Readers and Listeners

     "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."

     Well, last night we saw an introduction to the glory of Christ and the mindset for studying Revelation that John presents us with. Tonight we'll begin to look at lessons for Christians in Revelation. Now that we've grabbed a glimpse of Christ's glory, let's look at what we are to do with such a wonderful knowledge.

     From the text above, we can see that there are two types of people being addressed: readers and hearers. There is blessing in store for both those who read or teach Revelation to others, and there is also a blessing for those who hear, learn from, and keep the words of this book. In the Greek, "reads" (anaginosko) originally meant to "perceive accurately" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, p.145) but over time its morphology changed to mean simply "reads". As a teacher, we can see that as we teach the Word of God, we must handle it rightly. The word did start out meaning "perceive", for then we could perceive what is not there. Rather, we are to "perceive accurately", we must be intimately acquainted with the book of Revelation and so that we can teach it as the pure Word of God. We must be sure that what we teach is true to what is contained in the book of Revelation and God's revealed character because teachers must watch over the souls of those that they teach as those who will have to give an accounting (Heb. 13:17).

     Just as the teachers must perceive accurately, so also must the hearers hear accurately. The hearers are not blessed people if they allow the information to go in one ear and then just fall out of the other. They are blessed if they "understand" or "comprehend" what is being said ("", p.114). They must be actively involved, listening, processing the truths that the teachers bring. Then, not only should they be aware of the teaching that they are hearing, they must apply those verities. The Greek word is tereo, and it's the same word used in Jude 1:21 where we see Christ able to keep us from stumbling. Although it is the same word, there are two different meanings or flavors of the word. Both usages mean "to keep an eye on, watch, and hence to guard, keep, obey" ("", p.1380), and they are derived from the Gk. word teros which basically means a prison guard, an officer of prisoners. Although it is the same word, there are two different flavors or varieties of the word. Jude uses the word in the broader sense, like the warden being officially responsible for keeping the prisoner in his cell. John, here in Revelation, is more specific in his use, the hearers are simply to "watch, observe attentively, keep the eyes fixed upon" ("", p.1380). I say simply but just as the reader is responsible for accuracy of transmission, the hearer is responsible for accuracy of reception. Latin, the sister language of Greek, has a similar verb, tereo (identical spelling), it means "to have" the reader has got "to have it" they need to obtain an understanding of the text. They must not only understand and comprehend what is being said, they have to also focus and pay attention minutely. Both are responsible in each their own area, and both will be blessed for their efforts.

     Lord, help us to grow, to be accurate teachers and attentive listeners as we realize the importance of this closing book of the Bible. It is not a book to be trifled with, please give us both an understanding and wisdom of Your ways.

Apokalupsis

     Usually when I study through a book of the Bible, I will spend a couple of weeks on the survey part of studying. That would be when I try to really get a grasp of what all the different sections or segments of the book are and, more importantly, see how they relate to one another. For this study through Revelation though, I am not going to focus nearly as much time on this aspect of Bible study as I could/would/should. If I were studying through Revelation to master -- to the best of my abilities -- the concepts and events that it contains, I would linger over this area of digging into the Word much longer. However, even though I should do this if I were to thoroughly understand and interpret Revelation as it is possible for me to do and as I really wish I could be doing, that is not my purpose in studying (see "Purpose" tab at top for an explanation). Therefore, I feel it is more needful right now for me to take a topical approach to Revelation that greatly redirects my focus of study. So, with that said, I am now going to dive into the text praying that the Lord would enlighten my eyes to see first His glory and also our instructions.

     The book of Revelation starts off with "The revelation...". The Greek word for revelation is apokalupsis, it's a noun that is derived from the Greek verb apokalupto. Both words are very similar in meaning, they've got to be since one derived from the other. The verb apokalupto can be further broken down into two parts: apo which means "from" and kalupto which means "to cover, conceal". If you put these two words together, you get "from cover, concealment" or in other words to unveil or expose something which was previously hidden, covered up, or concealed. We are getting a chance to look at and understand something which was before hidden from us, we had no knowledge of it. It would be like living in a house for twenty years, and then being shown a secret room that had remained, up until that time, in secrecy. That is basically what is going on in the book of Revelation.

     When Revelation was delivered to the churches it was, for them, the unveiling of something new. They, like the owners of the house in the example above, were familiar with the setting -- Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Jude had all written about Christ's Second Coming -- but yet this was something new. If you were to look at the chronology of the authorship of the N.T. books, you would see that the books which John wrote are unique. They are unique because all five of them (Revelation, John, John, John, and,uh, John) were written roughly 15-20 years after the rest of the N.T. canon had been completed. The believers at the time were familiar with other end times references that Paul, and especially Peter and Jude, had made, but Revelation was different.

     There are two main areas in which Revelation stands out from the crowd. First off, it's just plain huge compared to the other areas of Scripture which deal with eschatology (the study of end times). I mean, Peter only devoted a chapter to it, and Jude's only got one chapter to work with, so he was only able to devote a matter of verses. Paul's writings on the subject were more spread out and so were Jesus', but even if they were all brought together, they still wouldn't amount to a whole lot more than maybe a chapter or two. Revelation on the other hand, dedicates a whopping 19 chapters to this topic!

     Not only is Revelation set apart by its sheer size, but it is also different in subject matter and focus. This is where the Greek words above come into play. Peter and Jude wrote along the same lines, even overlapping at times, and their purpose was to show believers the end of false teachers, how dangerous they were, how to identify and expose them, and how to counteract and eliminate their venomous influence on the church (2 Pet. 3:10, Jude 14-15). Christ and Paul were at another corner of the end times triangle, their references to the end times had mainly to do with using those times to encourage and drive believers to a higher spiritual standard of living. To live life with a goal in mind, of finishing the race well, of completing their God-given courses (See Matt. 10:22, 24:4-14; Rom. 6:21; 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5).

