Rather than go through this book chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse, I decided to put together a more topical approach to studying this rather difficult book, not necessarily to present my own interpretation but to expose others to the vast number of possible approaches that have been taken by different groups of scholars. If you decide to try this topical way of exploring this fascinating book, beware that you may find that some of the hard-and-fast approaches taken by popular preachers in sermons and books are by no means the last word on the subject.
Each of the lessons outlined below contains too much material to easily cover in one sitting, so be prepared to spend more than one session on each lesson. Most of the topics listed below have been treated in other blog posts of mine, and so I have also provided a key to those resources.
Lesson Subject
1 Introduction
2 Nature of the Language Employed
3 The Genre
4 The Time Frame
5 Relation to the Old Testament
6 Different Theological Stances
7 Sequence of Events
8 Other Pertinent New Testament Texts and Key Future Events:
Tribulation, Rapture, Millennium, Fate of Israel
Lesson Title of Post
1 Revelation: Introduction
Book of Revelation: 19,200 Different Views
2 How Long is 1,000 Years? (Revelation 20:2-7)
Book of Revelation: The Language
3 Book of Revelation: The Genre
4 Book of Revelation: Period of Time Covered
5 The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation: Relation to the Old Testament
6 Book of Revelation: Theological Stances
II Peter 3: Dialogue with a Preterist
Critique of “The Last Days” by Dallas Burdette
7 Book of Revelation: Sequence of Events
Book of Revelation: Introduction to the Literary Structure
8 Matthew 24: One or Two Questions?
Book of Revelation: Key Future Events
Matthew 24:40-41 Do You Want To Be Left Behind at the Rapture?
Will All Israel Be Saved? (Romans 11:25-27)
Israel and the Church
Romans 11:26
How Long is 1,000 Years? (Revelation 20:2-7)
I Thessalonians 5:1-11: Prophecies of the End Times
As a fitting conclusion to such a study as outlined above, the following thoughts may be helpful:
The Book of Revelation: Summary
Differences of opinion on how to interpret this book should not be a point that dividew Christians from one another since it is a secondary doctrinal issue at best. There is still too much ambiguity present to allow for any definitive interpretation. I highly encourage each of you to wrestle personally with the competing ideas presented in the class. However, for those of you who would like to know my own personal take-aways from my studies, the paragraphs below will serve as a summary.
Do not become so immersed in the minutia of details in the book that you ignore its dual emphasis on the exalted position of the risen Christ in heaven and advice to believers to hold firm with confidence in the face of persecution.
The Book of Revelation is filled with divine visions which, in consistency with all those prophetic visions in the book where an interpretation is actually given, should be viewed for their symbolic or figurative (rather than physical) correspondence with future realities. It was written in symbols that were probably better understood by the original audience than by us today. However, there are a number of excellent commentaries available to guide today's reader by providing the necessary historical background and Old Testament allusions in the text to allow for an informed interpretation.
The visions cover events and conditions current in the Roman world at the time of writing as well as opening a window into events that are still in the future for us today (Revelation 1:19). In addition, the book can be, and has been, used by believers living in any era to provide spiritual guidance and comfort, especially in times of external persecution.
The book is permeated with allusions to Old Testament passages that should be consulted to help with proper interpretation. However, keep in mind that a similarity of language does not necessarily imply that identical events are being described in both testaments. Each situation must be taken on its own merit.
Concerning overall theology of future events, the two oldest schemes, amillennialism and historical premillennialism, appear to give the best overall fits with the scriptural evidence—although neither one is perfect in all respects. Two other theological approaches tend to either under-utilize (postmillennialism) or over-interpret (dispensationalism) the pertinent biblical texts. Also, both tend to lean heavily in their interpretations on “signs of the times.” And the full preterist view has correctly been labeled as a heresy since it denies the Second Coming altogether.
The book can be easily divided into seven sections, or cycles, each one of which recaps history from the first to the second coming of Christ. However, the earlier sections concentrate more on the earlier chronological events, and the later sections concentrate more on the later events. These same (or similar) sections are also arranged in pairs, working from the ends to the middle, to highlight contrasting themes in the book. And as a third type of movement present in the book, events occurring on earth are alternated with those happening in heaven in order to give us the divine perspective that lies behind earthly history.
Ultimately, the exact working out of the future remains in God's hands. therefore none of us should act so securely in our own understanding that we either try to force it on others or act in a superior manner toward those who are not as “enlightened” as we are.
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