WEEK 52, DAY 362; TODAY’S READING: REVELATION 1-5

December 28, 2022 by ·

OVERVIEW:

John’s description of the risen and glorified Christ and our Lord’s instruction concerning the “Revelation” (chapter 1); the seven letters to the seven churches representing seven periods of church history (chapters 2 and 3); the scene in heaven following the Rapture and during the Tribulation (chapters 4 and 5).

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

We embark today into one of the most incredible books of the entire Bible, the book of Revelation. Many through the centuries have thought that this book was so shrouded with mysteries that it could never fully, or perhaps even remotely be understood. Actually, there is really very little in this book that is a mystery, and when it is, it is clearly presented as such, and is clearly explained in the passage. (1:12, 16, 20) The difficulty in understanding the book of Revelation stems from two basic problems:

1. Not believing what we read.

In other words, reading it, but asking the wrong question. Asking, “What does the verse or passage MEAN?” rather than asking “What does it SAY?” and simply believing it!

2. Not “rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2nd Timothy 2:15)

In other words, not recognizing some of the key statements and events in the book that reveal to us where we actually are on God’s prophetic timeline in a particular chapter, passage or verse.

Let’s take a couple of minutes to allow the Lord to reveal to us (1st Corinthians 2:7-14) the divisions He clearly makes in this intriguing book.

Within the context of the 22 chapters of this book, something significant happens two times: heaven opens. When heaven opens the first time in 4:1-2, somebody GOES UP. When heaven opens the second time in 19:11, somebody COMES DOWN. In 4:1, when somebody goes up, heaven opens and John, who is a picture of the church, hears a voice, the sound of a trumpet, and in the moment in the twinkling of an eye, finds himself in heaven at the very throne of God. It is clearly identifying the Rapture, because it describes exactly what Paul detailed in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-17.

In 19:11, when somebody comes down, heaven opens, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes out of heaven on a white horse with His armies following behind, also on “white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” (19:14) The “armies” that are with Him are clearly the church (See 19:7-8), and the event is unmistakably the Second Coming of Christ. A simple way to distinguish between these two events is that at the Rapture, Jesus comes in the CLOUDS —FOR His saints (1st Thessalonians 4:17), and at the Second Coming, Jesus comes to the EARTH—WITH His saints. Whereas the Rapture ends the Church Age and ushers in the Tribulation, the Second Coming ends the Tribulation period and ushers in the Millennium (“milli” = 1,000, “anum” = years). (Revelation 20:1-6).

So, these two significant events (heaven opening) “divide” the book into three sections:

  1. Chapters 1-3
  2. Chapters 4-19
  3. Chapters 20-22

Interestingly enough, in chapter 1 and verse 19, God told John that there would be three sections to the Revelation he would receive:

  1. “The things which thou HAST SEEN” (past)
  2. “The things WHICH ARE” (present)
  3. “The things which SHALL BE hereafter” (future)

If we will “rightly divide” this book, it is imperative that we make the obvious connection between the three divisions of the book created by the two times heaven opens, and the three tenses in which God told John to write in 1:19. However, there is a key that many fail to see when making these connections! Notice what John says in chapter 1 and verse 10: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Now, most assume that John is talking about the fact that one Sunday afternoon he was simply “walking in the Spirit” as all of us have been commanded to do (Galatians 5:16), when all of a sudden, he received an incredible “revelation” from God. But that is not what the verse is communicating!

As we’ve talked about since the very beginning of the 365 Days of Pursuit, the phrase “the Lord’s day” that John references in verse 10 is not talking about “Sunday” but is the phrase God uses to refer to the theme of the Bible! It is that 1,000-year “day” that God set aside for Himself way back in Genesis 2:3! (c.f. 2nd Peter 3:8) What John is trying to get us to understand in verse 10 is that the Spirit of God had picked him up and catapulted him forward in time to the “Day of the Lord”, and from the vantage point of someone way out in the 21st century at the time of the Lord’s Second Coming, he was told to write in the three tenses described in 1:19.

So, from John writing the “Revelation” from the standpoint of “the Lord’s Day”, the book of Revelation actually “divides” (2nd Timothy 2:15) like this:

  • Chapters 1-3 are “the things which John HAST SEEN” (1:19a), or the things which from the standpoint of “the Lord’s Day” were in the PAST. Namely, the events of the Church Age to the Rapture.
  • Chapters 4-19 are “the things which ARE” (1:19b), or the things which from the standpoint of “the Lord’s Day” were in the PRESENT. Namely, the events of the Tribulation to the Second Coming.
  • Chapters 20-22 are “the things which SHALL BE” (1:19c), or the things which from the standpoint of “the Lord’s Day” were yet in the FUTURE. Namely, the events of the Millennium on into Eternity.

It should be noted that because this book is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1a), it actually necessitated that it be “divided” into these three tenses because our Lord Jesus Christ is He “which is, and which was, and which is to come!” (Revelation 1:8)

With these basic guide posts, the book of Revelation is really not very difficult to understand if we simply take it LITERALLY and BELIEVE what it SAYS. Understanding how to “rightly divide” the book allows us to know what each chapter is detailing, and begins to open our eyes to truths (Psalm 119:18) that are nothing short of astounding.

For example, when we place the seven letters written to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 in today’s reading into the “right divisions” of the book, we find that they actually represent seven periods of history within the Church Age. In other words, the seven letters actually outline the history of the church, where the book of Acts leaves off, and takes us all the way up to the Rapture, which again, is found in Revelation 4:1, immediately after the seventh and final letter to the churches. Sure, the seven letters were addressed to real churches that existed historically in Asia Minor in 95 A.D. and addressed real needs that these churches were really facing when John received the revelation, but in their context, they also provide an absolutely perfect outline to help us interpret the events that have taken place in the history of the Church Age. The following is a brief overview of church history as defined by Revelation 2 and 3:

CHURCH REFERENCE APPROX. DATES MEANING
Ephesus Revelation 2:1-7 90 A.D.– 200 A.D. “Fully Purposed”
Smyrna Revelation 2:8-11 200 A.D.– 325 A.D. “Bitterness” or “Death”
Pergamos Revelation 2:12-17 325 A.D.– 500 A.D. “Much Marriage”
Thyatira Revelation 2:18-29 500 A.D.– 1000 A.D. “Odor of Affliction”
Sardis Revelation 3:1-6 1000 A.D.– 1500 A.D. “Red Ones”
Philadelphia Revelation 3:7-13 1500 A.D.– 1900 A.D. “Brotherly Love”
Laodicea Revelation 3:14-22 1900– Rapture of the Church “Rights of the People”
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