Through the Bible - Revelation

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him... Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:1, 3)

The book of Revelation is full of prophetic "chatter"—and the cipher to read it is Jesus Christ, victorious.

Prophetic Chatter and the Need for a Cipher

In the intelligence community there's a term you've heard in the news, in movies, and in spy novels: chatter. Before and after a major event, agencies gather all kinds of little bits and bytes of information and try to assemble them like an enormous puzzle. The NSA and CIA will tell you there's no substitute for human intelligence on the ground, but this gathered chatter is vital too. The difficulty is that they're collecting a fragment here and a fragment there, trying to piece it together.

What makes it harder is cryptography and encryption. Encrypting data has been going on for millennia—back to the Egyptian civilization around 4500 BC, and on through the Greeks and Romans, who guarded their messages from the enemy. To decrypt an encrypted message you must have the cipher, the key. Without the right key you either can't read it or you misinterpret it.

I believe the Bible from cover to cover is filled with prophetic intelligence chatter. On every page there are little bits to pick out, and as you put them together you begin to understand more of what's going on. These pieces of intel are littered throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. To understand them takes time and effort. The CIA and NSA devote whole divisions and huge budgets to decrypting data; studying biblical prophecy is likewise laborious and arduous. Because of that, many people simply don't do it.

A Blessing for Those Who Read, Hear, and Keep

Many in the church have disregarded Revelation because it seems too difficult. That's unfortunate, because in Revelation 1:3 there's a promised blessing: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." Notice He does not say, "Blessed is he who understands." He says blessed is he who reads, hears, and keeps.

A similar blessing comes at the end. In Revelation 22:7 Jesus says, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." And in 22:12, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Jesus is going to return, and when He does He will bring a blessing and reward to those who read, hear, and keep these words. You may read and not understand a passage, but the blessing is still inherent in reading, hearing, and keeping.

In a brief overview we cannot unlock all the secrets of Revelation. Scholars and students have labored over it for nineteen centuries, and many are more confused now than ever. My desire is that you would be encouraged to read, hear, and keep these things—to be like the cryptographer who sits down to study, rightly dividing the word of truth, grabbing the bits of prophetic chatter and piecing them together. Seven times in chapters 2 and 3 the Lord says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." God wants us paying attention.

Read the Rest of the Bible First

You will have a very difficult time understanding Revelation if you've not read the rest of the Bible. We often want to read the last chapter of a book first—many open the Bible straight to Revelation hoping to see how it all sums up, get confused, and leave the Bible alone after that. But many of the ciphers for Revelation are found in Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and the other prophetic passages. If you haven't studied the Old Testament, it will be very difficult to unlock what Revelation says.

Years ago I sat in a study of a man who, in one of his first times teaching, chose a passage from Revelation. My encouragement was, "Maybe next time choose Ephesians chapter 1." I had been teaching the Bible five or six years before I ever taught a prophetic passage, and I've never taught through Revelation until tonight. Grasp the whole of Scripture first—especially Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, and the major and minor prophets—and you'll find the ciphers that unlock Revelation.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

The first thing to recognize is the very first verse: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." We read of the seven churches, seven stars, seven lampstands, seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven heads, seven mountains, seven kings, ten horns, ten kings, three woes, twenty-four elders, four beasts, multitudes of angels, the 144,000, the two witnesses, earthquakes, scorpions, 1,260 days, three and a half years, 42 months—the list goes on. The book is filled with symbolism and illustration, and you can get lost in all of it and miss the point.

The book reveals Christ as ultimately victorious. The whole thing can be summed up: Christ is victorious. At the end it is finished, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire forever, Jesus is on the throne, and the people of God worship Him in the New Jerusalem. All those other symbols are fascinating, and they make little sense apart from the rest of the Bible—but don't lose the revelation of Jesus in the book of Revelation. He is the focus.

Quickly, the structure: chapter 1 is Jesus appearing to John on Patmos; chapters 2–3 are the letters to the churches; chapters 4–5 are heavenly worship; chapters 6–19 show the woes, judgments, and tribulation on the earth; chapter 20 establishes Christ's thousand-year kingdom, then Satan is loosed, makes his last war, and is destroyed, followed by the great white throne; chapters 21–22 reveal the new heavens, new earth, and New Jerusalem.

Four Ways People Read the Book

At Calvary Chapel we hold the futurist view: everything from roughly chapter 4 through 19 (and to the end) is yet future. We're still looking forward to Jesus' return and the establishing of His kingdom. Most evangelical Christians hold this view.

The preterist view—from the Latin praeter, "past"—holds that everything written in Revelation, and indeed all biblical prophecy, was already fulfilled in the past. This is the only view I really have a hard time with, because hyper-preterism denies that Jesus is going to come again, which is against the creedal orthodoxy of the church. Some call themselves partial preterists, saying everything is fulfilled except the second coming, because they recognize the heresy of denying it.