     Revelation, on the other hand, occupies the third corner, it is separate. Peter and Jude showed the judgment of God in the end times, Christ and Paul showed how we ought to live in light of the coming end times, but Revelation shows Christ glorified by the end times. You see, there is a difference in who is being related to the end times, Peter/Jude have the false teachers and Christ/Paul have believers. Revelation, though, uses the end times as a huge arrow pointing upward at the glory -- the expression of the sum of all Christ's attributes -- of the Lamb once slaughtered for our sake but now and for evermore enthroned on high at God's right hand.

     Remember back at the beginning of this post, the first two English (one Greek) words of this book? They were "The revelation", now we will complete this phrase: "The revelation of Jesus Christ". Back to apokalupsis, the noun form. We saw that it's from the verb apokalupto, you know, the movement from obscurity to manifestation. Apokalupsis isn't the only word used in the N.T. in reference to Christ's Second Coming, there are two others: epiphaneia and parousia. Ephiphaneia means simply to appear, to have an appearance; Paul is the only person in the N.T. to use this word to describe Christ's Second Coming. The second word parousia means to come, to arrive. It usually refers to a specific coming, it isn't a very general word, it's got a specific meaning when it is used. Of these three words which have been used to refer to the Second Coming, apokalupsis is the most profound and carries with it the greatest weight. It not only means to arrive or appear, it means to arrive or appear and then understand the significance of that appearance and coming. The significance of this word being in its noun form though is the fact that the noun form makes it definitive. Revelation is not just a record of the end time events, but it is an understanding of Christ's glory in His Second Coming, part of which is shown through those events. That is the main reason they are there, not only for our understanding of what is to come, but to show the glory of Christ. Applied here it not only means to know that Christ is going to make an appearance or to know what the events surrounding His return will be, but to see all of these things through glasses tinted with Christ's glory. We must not become so bogged down in the details of what, where, when, why, and how that we miss the Who. The purpose of the book of Revelation is to show us the events encircling the return of Christ in such a light as to shine forth the splendor of His glory.

     As I grow through the reading of God's Word and through fervent prayer, I ask that you would join me as I travel through this book and that we would be able to join with those in heaven singing praise to Christ:

19:6b-7a - "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory..."

Breakdown: Christ in Revelation

     Sometimes it's good when you're intently working on something to take a break and later revisit it with fresh eyes. Looking back over yesterday's divisions, something else stood out to me: there are three main divisions which show different aspects of Christ.

1-5 - Christ's Body
6-18 - Christ's Judgment
19-22 - Christ's Glory

     After finding these groups, I looked to see what other groupings were found by others. Irving Jensen, in his book Jensen's Survey of the New Testament gave these groupings which are along the same general lines as mine, but more specific, and therefore of more use to me:

1:1-8 - Christ Communicating
1:9-3:22 - Christ in the Church: The Living One
4:1-16:21 - Christ in the Cosmos: The Redeemer
17:1-21:8 - Christ in Conquest: The Warrior
21:9-22:5 - Christ in the Consummation: The Lamb
22:6-21 - Christ Challenging

     As I study, I will be trying to learn more about Christ based on these groupings. They will also serve as launching points for my studies on how believers are to live in light of these truths.

Beginning to Survey

     Now that I've gone through and created the chapter titles for each chapter of Revelation, I am going to try and group the chapters based on their general content.

Letters to the Church (1-3)
Worship of the Elders (4-5)
Judgments of the Seals (6-8:5)
Seven Trumpets (8:6-11)
The Dragon, the Two Beasts, and the Lamb (12-13)
Seven Bowls (15-16)
The Prostitute, the Beast, and Babylon (17-18)
The End of Judgment and the New Life of Believers (19-22)

Chapter Titles 17-22

     Yay!! Today is the end of reading through Revelation and formulating chapter titles. Now that we've begun to get familiar with the text, we'll start trying to identify movements in the book. Oh, yeah, here's the rest of the titles:

17. Prostitute and Her Beast
18. Babylon Thrown Down
19. The Rider of the White Horse
20. The Devil's End
21. New Heaven, Earth, and Jerusalem
22. Jesus Comes

Chapter Titles 12-16

     Found time to read through another five chapters today, the seven bowls and the trumpets from yesterday sure make the end times a bitter/sweet time.

12. Dragon and Woman
13. Two Beasts
14. Three Angels and Harvest
15. Seven Angels Given Seven Bowls
16. Seven Angels Pour Seven Bowls

Chapter Titles 4-11

     Today I was able to read through a pretty good chunk of the text and here's what I came up with:

4. The Four Beasts
5. The Lamb
6. 6/7 Seals
7. The Great Multitude
8. 7th Seal and 4/7 Trumpets
9. 5th and 6th Trumpets
10. 7th Trumpet and Little Scroll
11. The Two Witnesses

Chapter Titles 1-3

     As I begin to actually dig into the text of Scripture, in the study of an entire book, my first order of business is to read through the entire book and make a chapter title for each chapter. To do this I try to pick out what the key theme or subject of the chapter is (or the major one if there are many), sum it up in about three words -- the shorter the better, no more than five usually, exact biblical words or phrases preferred -- and then write the summary down as a reminder of what is going on in each of the chapters. Today I read through the first three chapters of Revelation.

1. Jesus

2. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira

3. Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea