• My grandmother gave me a letter from A.W. Pink to my grandfather. My granddad, a well-known evangelist before his death, had previously written to Pink in Scotland asking for a copy of Pink‘s book Redeemer’s Return. Pink wrote back a letter, dated Feb. 7, 1948, and stated:

• “For 40 years I have studied Prophecy, and today it’s my firm conviction that most of what has been written thereon was guesswork. My advice is, leave Prophecy alone, and concentrate on the practical portions of the Word!!”

Revelation 1:1 The revelation

(“apocalypse” -“pull the cover off) of Jesus

Christ, which God gave Him to show to

His bond-servants, in the things which

must soon take place;

Why Revelation? It finishes the story that the Gospels and Acts begin and the Epistles advance. A careful reading of Acts through Jude may leave the reader saddened. Jude said, “certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” John said that “many antichrists had appeared.” False teachers abounded. Is that the end of the story? Many of the saints were discouraged, even frightened. They were in the midst of the greatest crisis yet faced by the early Church. The ordeal through which they were passing had terrifying prospects.

God shows them the victorious Jesus!

Basic Structural Overview of Revelation

Prologue

Epilogue

Vision One

John beholds

image of

Christ

examining his

churches

Vision Two

John sees the

heavenly role

of Christ as

He judges the

nations

Vision Three

John sees the

earthly role of

Christ as He

judges the

nations

Vision Four

John sees

Christ in

the new

heaven and

new earth

Vision One •Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and

fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,

Vision Two • Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked,

and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.

Vision Three •Revelation 17:1 … "Come here, I will

show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality." 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness …

Vision Four •Revelation 21:9 …"Come here, I will

show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

Outline

Prologue 1:1-8

Vision One - Seven churches 1:9-3:22

Vision Two - The throne in heaven 4:1-16:21

The Lamb, Seven seals, 144,000, Seven trumpets, Mighty angel, Two Witnesses, Satan and the Woman, Mount Zion/Winepress/Six Angels, Seven bowls

Vision Three - Judgement on the World 17:1-21:8

Second Coming of Christ, Millennial reign, New heaven and earth

Vision Four – New Jerusalem 21:9-22:5

Epilogue 22:6-22:21

Common Ways to “See” Revelation • Idealist (Symbolic) View: Sees the book as

showing the spiritual battle between good versus evil.

• Preterist (Past/Fulfilled) View: Focuses on the first century as the backdrop of the prophecies of this book

• Futurist View: Sees most of the events of the book as future prophecy.

What

do

you

see?

Revelation 1:1-3 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the Word of God - to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 1:4-6 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is in the future, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-- 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him (Jesus) be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:7-8 7 Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is in the future, the Almighty."