Month: September 2022

Reading Revelation (Part 1): The purposes of Revelation

POST OVERVIEW. The first in a series of posts about ways to read the book of Revelation that make it less confusing and intimidating. This post discusses the purposes for which Revelation was written and how understanding these purposes can help in reading the book.

INTRODUCTION. Reading the book of Revelation is a challenging task for any disciple of Jesus. The visions the apostle John relates to us in Revelation are strange and spectacular, and trying to make sense of the visions and then put them into some coherent picture is difficult work. But, while acknowledging the difficulties involved, I believe the challenge of understanding the book of Revelation is eased considerably when we understand how to read the book. In these posts I hope to offer some principles for approaching Revelation that will make the book much less intimidating.

PURPOSES OF REVELATION

When approaching the book of Revelation, it is important to keep in mind the purpose of the book. That is, what is the book’s function in the God-breathed Scriptures? More than perhaps any other biblical book, Revelation performs a specific function and has a specific purpose. Revelation is obviously the last book of the Bible, and it is last for a reason. As the last book of the Bible, Revelation is intended to summarize and to wrap up what was written previously. But not only is it the last book of the Bible, but Revelation is also the final book. This writing concludes God’s recorded communication to man. In fact, unlike any other biblical book, there are specific curses associated with adding any words to the prophecy of this book (22:18). So, Revelation is intended to summarize and conclude the writing of Scripture.

There are, however, other purposes for this book.

Revelation was written:

  • To fill in the blanks in minor areas where Scripture has previously been (largely) silent. This filling in of blanks left by other Scripture is restricted to areas which do not affect the flow of redemptive history or any doctrines of Scripture. An example would be the appearance of “another beast” (13:11ff), also known as “the false prophet” (16:13), who promotes and magnifies the beast so that he is worshiped. His appearance, though previously unmentioned in Scripture, changes nothing about the flow of the end times or the events of the last day. It is simply a blank which Revelation fills in. So, Revelation fills in some blanks in the picture of Scripture.
  • To add more detail to select portions of Scripture which were previously foggy or vague. Many portions of Scripture have pointed ahead to the events of the end of the age, the very events that Revelation now describes in detail. Some of the previously written prophecies were short on details and so left us with hazy images about what really occurs. Others supplied details that seemed confusing to interpret. Revelation adds some detail to some of these to clarify them. An example would be the binding of the strong man that Jesus mentions in Matthew 12:29. This somewhat vague reference during Jesus’ earthly ministry is made more concrete in Revelation 20:1-3 when “an angel coming down from heaven” (the resurrected Jesus Christ) binds the dragon (Satan) in the abyss for the thousand years. So, Revelation adds some detail to certain events of the end times.
  • To provide information that allows the events of the last days to be placed in order and to “connect the dots.” As presented by Revelation, there are many events that occur in rapid succession in the days just before the return of Christ and on the last day. While many of these events have been presented in the word of God before Revelation, the order of their occurrence and how one event connects or relates to another event has been unknown or uncertain. The visions of Revelation gives information about these end times events that allows the diligent student to discern a sequence to these events that fits them together into a cohesive picture. So, Revelation supplies information to structure the order of the events of the end times.

As stated before, Revelation is intended to summarize the rest of the Bible and to bring the entire story of the Bible to a close. Revelation finishes the project. After this, nothing more needs to be added or done.

AN ILLUSTRATION. Imagine that you are permitted to enter the work room of a master weaver of tapestries. The day you visit, the master is nearing completion of a beautiful and intricate weaving that has taken him months to create. The brilliant colors of the threads blend and interact together to form a breathtaking whole, but you notice that there are some places where there are no threads at all and other places where the weaving appears incomplete and the image in that part of the tapestry is indistinct. Oh, you would gladly pay a fortune for this just as it is, but there is something just a little incomplete about the work. With a tone of utmost respect, you mention your observations to the master weaver. He turns to you and says, “Thank you for your observations, but the tapestry is not yet finished. The places that you mentioned are the very places where I am going to fill in the blanks and where I will add more threads to enhance the detail. When I am finished with those final threads, the tapestry will be beautifully complete and its message and meaning will be clear.”

That is the purpose of Revelation. The masterpiece that is God’s word is almost complete, but there are a few things that need to be summarized and clarified and wrapped up. There are a few select blanks that need to be filled in and some features that require a little more detail. But once Revelation is written, the project is complete.

