It has been my pleasure and honor to take two groups through Vital Signs: Lessons from the Seven Churches of The Revelation. From the feedback I have received, the material is interesting, engaging, and reaches into the heart to challenge the student toward a deeper faith in Christ Jesus. I know the material has certainly deepened my faith in Jesus.
As promised, I am going to be posting some tidbits of the material from the class. I won’t be able to post all of it because there is just so much, but my goal is to give you a taste of the class material in an effort to stimulate your desire to study these chapters in The Revelation for yourself…or to attend one of my classes. 😉
Today we will begin with a bit of background. For those of you who love history, you are gonna flat eat this up. I’m one of those. For those who get history heartburn, dash to the medicine cabinet for an Alka Seltzer and hang with me. The background and history is crucial to the understanding of Jesus’ revelation. I promise it will be worth it.
The word Revelation is an interesting word and one that we have totally skewed the meaning of. Let’s enlist the help of Greek linguists to understand what it means. The Greek word used for revelation is apokalupsis. Now, what English word do you see in there? If you said apocalypse, you are right. When you and I think of the word apocalypse, we think of far-reaching destruction and death. The meaning of this Greek word will surprise you, I think. The New American Commentary (p. 51 offers this definition: ‘refers to something formerly hidden but now unveiled.’ Another commentary suggested that apokalupsis can be used when a direct word is revealed by God.
This is confirmed by the very first verse of the book.
This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him concerning the events that will happen soon. An angel was sent to God’s servant John so that John could share the revelation with God’s other servants. Revelation 1:1 (NLT)
DATING OF THE REVELATION
There are two schools of thought regarding the dating. Early dating advocates say somewhere around AD 68-70, while those who ascribe to the later dating believe it was AD 95-ish.
There are stronger arguments for the AD 95 date, but one of the strongest surrounds the condition of some of the seven churches. They were spiritually vibrant in Paul’s day, which would have been the mid 60s. Such a decline to the condition that Jesus described to John would have likely taken longer than 3-5 years. Also, the use of Babylon as a descriptor for Rome did not begin until after the temple was destroyed in AD 70.
DIVISIONS OF THE REVELATION
The book of The Revelation can be divided into three sections based on Jesus’ words to John in Revelation 1:19. He instructed John to write “the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”
- Which you have seen – Chapter 1
- Which are – Chapters 2-3
- Which will take place – Chapters 4-22
OK, enough for today. Is your curiosity piqued? Join me each Monday for another lesson from Vital Signs: Lessons from the Seven Churches of The Revelation.
