Expedition 44 Revelation: The Revelation of Jesus (Part 1)
This is a recording of a 4 week class Dr. Matt is teaching on the letter of Revelation at The Point (www.gotothepoint.com).
What lenses do you read Revelation with? Revelation 1:1
The letter of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not a revelation of fear and speculation about the the end of the world.
Interpretive Assumptions and Mistakes
Assumption #1: Revelation is primarily about the “end times”.
Assumption #2: What Revelation reveals is a chronological roadmap of the future.
Assumption #3: Revelation is about us.
How to avoid interpretive mistakes…
Step 1: Consider the literary context
Genre
Epistle (Rev 1:4, 1:11; Rev 2-3)
- The Bible (and Revelation) was not written to us, but it was written for us.
Prophecy (Rev 1:3, Rev 19:10)
- 17% of the time the words “prophecy”, “prophesy”, or “to prophesy” are used, the verses are in the context of a prediction. (Often about judgement events that will come if people don’t repent)
- 83% of the time the words “prophecy”, “prophesy”, and “to prophesy” refer to something else besides prediction.
Prophecy does 3 things… It reveals:
- Who God is
- What God desires
- What God demands from His people
Apocalypse
There are 404 verses in Revelation which contain over 800 Old Testament allusions. So, we must understand the Old Testament to interpret Revelation correctly.
Apocalyptic genre is like a political cartoon. It is the writing of oppressed people under the foot of the empire. Apocalypses are overtly political and are meant to critique to governments of this world and call God’s people to faithful allegiance to the kingdom of God.
Step 2: Know the historical context
Struggle and Conflict in Revelation: Kingdom of God vs. Kingdom of Satan, Jesus followers vs. unbelieving Jews, Empire vs. The Church, Truth vs. lies
Team Lamb or Team Dragon?
Revelation 1
Jesus reveals God to us
Jesus reveals us to us
You don’t just read Revelation, it reads you!
- Revelation will reveal the God you worship or your cultural assumptions about God. We become like the god(s) we worship
- Let Jesus unveil God and His character to us (The Jesus of Revelation shouldn’t look different than the Jesus of the gospels or the Sermon on the Mount)
7 Churches (Revelation 2-3)
Summary:
As a letter, Revelation was written to seven real churches, which implies that its message was understandable to its original readers. As an apocalypse, Revelation uses symbolic language to reveal a God’s-eye perspective for the encouragement of Christians living in Caesar’s empire. And as a prophecy, Revelation warns the churches against idolatry (Rev 2:14–15). This makes sense given how idols and temples peppered the Asian landscape.
Revelation encourages Christians to remain faithful in trials (Rev 2:10, 13). It’s no wonder that Revelation would include this, as the threat of persecution was constant.
Revelation tells the story of how Satan has inspired an evil, beastly kingdom but that one day the Lamb will rescue the world from it (Rev 12–13; 17–22). That such a story is included is not at all surprising given that the message of the idolatrous empire was etched on every official document and ingrained on every temple.
Revelation identifies two groups of people who have been marked out as either Lamb people or Beast people (Rev 7; 13–14). This makes perfect sense because, in the first century, there was only one choice: pledge loyalty to either Christ or Caesar.