Questions

Scriptural Reflection
Revelation 1:1–8

Revelation

Revelation is probably one of the most difficult to understand book in the Bible. Apart from a few chapters of direct exhortation with a minimum use of symbols, the rest of the book is filled with symbols that are hard to understand, especially in modern times. As the book is primarily an “apokalypsis” (hence the title of the book, given according to the first word of the book in its Greek original), this genre is necessarily about the future and that adds to the confusion as to what time in the future each particular passage is referring to and if the events are necessarily chronological in order. You may want to refer to many fine commentaries of a conservative tradition to learn more about the four schools of interpretation which include:

(1) The “preterist (meaning past) view” which interprets the book from its first-century historical setting which opines that the major prophecies of the book were fulfilled either in the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 or the fall of Rome in A.D. 476—the major problem of this view lies in the fact that the decisive victory of Christ prophesied in the latter chapters has yet to happen, even in our time.

(2) The “historical view” relates the visions in the book to the entire span of church history and seeks to match up various key events in history with John’s visions. Such matchings tend to be very arbitrary and subjective.

(3) The “futurist or eschatological view” sees that everything from Revelation 4:1 onwards belongs to a period in the future which will only come to pass right before the Parousia, Christ’s return.

(4) The “idealist or timeless symbolic view” which was very popular throughout the medieval period interprets basically everything allegorically. This approach is in direct conflict with the stated purpose of the book which is “to show His servant what must soon take place” (1:1).

Instead of having a preconceived preference to anyone of the approaches, I would suggest that we should allow the text to speak to us, with the following reminders:

- Do not approach the book out of curiosity—it is the Word of God that demands a reverent spirit that is ready to obey the message of the book.

- Remember that God will not hold against us things that we do not understand and we need to be honest to accept that there are things in the book that we totally do not understand.

- However, our lack of understanding should not preclude us from reading this book because, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (1:3).

- Bear in mind that John is recording honestly what he has seen in his visions, but is expressing what he sees in terms and with symbols that belonged to his time, the 1st century A.D.

I have followed Robert Mounce’s approach in listing the following outline of the book based on “its literary structure alone” (NICNT, 32-35):

1. Prologue (1:1-20)
2. Letters to the Seven Churches (2:1 – 3:22)
3. Worship in the Heavenly Court (4:1 – 5:14)
4. The Seven Seals (6:1 – 8:1)
5. The Seven Trumpets (8:2 – 11:19)

Interlude: Visions of the Prophetic Role (10:1 – 11:14)

The 7th Trumpet (11:15-19)

6. Conflict between the Church and the Powers of Evil (12:1 – 14:5)

Interlude: Vision of Final Judgment (14:6-20)

7. The Seven Last Plagues (15:1 – 16:21)
8. The Fall of Babylon (17:1 – 19:5)
9. The Final Victory (19:6 – 20:15)
10. The New Heaven and the New Earth (21:1 – 22:5)
11. Epilogue (22: 6-21)

1:1-3—Prologue—What is Revelation about?

(1) The source: Who is the source of this revelation? What is its implication?

(2) The heavenly agent: Who will be used to reveal this revelation?

(3) The earthly agent: Who will be the one given the revelation to behold and record this revelation?

(4) The audience: To whom will John show this revelation?

(5) What is John’s specific mission concerning this revelation? (v. 2)

(6) Since the revelation pertains to future events that are made doubly hard to understand through symbolism, should we encourage the average believer to read this book? Should we preach on this book? Why or why not? (v. 3)

(7) Then what should your attitude be in the studying of this book?

(8) God is obviously the “most wise” and for whatever He does, there must be a purpose. What then might be the “must” of using symbolism to talk about some of the things of the future?

1:4-8—The Greetings and Doxology

(9) To whom does John specifically address his writing to? (Note: Asia in those days refers to the region now known as Turkey.)

(10) In his greetings, John mentions that grace and peace would come from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (vv. 4-6).

a. How does he address Father God? How does this name elaborate on His name, Yahweh, in the Old Testament? (See Exod. 3:14-15)

b. How does he address the Holy Spirit? (See the manifold description of the Spirit in Isa. 11:2—note that the Septuagint inserts one more description of the Spirit, that being of godliness)

c. What is the significance to the overall message of Revelation and to the seven suffering churches in addressing Jesus Christ as: (vv. 5-6)

1. The Faithful Witness?
2. The First Born of the dead?
3. The Ruler of the kings of the earth?

(11) At the thought of who Jesus is, John cannot help but burst into a personal doxology (vv. 5a-6). Reflect on his doxology, and what does it mean to you that

a. He loves you?

b. He has freed you from our sins by His blood?

c. He has made us to be kingdom and priest to serve His God and Father?

d. See if you can re-write this doxology in your own words.

