identified in every generation of the Church Age. Even today, we can see all seven churches in operation. The overall condition of the Church is one of apathy, as seen in the letter to the Laodiceans in ch.3:14-20.
When we read the seven letters, Christ gives an encouragement to the overcomers at the end of each letter. It is like a P.S. (post script) written to the readers that are in the tribulation. Revelation 2:7, 17, 24-29, and 3:5-6, 12-13, 21-22, and 21:6-7 all speak words of encouragement of reward to tribulation believers to endure to the end!
Matthew 24:13-14: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
We will be studying the things which are (the present – ch.4-19) the next two Sundays dealing with Daniel's 70th week, the tribulation, with its four accounts of this seven year period. Please bring your copy of the outline of the book of Revelation to class for the next few weeks as we take a brisk walk through Revelation using that as a guide. There will be some physical copies available to all who cannot print it out.
