Overall Question:  What are some of the general specifications of the book of Revelation you learned about this week?

Memory Text: Revelation 1:3 New Living Translation God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.

 

Sunday – The Title of the Book

Revelation 1:1-2 English Standard Version The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

Revelation 1:1-2 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY Observe here the admirable order of divine revelation. God gave it to Christ, and Christ employed an angel to communicate it to the churches. The angels are God's messengers; they are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. They are Christ's servants: principalities and powers are subject to him; all the angels of God are obliged to worship him.

John 14:1-3 Common English Bible “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.

John 14:3 COMMENTARY THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL The cause for the departure becomes the assurance of the return.

 

Monday – The Purpose of the Book

Deuteronomy 29:29 New English Translation Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:29 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY the “secret things” are things God has not seen fit to reveal. Man cannot fathom the inner counsels of the Almighty. They are His. The things He has revealed, of law and life, are ours to contemplate. In the Scriptures we have the revealed will of God; it is all ours.

Revelation 22:7 Holman Christian Standard Bible “Look, I am coming quickly! The one who keeps the prophetic words of this book is blessed.”

John 14:29 Good News Translation I have told you this now before it all happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.

John 14:29 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Jesus knew that the events of the immediate future would throw the disciples into great perplexity, as would the trials they would meet in their later evangelism. Hence He sought to forewarn them, that they might be forearmed.

 

Tuesday – The Symbolic Language of Revelation

Personal Comment: I believe that the prophecies were often given in symbolic language for three reasons.  First, it catches our attention. The beasts and people often described are not ordinary animals or people and are not familiar to us, drawing our undivided attention. Second, symbols can often portray for us a deep meaning in a few words.  When the Bible talks about a beast having ten heads, for example, it pictures a group of nations in few words.  It might take several pages to fully understand the same message if said literally. Lastly, it may have been given this way to protect the Bible itself from total destruction. Some nations and people portrayed in the Bible might destroy it if prophecies were given openly but pass it by because it seems obscure and not worthy of notice.

Revelation 13:1 New Century Version Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and there was a crown on each horn. A name against God was written on each head.

Daniel 7:1-3 Contemporary English Version 1-2 Daniel wrote: In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylonia [554 B.C.], I had some dreams and visions while I was asleep one night, and I wrote them down. The four winds were stirring up the mighty sea, 3 when suddenly four powerful beasts came out of the sea. Each beast was different.

Ezekiel 1:1-14 English Standard Version In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. 4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, 6 but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12 And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Ezekiel 1:4 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The prophet is shown beings he has never beheld before and with which his hearers and readers were unfamiliar. He must describe them in terms understood by men. His feelings of inadequacy are indicated by his frequent use of the term “likeness.” The word appears 10 times in ch. 1.

 

Wednesday – The Godhead

Revelation 1:4-5 Easy-to-Read Version From John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is coming; and from the seven spirits before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness. He is first among all who will be raised from death. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. Jesus is the one who loves us and has made us free from our sins with his blood sacrifice.

Revelation 1:5 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Though Jesus was not the first to rise from the dead in point of time, He may be regarded as first in the sense that all others resurrected before and after Him gained their freedom from the bonds of death only by virtue of His triumph over the grave. His power to lay down His life and to take it again (John 10:18) sets Him apart from all other men ever to come forth from the grave, and characterizes Him as the source of all life.

Romans 1:7 New International Reader’s Version I am sending this letter to all of you in Rome. You are loved by God and appointed to be his holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Ephesians 2:6 New International Version And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:20 New Living Translation But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

Revelation 1:6 New Century Version He made us to be a kingdom of priests who serve God his Father. To Jesus Christ be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

 

Thursday – The Keynote of Revelation

Revelation 22:7 English Standard Version “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Revelation 22:12 Holman Christian Standard Bible Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done.

Revelation 22:20 Christian Standard Bible He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Revelation 22:20 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY John was probably reminded of that night in the upper room, more than half a century before, when he heard Jesus declare, “I will come again” (John 14:3), and of that day a few weeks later, on the Mount of Olives, when he had heard the angels say, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Now, while in holy vision, John is given one last assurance that his blessed Lord is to return, and that, quickly. This assurance comes from the lips of his Master Himself, the faithful and true witness. His heart thrills at the words, and with eager anticipation he looks forward to the day when in reality, not in vision, he will see his blessed Lord face to face.

Revelation 1:7-8 New King James Version 7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:7 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The design of introducing this representation of the Saviour, and of the manner in which he would appear, seems to be to impress the mind with a sense of the majesty and glory of that being from whom John received his revelations. His rank, his character, his glory were such as to demand respect; all should reverence him, and all should feel that his communications about the future were important to them, for they must soon appear before him.

Daniel 7:13-14 God’s Word Translation 13 In my visions during the night, I saw among the clouds in heaven someone like the Son of Man. He came to the Ancient One, who has lived for endless years, and was presented to him. 14 He was given power, honor, and a kingdom. People from every province, nation, and language were to serve him. His power is an eternal power that will not be taken away. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Zechariah 12:10 New English Translation “I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.

Matthew 24:30 New American Standard Bible And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

Matthew 24:30 COMMENTARY THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. The coming will occasion universal mourning in the unprepared, and apparently the majority of people will be in that condition. The term "all" is not, however, to be construed as including all individuals.