Outline

Revelation is the last (66th) book of the Holy Bible with 22 chapters and 404 verses. Written by John the Apostle in Greek during his stay in the island of Patmos, Revelation is not only the sole prophetic book of the New Testament but also the only prophetic book to be ‘spoken’ and ‘shown’ by Jesus (much of the portion) personally. Except for the 2nd and the 3rd chapters, everything was witnessed by John the Apostle. Revelation is the all about the realm of reality, seen and written from the revenging soil (the island of Patmos) and from the midst of the raging sea.

What is Revelation?

1. The English word ‘revelation’, which comes from Latin, implies the drawing back of a veil or the unveiling of something hidden. It is the almost exact equivalent of the New Testament word ‘apocalypse’ or ‘uncovering’. It refers to the act of disclosing or uncovering to others what was unknown to them; the disclosure or communication of truth to men by God Himself or by His authorized agents, the prophets and apostles.

Here are some ways in which God Almighty has been revealing Himself to mankind:

• The revelation of God through nature: This refers to the indications of wisdom, power, and purpose in the material world (Rom 1:20).
• The revelation of God in man: This refers to the traces of God in man’s conscience with a desire and capacity for fellowship.
• The revelation of God in history: This refers to the marks of an over-ruling providence and purpose in the affairs of mankind, of a Divinity that has shaped man’s ends, the traces of a progress in history. All these aspects of revelation are usually summed up in the term ‘natural religion’ and do not touch the specific meaning of revelation associated with Christianity.
• The revelation of God in Judaism: This refers to a special, historical, and supernatural communication from God to the Jews. They have experienced this supernatural power since Abraham. Even during the times of Jesus, they were patiently waiting for the promised Messiah.
• The revelation of God in Christianity: Not just mere information about God, but a revelation – a disclosure of God Himself as Jesus in His character, and His relation to man is the revelation of Christianity. In addition to revelation through nature, conscience, and reason, Christianity implies a special revelation in the Person of Christ for the redemption of mankind. Given that God is intimate, this includes the power of self-revelation which cannot be explained merely in terms of history, discovery, philosophy, and evolution.

The ultimate credibility of Christianity as a revelation rests on the Person of its Founder, and all evidences converge towards and centre in Him. Christ is Christianity, and Christians believe primarily and fundamentally in the fact and trustworthiness of Christ. Herein lies the final proof of the credibility of Christianity as a divine revelation. If He says that God has made ‘other’ manifestations of Himself in the course of history, we would not deny it.

2. That which is revealed are the sacred truths which God has communicated to man for instruction and direction – a disclosure of something that was unknown and the direct communication of truths from God to man. These disclosures may be made by dreams, visions, oral communication, or otherwise (2 Chronicles 1:7, Daniel 2:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26; 2 Corinthians 12:1; Galatians 1:12; Revelation 1:1). Revelation is not to be confounded with inspiration. The Old and New Testaments consist the revelations of God.
3. The Apocalypse: It refers to the last book of the sacred canon containing the prophecies of St. John. Concerning a divine revelation, we can arrive at the following statements regarding the revelations:

• It is possible. God may deem it proper to make known to His creatures what they before were ignorant of; as a Being of infinite power, He cannot be at a loss for means of communication.
• It is desirable. While a reason is necessary to examine the matter of revelations, we are incapable, unaided, of finding out God on our own.
• It is necessary. Without this, we can never attain certain knowledge of God, Christ, and salvation.
• It must give answers. A revelation must need to answer its ends by being sufficiently marked with internal and external evidences; the Bible has these.
• Its contents must be agreeable to reason. Not that everything revealed must be within the range of reason, but this should be true, and without any contradiction. To calm, dispassionate reason, there is nothing in doctrine, command, warning, promises, or threats which oppose it.
• It must be credible. The facts of Scripture should be supported by abundant evidence from friend and foe, from the material and immaterial.
• It should sustain itself. A revelation also must necessarily bear traces of the prevailing circumstances and tastes of the times and nations in which it was originally given. The language and style of the revelations in the Bible is in the language of common men; otherwise, it would not be divine revelation to man. It is to be understood by the same means and according to the same laws by which all other human language is understood. It is addressed to the common sense of man, and common sense is to be consulted in its interpretation. Thankfully, the Bible is not written in a language understandable only by God.

In a narrower sense…

The word ‘revelation’ is used to express the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Jews and Gentiles (Luke 2:32).

The word ‘revelation’ refers to the manifestation of the glory with which God will glorify His elect and faithful servants on judgment day (Rom 8:19).

The word ‘revelation’ refers to the declaration of His just judgments in His conduct, both towards the elect and the reprobate (Rom 2:5–16).

There is a very noble application of the word ‘revelation’ to the consummation of all these things (in common) and the revelation of Jesus Christ in His future glory.

Interpretation:

Modern interpreters are generally placed in five great divisions:

1. The Allegorical expositors, in whose opinion the book of Revelation is an extensive allegory interpreted non-literally. For them, it is just a symbolic picture of a struggle between good and evil. They take this far beyond the natural symbolism as they are too subjective.

2. The Preterist expositors, who are of the opinion that the book of Revelation has been almost, or altogether, fulfilled in the time of the early Church which has passed since it was written at the time of Constantine in AD 312. They refer principally to the triumph of Christianity over Judaism and Paganism, signalized in the downfall of Jerusalem and Rome. Because of this, they ignore the specific predictions and give arbitrary meaning to the symbols of the book.

3. The Dispensationalist expositors, whose views show a strong reaction against some extravagances of the two preceding schools. They believe that the whole book, except the first three chapters, refers principally, if not exclusively, to events which are yet to come.

4. The Historical (progressive) expositors, who view it as a symbolic picture of the history of the Church between the first and the second comings of Christ and the end times. Although this view has many supporters, no two interpreters agree as to which passage refers to which event. They find their own reasons to fit the given passage, everyone with his generation.

5. The Futuristic expositors, in whose opinions the book is for literal happening, though they also recognize its symbolism. They divide this book chronologically into three parts, i.e., the Church Age, Future Events, and Another World.

Dr. Arnold, in his sermons ‘On the Interpretation of Prophecy’, suggests that we should bear in mind that predictions have a lower historical sense and a higher spiritual sense – that there may be one or more than one typical, imperfect, historical fulfilment of the prophecy, in which the higher spiritual fulfilment is foreshadowed more or less distinctly.

To be continued…