(12) As an addendum to his doxology, John reaffirms that (v. 7):

a. He is coming with the clouds: To which passage (in the word of God) is John testifying as a faithful witness himself? (Acts 1:9-11; Dan. 7:13; Zech. 14:4)

b. Every eye will see Him. This includes

1. Those who pierced Him: To whom might John be referring? (Zech. 12:10; John 19:37)
   
2. All the people of the earth, except that they will mourn because of Him. Why is that? (Matt. 24:30)

(13) At the end of the greetings and doxology, Father God is speaking.

a. How does He address Himself?

b. How significant is it that Father God reaffirms who He is as John is about to begin to record what he saw and heard?

(14) What is the message to you today? How may you apply it to your life?

Scriptural Reflection
Revelation 1:9–20

The revelation of Jesus Christ to John begins with a most glorious vision of Who He is:

1:9-17—The Glorious Appearance of Jesus Christ to John

(1) Self-address of John (v. 9)

a. What does John address himself as? (v. 9a)

b. What does that mean to the seven churches to whom he writes?

c. What does it mean to you as you are also a companion (or co-sharer) of this kingdom?

d. Why is he on the island of Patmos? (see Note 1 below)

(2) Jesus’ Appearance (vv. 10-16)

a. How does John come to see the vision? (v. 10)

b. What does the voice of the Lord sound like? (vv. 10b, 15b; Ezek. 43:2)

c. What does the Lord tell him to do? (v. 11; you may want to refer to the map at the back of your Bible to see the location of these churches, all on the west side of modern-day Turkey)

d. Why does John say that He is like a “Son of Man”? (see Dan. 7:13 and Note 2 below)

e. How does John describe His glorious appearance? (You might want to draw a sketch of His appearance to get a sense of His awesomeness. Many of these descriptions are picked up in the seven letters concerning Who Christ is.)

f. What do the seven golden lampstands and the seven stars represent? (see v. 20)

g. What does it mean that He is among the seven golden lampstands (v. 13)

h. What does it mean that He is holding the seven stars in His right hand? (v. 16)

(3) How does John respond to the appearance of the Lord? (v. 17a)

(4) Why is John afraid? (v. 17b)

1:18-20—The Charge to John

(5) How does this Son of Man address Himself? (vv. 17b, 18)

(6) How will this self-address alleviate the fear of John?

(7) What keys does He hold? Why does He not refer to the Keys to heaven, but only to the keys of death and Hades?

(8) What does He charge John to do? (v. 19)

(9) What can we expect to read about in the rest of the book as a result?

(10) What is the most important message to you and how may you apply it to your life?

Note 1: 

I had the privilege of visiting the island of Patmos, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Turkey. Even in modern times, the sea during October to April is so rough that it is inaccessible by boat—it was a most ideal place for prisoners in exile in John’s days.

Note 2:
 
“John says He is ‘like a Son of man’, which is not exactly the same as Jesus’ expression, ‘the Son of man’; (in Greek this has two articles, ‘the Son of the man’; here there are none). It seems to be taken directly from Daniel 7:13 where we read of a heavenly Being coming with the clouds and receiving a mighty dominion.”
(TNTC, Revelation, 53)

Scriptural Reflection
Revelation 2:1–7

The Church in Ephesus (see Note below)

(1) To whom in the church of Ephesus does the Lord address this letter to? Why? (v. 1)

(2) From the glorious description of the Lord in 1:13-16 which particular part does the Lord use to depict Himself? (v. 1b)

(3) What is the purpose of this emphasis?

