Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
How Long, O Lord?
Overview of Revelation—Revelation 1:1-8
A woman went to the doctor’s office, where she was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about 4 minutes in the examination room, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down and told her to go relax in another room. The older doctor marched down hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded, "What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old. She has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?" The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard. Without looking up, he said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"
Revelation might be a good cure for the hiccups, too. At first reading, it looks pretty scary. Ultimately, however, Revelation is not about curing your hiccups, but giving you hope—here, now, and forever.
We’ve been a long time getting to this book. We started our journey though the Bible over four and half years ago (on January 13, 2002, to be precise). That night my message was “The Whole Bible in Thirty Minutes.” We’ve spent the last fifty-four months working our way through the Bible. We spent two years in the Old Testament and the last two and half in the New Testament. As with some of the other New Testament books, we spend more than one night in Revelation. I will overview it this evening. I will try to give you the big picture. Then for at least several more weeks, I will come back and zero in on some of the particulars of the book.
First, the obvious. Revelation is not your ordinary book of the Bible. Reading it proves that. Many of you have probably dabbled around in Revelation. It is filled with graphic pictures and images—multi-headed beasts, sword wielding angels, fire-breathing dragons, gardens, palaces, thrones, streets of gold and pearly gates. The uniqueness of the book led Martin Luther to argue that Revelation didn’t belong in the Bible. He thought its images and symbols were not sufficiently Christian.
One doesn’t have to read long to realize that a lot of this is more than meets the eye. Many of these images are symbols for something bigger than themselves. Symbolic or poetic does not mean unreal or make believe. Rather, it is a way of writing and talking that tries to paint pictures with words. Scholars call this kind of writing apocalyptic literature. It was part poetry, part science fiction. Parts of the Old Testament books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah provide examples of a similar style. In fact Revelation owes much to these books.
Some of this appears violent and bloody; others unbelievably beautiful. A lot of moderns are turned off by the bloody pictures of judgment and the horrible depictions of hell toward the end of the book. We want to believe that everyone is good and that everyone gets saved in the end. That would be make-believe. Revelation is about the truth.
A part of this symbolism involves the use of numbers. The number of the antichrist is 666. The Spirit of God has seven eyes. The foundation of the heavenly city has twelve stones. Seven, in particular holds a special place in Revelation. In fact, the entire book is organized around the number of seven. H. H. Halley (Handbook, 627) lists a few of them: seven letters to seven churches, seven seals and seven trumpets, seven vials, seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven angels, seven spirits, a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, seven thunders, a red dragon with seven heads and seven crowns, a Leopard-like beast with seven heads, a scarlet-colored beast with seven heads, seven mountains, seven kings.
I won’t go into the details of all these numbers. Scholars tell us that many of these numbers had special significance in the ancient world. We use numbers in a similar way. Thirteen implies bad luck; seven good luck. For the ancient Jews, the number came from the seven days of the week. It stood for something complete, total, and finished. Six, on the hand, was incomplete. Three sixes was ultimate evil. Twelve was a very spiritual or religious number because of the twelve tribes of Israel, the foundation of the Jewish people.
The uniqueness of Revelation and all of the symbolism can present a few obstacles to modern readers. The same was probably true for the ancients as well. We face a few additional obstacles as well. Symbolism by its nature is often driven by current events and culture. Today, we would all understand a political cartoon that depicts and argument between an elephant and a donkey. We know who the guy with white goatee in the star-spangled suit and the top hat represents. Several years ago, a bear in such a cartoon always represented the Soviet Union. We are less likely to recognize the symbols from a political cartoon representing the Whigs and the Know Nothings parties of by gone days.
A lot of folk in our day have problems with more than just the symbolism of Revelation. Much of society is very secularized. That’s a way of saying that many have no room for God. He is tolerated on Sundays in church (maybe) but the subject should not be brought up any place else. Anybody who thinks that way will have difficulty with Revelation where the Lord Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not one square inch of this world stands outside his rightful rule. The God of Revelation is very much involved in this world, in our history, and (dare I say it), politics.
Revelation leaves little room for a spiritual God who has no interest in flesh and blood. He is not just the God of heaven somewhere or judgment someday. Here and now matters to God. Nor does Revelation allow any notion of a two-power world where the conflict between good and evil is in doubt. Revelation is very clear about where this world is headed and how it is going to end. There will be winners and losers. Deal with it!
Those who come to Revelation wanting a calendar of the last days are always disappointed. Jesus warned that no one knows the day or the hour. God has left sign-posts. These are more on the order of warning signs to get our attention than specific dates on a calendar. Ultimately, Revelation calls for Son-Seekers rather than Sign-Seekers. It is ultimately faith in Christ. Do you believe that he has everything under control? Are you willing to trust him and leave the details to him? If not, you have a problem. Revelation will offer you little comfort.
