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Among the cliffs and rocks of Patmos, John held communion with his Maker. He reviewed his past life, and at thought of the blessings he had received, peace filled his heart. He had lived the life of a Christian, and he could say in faith, "We know that we have passed from death unto life." 1 John 3:14. Not so the emperor who had banished him. He could look back only on fields of warfare and carnage, on desolated homes, on weeping widows and orphans, the fruit of his ambitious desire for pre-eminence. {AA 571.1}
Structure of Revelation
Prologue (1:1-11)
Church militant (1:12-3:22)
Ongoing activity of God (4:1-8:1)
Trumpets (8:2-11:18)
Evil powers oppose God (11:19-14:20)
Plagues (15:1-16:21)
Evil powers oppose God (17:1-18:24)
Judgement finale (19:1-21:4)
Church triumphant (21:5-22:5)
Epilogue (22:6-21)
Prophetic Transitions
Daniel
10:1; 12:9 Sealed Prophecy
10:2-3 Daniel’s preparation
10:4-6 an awesome vision
“a man”
“dressed in linen”
“belt of finest gold”
“body like chrysolite”
“face like lightning”
“eyes like flaming torches”
“arms and legs like burnished bronze”
“voice like sound of multitude”
Revelation
1:3 Opened prophecy
1:9-10 John’s preparation
1:12-16 an awesome vision
“like a son of man”
“dressed in a robe”
“gold sash around chest”
“head and hair like white wool”
“face like the sun shining”
“eyes like blazing fire”
“feet like bronze glowing in a furnace”
“voice like sound of rushing waters”
Daniel
10:7-9 prophet’s reaction
10:10-14 divine response
“touched me”
“do not be afraid”
“what will happen . . . time yet to come”
Revelation
1:17a prophet’s reaction
1:17b-20 divine response
“placed his right hand on me”
“do not be afraid”
“what will take place later”
Daniel
Ch 11 cosmic conflict
Ch 12 Michael rises
Revelation
Chs 12; 13; 17; etc cosmic conflict
Ch 19 Rider on white horse
Style of the Book:
Apocalyptic
Employs lurid colours
Contains a wealth of bizarre symbolism.
Everything is seen in stark contrast of black and white.
Extreme pessimism (things so bad that only God could put them right)
Extreme optimism (looking forward to the future of restoration)
Style appears closer to speech of people on the street
A certain awkwardness about the language
Words and phrases that do not harmonize with the grammatical and syntactical usage of the rest of the NT
Peculiar and numerous deviations from ‘normal’ Koine Greek
Special use of numbers – particularly the number 7 (stars, lampstands, churches, seals, thunders, trumpets, plagues) – also 12 and its multiples (12 apostles, 12 tribes, 24 elders, 144,000)
The "Sevens" of Revelation
Hermeneutical Principles
Historical: literal reading
– actual occurrences at/about/shortly after time of writing – short term view of history – little to do with future events or predictive prophecy
Sequential: historical-temporal reading
– sequence of events traced through long periods of church and/or world history – long term view of both history and prophecy
Eschatological: prophecies apply to last days in totality
– description of events that accompany the end time both within the church and the world – prophecies belong to period of history called “last days”
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