Revelation

The book of Revelation along with Ezekiel and Daniel makes up the Apocalyptic books of the Bible that contain a good bit of eschatology.  The book was written in 96 AD by the apostle John while he was in exile on the island of Patmos.  John has a vision to open the book in which he sees Christ and worships him.  John sees seven lampstands and seven stars in the vision.  The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, while the seven gold lampstands are the seven churches.  In writing to these churches John only speaks of one of them without any complaints.  That is the church of Philadelphia.  Other churches were infiltrated with false prophets, others could not make up their mind as to whether or not to become truly committed to Christ, while others had a problem with loving each other.  The church in Philadelphia did not have this problem as John commends it for its patience and its endurance through trials.  God clearly speaks here aginst those who are neither hot nor cold for him but are in the lukewarm state and tells them that he will spit them out of his mouth if they do not decide.  This describes the wavering group that likes to call themselves Christians but who have not fully submitted their agenda to God's agenda.  Revelation 4 goes into another vision by John as he is lifted up in the Spirit into heaven.  There he sees twenty-four elders worshipping God.  The twenty-fours was the Levitical priesthood and thus represents all the Old Testament Saints who were resurrected with Christ in 30 AD.  Revelation 5 begins by speaking of the scroll and the Lamb.  The scroll contians the final events that will happen on earth while the Lamb represents Christ who is the only one who can open the scroll.  Revelation 6 then goes into the selas.  When the first seal is opened a rider bent on conquest on a white horse appears.  White is a symbol for peace and the fact that this is a conquerer bent on conquest means the antichrist who will establish peace in human terms.  Then appears a fiery red horse whuich represents war and violent death that will come upon the earth in the latter part of the reign of antichrist.  Then the Black horse comes out in the third seal and represents great famine across the earth.  The fourth hose is a plae horse who represents an intensification of all the other horses mentioned in the first three seals.  This intensification happens as the end of the age draws nearer and nearer.  Revelation 6 contians some martyrs probably saints from the past who ask God how long it will be before their blood is avenged.  Then the sixth seal is ppened and this is an earthquake. This earthquake will cause the splitting of the Mount of Olives as Christ will come down right before the final of his judgments and will pour out his wrath on all those who have believed the lie of the devil.  The reason Christ comes down is to make himself known to the world and thus he will then resurrect the redeemed souls with him and after that will start the outpouring of his wrath.  Revelation 7 then goes on into the sealing of the 144,000 Jews.  This is the time in which the lost tribes will be revealed.  Now Revelation from Chapter 6-10 is in chronological order.  For the most part the whole book is in chronological order but the vision of the end is given to John twice.  John sees a Great multitude in White robes who apparently have been martyred in the tribulation.  Afetr that, the book goes into the final judgment of God as spirits are released through the Euphrates and the Tigris and man is judged for worshipping the works of his own hands.  This is the seventh seal which is the blwoing of seven trumpets.  At the Jewish Festival of Rosh Hashanah they blows seven horns with the last horn blown officially announcing the new year.  Thus, this announces the new reign of Christ over all the earth as king as he sets up his kingdom here.  This continues on until chapter 9.  During the seven trumpets, God's wrath is poured out as angels announce the kingdom of God.  In chapter ten an angel comes to John and tells him he must prophesy again and that is why Revelation 12-19 appears different then 6-1 because John is repeating the vision in different terms.  In Revelation 11, there is a reference to two witness who return from the Old Testament at least that is the most common interpretation.  Another interpretation of the two witnesses is that they are symbolic of Judaism and Christianity.  I prefer the former view and believe that Moses whom is referred to in Deuteronomy as having all the strenght in his body even though he had died and Elijah who never died but was taken up in a whirlwind.  These two would prophesy for 42 months which will be the first half of the tribulation period.  In order for these to enter the temple, they must be Jewish and that is why Enoch although he never died is ruled out as a possibility although there are other interpretations where he would not be ruled out but on the base interpretation to which I hold he is ruled out.  Revelation 11 concludes with the victory of God's people in the temple of God in heaven.  Revelation 12 then begins a repetition of the vision of which John had.  In this vision he sees a great sign in heaven as a woman is clother with the sun moon and twelve stars.  This rpresents the physical nationalistic Israel in the Old Testament and also the spiritual nation of Israel in the New Testament.  Then a dragon appears which represents Satan.  This dragon sweeps a third of the stars from the sky.  War breaks out in heaven and Michael the archangel hurls Satan down to the earth where he would go to rage war with the spiritual offspring of Israel.  Michael in this passage is clearly once again portrayed as the restrainer which is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2.  The passage refers to how the dragon makes war with the woman and her spiritual offspring and persecutes those who have the testimony of Christ which clearly shows that Christians will be in the tribulation.  Revelation 13 talks about a beast rising out of the sea.  This beast is wounded is given power by the dragon.  This beast represents the final political entity of the world.  Many people think the first beast refers to the antichrist and that the wound refers to an assassination attempt.  However, the beast is Rome and the wound is the period in which Rome would not exist as an empire.  But then there is made an image of the first beast through a second beast who speaks with the horns of a lamb.  This represents a religious institution which will gain prominence among all people in the tribulation and probably refers to the New Age Movement and its movement into Christian thought which would probably come through the papacy.  The number of the beast is 666.  This number is the number of Nero Caesar's name.  If one views the beast as a person, there is good reason to believe the beast may be the clone of Nero Caesar.  This number 666 had its origins in pagan traditions in the Tower of babel which is mentioned in Genesis.  Chapter fourteen goes into the victory of Christ and his saints as they sing a song on Mount Zion.  This probably is the time in which the resurrection of believers occurs right before the seven bowls of God's wrath are poured out.  These seven bowls are the same as the seven trumpets.  And these are used to punish those who worship the beast.  Chapter seventeen then deals with the fall of Babylon.  Some take this passage to mean the literal city of Babylon will be rebuilt for the end, while others say that Babylon is symbolic for anohter city such as Rome or Jerusalem or even New York.  I personally think it is symbolically referring to the false religions of the world being destroyed as the demonic entities which brought them into existence are thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 18 warns the people to come out of Babylon but the people were so caught up in worshipping the works of their hands.  It was due to the false religions in the world that the saints and prophets were martyred.  Revelation also deals with the battle of Armageddon which is the battle where Christ reigns in victory.  Revelation 19 and 20 deals with both the judgment of God upon the unrighteous and the  establishment of his kingdom upon this earth in the millenial reign.  It says that after the 1000 years Satan will be released to test the people one more time while before the 1000 years the followers of Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and the beasts of the book will as well.  When Satan is released, he will try to deceive the world once again but the people will have spent 1000 years with Christ and thus they will not want to go back to the lives they once had and so Satan's task will be completely unsuccessful and God will reign supreme among his people who choose Him because of his love for them.  Revelation 21 and 22 then goes on to deal with the resurrection of the saints and their state in their glorified bodies as they spend eternity with Christ.  Christ thus serves as their temple in the beautiful heavenly city.  One significant theological point to bring up in closing.  Revelation talks about one's name being blotted from the book of life.  It later talks about those whose name has been in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.  Some use these verses to back up predestination.  However, everyone's name is in the book of life but it is blotted out when God judges you for not accepting his Son Jesus Christ.  God foreknows everyone who will be saved and he knows who is going to have part with him in the victory.  With that, I would like to address one very important question..  The first question is if God knows who is going to follow Him, why doesn't he just give them the kingdom from the beginning instead of making them go through turmoil?  The answer is simple because in going through turmoil once we again achieve Paradise we will know what both are like and will not give up Paradise this time and thus will be more in love with God.