060907_End-time_Prophecy_Conference_Understanding_the_Book_of_Revelation_David_Sliker.doc

End Times Prophecy Conference 2007 – David Sliker

Understanding the Book of Revelation                                                                                                                                            Page 2

Understanding the Book of Revelation – the Victorious Church

I.                   understanding the style of the book of revelation:

A.                 The book of Revelation contains mysterious dimensions relating to God’s end-time plan that cannot be understood on the run: we must give ourselves to prayer and fasting to grasp the complexities of God’s heart as they collide with our carnal and unrenewed thinking.  The book itself is not difficult to grasp in terms of the big picture – any can approach it and find the heart of God if they are hungry to know Him. 

1. 1. 1. This book is not reserved for intellectuals and scholars.  It is of utmost importance, however, to recognize the distance between our thought and his, and our fallen nature in the light of His perfect beauty.  Our hindrance is not a lack of intelligence or gifting, but a lack of holiness, purity, and heavenly-minded perspective.  We do not think like God does.  True humility recognizes our need to approach this book tenderly with a longing for the Holy Spirit to unlock its mysteries for us. 

B.                 The book of Revelation contains almost 300 allusions to the Old Testament: fully grasping this book requires a life in the Word – like John in Revelation 10 we must devour the scriptures and grasp these concepts in their context to get the complete picture of this unfolding revelation of the person of Jesus.

C.                 The book of Revelation was meant to be tenderly and lovingly meditated on over a lifetime.

II.                The four interpretations of the Book of Revelation

A.                 Futurists view Rev. 1-3 as fulfilled, and Rev. 4-5 as in heaven with Rev. 6-22 as referring to the coming End-Time events released at Jesus’ Second Coming.  The objection to this viewpoint, which is currently the dominant interpretation of the book, is that this interpretation would have no immediate context for the first century recipients of the letter as it was circulated to them.  Of course, if the book is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” then its intrinsic value to every generation would be immediately evident, regardless of its prophetic content – it would be one of the clearest windows into the leadership of Jesus and who He is as King that we have in the Bible.

B.                 Preterists see the events in Revelation as being fulfilled in the past, believing nearly all the prophecies in the Book of Revelation have already been fulfilled usually in context to the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Rome in the first 3 centuries after Christ. However, Jesus said the Book of Revelation was clearly prophecy and not history – which leads to the debate over the dating of the book.

1. 1. 1. Preterist interpretations generally identify Jerusalem as the persecutor of the Church, "Babylon", the "Mother of Harlots", etc. They see Armageddon as God's judgment on the Jews, carried out by the Roman Army, which is identified as "the beast". Some preterists see the second half of Revelation as changing focus to Rome, its persecution of Christians, and the fall of the Roman Empire. It sees the Revelation being fulfilled in AD 70, thereby bringing the full presence of God to dwell with all humanity. 
      2. Most Partial Preterists (who believe that there are a few aspects of biblical prophecy still to be fulfilled) believe that the “last days” did not refer to the last days of the planet Earth or the last days of history before a future new age, but to the last days of the Mosaic covenant that God had made exclusively with Israel and was terminated in 70 AD with the judgment of God against them for their rejection of His Messiah.

C.                 Historicists interpret Revelation as a progressive unfolding of Church history from the Book of Acts until the Second Coming. They usually view the prophecies as partly fulfilled and partly to be fulfilled in the generation that the Lord returns.  Historicists believe that most of Revelation has already been fulfilled, concluding that it seems unreasonable to suppose that a major portion of Biblical prophecy must wait for fulfillment until after the Rapture of the Church. 

1. 1. 1. Historicists usually view the whole of church history as fulfilling Revelation, leading up to the yet-future Second Advent. Thus, while most of Revelation has already been fulfilled, the historicist believes that a few passages and events are awaiting future fulfillment. They also believe, more than other viewpoints, that prophecy can be fulfilled in our own day since they think that believers have been in the Tribulation for over fifteen hundred years.

D.                 Idealists do not see historical or prophetical meaning in the Book of Revelation. They interpret it as simply giving us symbolic presentations, applicable of the spiritual conflict of good and evil that is true through all times with good winning in the end.  This view was birthed primarily by Clement of Alexandria and Origen, who saw the spiritual / allegorical aspects of the Bible as having the greatest value to believers, with the historical content being of far lesser importance. 

