This is an in depth study of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The information contained in this study has compiled by studying the Bible along with the reading of the writings of several Gospel preachers. I do not wish to take credit for that which is not mine. The intent of this study is to help remove some of the confusion and misconceptions held by many concerning this book. It is my prayer that anyone who reads this article will study the verses cited with an open mind to truly learn what God’s Word teaches.

Many neglect the study of the Book of Revelation. As a matter of fact, I did for a long time.People say things like "It is confusing" or "It is too hard to understand" or "It is not meant for us to understand." Those things are not all together true. It is true that some of the things in The Revelation require some effort on our part to understand, but with some work, we can do it.

The first thing we need to note is the name itself. Many call this book "Revelations" That is not accurate. This book is a written record The (one) Revelation of Jesus Christ. Using the word "Revelations" implies that there was more than one revelation, but there was not.

A study of The Revelation will be helpful to us today even though it was written specifically to Christians living almost 2000 years ago. The Revelation is from God.

Rev 1:1
(1) The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Any study of the Scriptures is helpful. It is the true word of God. The apostle Paul told the young preacher Timothy:

2 Tim 3:16
(16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

As we study The Revelation, though, we must do it in the right way. This vision is God’s, according to Rev 1:1. If the vision is God's, then so is the interpretation. All signs and prophecy are to be interpreted by God.

Deu 29:29
(29) The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

We must give all diligence to adhering to the principal of interpreting scripture with scripture. When the meaning of the signs in the book is made known, that meaning shall be adopted. When the visions are not made known, then we will look to scripture for similar visions for the interpretation. Since the book is written largely in symbolic language, we must ask ourselves some questions as we study. What is the picture? How does the picture (without undue concern for all the little details) fit into the whole of the book? We must also keep in mind that Old Testament terminology is used in the New Testament meaning. Out of 404 verses, there are 278 allusions to the Old Testament.

It speaks to (not of) the Christian in every age. When we find an event or person in which the prophecy finds application, we can consider it fulfilled in such an event or person, but not thereby exhausted. It is intended more for the purpose of showing us the forces for good and evil that make history, than for the prediction of particular events. Many people make the mistake of trying to make The Revelation apply to events in the recent past to show that it is meant to predict events. We can’t try to make it say what it does not say. We can’t try to apply it to that which it does not apply

Some background information is necessary for our study, although it may get a little boring. We need to understand some things concerning the writing of The Revelation. Who wrote The Revelation? As we noted earlier from Rev 1:1, the message was from God. Who actually wrote it down? It was the apostle John. How do we know? The writer makes the following claims. First he said that he was a “servant” of Jesus Christ Rev 1:1. He also said that he was a brother and fellow-sufferer with the Christians of Asia Minor Rev 1:9. He also said that his name was “John” Rev 1:1,4,9 and 22:8. Furthermore he wrote that he was in exile “for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” Rev 1:9 and he said that he, himself “heard and saw” the things written in this book in Rev 22:8.

There are evidences from other Scriptures as well. The casual statement of the name as “John” implies that this would be John who was well known, or the apostle John. Comparison of doctrine and terminology in The Revelation with that of the gospel account also indicates that the apostle John was the writer. Only John used the phrase “The lamb of God” (Jn 1:29). We find this phrase in Rev 5:6 and 28 additional times in The Revelation.

We also find the phrases “The Word” in Jn 1:1 and than in The Revelation Chapter 19:13, the pre-existent Christ in Jn 1:1-3 and in The Revelation 1:17-18, and “Who was pierced” in Jn 19:34 (only recorded by John) and then in The Revelation 1:7.

From what we see in The Revelation and from John's other writings, we can conclude that the apostle John was the one who recorded The Revelation.

To whom was The Revelation written? Simply put, it was written to Christians. It was written to a group of Christian people who were facing horrible persecution. Just about everyone who was not a Christian was their enemy and their lives were in danger pretty much on a daily basis. They were or were about to be forced by the Roman government to worship the emperor rather than God and many times the punishment for breaking this law was death.

Why was it written? It was written to comfort the faithful and to warn the negligent. It was written to give Christ’s church the courage and motivation to be faithful unto the end, even to death (2:10).

Rev 2:10
(10) Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

The plan is accomplished by presenting the victorious Christ in a two-fold manner.First, by His ultimate and complete triumph with His called, faithful and chosen. Secondly, by His ultimate and utter defeat of Satan and his forces. We will see these two things as we study the book.

