The Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ

Course Objective:   At the completion of this study the participant will have a greater understanding of the end times as given by Jesus Christ through his disciple John.  The study will be based on the number of (7) seven and how John groups the various visions into sevens.  Each of the 12 figurative prophecies in Revelation spans the Christian Era and will be studied in detail. 

Purpose: The purpose is to show Jesus Christ as the theme of the book and to reveal His place in the fulfillment of the end time prophecies.

Lesson Outline:

Outline of Revelation

 Session 1:  How To Read and Understand Revelation. – (Chapter 1)

Session 2:  Seven Churches a (chaps. 2-5)

Session 3:  Seven Seals – Christ’s People Preserved (chaps. 6:1-8:1)

Session 4:  Seven Trumpets – Christ’s People Witness (chaps. 8-11) .

Session 5:  Interlude – Christ’s People Victorious over Evil (chaps. 12-14)

Session 6:  Seven Bowls and the Last Judgments – The Cosmic Exodus (chaps. 15-19)

Session 7:  The Kingdom of Christ and Satan’s Doom (chap. 20)

Session 8:  The New Heaven and Earth (chaps. 21-22)

This Bible study is designed to highlight the significant points of Revelation. I encourage you, the participant, to maximize your learning by working through the study questions for each week prior to coming to class. These questions are not designed as a test of your knowledge and should not be treated as such. Instead, they are provided to help you begin to ask essential questions about the interpretation and contents of Revelation. We will focus on each of these questions when we gather together.

I encourage you to bring your insights and questions to class to share with others. Those doing this Bible study online send your questions and insight, so we can share them with others.

There is perhaps no more misunderstood book of the Bible than Revelation. Yet it has a clear message for all who would devote themselves to its pages. May God bless our study of His Word! 

Introduction

Dragons, bizarre creatures, epic battles, and an intimate love story laced with malicious treachery. This could be the tag line of a blockbuster movie, but instead, it is a thumbnail sketch of the end times.  During the past nearly two thousand years millions of people have had the chance to read the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Many have wondered if Revelation will show them in advance what will happen in the future. Some churches have used it to support their interpretation of current world events. Influential Christian teachers and even whole denominations have primarily considered it to be "off limits," a book whose message is so cryptic that it is of little value, or even dangerous. It is no wonder that most of the readers have come away scratching their heads and wondering, "what was that all about?

It is the only book of the Bible that does not have a consensus by theologians as to its theme, its structure, the outline of its main sections and the meaning of the significant symbols. It is a book that requires in-depth study, with the insight of the Holy Spirit, and it deserves much more than a quick glance to see what the mark of the beast is, or who is the Antichrist, and if there is anything that relates to the current headline news. A study of Revelation requires slow, thorough and repeated reading, looking up texts and wrestling with scriptural comparisons to uncover the mysteries that are there. But it is worth the effort—"Blessed is he who reads…this prophecy and keeps those things which are written therein."(Rev. 1:3)

As we start this study in the book of Revelation we first need to understand the division of the book.  Just like Daniel, Revelation is divided in to two sections.  The same bifid and chiasmic form found in the book of Daniel appears in Revelation. Revelation is a series of parallel prophecies about the Christian Era. Here is the 1st Chiasm:

 A: ch 2-3 The Seven churches     (The Church)

 B: ch 6  The Seven Seals     (World Judged)

 C: ch 7:1-8 The 144,000     (Jewish People) 

 C: ch 7:9-14 The Great Multitude     (NT Saints)

 B: ch 8-9 The Seven Trumpets     (World Judged)

 A: ch 11: The Two Witnesses     (The Church)

 As was true in Daniel, Revelation also has a message within the chiasm,

 During the Christian Era, there will be seven church periods and seven different kinds of churches. The Jews and the Church will be God’s Two Witnesses on Earth.

The second chiasmic:

The 2nd half of Revelation is NOT about the Antichrist.  Though much more complicated than the first Chiasm, here is Revelation's 2nd Chiasm:

A.  ch 12  -- Woman with 12 Stars     (All of Israel, OT, and NT)

B.  ch 13-14  -- Leopard-Lion-Bear Beast     (Satanic Kingdom)

 Ba (14) the Jews & the Church during the reign of that beast. 

C.  ch 15 -- Song of Moses and Lamb     (Victory for the Redeemed)

C.  ch 16 --  Bowls of Wrath     (Wrath for the wicked) 

B.   ch 17-19 -- Seven-Headed Beast     (Satanic kingdoms) 

Ba (18) Babylon and all the lost during the Scarlet Beast's reign

Bb (19) King of kings, Destruction of the wicked, the end of Scarlet beast

A.  ch 20 -- The "thousand" years    (the Church

John has grouped many things into sevens. But how many times does the number “seven” occur?  Looking at the number of areas John writes about and not counting repeated sevens of things in the same verse, the number obtained is seven times seven, or 49.

1.     Churches 1:4; 1:11; 1:20 (2)

2.     Spirits1:4 ; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6

3.     Candlesticks 1:12; 1:13; 1:20 (2); 2:1

4.     Stars 1:16; 1:20 (2); 2:1; 3:1

5.     Lamps 4:5

6.     Seals 5:1; 5:5

7.     Horns 5:6

8.     Eyes 5:6

9.     Angels 8:2; 8:6; 15:1; 15:6; 15:7; 15:8; 16:1; 17:1; 21:9

10.Trumpets 8:2; 8:6

11.Thunders 10:3; 10:4 (2)

12.Thousand men 11:13

13.Heads 12:3; 13:1; 17:3; 17:7; 17:9

14.Crowns 12:3

15.Plagues 15:1; 15:6; 15:8; 21:9

16.Vials 15:7; 17:1; 21:9

17.Mountains 17:9

18.Kings 17:10

The Book of Revelation is not just a collection of interesting symbols and metaphors or even a grouping of the number seven, it reveals in symbolic language Jesus and His great enemy who are engaged in a very real spiritual battle between good and evil that has been raging since “Lucifer, son of the morning… said in [his] heart… I will be like the Most-High” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

At the dawn of creation “that ancient serpent” succeeded in bringing the battlefield to earth. This is a battle to the death that has no neutral ground, even though most of the world’s people know nothing about it. A Revelation of Jesus unmasks the great deceiver and exposes his deadly traps, tricks, and agents. But, the Book of Revelation is not about Satan— it is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). Jesus is the hero and His complete victory, and the eradication of evil is the great theme. The purpose of this study is to present Jesus as He is revealed in the Book of Revelation, so that in seeing Him more clearly, we may fall in love with Him more than ever before.

DISCLAIMER

This study does not reflect the official teaching of the Friends Church (Quaker) and does not have any denominational endorsement, but represents the research and study of over forty years.  I do not consider myself an expert in Bible prophecy and only share what I have learned over the years.  I am not trying to convince you, or cause you to change your present beliefs about the book of Revelation; I only wish to challenge you to search the scriptures.

With that said, we will start the first lesson on April 18, 2018.  If you are interested in being part of this study send an email to ltruitt1044@gmail.com