Background to the Book: Our Bibles carry the title of the book as “The Revelation of John,” or “The Revelation to John.” The proper name is found in the first words of 1:1, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Note that the word is singular. It is Revelation, not revelations. The Lord appears to John (probably John the Apostle and author of the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John) in a vision. He shows him scenes of the past, present, and future. The images alternate back and forth between heaven and earth. One moment John sees sin and destruction on earth; the next he gets a glimpse of what is taking place in heaven at the same moment. He views the story behind the story.
According to the best sources, Revelation was written by John from the prison island of Patmos (a sort of Alcatraz just off the coast of modern Turkey). The churches he knows best are in the midst of intense persecution. It is likely happening in the late 90’s of the first century. Domitian rules the Roman Empire. He is ruthless, sadistic, and determined to wipeout the troublesome Christians. Many Christians of the day are viewed as unpatriotic because they refuse to worship the gods of the empire or the emperor himself. No one minds if Christians worship Jesus. That’s their business. They just need to worship the national gods, too. This most Christians will not do. Jesus alone is Lord, they say. How narrow minded and unsocial, their neighbors think. Many believers would die before the gladiators and beasts of the coliseum rather than simply add another god to their altar of faith.
Revelation is God’s answer the question asked of the martyred saints in chapter 6, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" It is heaven’s answer the age old question, “What on earth is God doing for Heaven’s sake?” Why is he waiting so long? Why does he allow all of this to happen to his people?
At the same time Revelation addresses a twin question. This query always comes up right after the question about why God doesn’t do something about all the evil on earth. Does his judgment have to be so severe? Why can’t everyone go heaven?
Revelation tackles both. He explains what God is waiting for and exposes evil for what is really is. God is waiting for the gospel to reach every language, tribe and tongue. He is determined that the multitudes of heaven will be truly representative of the whole earth. That’s why Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Mat 24:14 NIV). He is also waiting for Satan to give it his best shot. He wants evil revealed for what it truly is. Once that’s complete, no one will ever question God’s judgment on that final day when he renders the eternal verdict.
Outline. Let me walk you through my personal understanding of how Revelation fits together. I don’t think its one long story from beginning to end. It is more of a spiral with the same themes coming round and round, each time getting closer and closer to the finale. Does it describe real history? I believe it does. But these final historical events are previewed over and over again. Each time they appear, believers are reminded of where it all is headed. Ultimately, the last events will come together. We know what to look for. We just don’t know when it will reach the point when God will say, “Enough is enough. Game, Set, Match!”
Prologue: 1:1-9 (key verse 1:19)—God of the past, present, and future
I. Past: 1:9-20—The one who holds the fate of the churches in his hand
II. Present: 2-5—
2-3: Seven Churches—The Scene on Earth
4-5: The Lamb and the Scroll—The Scene in Heaven
Revelation of the one in control
Revelation of the final victor
III. Future: 6-22 (events telescope out of one another)
Seven Seals—Steps to the revelation of the end (6-7)
Repeating events that get worse and worse
All for redemptive purpose; no repentance
A revelation of human character
Seven Trumpets—Announcing the coming of the end (8-14)
Divine actions that signal the final act
Happening more than; get worse as the end draws near
Seven Persons—Personalities involved in God’s plan (12-13)
Seven Bowls—The judgment that accompanies the end (15-16)
Insuring the indisputable outcome
Revelation of Satan’s Schemes
Seven Woes—The application of the judgment (17-20)
Seven Last Things—The End (19-22:5)
The Second Coming of Christ
(19:11-16)
The Supper and the Slaughter
(19:17-21)
The Binding of Satan (20:1-3)
The Kingdom of the Messiah (20:4-6)
The Loosing of Satan (20:7-10)
The Great White Throne (20:11-15)
The New Heaven and the New Earth (21:1–22:5)
Seven New Things:
New heaven and new earth (21:1)
New people (21:2-8)
New bride (21:9)
New home (21:10-21)
New temple (21:22)
New light (21:23-27)
New paradise (22:1-5)
Epilogue: 22:6-21
Conclusion: Some time ago a man was staying in a chalet in the Swiss Alps. Early one morning he heard what sounded like an earthquake. Hurriedly he got out of bed and ran to the front desk and asked if there was something wrong, if the mountains were breaking up? He was scared. The man at the front desk explained, “Sir, we are on the west side of the mountain. As the sun comes up in the east, and the snow and ice expand as they begin to warm. The expansion causes a large crashing noise. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the beginning of a new day.
Believers, that noise you hear, those headlines you read, may be signally the last days of Planet Earth. No one knows for sure. But this we know. You don’t need to fear God’s future. It’s not really the end of the world. It’s just the beginning of a new day.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