E.                  The events of 70 AD do not fulfill the prophecies about the end-times:

Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation’, spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy Place” (whoever reads, let him understand)…for then there will be great tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened. (Matt. 24:15, 21-22)

III.             revelation: god’s gift to the church for our hope of victory

A.                 The Book of Revelation is the clearest picture of the victorious church in the Word of God – as well as the prayer manual for the saints in this hour and the one soon to come:

B.                 Revelation 2-3 gives us a picture of the promise of ultimate victory and glorious reward for those who overcome whatever obstacle has been assigned to them in the wisdom of God.

C.                 Revelation 5 gives us a picture of the great shift on earth (the prayer movement coming into full maturity) that will be the catalyst for the great shift in heaven (the leadership of the earth given into the hands of Jesus).  The prayer movement that emerges from the fire of global persecution filling the bowls is the sign to Jesus that the Bride is ready to endure the final 3 ½ years of history.

D.                 Revelation 6 and the 7 Seal Judgments give us a picture of the manner in which Jesus will judge: through the context of answered prayer. 

1. 1. 1. He will first answer the persistent prayer (Lk. 18:1-8) of the unrighteous (giving them a demonized king – 1 Sam. 8:4-22; Ps. 21-3) and removing restraint before answering the cries of His elect for speedy justice (Is. 42:10-13; Lk. 18:7-8; Rev. 6:9-11).
      2. The entire book of Revelation shifts dramatically at the fifth seal (believers crying out for justice) in the manner in which God deals with the earth – first indirectly then directly through the prayers of the saints.  Throughout the rest of the book, events dramatically shift in context to the songs and prayers of the prophetic church (Rev. 8:3; 9:13 (golden altar containing prayers of the saints); 11:6; 11:15-18; 15:3; 22:17).

E.                  Revelation 7 gives context to the seal judgments and the victory awaiting the saints of God regardless of the circumstances. The answer to the question “Who can endure it / who can stand?” (Joel 2:11; Rev. 6:17) is made known – the saints of God who in their mature wholehearted zeal for Jesus “did not love their lives to the death.” (Rev. 12:11). This is the encouragement from God to us in facing coming martyrdom – we will have the ultimate victory (Dan. 7:13-14; 26-27).

F.                  Revelation 8-9 gives us a picture of the kind of judgment loosed by Jesus and His Bride on the earth in order to stir them in His kindness to repentance before the final judgments. These 7 Trumpet Judgments area picture of the first five Egyptian plagues of Exodus 7:1-9:7 in which God is using the least severe means to win the most hearts to Him in the hour of great rage and offense against His leadership.

G.                 Revelation 10-14 explains to us why these judgments must be so intense – because the nature of the sin of man on earth is so intense. 

1. 1. 1. Revelation 10-11 promises prophetic messengers to interact with the nations to give context for the judgments and opportunity to repent;
      2. Revelation 12-13 gives us a clear picture of the counter move of Satan to establish His false worship and prayer movement with His own messengers to entice and threaten many away from God in that hour;
      3. Revelation 14 promises complete victory for those who heed the warning of the prophetic messengers and overcome and resist the schemes of Satan.

H.                 At the sounding of the last trumpet in Revelation 11:15-19, Jesus breaks through the skies above the earth, gathering the believers and preparing to return to Jerusalem (Matt. 24:30-31; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

I.                    Revelation 15 – In heaven and on earth, the Father and the Son are preparing to loose the final judgments on nations that are fully hardened against Him. The “Song of Moses” (15:3) is the song of Jesus on earth as He prepares for His role as the Greater Moses that Moses himself prophesied about (Deut. 18:15).  Jesus is the end-time Moses confronting a hardened Pharaoh.

J.                   Revelation 16 is where God releases the “full cup of His wrath” (Rev.14: 10) against the rebellious nations through the 7 Bowl Judgments. It is in these final judgments that the nations of the earth declare war on Jesus and Jerusalem under the deceptive power of the Devil himself, who convinces them to join him against the One they think is the “Antichrist”.

K.                 Revelation 17-18 explains to us why the judgment must be as severe as it is – the Babylon world system has reached the height of its satanic deceptive allure.

L.                  Revelation 19 – 20 shows us the ultimate triumph of Jesus over the Babylonian system, the reprobate nations who blaspheme Him and war against Him, and Satan Himself.  It also gives us a picture of the ultimate vindication of the martyrs mocked and blasphemed by Antichrist and others in Rev. 13:6. The Millennial Kingdom of Jesus is briefly described here- the inheritance of the victorious King Jesus who will rule the whole earth.

M.               Revelation 21 shows us the great reward of our victory during that time – the New Jerusalem, our eternal home. 

N.                 Revelation 22 is the final encouragement unto obedience and agreement with the Holy Spirit in prayer.

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