Revelation is not supposed to be the book of confusion. It is a book that reveals. We are supposed to understand it and what it tells us about end times.
By contrast, when God gave Daniel prophecies about the end times, He said, "...for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end" (Dan. 12:9).
But at the end of the book of Revelation, the angel who appears to the apostle John said, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand" (Rev. 22:10).
We can understand Revelation if we approach it according to the Lord's direction to John in Revelation 1:19. The Lord said to John, "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this."
This is a major key to understanding the book. There are three divisions in the book of Revelation:
- "The things which you have seen" refers to the past, from John's perspective and time frame.
- "The things which are" refers to the time from when John was writing, through the present day up till the end of the church age and the beginning of the last millennium. It also refers to the letters to the seven churches. Those seven churches were a representation of the challenges all churches were going to face.
- "The things which will take place after this" starts at the beginning of chapter 4 where John says he was "caught up into heaven." What we see here is a type of the Rapture of the church. So from chapter 4 on, he is talking about the time after the Rapture of the church.
No. Something in those chapters falls into the category of "after this," after the church is gone. What you saw was a shadow of something far more extreme which is to come.
Overview
Following the introduction of verses 1 through 8, the first section is the revelation John receives of Jesus Himself through the vision he has. It is an open vision, not a dream; he did not close his eyes and daydream. He turned around, and there stood the glorified Christ. Jesus revealed Himself to authenticate the revelations and prophecy to come. John reacts, and then Jesus' instructions to him begin.
The second section is Revelation 2 and 3, which have to do with the events which must shortly come to pass in the next 2000-year time period, the church age.
We should not view the seven letters to the churches in Asia as instruction just to the churches of that day or to those churches in particular. Although their situations are what prompted the letters, we know the Word of God is for eternal instruction, applicable to any age no matter who did the writing.
Even though the apostle Paul wrote his letters to specific churches, the principles he promoted, discussed and summarized are for all of the church in all ages. The Word is timeless. Just as God is timeless, so is His Word. He and His Word are one.
All of the churches existing worldwide during the 2000-year period of time called the church age are going to experience some, or all, of the things we read about regarding the churches in the book of Revelation.
The Lord is saying, "These are the ways the enemy will come against you, common mistakes you will make, what you will need to do to correct those mistakes and things you will need to be aware of."
Even more significantly, these letters apply to us as individuals. Not only is there a universal church and a local church; there is also the individual church. You are called a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). You have become the church. If there were only one Christian left in the world, the church would still be here.
For example, to the first church the Lord addresses, the church at Ephesus, He says, "You have done a lot of good works, but I have one problem with you: You have left your first love." Not only is that applicable to many churches today, but it is also the sad condition of many individual believers.
It is easy for us get excited about what God is doing. We establish outreaches and plan programs and get so busy meeting needs that we forget about our first love. Who is that? It is Jesus, the One who brought us into the kingdom of God in the first place. Maintaining a close relationship with Him is vital to our continuing growth and experience of God.
The third section of events which must shortly take place is in Revelation 4 and 5: the events which occur in heaven immediately after the Rapture of the church.
There is a clear discernment of the Rapture of the church as we study the book of Revelation. We can see it very easily. If you have been wondering whether the church is going to be here during the Tribulation and whether or not you need to go buy guns, ammunition and food and head for the mountains, the answer is no.
God said the church is not appointed unto wrath. He is going to catch away the saints who are alive as well as raise those who have gone before them in death. The Rapture will occur right at the close of the church age. At the end of the letters to the churches, opening chapter 4, we see the events that are going to occur in heaven immediately after the Rapture, during a time frame coinciding with the seven years of Tribulation here on earth.
The fourth section of events is found in Revelation 6-19. This section is a revelation of what will be happening on earth during the Tribulation, Daniel's Seventieth Week, the final seven years of the Jewish Dispensation. Whatever you want to call it; they are all one and the same. There are scattered occasional references to heaven, but only so we can have a better understanding of what is happening here on earth.
The fifth section is Revelation 20, which describes the last millennium. It tells of the establishment of the physical, literal, earthly reign of Jesus, the binding of Satan and his banishment to the bottomless pit, our 1000 years of reigning together with Christ, the release of Satan at the end of that time, his subsequent deception of the nations and finally Satan's defeat and final banishment into the lake of fire.
The sixth section of events is from Revelation 21-22:8. This is a description of the transition from the last millennium to the eternal state and then a look at what our lives will be like for the rest of eternity.
Finally, the seventh section is from Revelation 22:8 to the end of the book. This is John's conclusion to his letters and the book of Revelation.
The Blessings of Prophecy
"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" (Rev. 1:3).
If you study the Greek, the word blessed means "to empower to prosper". It is a direct reference to God's enabling you to increase in accordance with His promises. This means God has made available the anointing to experience the increase of His promises of peace, joy, good health and prosperity.
This verse also implies an increased level of blessing in three ways. There is an increase which comes if you not only read the prophecy, but if you hear the words of this prophecy as well.
But this is not just talking about hearing with a natural ear. The Word says on several occasions, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says." The word hearing in Revelation 1:3 refers to your ability to hear what the Spirit of God is saying through these verses. The Word says, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). You do not get faith by hearing a Scripture one time.
In the same sense, you are not going to get blessed by hearing the words of this prophecy one time. "Hearing" is in the continuous sense. In other words, God wants you to hear it enough that faith comes and you know you live in "that day"; it becomes reality to you. Then you will experience the increased measure of blessing.
The highest level of blessing comes to those who keep those things which are written in it. Once you have heard this word and it has become reality to you, it produces that urgency in you to be a doer of the Word, to take care of things and to keep this prophecy alive and active in your life.
How do you keep a prophecy—something that, by its very nature, has not yet come to pass? You base your life on what you have heard; begin acting in faith on what you have heard, knowing the time is at hand for these things to occur. You start doing the things the prophecy instructs you to do in preparation for its fulfillment.
Revelation and Time
The powerful imagery of the book of Revelation can sometimes tend to obscure the simple structure of the book. If you remember that Revelation deals with the three time periods we have seen in this chapter—past, present and future—it will be much easier to understand the imagery and its role in the fulfillment of all things.
Remember, our job is to read, hear and do what the prophecy instructs us to do.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