SUMMARY. Therefore, when you set out to read the book of Revelation, realize that you are not heading off into new and uncharted waters. Quite the contrary. You are not seeking wild and fascinating new doctrines and events and characters, but, instead, you are looking for the final threads from the master weaver that will complete the tapestry that you began sixty-five books ago as you started “In the beginning . . .” In Revelation you will find clarification of some details and the enhancement of some of what was fuzzy, and you will find a Rider on a white horse who is Faithful and True and who is coming from heaven to redeem His blood-bought bride, the church, and take her to the new heavens and the new earth. That’s how to read Revelation.

SDG                 rmb                 9/9/2022                     #568

The binding of Satan, Part 2 (Revelation 20:1-3)

POST OVERVIEW. There are two places in the Bible that teach about the binding of Satan, in Matthew 12:29 and in Revelation 20:1-3. In post #566, we looked at Matthew 12:29. This post will be a study of Revelation 20:1-3.  

Our purpose in these two posts is to discover what the Scripture teaches us about the binding of Satan, implicit in Matthew 12:29 and explicit in Revelation 20:1-3. In post #566, we looked at Matthew 12:29 and discovered that this verse teaches us that Jesus is going to bind Satan so that Satan’s kingdom can be plundered, and that “plundering” will be accomplished through the church’s proclamation of the gospel. But Matthew 12:29 also left us with questions. Exactly when will Jesus bind Satan? And how will this binding take place? What does that actually look like? To answer these questions, we now turn to our second “binding” passage, Revelation 20:1-3.

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

We will start our study by identifying the characters involved. In Rev. 20:2 we see the dragon, and we know that the dragon is Satan. There is also “an angel coming down from heaven.” Although John uses “angel” to describe this being, this “angel” is none other than the resurrected Lord Jesus. Why do I say that this “angel” is Jesus?

  • First, we observe that the angel is holding the key to the abyss in his hand. In Revelation, the only one who has keys is Jesus. He has “the keys of death and of Hades” (1:18), and here he also has the key to the abyss where he is going to put Satan for a thousand years.
  • But also notice the power and authority of this unnamed “angel.” Whereas Michael the archangel did not dare pronounce a judgment against the devil (Jude 9), this angel has the power to throw Satan around like a ragdoll. He “laid hold of the dragon (Satan) and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer” (20:2-3). During all of this, the dragon (Satan) is powerless to resist. The only one who can throw Satan around like this is the Lord Jesus. This angel, then, is Jesus.

Thus, the characters in this scene in Rev. 20:1-3 are Satan and the Lord Jesus, and the action performed is that Jesus binds Satan. Notice this is the exact same situation that we encountered in our study of Matthew 12:29, where we had the strong man (Satan) and Jesus as the characters and the action was that Jesus bound the strong man. We remember from Matt. 12:29 that Jesus binds the strong man so that He can plunder his kingdom. Thus, by logical deduction, we can say that Jesus will bind Satan in the abyss so that He can plunder his kingdom.

WHEN IS SATAN BOUND?

But can we also determine when Jesus is going to bind Satan? I think we can.

First, from Rev. 20:2 we observe that the dragon (Satan) is bound at the beginning of the thousand years.

Also, from Matt. 12:29, we know that someone (in this case, Jesus) “first binds the strong man (Satan), and then he will plunder his house.” So the sequence goes, “First we bind him, then we plunder him.” From this verse and from ordinary reasoning, we can conclude that, immediately after the strong man (Satan) is bound, the plundering of the strong man’s house (Satan’s kingdom) begins.

Since, from Rev. 20:2 we know that Satan is bound at the beginning of the thousand years, and from Matt. 12:29 we know that, when Satan is bound, the plundering of his kingdom begins, we can logically conclude that the plundering of Satan’s kingdom begins at the beginning of the thousand years.

Now the question is, “When does Satan’s kingdom begin to be plundered?” If we can answer this question, we will have discovered both when Satan is bound and when the thousand years begins. But the answer to this question is obvious: Satan’s kingdom began to be plundered the moment the commissioned church (Matthew 28:19-20) began to proclaim the gospel of salvation so that lost sinners could be saved. Thus, we now know that Satan was bound at the very beginning of the gospel age (~AD 32) and, since, from Rev. 20:2, Satan was bound to begin the thousand years, we know that “the thousand years” began in ~AD 32.

