THE COMPLETED VIEW OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Episode 2

THE COMPLETED VIEW OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION

EPISODE TWO.

This presentation is focused on the Book of Revelation but will begin by drawing content and information the Book of Genesis. It is meant to give the reader a simplified chronology and to abbreviate the highlight the events of the Last Days to provide an easier-to-understand study on what is coming to planet earth.

I will be using the NASB and the Amplified versions of the Bible for descriptive clarity and I will add commentary when useful. I will also be using italics and bold lettering for emphasis.

Furthermore, I will not go into the detail of symbolism, the historicity or cultural, political, social, economic backgrounds or traditions, however, I am supplying Text Links to serve those purposes. They are important, and I strongly encourage you to use them).

The literary genres of the book of Revelation are apocalyptic and prophetic, and it is an Epistle (a Letter). The Apostle John, who followed Jesus Christ as His disciple (and earned the title of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”), witnessed His crucifixion, authored the Book of the Revelation between A.D. 90 and A.D. 95.

The immediate background for John and his exile to the Greek island of Patmos, is that Roman authorities were beginning to enforce emperor worship, and Christians who held that Christ, not Caesar, was Lord, were facing increasing hostility. John was writing the Revelation while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos, approximately 85-95 A.D., the site of a Roman penal colony) for his activities as a Christian missionary (see Revelation chapter 1 verse 9). Now, John is writing to the believers at Smyrna warning against coming opposition.

Some within the church are advocating a policy of compromise, which has to be corrected before its subtle influence can undermine the determination of believers to stand fast in the perilous days that lie ahead. (see Revelation chapter 2 verses 14, 15 and 20)

John is writing to encourage the Christian faithful to resist the demands of emperor worship. He informs Believers that the final showdown between God and Satan will soon take place. Satan will increase his persecution of believers, and they must stand fast, even to death. John informs them that they are sealed against spiritual harm and will be vindicated when Christ returns.

John’s purpose is to give hope to all Christians and to encourage them to watch for the triumphant return of the Jesus Christ and to warn of the Final Judgments of nonbelievers in the Last Days.

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1, verse 3).

Then, in Revelation chapter 1 verse 9, John makes a statement that should be shaking the modern church to its foundations, but it has been and is being ignored, overlooked or has been misrepresented by most Bible teachers – for decades. Read as John says,

“I, John, your brother and fellow participant in the tribulation…”

NOTE: Most Bible teachers in our postmodern age who will address this verse and these specific words of John will insist or imply that John is, in a manner of speaking, confused. They will say that because John has witnessed the martyrdom of his fellow Apostles, the severe persecution of fellow Believers, because of his advanced age and his isolation on Patmos, John is disoriented or bewildered, causing him to misinterpret the events and signs he is witnessing and the age in which he is living as being the Last Days and the tribulation.

Please, let me be crystal clear: any such interpretation of John’s remarks as being an error in John’s perception, is more than a mistake by Bible teachers and theologians. It is more than just an error in their judgment. It is an egregious and arrogant judgment on the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, it is the blight of denominationalism to say that John, the bond-servant chosen by God, is confused, mistaken or insane. That is tantamount to accusing the Bible of error. To which I say, nonsense and shame! Here is what the Bible says: God chose John, His bond-servant, “to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, ²who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw.” (see Revelation 1 verses 1 and 2),

John’s remarks and testimony are true, accurate and without any error.

John is saying, and if fact is repeating what Jesus and the Apostles Paul, Peter and Timothy have been saying as early as A.D. 30, that these “are the Last Days” and the “birth pains” of the “tribulation” as represented by the breaking (or opening) of the first 5 tribulation Seals which will be followed by the Great Tribulation, also known as the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and the Wrath of the Lamb, which will commence with the breaking of the 6^th Tribulation Seal..

Please See and read:

Acts 2:14-17, (the Apostle Peter), saying, “let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be…’

1 Peter 1:20, (the Apostle Peter), saying,“ He, (Jesus), was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.”

1 Peter 4:7, (the Apostle Peter), saying, “The end of all things is at hand.”

2 Peter 3:3. (the Apostle Peter), saying, “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days.”

1 Corinthians 10:11, (the Apostle Paul), saying, “Now these things happened to them as an example and warning [to us]; they were written for our instruction [to admonish and equip us], upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Hebrews 1:2, (the Apostle Paul), saying, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Hebrews 9:26, (the Apostle Paul), saying, “But as it is, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

2 Timothy 3:1, (the Apostle Timothy), saying, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

1 John 2:18. (the Apostle John), saying, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour.”

Revelation 1:9, (The Apostle John), saying, “I, John, your brother and fellow participant in the tribulation.”

Matthew 24:4-31, (Jesus), describing a panorama and the stages of the tribulation and the Last Days.

(NOTE: I realize that some of what is being presented is a departure from the more traditional dispensational view of a ‘pre-tribulation rapture’.

Traditionally, the tribulation, The Great Tribulation, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and the Wrath of the Lamb, are all considered as one seven-year event, (which is also known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week). When these matters are studied and prayerfully scrutinized, the Bible serious student will find that the SEAL JUDGMENTS of the tribulation period comes in TWO STAGES.

First is the ‘birth pains’ stage of the tribulation as described by Jesus in Matthew 24, verses 6 through 8.

Then comes ‘the Great Tribulation stage’, which begins with the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal and concludes with the pouring out of the final 7 Bowl Judgments.

There are substantial studies on this view which I will offer at the end of our final episode.)

John gives a summary of The Book of The Revelation in chapters one through three, wherein he describes the details of the Revelation of Jesus he received as an apocalyptic vision from an angel. In this vision John is instructed to write a letter to seven churches: “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things”. John, in this letter, gives a description of the seven churches, their qualities, strengths and their weaknesses. (This letter to the churches can be seen as a way to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of any current-day church, and even your own spiritual state).

Then, in Revelation chapters four through twenty, John describes the spiritual realm, wherein Jesus Christ is the referred to as “The Slain Lamb” of God, who is the only One worthy to open the book with the SEVEN seals.

The SEVENTH Seal then introduces SEVEN trumpets, which bring another series of judgments. The SIXTH Trumpet Judgment marks the mid-point of the Great Tribulation, brings the death of one-third of the earth’s population, and marks the point in the Great Tribulation when no more can be saved: “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, DID NOT REPENT” (see Revelation 9, verse 20).

Revelation 6, verse 16, Revelation 11, verse 18 and Revelation 14, verse 10, all mention the arrival of the Wrath of the Lamb occurring at or near the blowing of the 6^th Tribulation Trumpet.

Next are the final Seven Vials or Bowls of plagues to be poured onto the Earth. These fierce and final plagues demonstrate the Wrath of The Lamb and God’s holy judgment upon the wicked Earth.

John announces that the antichrist and the false prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire where they remain for one thousand years.

Finally, in Revelation chapters twenty-one through twenty-two, John describes the New Heaven and the New Earth and the holy city of the New Jerusalem where there will no longer be any crying or tears, pain, mourning, or death. (see chapter 21 verse 1).

Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter and will live eternally with Jesus Christ. (see Revelation chapter 22 verse 17).

Here is Small Bite’ Video #2. An overview of The Book of The Revelation, chapter 12 through chapter 22. (created by The Bible Project. After viewing these videos, please continue with the following Episodes).