Why was The Revelation written the way it was? Language is symbolized in order to conceal it's meaning to all but to whom it is intended. Think about in a war, or maybe a war movie you have seen. Messages are written in code so that if the enemy intercepts them, they will not be understood. Letters, words, or maybe even pictures are used to represent other things. The one for whom the message is intended knows the code and understands the message as it is written. This is the way Revelation is written. If someone is not familiar with the Old and New Testament Scriptures, they will not understand The Revelation. As we noted earlier, out of 404 verses there are 278 references to Old Testament Scriptures. In the book of Revelation, Christians are told by God that they will be victorious in the end, that their enemies will be crushed in defeat, not to give in to their enemies and worship who they wanted them to worship, and to continue to worship the True and Living God. Imagine what would have happened if this letter had spelled out these things without the use of symbolism. Since the Roman government, in general, was not familiar with the Scripture, they didn't understand what was being said.

We also need to understand the theme of The Revelation. This is very important. Remember this throughout our study. This is what we should get from a study of the Revelation. The glorious Christ and His kingdom (the church) are indestructible.

Rev 1:17-18
(17) And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (18) I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Faithfulness is the key to victory as we read earlier from Rev 2:10. Also notice what Jesus says in 17:14

Rev 17:14
(14) These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The theme of the Revelation, if expressed in just one word, is "Overcoming." We should keep this in mind all throughout our study of The Revelation.

The last part of the background information that we are going to look at in this lesson is the time that The Revelation was written. There are differing opinions on the date of the writing. Let's begin by noticing the succession of Roman Emperors and when they ruled. There were 8 recognized Caesars in the New Testament Era

• Augustus: 27 BC-AD 14 – Caesar at the time Christ was born
• Tiberius: 14-37 AD
• Caligula: 37-41 AD
• Claudius: 41-54 AD
• Nero: 54-68 AD
• Vespasian: 69-79 AD
• Titus: 79-81 AD
• Domitian: 81-96 AD

One Possible Date For the Writing is the Neronian Period – About 69 A.D. This would actually be at the end of Nero's reign or right at the beginning of Vespasian's reign. This would point to The Revelation warning of the coming destruction of the city of Jerusalem. I used to hold to this view but as I have studied more, I don’t think this is the case. You may remember hearing of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. This is that Nero. When the Romans began to Blame Nero, he shifted the blame to the Christians and this is why Christians were persecuted in Rome. This persecution didn’t seem to go much beyond Rome itself.

The second, and I think most likely, possible date is during the Domitian Period – Around 96 A.D. One of the reasons that I think this is the most likely time of the writing is that the Nicolaitan party, of which there is no certain trace before A.D.70, was widely distributed and firmly established in 90-96 A.D.  We see this group mentioned in Rev 2:6.

Rev 2:6
(6) But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Another reason that this date seems to fit better is that the persecution of the saints, as depicted in the Revelation, better fits the Domitian period. Caligula demanded that his statue be worshiped although there is no evidence of any attempt to enforce this requirement 37-41 A.D. Claudius reversed the policy of Caligula but drove Christians from Rome because of the conflict of the Jews. 41-54 A.D. (Acts 18:2)

Acts 18:2
(2) And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.

Nero persecuted Christians in the Rome district but did not push for emperor-worship 54-68 A.D. Galba (68-69 A.D.) reigned too short a period of time to initiate emperor-worship. Otho (69 A.D.) also reigned too short a period of time to initiate emperor worship. Vitellius (69 A.D.) reigned too short a period of time to initiate emperor-worship. Vespasian (69-79 A.D.) and Titus (79-81 A.D.) were both practical men who were not concerned thusly. Domitian (81-96 A.D.), on the other hand, seems to have regarded himself as a god. Emperor worship was not imposed by the emperors throughout the empire before Domitian.

The condition of the congregations of the church also best fits this period. Deterioration has set in at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira and especially “dead” Sardis and “tepid” Laodicia. (This was not so according to Paul’s letters.) Consider the church at Ephesus, which at the time of the Revelation was condemned for having “left its first love” (2:4). In about 58 A.D., Ephesus was seemingly on the right track – Acts 20:17-38. In about 62-63 A.D. they are commended for their “love which you show toward all the saints” (Eph. 1:15). In 1 Tim., Paul makes no mention of a lovelessness, and this was written about 64-65 A.D. In about 67 A.D. in his second letter to Timothy, Paul told the evangelist to warn of a “coming apostasy”.

In the Revelation, the church at Laodicia is seen to “be rich” and “has need of nothing” (3:17). But as the city was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 60-61, this must have been considerably later. And in consideration of a letter addressed by Polycarp to the church at Philippi, it would seem that the church at Smyrna was not in existence in Paul’s day.

One final thing that points toward a later date of the writing is that the beast of Rev 17:8 would seem to fit the later date in a much easier way - “That thou sawest was” Nero - “and is not”; “and is about to come up out of the abyss” – Domitian

Rev 17:8
(8) The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

This concludes Lesson 1. In Lesson 2 we will look at all the numbers that are used in the Revelation and what significance each had.