DOES THIS FIT THE BIBLICAL RECORD?

So far, so good. But could this have actually occurred? That is, does the Scripture allow the possibility that the resurrected Jesus bound Satan in the abyss in ~AD 32? Yes, the Scripture does allow for this occurrence.

Recall that the resurrected Lord Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts 1:9. Then in Rev. 5:6ff, the victorious Lamb arrives in heaven to the praises of the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders and to the praises of myriads of angels. He begins to break the seven seals of the book, and from that point until His glorious return (Rev. 19:11-16) He is seated in heaven at the Father’s right hand (Psalm 110:1). So, when would there be a time when Jesus could bind Satan in the abyss?

After the resurrected Lord leaves His disciples on earth (Acts 1:9), but before He arrives in heaven as the victorious Lamb (Rev. 5:6), He is seen “coming down from heaven, holding the key to the abyss” (Rev. 20:1). It is at this time, while He is ascending to heaven, that He binds Satan in the abyss for the thousand years. After binding Satan, Jesus ascends to heaven.

This scenario agrees with the biblical text and provides a reasonable explanation for the events surrounding the binding of Satan.

SDG                 rmb                 9/9/2022                     #567

The binding of Satan, Part 1 (Matthew 12:29)

INTRODUCTION. There are two places in the Bible that teach about the binding of Satan, in Matthew 12:29 and in Revelation 20:1-3. This post will be a study of Matthew 12:29, seeking to discover what Jesus teaches us about this subject.

Our purpose in these two posts is to discover what the Scripture teaches us about the binding of Satan, implicit in Matthew 12:29 and explicit in Revelation 20:1-3. First, Matt. 12:29.

Our study verse is at the end of a passage (Matt. 12:22-29) in which Jesus teaches about casting out demons. Satan does not cast out Satan (12:26) and Jesus does not cast out demons by Beelzebul (12:27). Rather, Jesus casts out demons by the Spirit of God, thus proving that He has more power than Satan. Then He says,

“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” – Matthew 12:29

Let’s examine and interpret this verse.

First, who is “the strong man?” From the context, it is clear that the strong man refers to Satan. Satan is the one who deceives and captures the unrighteous (2 Tim. 2:26). Satan blinds the minds of the unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4). Satan has his schemes (Eph. 6:11) and he is the one who hinders us from proclaiming the gospel (1 Thess. 2:18).

And “the strong man’s house” speaks of Satan’s kingdom (12:26), consisting of his demons and his deceptions, his temptations and his tricks. Satan’s kingdom also contains his most valuable property, namely all the unrighteous whom he desires to keep trapped in their ignorance of the gospel. It is the unrighteous who are considered his property, and these Satan will guard with all his might. Satan is “the strong man, fully armed” of Luke 11:21. He is a formidable foe, and it seems unlikely that anyone has the power to “carry off his property” and to “plunder his house.”

But there is One who is able and who has the power. Jesus, the Son of Man, is the one who “first binds the strong man, and then He will plunder his house.” Although this is in figurative language, we know exactly what Jesus is saying here. The Son of God came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus was sent “to proclaim release to the captives” (Luke 4:18), to render the devil powerless and “free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:14-15). “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and Jesus will certainly accomplish His mission. Thus Jesus BINDS Satan so that He can plunder his house. When Satan is bound, he is unable to guard his house.

How does this look in biblical, redemptive terms? Now, Satan has been bound, and as the church proclaims the gospel among the nations, Satan can only watch helplessly as his house is plundered. Through His church, Jesus is now plundering Satan’s house and is drawing all men to Himself (John 12:32).

In summary, then, Matthew 12:29 teaches us that Jesus is going to BIND Satan so that Satan’s kingdom can be plundered. So far, so good.

But this still leaves us with key questions unanswered. For example, when is Satan going to be bound? That is, at what point in history does Jesus bind Satan so that Satan’s house can be plundered? Also, exactly how is Satan bound? For these questions we must ask, “Is there any other place in Scripture that might tell us more about this binding of Satan?” Glad you asked. As a matter of fact, there is. It turns out that Revelation 20:1-3 is another passage that explicitly mentions the binding of Satan, and a careful reading of these verses will reveal both when Satan is bound and how this binding takes place so that his kingdom can be plundered.

And that study will be the subject of our next post.

