revelation: Introduction

Introduction

Background of book

1. Title – Revelation (or the Apocalypse): The supernatural unveiling of what is about to take place.  The book of Revelation belongs to a class of literature referred to as apocalyptic.  Many consider Revelation to be the NT counterpart to the OT apocalyptic book of Daniel. 
2. Date – Between AD 64 (persecution under Nero, and AD 70 the fall of Jerusalem).
3. Author – John the Apostle, the beloved disciple of Jesus.  He is banished to the island of Patmos “on account of the of the word of the Lord.”  
4. Purpose – It was written as a testimony of God’s plan in Christ for his world, and to disclose by a series of a series of visions the fulfilment of his salvific purposes, through his judgment, both in history and in eternity.
   1. The background is one of conflict between the demands of a totalitarian secular power (Rome) and allegiance to the Christian faith (Jesus).
   2. The author writes to encourage to be steadfast in faith and endure hardships of persecution.
   3. John encouraged the believers to direct their faith and hope towards the worship of Jesus Christ and not of Caesar even if it leads to martyrdom.
5. Audience – It is commonly held that this letter was written to congregations in Asia Minor, and the church in general because the church was facing persecution and oppression.
6. Difficulty in interpreting – Revelation is full of symbolism, visions, and strange occurrences (i.e. multi-headed beasts emerging from the sea, stinging locusts, false prophets, and angels).   

• Thus, it is not surprising that Revelation can be interpreted in differing ways.  
  
• However, we would not be hard pressed to assume that the recipients of the letter understood the central message without much difficulty. 
  
  Four Views
  1. Preterist – Viewing the Apocalypse from the standpoint of its first-century historical setting.  The church, threatened by the growing demands of emperor worship (Rome) is entering into a period which its faith will be severely tested.  Persecution is going to increase and those who share in and endure these trials and persecutions will share in the victory of God over the evils of this world that control to the totalitarian (Rome) state.    
  2. Historist – This is the view where Revelation is interpreted as a forecast of the course of history leading up to the time of the writing.  It associates symbolism with events and with historical persons and events from Daniel to the writing of the Book of Revelation to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  
  3. Futurist – This is the view where Revelation has a major emphasis on the final victory of God over the forces of evil.  This view regards everything from Revelation 4:1 on as belonging to a period of time yet future.  It is a forecast of what will happen in the last days.
  4. Idealist – This view is also known as timeless symbolic.  Proponents of idealist view believe that Revelation is not specific to events at but is an expression of basic principles on how God acts throughout history.  Thus, the Apocalypse is a poem setting for the ageless struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.
     
     Each view has its strengths and weaknesses.  The reality is that each approach has some important contribution to fully understanding Revelation and no single view is sufficient in itself.
     
     “It is vitally important to see with the preterist that the book must be interpreted in light of the immediate historical crisis in which the first-century church found itself… With the historist it is important to notice that the philosophy of history revealed in the Apocalypse has found specific fulfillment in all major crises of human history of human history up to the present day.  With the futurist we must agree that the central message of the book is eschatological, and to whatever extent the End has been anticipated in the course of history, it. Yet remains as the one great climactic point towards which all history moves…With the idealist one must agree that the events of history give expression to basic underlying principles.  God is at word behind the scenes to bring to pass his sovereign intention for man.” (Mounce p. 44)

 
Prologue - Revelation 1:1 – 3
Vs. 1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” – The Greek word for Revelation is “apocalypse” that means unveiling, more specifically unveiling of something that was once hidden.  This means that this is a revelation mediated to John by Jesus as the Father revealed it to Him, rather than a revelation about Jesus himself. 
 
“the things that must soon take place.” – History is not a random sequence of unrelated events, but a divinely orchestrated of events that must come to pass.  Now, many have a issue with the word, “shortly” or “soon to take place”.  According to theologian Robert Mounce, “One solution is to understand ‘shortly’ in the sense of suddenly, or without delay once the appointed time comes.” (Mounce p. 65). However, some also believe that John is speaking of the persecution of the church that did, in fact, take place shortly.  And some hold to taking the word in a straightforward sense.  This means that in the prophetic view of the word, the end is always impending or imminent.
 
Vs 3: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud…” A blessing is pronounced on those who read this letter.  Not only to those who read it, but those who read it aloud.  Reading scripture aloud publicly was a Jewish practice.  At first, someone from the congregation was chosen to read and this person probably had proficiency in the art of reading.  The ability to read well was not something that was a common trait.  Actually, the position of Scripture reader became an official office in the early church. 
 
“the words of this prophecy…” We also see John sees this work as prophetic literature that on par with the OT prophetic books thus possessing an authority which with required the obedient response of all believers.
 
“Blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it…” Not only are those blessed who read it, but also to those who both hear (by faith) and keep (obedience) to all that is written in the letter.
 
Conclusion
As we enter this study, it is important to know and understand that the blessing continues to us today.  We are blessed in reading the words of Revelation.  We are also blessed when we take seriously and heed the words of Jesus.  My hope and prayer for us during this time together is that we would not only gain a better understanding and knowledge of Revelation, but that we would also gain a better understanding of Jesus and His Kingdom that would forever change and transform us into the people that God has called us to be.