Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

The last book of the Bible, the Revelation of John, has been a source of fascination and confusion for two thousand years. It is a book full of symbolism which has given rise to all sorts of interpretation including predictions of the end of the world, the identity of the Anti-Christ, etc. The fact that these predictions invariably fail doesn’t discourage people from offering new ones. Yet Revelation is not an inscrutable book nor is it primarily concerned with the future. The ancient church, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, chose it to be the final word in Scripture.  The symbolism in Revelation comes either from the Old Testament or the culture in which John was writing. This book is a guide to living the Christian life in an uncertain and often threatening world.  Its focus is primarily pastoral, to help strengthen us as Christians in our daily walk with the Lord.  Yet it is also a book which requires us to use our imagination.  It is not a simple book of instruction.

The style in which Revelation is written is called “apocalyptic” (from the Greek word for “revelation”). There are several Old Testament books written in this style, Daniel, Ezekiel and Zechariah. They give us clues to our reading of Revelation. Revelation is also part of what scholars call the “Johanine corpus.” This refers to the Gospel and Letters of John as well as Revelation. They are not (as was one time thought) all written by the same author. However they come out of the same early church community, which may have been founded by the apostle John. They also give us clues to our understanding of Revelation. For example, contrary to popular belief, the term “Anti-Christ” no where appears in the book. We get the term from the first and second epistles of John.

In this study I am heavily indebted to what certainly will be the definitive commentary on Revelation in this generation, written by John Stam, a missionary who lives in Costa Rica and has preached and taught throughout all of Latin America. The commentary is in Spanish but hopefully will be translated into English.

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I. The Letter to Ephesus – Revelation 2:1-7

Ephesus was the most important city in Asia Minor in this period. It was also one of the most important Christian centers of the first century. We read about the church in the Book of Acts (Acts 19-20), the Letter to the Ephesians of course and also First Timothy (I Timothy 1:3). We know from the Book of Acts that Ephesus was a center of magic and mysticism (Acts 19:19).…

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I. The Letter to Pergamum – Revelation 2:12-17

Pergamum was an official administrative capital of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Jesus addresses this church very much in terms of his title as the Word of God (John 1:1, Revelation 19:13). Using the language of Hebrews 4:12, Jesus speaks as the one who “has the sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 2:12). The power of this sword, according to Hebrews, is that “it divides…

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I. The Letter to Sardis – Revelation 3:1-6

Sardis was a very ancient city in Asia Minor. It was on an important commercial route leading to the Aegean Sea and from there to Greece and Italy. Sardis was known for its textile industry and its production of linen. It was a wealthy and also complacent city. Its complacency had been the cause of its downfall in the past. Guarded by a wall thought to be impenetrable, the inhabitants of Sardis were confident in their defense. However Cyrus the Persian (the unknown servant of…

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I. The Vision of God’s Throne – Revelation 4:1-11

Revelation is a book of visions. These visions do not function in an exact chronological order. While the book moves toward an ultimate vision of the new creation its scenes take us back and forth from the present to an ultimate future, a vision of eternity. Chapters 2 and 3 gave us a vision of the seven churches in the present. These were actual congregations in defined areas of the Roman Empire at the time the book was written. They can serve as examples…

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I. The Four Horsemen – Revelation 6:1-8

At the end of chapter five it was established that the Lamb (who is also the Lion of Judah) was the only one who could open God’s scrolls revealing God’s plan for the ages. Chapter six begins with the Lamb opening six of the seven seals. The first four reveal four horsemen, each one called out by one of the four living creatures who surround the throne of God (Revelation 4:6-8). The four horsemen have had a fascinating history in art,…

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I. The Sixth Seal: The Judgment of the Lamb – Revelation 6:12-17

The opening of the sixth seal reveals the judgment of the Lamb on the throne against the injustice and unbelief of the world. The chapter includes multiple symbolic references to times of upheaval and distress, usually as signs of God’s judgment (the quotes from Joel on the Day of Pentecost would seem to be an exception because here the upheaval is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the revealing of the full gospel message (Acts…

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I. The Power of Prayer – Revelation 8:1-5

The eighth chapter begins with what sounds like an odd statement, that “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). Actually this opening section probably refers to the daily offerings in the temple in Jerusalem. Before the incense could be offered on the altar the priest had to light the fire to burn it. This whole process could take about a half hour during which time the priests prepared themselves to make the sacrifice by praying…

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I. The First Woe – Revelation 9:1-12

As the trumpets continue to blow they sound a terrible judgment on the inhabitants of the earth. In this highly symbolic account John begins by describing a fifth angel who blows his trumpet, and in response, a star “that had fallen from heaven to earth” (Revelation 9:1). This star then is given the key to the “bottomless pit” which certainly is hell, or more properly, Hades, the place of death. A huge amount of smoke arises from the abyss to the…

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I. “Another Mighty Angel” – Revelation 10:1-7

With the tenth chapter we are moving into the very heart of Revelation’s message. To grasp this chapter and what follows we will need an active imagination. Our imagination however must still be bound by the record of Scripture since so much of what John relates draws on other parts of the Bible.

This chapter opens with John’s vision of “another mighty angel.” Yet this angel is like none we have seen in Scripture up to this point. He comes down from heaven wrapped in…

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I. “My Two Witnesses”

This is an especially challenging and difficult chapter. It is therefore, important to review the context of the vision, which John now has both in terms of biblical symbolism and the historical reality of the seven churches to whom he is writing. At the end of chapter 10 John was given the calling to prophesy about the Lord to “many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (Revelation 10:11).