(4) Commendations (vv. 2-3)

a. Their deeds—these likely refer to the overall manner of life:

1. As a commendation, what might their manner of life look like?
2. What might the Lord say about you?

b. Their hard work:

1. What does a church of “hard-work” look like?
2. Does it describe your church? Why or why not?

c. Their perseverance

1. In those days of suffering, what might be the factors that would sustain them?
2. Are you easily frustrated and do you tend to give up when you face hardship or opposition in your ministry?

d. Their intolerance of wicked men

1. What kind of wicked men is being pointed out here?
2. How have they demonstrated their intolerance?
3. How would they “test” these men to find out their falsehood? (see Gal. 1:9)

e. Endurance―Together with the foregoing commendations,

1. How would you describe the church in Ephesus?
2. Will it be a church that you would like to be part of? Why or why not?

(5) The rebuke (v. 4)

a. What is meant by “first love” in general?

b. How might you describe your “first love” for the Lord?

c. How can such a church of such good deeds, hard work, pure doctrine and perseverance lose their first love? (see 1 Cor. 13:1-3 as well)

d. What then compels them to do all these if not love?

(6) The call to repentance (v. 5)

a. What two things are they asked to do in order to repent?

b. Since love is of the heart, what are the things that they did at first that could restore their first love for the Lord?

c. What if they continue to worship and serve without love?

d. What then should you do today?

(7) One final praise (v. 6): Their hatred of the practices of the Nicolatians

a. Since “love” is what they need to restore, why does the Lord condone their hatred?

b. In what way might they demonstrate their hatred of such practices? (See 2:14-15 to understand what such practices might be.)

(8) The exhortation to heed (v. 7a)―This call to listen is almost like a closing formula in all seven letters.

a. Who is the speaker of these letters?

b. Obviously, everyone has ears to hear. What then does this call to listen mean?

(9) The encouragement (v. 7b)—Each letter ends with a promise of rewards. While, in essence, they are common promises of good for each church, it appears the rewards are highlighted for each individual church with a purpose:

a. What is meant by to “overcome”?

b. What is the promised reward? (see Gen. 2:9; 3:22-24; Rev. 22:2)

c. How should this serve as an encouragement to the church in Ephesus?

d. What about you?

(10) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Note:

Ephesus was a city of great importance in the region, being granted the right of self-government by Rome as a free city. Its commerce was greatly enhanced by its location being the junction of three great trade routes at the time, and its population grew to a quarter of a million toward the end of the 1^st century. It was also known for emperor worship and the great temple of Artemis. The church in Ephesus was established by Paul with Aquila and Priscilla in about A.D. 52 (Acts 18:18-22). On his 2^nd missionary journey, Paul spent more than two years there (Acts 19:8, 10), and since then it blossomed into a base through which the gospel reached many parts of Asia Minor (Acts 19:10). Timothy also ministered at the church and according to church tradition, the Apostle John spent his latter years in Ephesus as well.

Scriptural Reflection
Revelation 2:8–11

The second letter is addressed to the church in Smyrna: (see Note below)

(1) From the glorious description and self-address of the Lord in 1:13-18, which particular part does the Lord use to depict Himself? (v. 8b)

(2) What is the purpose of this emphasis to the church in Smyrna?

(3) The Lord knows their afflictions and poverty (v. 9)

a. What kind of persecution are they facing?

b. In such a prosperous city (some estimates put it at 200,000 in population), what could some reasons for their poverty? (see Heb. 10:34)

(4) An even more gloomy future (v. 10a)

a. What does the Lord foretell about their future?

b. Who is the one responsible for their persecution?

c. “Ten days” is likely a metaphor: Would it be for a long or short period? (History reveals that their persecution was a prolonged one.)

(5) The exhortation and reward (vv. 10b-11)

a. What encouragement does the Lord give to urge them to be faithful?

b. A crown refers to the wreath awarded to the champion in the games famous in those days. The value of it lay not in itself but in what it symbolized:

1. What kind of a crown is promised to the “overcomers” in the church of Smyrna?
2. Does it refer to the present life or eternal life? (v. 11)

c. How meaningful do you think this letter was to the church in Smyrna then?

d. How meaningful is it to the suffering churches of today?

(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Note:

Smyrna was a very special city. Although it was small, it was one of the few “planned” cities of the time, and with its great harbor, it was known for its beauty with its coins describing the city as “First of Asia in beauty”. Its temple worship, its strong allegiance to Rome plus a large Jewish population meant that it was exceptionally difficult to live as a Christian in Smyrna. The most famous martyr of the early church fathers was Polycarp, the “12^th martyr in Smyrna” (NICNT, Revelation, 74). You may read today’s Meditative Reflection for the story of his martyrdom.