the book of the revelation of Jesus the
author of this book which is not called
revelations by the way is named at the
beginning it was written by John which
could refer to the Beloved Disciple who
wrote the gospel and the letters of John
or it could be a different John a
Messianic Jewish prophet who travelled
about and taught in the early church
whichever John it was he makes clear in
the opening paragraph what kind of book
he is written he calls it first of all a
revelation or Apocalypse
the Greek word is apocalypsis and it
refers to a type of literature very
familiar to John's readers from the
Hebrew Scriptures and from other popular
Jewish texts apocalypse has recounted a
prophet symbolic dreams and visions that
revealed God's heavenly perspective on
history and current events so that the
present could be viewed in light of
history's final outcome and John says
this apocalypse is a prophecy which
means it's a word from God spoken
through a prophet to God's people
usually to warn or comfort them in a
time of crisis by calling this book a
prophecy John saying that it stands in
the tradition of the biblical prophets
and is bringing their message to a
climax and this apocalyptic prophecy was
sent to real people that John knew the
book opens and closes as a circular
letter that was sent to seven churches
in the ancient Roman province of Asia
now seven is a meaningful number for
John it's a symbol of completeness based
on the seven day Sabbath cycle in the
Old Testament and John has woven sevens
into every single part of this book
now with this opening John has given us
clear guidance about how he wants us to
understand this book Jewish apocalypse
is communicated through symbolic imagery
and numbers it is not a secret
predictive coding of the end of the
world rather John is constantly using
these symbols that are drawn from the
Old Testament and he expects his readers
to go discover what the symbols mean by
looking up the text he's alluding to
also the fact that it's a letter means
that John is actually addressing the
situation of these first century
churches and so while this book has much
to say to Christians of later
generations the book's meaning must
first be anchored in the historical
context of John's time place and
audience which brings us into the books
first section Jesus's message to the
seven churches
John was exile
on the island of patmos and he saw a
vision of the Risen Jesus exalted as
king of the world and he was standing
among seven burning lights and John's
told this is a symbol of the seven
churches in Asia Minor that's been
adapted from the book of the Prophet
Zechariah and Jesus starts addressing
the specific problems that face each
church some were apathetic due to wealth
and affluence others were morally
compromised their people were still
eating ritual meals and sleeping around
and pagan temples but others among the
churches remained faithful to Jesus and
they were suffering harassment and even
violent persecution and Jesus warns that
things are going to get worse
a tribulation is upon the churches that
will force them to choose between
compromise or faithfulness by John's day
the murder of Christians by the Roman
Emperor Nero was passed and the
persecution of Christians by emperor
Domitian was likely underway and so the
temptation was to deny Jesus either to
avoid persecution or simply to join the
spirit of the Roman age and Jesus calls
them to faithfulness so that they can
overcome or literally conquer and Jesus
promises a reward for everyone in these
churches who does conquer each reward is
drawn directly from the books final
vision about the marriage of heaven and
earth and so this opening section it
sets up the main plot tension that will
drive the storyline in this book will
Jesus's people endure will they inherit
the new world that God has in store and
why is faithfulness to Jesus described
as conquering the rest of the book is
John's answer after this John has a
vision of God's heavenly throne room and
he describes it with imagery drawn from
many Old Testament prophets surrounding
God are creatures and elders that
represent all creation and human nations
and they're giving honor and allegiance
to the one true creator God who is holy
holy holy in God's hand is a scroll
that's closed up with seven wax seals it
symbolizes the message of the Old
Testament prophets and the sealed scroll
of Daniels visions these are all about
how God's kingdom will come here fully
on earth as in heaven but it turns out
no one is able to open the scroll until
John hears of someone who can it's the
lion from the tribe of Judah and the
root of David he can open it these are
classical Testament
krypton's of the messianic king who
would bring god's kingdom through
military conquest now that's what john
hears but then what he turns and sees is
not an aggressive lion king but a
sacrificed bloody lamb who's alive
standing there and ready to open the
scroll now the symbol of Jesus as the
slain lamb this is crucially important
for understanding the book John saying
that the Old Testament promise of God's
future victorious Kingdom was
inaugurated through the crucified
Messiah Jesus overcame his enemies by
dying for them as the true Passover lamb
so that they could be redeemed because
of the resurrection Jesus's death on the
cross was not a defeat it was his
enthronement it was the way he conquered
evil and so this vision concludes with
the lamb alongside the one sitting on
the throne and together they are
worshiped as the one true creator and
Redeemer and the slain lamb begins to
open the scroll it's a symbol of His
divine authority to guide history to its
conclusion which brings us to the next
section of the book the three cycles of
seven seven seals seven trumpets and
seven bowls and each cycle depicts God's
kingdom and justice coming here on earth
as in heaven now some people think that
the three sets of seven divine judgments
represent a literal linear sequence of
events that either happened in the past
or could be happening now or are yet to
happen in the future when Jesus returns
