After these things I looked and behold a

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. (Revelation 4: 1)

And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5: 9 -10)

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (6: 9 -11)

Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed (7: 3 -4)

MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINAINATIONS OF THE EARTH

Is It Possible To Understand Revelation ?

Futurist View: This view is the traditional premillennial view. It usually takes the figurative and makes it literal—while making the literal figurative. For example, it sees the seven churches not as literal churches but “church ages, ” and it makes the beasts and their marks literal. Continuous Historical View: This view accepts the book as a forecast of church history from John’s day until the end of the world. This view sees the rise of the Papacy, the Roman Catholic Church, Islam, the Reformation and the Restoration. The Preterist View: This view says that all the events pictured were fulfilled in John’s day, and other than revealing those events to us—the book has no modern value. This view sees the book applying to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. Historical-Background View: This view sees the persecuting forces as Rome and the book is revealing that God is in control and that Christ will defeat the devil and his ally Rome and the suffering saints will be victorious.

1. We must learn of the time the Book was written.

During The Reign Of Emperor Domitian 95 -96 A. D.

Prophecy of Daniel 7 Babylon Medes. Persian Grecian Roman

Daniel’s 7 Vision Foretells Events Described in Revelation Daniel Revelation 13 Daniel Symbols Revelation 7: 7 7: 23 A beast with 10 horns The beast is a world kingdom 13: 1 13: 7 7: 21 Prevailed in war with the saints Power limited to a: Time, times and half a time (3 ½ years) 42 months 1260 days The kingdom of God stands “Saints possess the kingdom” “They overcame” 13: 7 7: 25 7: 18, 22, 27 7: 11 ROME The beast is defeated 12: 14 11: 2; 13: 5 11: 3; 12: 6 12: 11 19: 20

Irenaeus (120 -202 A. D. ), who was a disciple of Polycarp, a man who knew John personally wrote of John receiving the vision of Revelation: “For that was seen not very long since, but almost in our own day, toward the end of Domitian's reign. ”

Persecution of Emperor Christians During The Reign Of Domitian Ø At first by Jews (Acts 4: 18 -21; Acts 5: 33 -42; Acts 21: 26 -36) 95 -96 A. D. Ø Rome often viewed such persecution as “Jewish Squabbles” (Acts 24 -26) [Protected] Ø Eventually Rome began to persecute Christians: Nero: Shifted the blame for Rome’s burning to Christians (viewed with suspicion), however this persecution was limited to the city of Rome. Domitian was the next emperor to persecute Christians. (“The persecution of Domitian burned itself ineradicably into the memory of history; it may be doubted by the critic, but not by the historian. . . So strong and early a tradition as that which constitutes Domitian the second great persecutor cannot be discredited without wrecking the foundations of ancient history. Those who discredit it must to be consistent, resolve to dismiss ninetenths of what appears in books as ancient history. . . ”) [W. M. Ramsey, The Church in the Roman Empire Before A. D. 170]. Ø John was exiled because he was a Christian: (Rev 1: 9). Ø Christians were being killed: (Rev 2: 13; Rev 6: 9)

Dea Roma Ø In ancient Roman religion, Roma was a female deity who personified the city of Rome and more broadly, the Roman state. Ø The earliest cult to Dea Roma was established at Smyrna in 195 BCE, probably to mark Rome's successful alliance against Antiochus III. Ø Rome was her rulers and her rulers were Rome. This evolved into “Emperor Worship. ”

Diocletian (284 -305 A. D. ) Caligula Domitian(37 -41 (81 -96 A. D. ) Lord and Dominus et. God Deus

“Caesar I s Lo rd” Rome Concluded: To refuse meant you were guilty of treason and subversion. Christians Concluded: To do so was blasphemy.

1. We must learn of the time the Book was written. 2. We must learn of those who first received the Book.

) : 4 1 ( ia s A in re a h ic h w hes John, to the seven churc “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea” (Rev 1: 11).

• Troas • Colossae

1. . . 2. . . 3. . . Unity (Not actually used in Revelation, “one flesh”) Raye. g. , Summers (Worthy is the Lamb) Strength (i. e. , two is better/worse than one; Two witnesses— 11: 3 -12) Whole (i. e. complete, Peter denied the Lord three times, Jesus endured three “In that early day, when language temptations, Jesus was in the tomb three days, Paul prayed three times for the primitive the vocabulary thorn to be removed, the Godheadwas consists of threeand persons—thus also meager, one Hebrew word DIVINE) sometimes was to doof 4. . . Cosmic (Symbolizing the whole world or creation, i. e. , compelled "the four corners the earth, the four winds, ” etc. ) duty for a score of diverse meanings. 5. . . Incomplete/short time (e. g. , John. Under tells that the locusts will hurtmen for five such conditions came months, 9: 5, 10) naturally to use numbers as we use 6. . . Sinister (like our 13, it symbolized evil, or fell short, i. e. , did not measure up words. They were the symbols of failure, doom; 666 {13: 18}) orinspiritual truth. A certain 7. . . Perfect (This is the most importantmoral number the book. 7 -churches; 7 -spirits; 7 lampstands; 7 -seals, 7 bowls, etc. )number would suggest a definite 10. . . Fullness (completeness, 2: 10) concept. ” (pg. 21). 12. . . Religion (i. e. , both Old and New Testaments. God’s people) 3 1/2. . . Perfect CUT in half (Also its equivalent would be Time, Times and 1/2 time; 42 months; 1, 260 days)

• Jesus is the chief shepherd (1 Pet 5: 4) • He inspects and sees all (Rev 1: 14; 2: 1) • These seven churches properly represent the various conditions that may be found in any congregation in any year.

1. We must learn of the time the Book was written. 2. We must learn of those who first received the Book. 3. We must recognize the uniqueness of the Book.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ a. Appookcaaul ypps si se Apocalypse does not mean Armageddon—or the “end of the world. ” Apocalypse does not always mean doom and despair. Apocalypse means: “An unveiling. ” But is a very unique type of unveiling: Apocalyptic Literature.

Understanding K Gienndr e

Apocalyptic literature is a story from God written in a time of crisis and distress, that is given by otherworldly beings (i. e. , angels) explaining how God will reverse everything so the righteous will be victorious. A genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality with is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation and spatial insofar as it involves another supernatural world. (It is) intended to interpret present earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world of the future, and to influence both the understanding and the behavior of the audience by means of divine authority. ” (Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre, pg. 9)