Have you ever wondered how the Bible fits together chronologically?

Revelation opens saying it is an apocalypsis of Jesus Christ. An apocalypse was a particular genre of writing in the time of Jesus. It’s like announcing something is a romance or a sci-fi or a documentary. It alerts the audience that it’s a particular type of story.

 

And that’s important to keep in mind as the curtain rises on a sweeping story full of angels and demons, saints and monsters.

 

The book first introduces Jesus Christ as we’ve known him thus far in Scripture, but then reveals him as we’ve never seen him before.

The preface to the apocalypse is a set of letters, one for each of seven churches in Asia Minor where John ministered. The letters aren’t addressed to the churches, but to each of their angels. We’ll spend a little time pondering the significance of that.

 

Each letter praises the churches, chastises them a bit, and then gives each one a promise. There’s a lot of war language used--victory and overcoming and laurels of reward. We’ll think about that a bit as well.

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We cover Revelation 2:1-11.

We cover the letters to Pergamum and Thyatira in this class. And while we’re at it we begin to get a feel for why John wrote Revelation as a “dream” in an apocalypse prefaced by a few seemingly innocuous letters. 

 

John uses these letters to define several of the important metaphors he’ll use throughout the book. This is a Master Class in resistance under oppression.

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We cover Revelation 2:12-29.

We finish the last three letters to the churches: Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The imagery is tied very closely to the shortcomings and challenges facing these believers. John knows these churches intimately.

But as difficult as the messages might be to hear, Jesus always offers hope. He reminds them of their call to be light in the word--lampstands for the Holy Spirit. We gather some more building blocks we’ll need for the study ahead, including insight into the significance of the Book of Life.

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We cover Revelation 3.

As John’s vision of heaven begins he sees God on the throne, four kerubim, and 24 elders on thrones. And in the midst of them is a Lamb looking as if it has been slaughtered. 

 

The Lamb alone is found worthy to open a scroll sealed with seven seals. As each of the first six seals is opened, a new terror is released upon the earth. 

 

What do we do with this? Is God good or not?

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We cover Revelation 4-6.

There is a pause in heaven before the seventh seal is broken. Terrible things are about to be set into motion. But before that happens, God places protective seals on the foreheads of all of Israel (or only 144,000?)--but not on the Gentiles who serve him. They have to go through the Great Tribulation.

Afterwards, however, God wipes every tear from their eyes. We think about the implications of this in our breakout groups.

 

Meanwhile, we take a whirlwind ride through the sounding of the first six trumpets, including trumpets 5 and 6 which are the first of particularly terrible events called “The Woes.”

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We cover Revelation 7 thru 9.

There’s some heavy duty imagery in this section of Revelation. We meet two witnesses/martyrs of God who are represented by olive trees that can withhold rain from the earth and spew fire at anyone who comes against them.

 

We also are introduced to some characters that will figure large in the rest of the story--a woman crowned with the sun, moon and 12 stars and a red dragon with seven crowned heads and 10 horns.

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We cover Daniel 7 and Revelation 10-12.

We take a moment to sync up the timelines in Revelation with the timelines found in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Daniel. It is eye-opening. (And when we do that we stumble across the surprising answer to why John says in Rev 21:1 that when the new heaven and earth come there is no sea.)

 

The Beast makes his first appearance in Chapter 11, but in this class we get his back story. Spoiler Alert: It’s seriously twisted.

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We cover 

• Daniel 7 thru 12

• Revelation 13:1-10

The Rapture is the idea that Christians will be snatched up in the clouds by Jesus so we do not undergo the Tribulation described in Revelation. In this class, we look at the Scriptural case for the Rapture to see if it holds water. 

 

As a starting point, we look at what Revelation says about the fate of Jews and of Gentiles before and during the Tribulation. 

 

The Hebrew Bible maintains a solid position that the Messiah comes while Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, is under direct military attack. God and the Messiah save Israel in a cataclysmic show of power. We go through some but not all of this background. Zechariah 14 is a good example, if you want to look it up for yourself. 

 

Since the Rapture is a uniquely Christian idea, we then focus on the New Testament. We examine the words of Jesus and Paul, to see what they have to say about the Second Coming and whether there is any mention of a Rapture of Christians.

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We cover 

• Daniel 12:2

• Matthew 24-25

• Luke 21

• Romans 5:8-10

• 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

• 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-5:2,9

• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

• Revelation 21:8; 22:14-15

We take a look at how the idea of the Rapture might or might not fit the timeline of the 70 Sevens. Then we move from the Scripture itself to a fascinating overview of the history of the Rapture as a doctrine within the church. 

 

The earliest references are sporadic, but the idea really takes off in 1830. Yup. Not a typo. 1830--just prior to the Victorian Era. We look at how it happened, who the key players were, and how a particularly timely new study Bible propelled its popularity.

 

We briefly touch on the Shepherd of Hermas which is not in the Bible.

Satan calls forth the AntiChrist, “the first beast,” and endows him with his power and authority. A second beast, the False Prophet, is his mouthpiece. He causes people to worship the AntiChrist and its image.

 

It is here that we run into the number of the AntiChrist’s name: 666. No one can buy or sell unless it is marked on their forehead or on their right hand.

 

Angels are sent from heaven. The earth is about to be sickled. The final seven bowls of plagues are poured.

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We cover Revelation 13:11 thru 16:21. ​

John gets a sickening view of Babylon the Great, the economic power at the center of commerce and luxury. She is portrayed as an idolatrous prostitute drunk on the blood of the saints. When her end comes, all those she seduced distance themselves from her even as they weep and wail over her destruction.

 

Then the kings of the earth gather at Armageddon to fight against Israel and their God. It is a bloodbath. Jerusalem is taken, but then Jesus comes with the hosts of heaven, and God himself stands on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in two.

 

There follows a first resurrection of those who are appointed to judge and the martyrs who were killed because they would not worship the AntiChrist. The AntiChrist and the False Prophet are thrown into the “fiery lake” that is the “second death.” Satan is locked away while these saints reign on earth with Christ for a thousand years.

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We cover:

• Isaiah 65:20ff

• Ezekiel 39

• Joel 2

• Zechariah 14

• Revelation 17:1 thru 20:6

After the end of a thousand years, Satan is set loose from the Abyss. He immediately goes to the four corners of the earth to deceive the nations. The nations rise up against God in a final battle. God isn’t having any of it. That battle is over before it hardly begins. Satan is thrown immediately into the fiery lake to join the AntiChrist and the False Prophet. Death and Hades will join them in short order.

 

After that everyone else is resurrected. The dead are judged and receive rewards according to their works. A new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem come. This new Jerusalem is the dwelling place of God and the Lamb on earth. Nothing vile can enter there, but must stay outside the gates of the city.

 

At the end, Jesus stresses that he is coming soon, echoing the messages to the seven churches to hold on and persevere because rewards are given to those who overcome. John says, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

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We cover:

• Isaiah 46:10

• Ezekiel 38, 40 thru 48

• Matthew 13:40-43

• John 10:10

• 1 Corinthians 3:9-17

• 1 Thessalonians 5:9

• Revelation 20:7 thru 22:21