John is told to measure the temple, the altar and those who worship there (Continue Reading »

I. The Trumpet of the Seventh Angel – Revelation 11:15-19

Throughout the Book of Revelation we have seen groups of seven, seven churches (Revelation 1:4), seven spirits (Revelation 1:4), seven golden lamp stands (Revelation 1:12), seven stars (Revelation 1:16), seven seals (Revelation 5:1) and seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2). Later we will encounter seven plagues (Revelation 15:6) and seven…

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I. The Beast Out of the Sea – Revelation 12:18, 13:1-10

The Book of Revelation alternates back and forth between scenes of heaven and scenes of earth. We begin the book with a heavenly vision of the Risen, Glorified Christ. We then turn to the seven churches of Asia Minor. After that we have a scene of the throne of heaven and so on. Here we have just witnessed the symbolic scene of the birth of Christ before the dragon that is Satan which leads to war in heaven (Continue Reading »

I. The 144,000 – Revelation 14:1-5

Revelation 13 paints a frightful picture. We see the two beasts raised up by Satan and unleashed upon the world. The beasts are described in highly imaginative, mythical terms but clearly they represent the emperor and the empire of Rome. The beast which seems to represent the emperors (Revelation 13:1-3) is described as being allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (Revelation 13:7).…

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I. A Vision of Victory – Revelation 15:1-4

After the tumult of Revelation 13 and Revelation 14 we now have a picture of the victory of the saints of God. In Revelation 13:7 we read that the beast had the authority not only to make war on the saints but also to conquer them (Revelation 13:7). This would seem to be a reference to the persecution under Nero in which many Christians perished…

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I. Preface: A Setting of Judgment – Seven angels with seven bowls of wrath

This is one of the most challenging chapters in the book of Revelation. We see an outpouring of wrath on the Dragon (Satan), the Beast and the False Prophet all culminating in a judgment on “the great city,” “great Babylon” (Revelation 16:13, 19). Before looking at the specific judgments we need to ask ourselves what is this a picture of? Is this the coming end of the world? Are we to await a terrible battle of “Harmagedon” (Continue Reading »

XVII. Chapter 17 – “Seduction of the Empire”

I. Babylon, the great, mother of whores – 17:1-6
This chapter abounds with references that would have made sense to John’s original readers but need some background to be intelligible to us.  One prior question we may ask is why is history so important in the Bible?  We encounter not only the history of Israel and the church in Scripture but we are confronted with accounts of ancient civilizations, empires and rulers.  Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor, is mentioned in our oldest statement of faith, the Apostles’ Creed.   Why?

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I. “Fallen is Babylon, the great!” – Revelation 18:1-8
It is clear that the great city “Babylon” in Revelation is a symbolic name for Rome, the empire of the first century AD (the “seven mountains.” Revelation 17:9, “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth,” Revelation 17:18).  In this chapter we see the judgment of God falling on her.  The angel who comes down from heaven clearly has divine authority and he pronounces the sentence on this example of Babylon…

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I. The Cry of Hallelujah – Revelation 19:1-10

Chapter 19 gives us a climactic, but very symbolic, picture of the final victory of God in the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the opening verse we hear of “the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven” (Revelation19:1). We don’t know if this is the same multitude which no one could count in 7:9. It may be. They are singing a hymn of victory of our God. Such hymns go all the way back to the exodus from Egypt (Continue Reading »

I. “Apocalyptic:” Is this the Epilogue to John’s Vision?
Up to chapter 19 of Revelation we have been dealing with visions of John’s own time. The beast, the false prophet, the great whore, Satan himself have all been figures that related to the present context in which John is writing to the seven churches.  In chapter 19 we have the highly symbolic picture of Christ’s return as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16).  This is the hope of the church. Christ’s return is expected throughout the New Testament and described…

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John’s Vision of the New Creation

John in this chapter presents a highly evocative image of God’s new creation.  In this picture he draws heavily on a number of Old Testament sources.  It is extremely important that as we look at this chapter we remember two fundamental principles of interpreting the Book of Revelation as we come to its conclusion.  The first is that the intention of this book is to provide pastoral guidance to the seven churches in Asia Minor to which it is addressed.  It is not a blueprint, much less a time schedule, for the end of the world.  Second, Revelation forces us to recognize how essentially symbolic it is.  This is in no way a literal account.  The symbolism here, as in the rest of the Scriptures, is intended to teach us important lessons.  These lessons draw heavily on imaginative imagery and hyperbole.  The church’s attempt to take such passages in some literal sense, partially or completely, has led to many unfortunate circumstances.  When Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that it is better to tear out your right eye than to be thrown into hell with your whole body (Matthew 5:29) he is not to be understood in any literal sense.  He is not talking about physical mutilation or saying that the disciples are in danger of going to hell.  He’s making the point that lust (not sexual desire) can undermine our whole life.  David’s looking at Bathsheba led him symbolically into a very real hell.
With that clarification let us now look at chapter 21:

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Revelation chapter 22 is not only the last chapter of the Book of Revelation. It is the last chapter in the Bible. It is striking to note how many parallels that are in this chapter with the beginning chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The vision of John here however is not simply that of a new Eden or a Paradise restored. It is the picture of God’s holy city here in the new creation in which God is present with his servants and the nations. It is the ultimate statement of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

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