Intro To Revelation Series

Title- Intro to Revelation

Text- Revelation 1-11

Disclaimer

I. Background Info- 1

a. Author- John

b. Date- 90’s AD

c. Purpose- Prophecy/future events/”the time is near”

d. Imagery 101

II. The Seven Churches- 2-3

a. Ephesus- lost their first love

b. Smyrna- faced persecution

c. Pergamum- compromised and let worldly things in

d. Thyatira- tolerated sin

e. Sardis- they were dead

f. Philadelphia- they kept the Word

g. Laodicea- they were rich, but worthless/lukewarm

The Rapture

III. A Vision of the Future Tribulation- 4-11

a. The Throne Room- 4

b. The Worthy Lamb- 5

c. The Seven Seals- 6

i. Seal 1- The White Horse- False peace

ii. Seal 2- The Red Horse- War

iii. Seal 3- The Black Horse- Famine

iv. Seal 4- The Pale Horse- Death

v. Seal 5- The Martyrs Cry

vi. Seal 6- The Earthquake

vii. Intermission- Chapter 7- 144 thousand Sealed, A revival, Worship

viii. Seal 7- Seven Trumpet Judgments

1. Trumpet 1- Trees and grass burned up

2. Trumpet 2- The Seas Struck

3. Trumpet 3- Fresh water became bitter

4. Trumpet 4- The Sun and Moon Darken

5. Trumpet 5- Locusts from Hell

6. Trumpet 6- Angels bringing Death

Intermission- The Little Book & The Two Witnesses-10 & 11

7. Trumpet 7- Christ is King!

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I plan on preaching through Revelation in only two weeks. But I can preach it in three simple words- Christ is King. That is the central message of the book. We see that quickly as we dig in.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is one of the most intriguing, interesting, exciting, and confusing books ever written. It contains a vision, given to the Apostle John, of those things that would occur during the end of this world. It is a glimpse into the future. It is shrouded in this weird apocalyptic language, which uses symbols and imagery to represent people and places and events.

It is a book that has led to endless speculation, weird prophecies, and downright false claims. People who have a deep desire to know the future have tried in vein to decipher the riddles in this book for thousands of years. Every generation has people who think they see the symbolic events playing out around them.

My goal here this week and next week is to give us a very quick, very general overview of the entire book of Revelation. It is not easy to try and cover 22 chapters in such a short period of time. But that job is made all the more complicated by the fact that those 22 chapters are written in a weird apocalyptic language.

I’ve asked Steve to give me a little extra preaching time so that we will have enough time to get through this study. Although asking to limit the worship time so I can preach on Revelation seems a little odd given the fact that the book of Revelation is one of the greatest books of worship in the Bible; as we will soon see.

Before we dive into the book I have a few disclaimers to make so that you clearly understand where I am coming from and where I plan on heading. This is necessary because there are about a million different ideas and interpretations of Revelation. It seems like everyone has a slightly different idea about what’s going on here.

I was raised and educated in a very conservative, very traditional futurist model of understanding the end times. This is the same understanding that Henry was trained in and taught here, and the same understanding that is common to many if not most Baptists.

Let me explain what that means. There are generally speaking, three different views of Revelation and the end times.

1. The Preterist View. Preter is the Latan word for “past”. This view holds that the events of Revelation happened in the past. Mostly in the 1st century. It is the view help by guys like Hank Hanagraff. Hank gets most other things right, but this is one area where I think he is simply mistaken.

2. The Historicist View- This view is similar to the preterist in that it claims that the events of Revelation have already occurred. Revelation is a record of the playing out of the entire human history. Again, this view really robs the book of it’s original intent and it’s stated purpose as prophecy.

3. The Futurist View- The events of Revelation are yet to happen. Revelation was written as a prophetic book. The book uses literal and figurative language to describe these future events.

I am a futurist. I believe that the events of this book have not yet happened. I think this view is the most historically accurate and relies on the best methods of biblical interpretation. We will talk a lot more about what this means next week during SS.