A Study of Revelation

In this study we will cover the different views of interpretation, the various views of the Millennium, and when the rapture will take place.

John was boiled alive in oil and banished to the Isle of Patmos. It was there he had the vision of Jesus and what would unfold in the last days.

Ephesus was typical of the apostolic church age. It began as a church ablaze for Christ but drifted from its first love.

Smyrna, a coastal city of great wealth. Located forty miles north of Ephesus. It had a population of 200,000, one-third of whom were Christian.

Pergamos was one of the most prominent cites in Asia, a wealthy city with many temples devoted to idols. It was a church of compromise.

Believers in Thyatira had a hard time not compromising because of pressure from the guilds to worship at various temples and attend guild feasts.

Saris foreshadowed the Protestant Reformation. Christendom was dead though it had a name it lived. It began with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517.

Historically, this church marks periods of revival, especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Laodicean church represents the last days church rebuked for its lukewarmness.

A door is opened in heaven and John is caught up into heaven. The first thing he sees is the throne and the Almighty Who sat upon it. The awe that must have struck him.

John sees a scroll with seven seals in the right hand of the majesty on high. There seems to be no one worthy to open the seals and read the things written therein.

In Revelation six the we see the opening of the seals and God’s judgment being poured out upon the world. The horsemen of the apocalypse are unleashed in succession upon the earth.

In Revelation 7:1-17, we see 144,000 missionaries sealed of the twelve tribes of Israel, and a great multitude caught up into heaven worshiping God.

In the first six verses of chapter eight we see the opening of the seventh seal, which opens the trumpet judgments. At this time the angels who have the trumpets prepare to sound.

John sees a mighty angel with a little book in his hand and is commanded to take it and eat it. When he does it is sweet as honey to his taste but bitter in his belly.

John is told to measure the temple of God, the altar, and the worshipers. The outer court is given to the Gentiles. He’s told of two witnesses who have the power to prophesy for three and a half years.

Revelation chapters 12 and 13 introduce the actors of the tribulation: Israel, Satan, Antichrist, and the beast.

In chapter 14 we have a preview of the wrath of God and the second coming of Christ culminating with the Battle of Armageddon and Christ’s triumph over His enemies.

In Revelation 15, we have the prelude to the final plagues and in chapter 16 the last of God’s judgments are poured out on the earth and the inhabitants thereof.

The fall of Ecclesiastical and Economic Babylon. Chapter 17 deals with the Ecclesiastical Babylon, The Great Whore. Chapter 18 deals with the fall of Economic Babylon with the world trusting in its wealth.

We have one final battle to take place in Chapter 19. The time has come for Jesus to return in power and great glory and establish God’s kingdom upon the earth.

In this chapter an angel binds Satan with a great chain and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. After this John sees the souls of all who refused the mark of the beast and worshiped not his image. And thrones were given them and they reigned with Christ a thousand years.

In these final chapters of Revelation we have the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. There will never again be any sorrow or death and God wipes away every tear from our eyes.