Revelation
Introduction Part 2
The Key
How did John smuggle a secret message out of a prison without being detected? During World War II the U.S. Army needed a way to communicate messages in an unbreakable code. After Britain’s allies, the Poles, broke Germany’s ENIGMA machine code, the Allies realized they needed a more secure way to deliver messages. Army intelligence used Navajo Indians as message carriers. Navajo could not be understood by the enemy. And since it was not a written language, it could not be learned unless taught by a Navajo.
John and his scribes recorded the book of the Revelation as a cryptogram that required a key to be understood. They left the key in plain sight for anyone to find, guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Was, Is, and Is to Come
The Book of the Revelation does not consist of one long vision, but rather, a series of scenes. What confuses readers is taking the vision as a single dream. The Revelation is made up of a series of scenes which shift and change.
In order for the Key to work, a time line must be kept in mind. Without the correct timing things that apply only to the church, or only to the followers of the man of sin, do not make sense.
In Revelation 1:8, Christ called Himself the Was, and Is, and Is to Come. The book of Revelation is also made up of three parts:
“The Was”– Chapter 1; the history of Christ and His kingdom on earth.
“The Is”– Chapter 2-6; the church, the kingdom of God on earth and last days’ evangelism.
“The Is to Come”– Chapter 7-22; prophecy of the final days, the spirit of Babylon, and the coming of Christ’s reign on earth.
“The Was” Chapter 1 is historical. Who is Christ? Jesus, the Messiah, presents His credentials.
“The Is” The scene changes in Chapters 2-6 to current events in the Church, the Kingdom of God on earth. He tells us who the church is, and how she’s supposed to live. Here, Jesus, the head of the church, gave instructions for the final mission on earth, a time of evangelism to the people of the planet. The later harvest will be massive!
Chapters 2-3 are addressed to the infant churches in Asia Minor, but also the church of the present day. These are Jesus’ instructions to His body, the church in general.
The scene switches to heaven In Chapters 4-5. Here, John has painted a picture of Jesus, the head of the church, the sacrificial lamb who bought us with his own blood.
In Chapter 6, The Lamb opens the seals on the scrolls and triggers the start of end times judgement.
Everyone on earth “… hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and called upon the mountains and rocks, hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand before it?”
Revelation 6:15-17
“Is to Come” The scene changes again. Chapter 7-11 is prophetic and relates to future events. Some have already taken place, some are unfolding now. By Chapter 7 verse 9, the Church is no longer on earth, but in heaven, “taken up” as in the days of Noah. We will study this in more detail in chapters 5 and 6.
Again the scene changes in Chapters 12-14. We observe the judgement of sin on the fallen earth and of those who reject the Lamb, choosing instead to follow the man of sin, Satan.
Chapter 15-18 is a new scene, the seven last plagues, the seven bowls of wrath and the final destruction of the Babylonian system which represents the operational system of the world.
The scene changes in Chapters 19-20, to the battle of Armageddon. Christ the messiah’s final victory over Satan and his followers, and the final judgement. Satan and his followers are cast into the lake of fire for final destruction. Sin is cleansed from the earth.
Chapter 21-22 is the final scene change which shows the triumphal ascension of Jesus the King of Kings to His throne. We are shown the renewing of heaven and rebuilding of a sinless earth as a new Garden of Eden. The Church, which was taken to heaven, will return as the new Adams and new Eves.
Types and Symbols
The book of the Revelation is full of types and symbols. But there is a distinction between the two. A TYPE is prophetic, one thing that prefigures another. For example; Adam became a type of high priest.
God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, but the Angel of the Lord stopped him when God supplied the sacrificial ram. This is a type or prophecy of God’s sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus. God supplied Himself as the sacrificial lamb to erase our sins.
In Leviticus 16, we find the sin-bearing scapegoat, a type of Jesus who carried away our sins.
Noah was a type or prophecy of the “catching away” of the church before the final judgement. “… as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:37
A SYMBOL is one thing which stands for another. A symbol may not be prophetic, and is time irrelevant. In fact, time itself may be a symbol. (See Daniel 7:25.) When we read the words IS, ARE, or LIKE, or something is LIKE something else, we find symbolism. Often those words are not used directly, only inferred.
For example: “The kingdom of heaven is LIKE a merchant … who when he finds a pearl of great price, sells all he has and buys it.” Matthew 13:45-46
Of course, this means the kingdom of heaven is of such value, one must be willing to lay
down all to achieve it.
“What is the Kingdom of God LIKE? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew to become a large tree, and the birds of the air nest in its branches.” Luke 13: 18, 19
This means, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth (the church, the body of Christ is who Jesus is talking about) started out small, but grew large enough for all to receive salvation and entry. Other translations say every type of bird and animal, Hebrews, as well as Gentiles.
So we’re down to the nuts and bolts. The key to the translation of the book of the Revelation is found in chapter one, verse twenty.
19 “Write the things which you have seen, (Was) and the things which are, (Is) and the things which will take place after this. (Is to Come) 20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars ARE the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands you saw ARE the seven churches.” Revelation 1:18-20
Again, symbolism. These things stand for something else. Jesus explains:
“The mystery of the seven stars … and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; the lampstands are the seven churches.” Revelation 1:20
More than seven churches existed by AD 65 when John wrote the book. So why only seven? And why these seven in particular? The number seven in scripture is symbolic. Seven is the number of completeness, the total number of anything. Here, seven means all; all the angels and all the churches. Why would Jesus tell John to write to angels? The word translated as angels, is the Greek word aggelos. It means messenger, pastor, protector, authority. Stars are symbolic for, or represent the authorities and heads of the churches; the pastors.
The stars stand for the heads of the churches. So where are the stars? In Jesus’ right hand. (Verse 12) An important significance exists as to which hand holds the stars. The left hand symbolizes power and might. David’s bodyguards, all left-handed warriors, did mighty works. They are a TYPE of God’s power and might. The left hand is also a symbol of judgement.
The right hand is symbolic of authority, strength, and blessing. Notice the stars are in the right hand. Jesus is the head of the church. All authority and blessings come from Him. The church belongs to Him. If we reject His authority, we are not of Him.
The Son sits on the right hand of the Father, the authority, mercy, and blessing side. The Father is on the left, the power and judgement side. The Son receives His power from the Father. The Father reserves judgement for Himself. Blessing and healing come from the Son, by the power of the Father.
Seven lampstands represent the churches, or the complete, universal church, the body of Christ. Where is Jesus in respect to the lampstands?
“In the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man …” Revelation 1:17
Jesus stands in the midst, in the center of the churches. They revolve around Him. Not form, tradition, entertainment, worship and praise, fellowship, not even communion. He is the center, the apex, the church’s reason for being. The church is His body on earth.
But, what is the meaning of a lampstand?
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I Am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
Jesus is the Light and Life of the church. Without Him there is only darkness. So who is the church? The saints of God. Christians today, but also those Old Testament saints who Jesus freed when He knocked down the gates of hell and took captivity captive. (Ephesians 4:8). Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Daniel, and all the rest who hoped for the coming of the Messiah, God will bring with Him… 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
Here is the key: Everything in the Revelation is about Jesus and the church, His body. It is about the church’s relationship to His Kingdom, the cleansing of the earth, and the re-creation of Eden on earth where He can fellowship with His beloved creation as He did with Adam and Eve before the fall.
So now we possess the keys. Let’s translate!