but notice how John has woven all the
sevens together so the final seven bowls
come out of the seventh trumpet and the
seventh seal and the seven trumpets
emerge from the seventh seal they're
like nesting dolls
each seventh contained to the next seven
also notice how each of the series of
seven culminates in the final judgment
and they have matching conclusions so
it's more likely that John is using each
set of seven to depict the same period
of time between Jesus's resurrection and
future return from three different
perspectives so the slain lamb begins to
open the scrolls first four seals and
John sees four horsemen it's an image
from the book of Zechariah chapter one
and they symbolize times of war conquest
famine and death in other words a
tragically average day in human history
then the fifth seal depicts the murdered
Christian martyrs before God's heavenly
throne and the
of their innocent blood rises up before
God like smoke from the altar of incense
and they're told to rest because more
Christians are yet to die we're not told
why but we are told that it won't last
forever the sixth seal is God's ultimate
response to their cry he brings the
great day of the Lord that was described
in Isaiah and Joel and the people of the
earth cry out who is able to stand and
then all of a sudden John pauses the
action with an intermission to answer
that question John sees an angel with a
signet ring coming to place a mark of
protection on God's servants who are
enduring all this hardship and he hears
the number of those who were sealed
144,000 it's a military census like the
one in the Book of Numbers chapter 1
there are 12,000 from each of the 12
tribes of Israel
now pay attention the number of this
army is what Jon heard just like he
heard about the conquering Lion of Judah
but in both cases what he then turned
and saw was the surprising fulfillment
of those military images in Jesus the
slain lamb so when he sees this
messianic army of God's kingdom it's
made up of people from all nations
fulfilling God's ancient promise to
Abraham it's this multi-ethnic army of
the Lamb who can stand before God
because they've been redeemed by the
Lambs blood and now they are called to
conquer not by killing their enemies but
by suffering and bearing witness just
like the lamb after this the seventh and
final seal is broken but before the
scroll is open the seven warning
trumpets emerge and fire is taken from
the incense altar it symbolizes the cry
of the martyrs and it's cast onto the
earth bringing the day of the Lord to
its completion
now with the seven trumpets John backs
up and he retells the story again this
time with images from the Exodus story
so the first five trumpet blasts replay
the plagues sent upon Egypt and then the
sixth trumpet releases the four horsemen
that came from the first four seals but
then John tells us that despite all
these plagues the nations did not repent
just like Pharaoh didn't in the Exodus
story so it seems that God's judgment
alone will not bring people to humble
repentance before him then John pauses
the action again with another
intermission an angel brings the
unsealed scroll that was open
by the lamb and just like Ezekiel John
is told to eat the scroll and then
proclaim its message to the nation's
finally the lamb scroll is open and now
we will discover how God's kingdom will
come here on earth the scrolls content
is spelled out in two symbolic visions
first John sees God's temple and the
martyrs by the altar and he's told to
measure and set them apart it's an image
of protection taken from zechariah
chapter 2 but then the outer courts in
the city are excluded and they get
trampled down by the nation's now some
think that this refers literally to a
destruction of Jerusalem that happened
in the past or will happen in the future
but more likely John's following the
tradition of Jesus and the apostles who
all used the new temple as a symbol for
God's new covenant people in that case
this is an image about how Jesus's
followers may suffer persecution by the
nation's but this external defeat cannot
take away their victory through the lamb
this idea gets expanded in the scrolls
second vision God appoints two witnesses
as prophetic representatives to the
nation's and once again some people
think this refers literally to two
prophets who will appear one day in the
future but John calls them lampstands
which is one of his clear symbols for
the churches so this vision is more
likely about the prophetic role of
Jesus's followers who are to take up the
mantle of Moses and Elijah and call
idolatrous nations and rulers to turn
back to the one true God but then all of
a sudden a horrible beast appears let
the reader remember Daniel chapter 7 and
the Beast conquers the witnesses and
kills them but then God brings them back
to life and vindicates the witnesses
before their persecutors and the end
result is that many among the nation's
finally do repent and give glory to the
Creator God in the day of the Lord
now stop think about the story so far
God's warning judgments through the
seals and through the trumpets did not
generate repentance among the nations
just like the Exodus plagues only
hardened Pharaoh's heart but the Lamb he
conquered his enemies by loving them
dying for them and now the message of
the Lamb scroll reveals the mission of
his army the church God's kingdom will
be revealed when the nations see the
church imitating the loving sacrifice of
the Lamb not killing their enemies
but dying for them it is God's mercy
shown through Jesus's followers that
will bring the nations to repentance and
this surprising claim is the message of
the open scroll that John has placed at
the exact center of the entire book
after this the last trumpet sounds and
the nations are shaken as God's kingdom
comes here on earth as it is in heaven
so now we know how the church will bear
witness to the nation's and inherit the
new creation but who is that terrible
beast that waged war on God's people and
how will the whole story turn out John
will tell us in the second half of the
book of the revelation