Summary

1.We have worries and fears about the end, but Revelation

points us in a different direction.

2. The reason for our interest in the end is

twofold:

1. We want to be ready for Christ’s return

2. We want to be eager to live with Him forever

3. Two popular views of the end times exist:

1. Dispensational Premillenialism (Premillenial Dispensationalism)

2. Amillenialism

Dispensational Premillenialism

-Views Revelation as a timeline-Problems include: multiple returns of Jesus, a separate rapture/judgment event, the world ending more than once, possible lost apostolic urgency (2 Corinthians 6:1-2), addition chances to believe (Matthew 25:10; Hebrews 9:27), and the rapture serves as a key witness to unbelievers.

Amillenialism

-Revelation is read as a 3D object.-The same period of time (the time between Christ’s first and second coming) is looked at from different angles. -Consistent with Scripture

The Six “Cycles”

1. The seven seals (6:1 – 8:5)2. The seven trumpets (8:6 – 11:19)3. The Church and Satan (12:1 – 14:20)4. The seven bowls (15:1 – 16:21)5. The overthrow of Babylon (17:1 – 19:21)6. The binding of Satan and his destruction (20:1-15)

4. Scripture reveals that we are living in the end

times right now. (Matthew 24; Hebrews 1:1-2; Revelation 1:1-3;

Revelation 22:6)

5. The defining event of the end of the world is Jesus’ return in glory. Jesus’ return is the same event as the destruction of the

world, the judgment of unbelievers, and the new

heavens and the new earth. (Isaiah 66:15-24; Daniel 7:9-14; Joel 2:1-11; Matthew 24:29-31,

26:62-64; John 14:1-14; Acts 1:6-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3;

Revelation 6:12-17; Revelation 21)

6. The great rule of predicting the Last

Day: if you think you know, you don’t know. (Matthew 24:36-44; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

7. God waits to bring the Last Day because in His great mercy He desires as many as possible to come to saving faith in Jesus. (Matthew 13:24-30; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; 2

Peter 3:8-10)

The Purpose of Revelation

1. To give us a Christology of the exalted reign of Christ2. To give us a theology of the church and her mission

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching

them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am

with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have

seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and

the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

Revelation 1:17-20

I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll

or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the

tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne…He came and

took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the

Lamb.”

Revelation 5:4-8

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom

we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven

and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by

him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn

from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the

supremacy.

Colossians 1:15-18

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He

was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face

was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was

holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left

foot on the land…

Revelation 10:1-2

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the

angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and asked him

to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet

as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I

was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and

kings.”

Revelation 10:8-11

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with

the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous

red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads…The dragon

stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a

son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was

snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care

of for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1-6

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and

the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost

their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,

and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the

salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has

been hurled down.”

Revelation 12:7-10

[Jesus] replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to

trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of

the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that

the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are

written in heaven.”

Luke 10:18-20

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you

heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea,

because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

Revelation 12:11-12

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued

the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great

eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert,

where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out

of the serpent’s reach.

Revelation 12:13-14

“…I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will

not overcome it.”

Matthew 16:18

[An angel] seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations

anymore until the thousand years were ended…

Revelation 20:1-3

…will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:6

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come

upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s

house and carry off his possessions unless he first

ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

Matthew 12:28-29

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go

out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are

like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth

and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the

lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever

and ever.

Revelation 20:7-10

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching

them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am

with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20