The historist view holds that everything from Jesus' ascension until now is outlined in Revelation; the book is in the process of being fulfilled right now. The idealist view spiritualizes the whole book as a continual, cosmic battle between good and evil happening in every generation—though it doesn't really see much of an end.

Millennial and Tribulation Views

We at Calvary Chapel hold the pre-millennial view. Chapters 6–19 deal with the tribulation, which we believe is future, and chapter 20 reveals the thousand-year reign of Christ. Eschatology—from the Greek eschatos, "last"—is the study of the last days. Pre-millennial means we believe Jesus returns prior to the thousand-year reign and establishes His kingdom physically on the earth, ruling in righteousness.

The post-millennial view holds that Jesus will not return until His church establishes His kingdom and righteousness here on earth. During the Jesus movement a group splintered from Calvary Chapel holding "manifested sons of God" theology, taking Romans 8—"the whole creation groaneth... for the manifestation of the sons of God"—to mean creation waits for the church to establish God's kingdom before He comes. The amillennial view holds that we are already in Christ's spiritual reign, that Satan is already bound. I have a hard time with that when I look at the world; if he weren't bound this place would truly be hell, yet it's hard to say Satan is already bound.

Within the pre-millennial camp there are three further views. The pre-tribulation view—common at Calvary Chapel—holds Jesus comes for His church before the seven-year tribulation. The mid-trib view holds the antichrist breaks his covenant (Daniel 9, 12) and God raptures the church just before the great tribulation of the last three and a half years. The post-trib view holds Jesus returns at the very end of the tribulation, raptures His church, and returns to the Mount of Olives.

Honestly, all three views have great amounts of biblical text supporting them, and sadly people in the American church beat each other up over them. God will come when God comes; He will take His church when He decides. I hold that we should pray for a pre-trib rapture and prepare for a post-trib rapture—be ready whenever He returns, like the wise virgins with trimmed wicks and oil. Scripture doesn't promise we'll escape tribulation; Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We are not promised freedom from suffering, but we are promised we will not taste the wrath of God. So in deciding pre-, mid-, or post-trib, you must locate where the wrath of God is poured out.

I won't call anyone a heretic over these views, though I do have a major issue with denying the second coming, because Jesus Himself and the Scriptures reveal He will return.

The Date of Writing

For the preterist, the date of Revelation is crucial, because they believe it was all fulfilled when Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in August of AD 70—so it must have been written before then. But nearly all scholarship outside the preterist camp points to a much later date. John didn't even leave Jerusalem for Ephesus until about AD 67, and he wasn't exiled to Patmos until the reign of Domitian, who was emperor from roughly AD 81 to 96. It would have been difficult for John to receive this revelation on Patmos if he wasn't even there. Most scholarship points to about AD 95 or 96. John, the last of the apostles to die, lived a long life, wrote several New Testament books, and was finally exiled to Patmos under Domitian, where the Lord appeared to him on the Lord's day.

With all these views, remember the point: Jesus is the focus. Your head can spin with futurist, idealist, historist, preterist, pre-, mid-, post-trib, pre-, post-, a-millennial—but the clear presentation is that Jesus is going to return, wrap up all things, and be victorious.

Understanding Often Comes After Fulfillment

A full understanding of a prophetic passage often does not come until after it's fulfilled. The prophets themselves prophesied of Christ's coming yet looked into these things without full understanding. When Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," they thought of the building; John tells us, "he spake of the temple of his body"—which they understood only after the resurrection. In Acts 1, after Judas died, Peter saw it was what the psalmist spoke about, and they filled his position. In Acts 2, when the Spirit was poured out, Peter said, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." The events made the prophecy clear.

Before the late 1800s, commentators almost always spiritualized Israel; many early American Christians held that America was the new Jerusalem and the church was Israel. Then came a resurgence of Zionism, and on May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation in a single day—just as Isaiah 66 said, "Who hath heard such a thing?... shall a nation be born at once?" That event unlocked end-times prophecy like nothing else. The understanding of prophetic passages greatly increased after that point; it was as if God handed us a cipher.

The Danger of Newspaper Eschatology

There's a danger here: some go to the newspaper to find biblical events rather than going to the Bible and seeking God. "Newspaper eschatology" has been big over the last 60 to 100 years—saying Russia is Gog and Magog, and so on. In The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey suggested the scorpions and beasts of Revelation were cobra attack helicopters. That makes me scratch my head. We should use the Bible to interpret Scripture. When we read of locusts in Revelation, we should turn to Joel, which speaks much about locusts. Is it a literal locust, or an army of men—creatures with faces of men yet arranged like locusts, a demonically governed army like the Assyrians or Babylonians? It's dangerous to look at the world and declare a microchip in the hand is the mark of the beast. Let Scripture interpret Scripture.

