Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Understanding Revelation | New Testament | Revelation 1

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

When it comes to reading Revelation, some Christians obsess over it while others ignore it entirely. Which camp do you fall in? Whether you're excited for or dreading spending time in Revelation, Keith shares insights from Revelation 1 that will set you up well for the rest of the book. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here.

Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Hey, today we're kicking off the Book of Revelation here on 10 Minute Bible Talks. It should be a good time. When I think of the book of Revelation, I think of what C.S. Lewis wrote about demons in the screw tape letters. He said that people either obsess over demons or they ignore them.

I think the same can be said about Revelation. Some people obsess over this book, but a lot of people, ignore Revelation. It's hard to understand. It's full of intimidating imagery. Unfortunately, the people who obsess over the book are usually those who read it as a map of the future. They use the Book of Revelation to make a prediction about who the Antichrist is or when the end of the world will come. Others, though, see how Revelation is misused, and so they just ignore it. Like, don't read it. It's almost as if it's not even in their Bible. Even while respected Christians like Billy Graham can get sucked into thinking they know when the end will come.

In 1949, two days after it become public that the Soviet Union had successfully detonated a nuclear bomb, Billy Graham was speaking in Los Angeles at a big crusade. He was calling people to repent. He said Russia has now exploded an atomic bomb, an arms race is driving us madly towards destruction. I am persuaded that time is desperately short. A year later, looking back on that, he said, I'm revising my figures. Last year in Los Angeles, I thought we had at least five years. Now it looks like just two years, and then the end. See, Graham had read Revelations battle, often called Armageddon, into the current events of his day.

I learned that from a book by Scott McKnight, which reminds me that I want to give you a couple books that I found helpful. Maybe Patrick or Jensen or Tanya will share other resources with you. Now, while there have been thousands of books written on Revelation, two that I think are helpful for the average person trying to figure things out for the first time are Revelation for the rest of us by Scott McKnight and Revelation for you by Tim Chester. Over the centuries, there are four main ways that people have read Revelation. The preterists read it as if it is only a about first century topics. So the book of Revelation was written to first century churches about first century topics. It's about things that happened in the past. Then there are the

historicists, and they read Revelation as a sketch of the history of the church, starting in the first century until the end of time. Then there are the futurists, and they think Revelation is nearly entirely about things that will happen in the future when Jesus returns. Then there are the idealists. They read Revelation as timeless images and truths about God, the church, the state, and God's plan for the world. If you're familiar with the Left Behind series, and remember, it was both books and movies, well, the Left Behind series presented a futurist perspective. They read Revelation as a roadmap telling what would happen right before and right after Jesus returns. But that is not how the church throughout history has read the book of Revelation. See, Reveillance. See,

Revelation is not about some future point in history. If it were, it wouldn't have anything to say to us. It would only speak to those people who were alive at the time of Christ's return. No, Revelation is a book for all times and all Christians in all centuries, because it is a book about all times. It provides readers a new lens to see our contemporary world. So many people have watched the left behind movies or read those books, and their theology has been shaped. more by left behind's interpretation of Revelation than the book of Revelation itself. When we read the book well, it forms generations of believers into disciples who can navigate life in this world without being shaped by it. I'm going to read a little bit from chapter one. We'll start in verse one. The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angels to his servant John, who testifies to everything he

saw. That is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia, grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come. And who is to come. And and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Now, in those five verses, we learned that the book of Revelation is three things. First, it's apocalyptic literature. Second, it's a prophecy. And third, it's a letter. The word revelation is a translation of the

Greek word Apocalypsies, which simply means to reveal. Apocalyptic literature reveals the truth about this world. It was a really popular genre from about 400 BC to 200 AD, and the key feature of all apocalyptic literature is that it claims to offer a divine perspective on history. But Revelation is also a book of prophecy. In fact, that's how it most often refers to itself. And the book of Revelation is full of Old Testament illusions. But in addition to that, Revelation is also a letter to seven specific churches that were in Asia Minor, or what we think of today as modern-day Turkey. Because it's a letter, we know that it was written to specific people to address specific

issues they were facing. John is writing to Christians facing the threats and lies of the Roman Empire, and he's writing to give them courage to remain faithful to Jesus. Maybe a little historical context about the Roman Empire might be helpful and interesting. The Caesar had accumulated titles like Lord, Son of God, Savior of the world. Some even referred to the birth of Caesar Augustus as good news. So when Jesus comes, he takes the very titles that belong to Rome's emperor. Jesus is saying that he is the true king.

But unlike Caesar, Jesus is the forgiving king. Well, by the time John is writing the Book of Revelation, there were 40 major temples where Caesar was worshipped as a god, including a temple in each of the seven cities that the churches of Revelation were located in. The book of Revelation is structured around the number seven. You'll see in the heart of the book there are seven bowls and seven trumpets and seven seals. And each set of sevens could be read as consecutive periods of history, as if one gives way to the other. First the seven bowls, then the seven trumpets, then the seven seals. But instead,

it's better to read that as a collection of images that tell us about the same event. Think about a series of replays you might see when watching a football game. When a team scores a touchdown, the network will show replays of that play from different angles. So the Book of Revelation is doing something similar. It's showing us the same thing from different angles. So here's the big picture. Revelation is encouraging believers to remain faithful to the Lamb as they live in a hostile culture called Babylon. Revelation is about two cities, the New Jerusalem and Babylon, two visions about how to live your life, two sets of values. Will we live as citizens of God's kingdom or citizens of the earthly kingdom? According to Tim Chester, archaeologists have found graffiti in Ephesus, which is one of the churches that John writes to, and the graffiti said,

quote, Rome, your power will never end. Now, we don't know whether that was written in triumph, like they were excited that Rome's power would never end, or despair. Like, I am so discouraged because it seems like Rome's power will never end. But for John's readers, Roman power was a serious threat to their life as a Christian. Rome was known as eternal Rome. It seemed like they had power that would last forever. But God makes a counterclaim. Here's verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. God is eternal, not Rome. God predated Rome, and he will be there long after Rome has left the world stage. Rome isn't alone. Every world empire comes and goes. When Revelation was written, Rome was the

mighty power of the day. But today, Rome is in the dust bin of history. Second, God is the one who is almighty. See, Rome thought it was powerful because it had conquered nations, but God is the one who has true power. He is the one who created all things. He is the one who has redeemed his people from the power of sin. We have a lot to learn from this great book.