SDG                 rmb                 9/7/2022                     #566

Ordering of events in the book of Revelation

INTRODUCTION. This post considers the difficulties of interpreting the book of Revelation and offers some guidance for how to place Revelation’s events in the proper order.

One of the prominent features of biblical prophecy is the ambiguity of the timing of events. For example, it is not uncommon for the Old Testament prophets to mix prophecies of the day of the LORD (or “that day”) with visions of Jesus’ first advent or with warnings of the LORD’s coming judgment on the nation of Israel for their disobedience. For this reason, it can be confusing to know how to interpret specific prophecies from the major and minor prophets in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, the primary example of biblical prophecy is the book of Revelation, and here in Revelation the question of the timing of events is perhaps the greatest difficulty in this very difficult book. In this post, I will offer some thoughts about how to approach Revelation that will hopefully make the interpretation a little easier.

Most of the difficulties of interpretation in Revelation occur in the section from chapter 4 through chapter 20, so I will focus on this section. John received the visions of Revelation while he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” on the island of Patmos. It is safe to assume that John recorded the visions in the order in which he received them, but, as in virtually all biblical prophecy, the order of the receiving of these visions does not necessarily correspond to the order of occurrence. Rather, it is the responsibility of the reader to discover the order of occurrence through careful study.

THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

To say this another way, in narrative literature and in biblical history, the writing is necessarily in order of occurrence. This is because narratives are describing events that have already occurred and, thus, we expect these events to be written in the order in which they happened. So, John the Baptist appears before Jesus, the crucifixion precedes the resurrection, and the exodus from Egypt occurs before the giving of the Law at Sinai.

By contrast, biblical prophecy is describing events that have not yet occurred. These events will certainly occur at some point in that mysterious place called the future, but when they will occur and in what order they will occur must be discerned from the information we have in Scripture and from logical and reasonable deduction. Revelation, then, is biblical prophecy that demands the application of both interpretive skill and (deep) knowledge of previous biblical revelation to construct the order of events that will take us from Christ’s ascension into the new heavens and the new earth.

KEY POINT. Revelation chapters 4-20 gives the order in which John received these visions, but this is not necessarily the order of occurrence of these events.

AN EXAMPLE FROM REVELATION

In Revelation 6:12-17, we encounter the following dramatic events:

12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

In Revelation 5, we saw the victorious Lamb (Jesus) ascending back to His throne after accomplishing the work of redemption that the Father had given Him to do (John 17:4; 19:30; Mark 10:45). Then, the ascended Lamb began opening the scroll with the seven seals. At the end of chapter 5, then, we are very early in redemptive history, probably around AD 32. But then suddenly, only a few verses later, with the opening of the sixth seal in Rev. 6:12ff, we read of the cataclysmic events which will occur on the last day.

The following details indicate that these events of 6:12-17 occur on the last day.

  • Earthquake – In Revelation, earthquakes always occur on the last day (e.g., 16:18).
  • The events in the heavens and on the earth – sun becomes black, and moon becomes blood (Is. 13:10; Joel 2:10, 31), stars fall to the earth (Matt. 24:29), sky split like a scroll (Is. 34:4), mountains and islands moved out of their places (Ezek. 38:20; Rev. 16:20).
  • Terror among all the unrighteous, hiding themselves in caves and under rocks (Hosea 10:8; Isa. 2:10, 19, 21)
  • The wrath of the Lamb and the great day of wrath refer to the last day when the Lord Jesus returns to judge the earth (Rev. 14:19; 19:15; Isa. 63:3-6).

NOTE: All of these cross-references appear in “last day” passages.

This demonstrates another KEY POINT: When interpreting Revelation, it is the content of the text that establishes its significance and its order of occurrence, not its location in the text of Revelation. Thus, it is the content of Rev. 6:12-17 that makes it certain that the events of this passage occur on the last day.

WHAT THE PASSAGE SAYS, NOT WHERE IT IS LOCATED

What we have learned is that, when studying Revelation, we do not rely on where a given passage is located to determine its occurrence, but rather we must carefully examine what the passage says. It is the content of the passage that is king. We carefully examine the content of the passage and compare it with related Scripture in the previous sixty-five books and with other biblical “clues” in the immediate context to discern when these events occur and thus determine where they fit in the timeline of the end times.

SDG                 rmb                 9/5/2022                     #565