Why Jesus Revealed These Things

Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come... in earth, as it is in heaven." Revelation reveals that Jesus has a plan and is in the process of answering that prayer the church has prayed for 2,000 years. I'm grateful He is working it out and will return as He promised. But His coming means blessing and reward for believers, and wrath and eternal judgment for those who are not His. Revelation 20:14–15 says, "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." This is no mere ceasing to exist; the last two chapters of Isaiah call it a place where "their worm dieth not, neither shall their fire be quenched," and Jesus described an outer darkness.

John was a faithful witness. Thirty-three times he says "I saw," and twenty-two times "I heard," recording exactly what Jesus told him. Why did Christ reveal Himself this way? Consider three reasons. First, that we would know what He is doing—He didn't want us ignorant. Second, that we would not grow weary in well doing; Paul says in Galatians 6, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Hebrews 11 says Abraham sought a city whose builder and maker is God; had he looked for an earthly kingdom, he would have had opportunity to turn back. Third, that we would be busy sharing the gospel. The imminent return of Jesus has kept the remnant of the church pure and strong for twenty centuries. Often when a person loses that urgency, evangelism ceases and holiness is set aside.

The Seven Churches: God Knows Our Works

In chapters 2 and 3 Jesus writes seven letters in candid, honest words, revealing that He will by no means clear the guilty, even in the church. Many think we're saved by grace and Jesus would never judge us, yet there's coming a day when many will say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" and He'll say, "Depart from me; I never knew you." Revelation 2 and 3 reveal that God is serious about His people following Him. We're not saved by law, but we're saved for good works (Ephesians 2).

These were literal churches on a Roman postal route in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), with Patmos just off the coast. Ephesus came first, the route looped around, and Laodicea was last; the whole letter traveled to each church. But they also reveal what is happening in the church in every generation, and I believe they trace the last two millennia of church history as well.

Ephesus (2:1–7): "I know thy works." Outwardly successful, yet "thou hast left thy first love." His exhortation: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works"—or He will remove their candlestick. Early in church history, in the first century, the church began to leave its first love.

Smyrna (2:8–11): Smyrna means crushed (from the same root as myrrh, a crushed plant). This is the persecuted church. "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty." He says, "Be thou faithful unto death." From Domitian until Constantine in AD 320 the church endured persecution, and today the church is crushed in places like Darfur, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. Notice He doesn't promise escape; He says be faithful even unto death, "for he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

Pergamos (2:12–17): Pergamos carries the meaning "to be married"—this church was married to the world. From Constantine to the seventh century the church mingled with the world, adopting pagan rituals and masking pagan holidays as Christian ones. I believe the emergent church fits this today, bringing in Eastern meditation and contemplative prayer practices. They held the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans. "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth"—the word of God (Hebrews 4). I don't want Jesus coming to fight with us.

Thyatira (2:18–29): The church committing spiritual adultery, fornicating with the world. From the seventh century into the Reformation, Roman Catholicism grew large and brought heavy pagan practices, even idol worship, into the church. That's not to say there are no born-again believers within the Catholic church—there are—but in many places it has been overcome with pagan ideas. "That which ye have already hold fast till I come... he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations."

Sardis (3:1–6): The dead church—"thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." This fits the time of the Reformation, when the church had a great name but quickly moved into dead orthodoxy. He warns, "I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." This has been used to teach that the church won't know the Lord's coming—but that passage actually addresses the dead and sleeping church.

The Thief in the Night Belongs to the Sleeping Church

In 1 Thessalonians 5 Paul says the day of the Lord "so cometh as a thief in the night"—but read on:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them... But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light... let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:3–6)

If you're awake, you'll not be taken like a thief by the thief in the night. "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." So we won't go through the wrath, but neither should we be taken as a thief. Sardis was warned that if they did not repent they'd be taken; yet "a few names even in Sardis" had not defiled their garments, "and they shall walk with me in white." In Revelation 16:15 Jesus says, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." Be awake, clothed in white, not naked and ashamed.

Philadelphia and Laodicea

Philadelphia (3:7–13): The city of brotherly love (phileo)—the loving, true church, with little strength but faithful. Jesus has nothing against them. This pictures the nineteenth-century awakening and missionary movement reaching the uttermost parts of the world. It's my prayer that the Lord could say of Calvary Chapel Escondido, "I know thy works... thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word." He says, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation." Note the blessing for keeping His word. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God... and I will write upon him... the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem."

Laodicea (3:14–22): The lukewarm church—"I would thou wert cold or hot... I will spue thee out of my mouth." They thought themselves rich and in need of nothing, but He counsels them to buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment to cover their nakedness, and eye salve to see. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" (cf. Hebrews 12). "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock"—long used as an evangelism verse, but it's actually Jesus outside the door of the lukewarm church, asking to be let in. This pictures the modern church. As the last church listed, it suggests we're in the last days, and that much of the global church thinks itself rich while the Lord calls it lukewarm.

