Genesis reaches back and portrays the beginning of all things, and Revelation reaches ahead and portrays the consummation of all things in God’s judgment of humanity and creation of a new cosmos. This powerful Apocalypse (this word means “unveiling,” “disclosure,” “revelation”) gives us a prophetic look at the completion of God’s program and purposes for human history and elevates our minds and hearts to the sovereignty, majesty, wisdom, power, holiness, and dominion of the eternal Alpha and Omega.
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapter 1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ begins with a prologue (1:1–3), a salutation which portrays the triune God (1:4–8), and a theophany (a visible manifestation of God) of the omnipotent and omniscient Christ who will conquer and rule all things (1:9–20).
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapters 2 and 3
Each of the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2–3 refers back to an aspect of John’s vision of the resurrected Christ and contains a command, a commendation and/or condemnation, a correction, and a challenge. The seven messages are tailored to the specific needs of these churches, and some expositors have also seen in them a relevance that goes beyond the first-century context. Others see them as portraying some of the general movements in the history of the Christian church.
The rewards for the people of God who “overcome” include eating of the tree of life, being unhurt by the second death, receiving a new name and the names of the Father and the Son, gaining the morning star, being clothed in white garments, and sitting with the Lord Jesus on His throne.
From Handbook to Scripture
Chapters 6–18
Chapters 6-18 detail a time of earthly tribulation and heavenly conflict containing three cycles of seven judgments:
- seven seals (6:1–8:5)
- seven trumpets (8:6–11:1)
- seven bowls (15:1–19:6)
There are prophetic inserts between the sixth and seventh seal and trumpet judgments as well as a lengthy supplement between the trumpet and bowl judgments. In addition, chapters 17–18 describe the overthrow of “the great harlot” and of Babylon the Great.
Chapter 19
Following the three cycles of judgment, the saints are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth in power and glory to overthrow the beast and the kings of the earth.