INTRODUCTION   

John on the Island of Patmos where he received the visions  and message of Revelation   You might like to read the text below in your bible while   the graphic downloads! Rev 1:9-11

Revelation is a Mysterious Book!
At first glance Revelation is a strange and mysterious book!  Its language is like no other book in the New Testament.  Complicating our appreciation of this great book is the fact that more speculative theology has surrounded this book than any other in the bible.  For many Revelation is a somewhat frightening book that focuses on end of the world tribulation and judgments.  Whenever some war breaks out in the middle east we hear warnings concerning the signs of the times, the battle of Armageddon, and the end of the world.  All of these concerns spring from highly speculative approaches to Revelation.  The strangle language and cosmic visions we encounter in Revelation are a fertile breeding ground for such thinking.  However, this is not what this great book is all about!  John informs us in the first paragraph of Revelation (read Rev 1:2-3) that this message concerns things that were to "take place soon" and that the times of these things was "at hand"!  Whatever the strange visions might be, and however one is to understand the figurative language of Revelation, it concerns things that would soon break out in the life of the churches to who it was addressed.

How Does it Speak to us?
Revelation is a letter to the churches of Asia that draws heavily on the Old Testament and other writings of the Jewish-Christian community.  It speaks in highly figurative, dramatic, and symbolic language.   One should not attempt to read Revelation literally, but should seek to understand the figurative use of the Old Testament and the symbolic idiom used by John.

In technical terms we refer to the literary style John uses in Revelation as Apocalyptic.  This literary style is highly symbolic, figurative and dramatic.  There are many passages in the Old Testament  which use this literary style, and John adopts this and develops it further from a vast library of literature which dates from about 200 BC and lasted in popular use until around 200 CE.  Books that are well known that are in this apocalyptic style we find in the Biblical Apocrypha such as Tobit, Baruch, 1 & 2 Esdras.  Others we know as Pseudepigraphical such as the Sibylline Oracles, The Books of Enoch, and many others.

Without striving to understand this highly symbolic literary style it is difficult to understand Revelation.

The Author and Date
The author describes himself simply as John.  The early church believed this to be the Apostle John, but this has not been universally accepted.  The author could possible be some other respected person in the church in Asia in the 1^st century whose name was John.  We just cannot be sure as to the author other than that he was highly regarded by the churches in Asia receiving the Book of Revelation, and regarded highly by God in revealing the message to him!

Most scholars today prefer the date of AD 96 and the reign of Emperor Domitian for the writing of Revelation.  The historical and sociological circumstances of the church reflected in Revelation relate best to this date.

The Seven Churches
Revelation was a unique circular letter written by God and Jesus to seven churches in Asia (now modern Turkey).  We know that there were more than seven churches in Asia in the first century, but the figurative number of seven, which dominates Revelation and symbolically signifies completeness, means that the letter was in fact written to all of the churches in Asia.  These churches were about to experience a severe crisis of hostility and persecution from their Roman and Pagan neighbors, and Revelation calls on them not to compromise their faith in Jesus under any circumstances, even if their faithfulness to Jesus resulted in martyrdom.

It is vitally important that we keep the historical and sociological setting of Revelation in mind.  John emphasizes on several occasions that the things to be revealed in Revelation are things that will shortly take place.  Note Rev 1:1-3, "what must soon take place" and "for the time is near".

We repeat, this is a book about real churches in the 1st cent. CE.  The setting of Revelation is the seven churches of Asia in the closing years of the 1st cent. CE.  The churches in Asia were about to experience sever persecution from the Jews and Rome.  God was calling his church to remain faithful, not to succumb to Emperor worship, not to compromise its faith even in the threat of martyrdom.

This is not a book about the end of the world!  It is a book about the church in Asia in the 1st cent. CE!  John tells us this very clearly, and to overlook this is to misinterpret Revelation!

The book contains important theological themes that are relevant in all ages.  It is only when we set the book in the 1st cent. and seek to identify the relevant theological themes that we can interpret Revelation properly

It is imperative that we keep our interpretation of Revelation within this historical and sociological setting, and then seek to identify the theological motifs (messages) conveyed in Revelation.  Only then can we translate these theological themes to our situation today.

Click here to go to a map of the seven Churches of Asia

The Structure of Revelation
Every piece of literature has a literary structure.  Letters, especially those of the Apostle Paul, manifest a clear literary form.  Revelation, likewise, has a unique literary structure.  The structure of Revelation is in the form of a two part drama with the high point coming in Rev 12-14.  Since the early centuries of Christianity, scholars have identified a form of parallelism in Revelation in which themes are repeated progressively throughout the book.   The following "chiastic" structure demonstrates the ascending and descending progressive parallelism of Revelation.  Note that many of the expressions in the Prologue (Rev 1:1-20) are repeated in the Epilogue (Rev 22:6-21).

The high point in the story of Revelation comes in Rev  12:1-14:20, and especially in Rev 12:10,11.

Prologue. 1:1-20

     I.  The Church in Imperfection.  2:1-3:22
         Seven Letters to the Seven Churches

           II.  The Authority of God over Evil Explained. 4:1-8:6
             The Scroll with the Seven Seals

III.  The Warning Judgments. 8:1-11:19
                       Seven Trumpets

IV.  The Lamb - God’s Answer to Evil. 12:1-14:20
                              Seven Unnumbered Figures and Angelic Messages

V.  The Consummated Judgments. 15:1-16:21
                       Seven Bowls of Wrath

VI.  The Authority of God over Evil Exercised. 17:1-20:15
                  Seven Unnumbered Descriptions of God’s Authority

VII.  The Church in Perfection. 21:1-22:5
             Descriptions of the New Heaven and New Earth

Epilogue. 22:6-21

The Theological Message of Revelation
Revelation is a book about conquering Satan and his agents (overcoming in the NIV is not the best translation of this word). 
In Revelation Satan's chief agent is the Imperial power of Rome.  God's agents are the church.
The theme of the struggle between Satan and his agents and the church, and the saints conquering Satan and his agent, Rome, is found in each of the seven letters in Revelation (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21).  The theology is that Christians who will not compromise their faith in Jesus even in the face of martyrdom and death, will through their martyrdom be victorious over Satan.  The high point in Revelation is in Rev 12:10, 11.   This is an important passage for Revelation.  Please read it now!  The theme of Revelation can e summarized in one word, Victory!

A wonderful text, not found in Revelation, but important to the theology of Revelation is Rom 8:31-39:

The Relevance of Revelation for Today
Christians today may not have to die as martyrs, but all will face crises in their lives and temptations to compromise their faith in Jesus with contemporary society.  By resisting these temptations Jesus promises through our faith in him to transform these crises into magnificent victories.  

Discussion and Questions
1.  From what you have learned about Revelation in this lesson, what is Revelation all about? 
     Refer to Rev 1:1-3.
2.  What is it about Revelation that causes people to neglect it or pay such little attention to it?
3.  How does one account for the strange language and idiom of Revelation, and how does one work
     through this?
4.  How does attempting to understand the date of Revelation assist us in understanding  the message of
     Revelation and applying it to our contemporary situation?
5.  How would a knowledge of the nature of the seven churches in Asia assist us in understanding
     Revelation?  What was the central message  to the seven churches?
6.  Discuss the literary characteristics of Revelation in regard to drama and structure.  How does a chiastic
     structure lead us to the core message or theme of Revelation?
7.  In your own words describe the theology or theme of Revelation. 
     Refer to Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21, and Rev 12:10,11.