In our own walks we pass through these seasons—sometimes patterned after Laodicea, where the Lord must say "wake up, repent," or even dead like Sardis, where He calls, "Come forth, Lazarus." Why? Because He is coming quickly.

Judgment Poured Out and the Day of Vengeance

Chapter 7 has the seven seals, chapter 8 the seven trumpets, chapters 15–16 the seven bowls. Some see them as chronological stages of the seven-year tribulation, others as overlapping descriptions of the same events. Frankly, the interpretation doesn't change the point: Jesus is pouring out judgment and preparing to pour out His wrath upon the earth.

When Jesus read Isaiah 61 in the Nazareth synagogue, He stopped after "the acceptable year of the Lord"—but the passage continues, "and the day of vengeance of our God." His first coming proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord, calling all to be saved by grace. But there is coming a day of His vengeance. Notice the difference—a year of grace and a day of wrath. How thankful we should be that His grace is far greater than His wrath.

The chatter telling us when that day comes appears throughout Scripture—Matthew 24, Luke 17, Joel 3, Isaiah 63, Revelation 14 and 19—all describing the same event, when Jesus by Himself pours out wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world. He first removes His own, for we are not appointed to wrath (Revelation 14; Joel 2–3), then He treads the winepress.

Isaiah 63, Revelation 14, and Joel 3

Isaiah 63 asks, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" The one coming answers, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save"—that is Jesus. The prophet asks why His apparel is red "like him that treadeth in the winefat," and He replies:

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me... for the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:3–4)

In Revelation 14, John sees "one like unto the Son of man" seated on a cloud with a golden crown and a sharp sickle. An angel cries, "Thrust in thy sickle, and reap... for the harvest of the earth is ripe," and the earth is reaped. Then another angel gathers "the clusters of the vine of the earth" and casts them "into the great winepress of the wrath of God," trodden outside the city, and blood flows from the winepress.

In Joel 3, God calls the heathen: "Beat your plowshares into swords... Assemble yourselves... Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe... for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near." The sun and moon are darkened, the stars withdraw, the Lord roars out of Zion, and the heavens and earth shake—yet He is the hope of His people, and afterward Jerusalem shall be holy.

Matthew 24, Luke 17, and the Ones "Taken"

In the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24), Jesus warns not to believe those who say He's in the desert or in secret chambers, "for as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be... For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles [birds] be gathered together." After the tribulation, the sun is darkened, the moon gives no light, the stars fall—then "shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven... and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," and His angels gather His elect.

Luke 17 says the days of the Son of Man will be as the days of Noah and of Lot—people eating, drinking, marrying, buying, building—until destruction came. "Remember Lot's wife." Then: "Two shall be in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left... Two shall be grinding... two shall be in the field." This is commonly taught as a rapture passage, but notice the disciples' question: "Where, Lord?" His answer: "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." That's Matthew 24 again. The ones taken are taken to judgment, reaped to the winepress of the wrath of God.

Revelation 19: King of Kings

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True... He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:11, 13)

The armies of heaven follow on white horses, "clothed in fine linen, white and clean"—He is dirty with the winepress because He treads it alone; they are clean. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword to smite the nations, "and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." On His vesture and thigh is written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." An angel calls all the birds, "Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings... and of all men." The beast and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire, and the rest are slain by the sword from His mouth, "and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

Remember Luke 17: "One shall be taken, and the other left... Where, Lord?" Where the birds are gathered—the carcasses. Those taken were not taken to be with the Lord; they were taken to judgment, reaped to the winepress of His wrath.

We've jumped through all these passages to emphasize the point: the Bible is filled with the chatter of prophecy from cover to cover. Unless you seek it out like a good student and interpret Scripture with Scripture, you'll never understand Revelation—but if you do, there's a blessing prepared for you. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your word. Even though at times we look at it and are a little confused, Your word is good and true. You are the faithful and true witness, and You have revealed that You will come again victoriously. At Your first coming Satan thought he won, but Lord, You crushed his head as he bruised Your heel. There is coming a day when You will come and cast him bound into the lake that burns with fire, and Your word says we will behold him and say, "Is this he who caused the nations to fear?"—because he is nothing. But You are strong and mighty, awesome in power. I thank You for the revelation You gave of Yourself and Your coming, that we would not grow weary in well doing, that we would know You are working, and that we would be actively evangelizing—sharing with those in this world that they not be among the multitudes in the valley of decision. Give us boldness to share the truth with everyone we meet until You come. We pray this in Jesus' name. All God's people said, Amen.