Revelation Info

By David Maas
{INTERPRETATION AND STRUCTURE}

[Click on the title below to open an article]

  1. Unsealing the Scroll - {PDF Copy} - (Daniel was commanded to seal the Scroll, but the angel sent by Jesus commanded John NOT to do so since the season is now – Revelation 22:10)
  2. Introduction to Revelation - {PDF Copy} - (The book of Revelation is an account of the visions received by John while in exile on the Isle of Patmos)
  3. Fourfold Structure - {PDF Copy} - (The book has four major literary divisions marked by John finding himself "in the spirit")
  4. Patmos - {PDF Copy} - (John was exiled to Patmos for his testimony – A fellow participant in the Tribulation and Perseverance in Jesus)
  5. Common Errors of Interpretation - {PDF Copy} - (The real-life relevance of Revelation is easily lost if we approach the book with incorrect presuppositions)
  6. Provided Interpretations - {PDF Copy} - (Revelation communicates symbolically and provides many important interpretations of its images)
  7. Recipients of the Book - {PDF Copy} - (In its entirety, Revelation is addressed to  the seven real churches located in the Roman province of Asia in the first century)
  8. End-Time People - {PDF Copy} - (The church is the battlefield where the final war is being waged between the Lamb and the Ancient Serpent, Satan)
  9. Call to Persevere - {PDF Copy} - (Through a series of seven beatitudes, Revelation summons believers to faithfulness despite hostility and persecution)
  10. Unlocking Prophecy - {PDF Copy} - (The interpretive key to understanding the book of Revelation is Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb)
  11. Literal and Nonliteral Language - {PDF Copy} - (Often, there is a false dichotomy between "literal" and "non-literal" interpretation in Bible interpretation)
  12. Linear Chronological Sequence? - {PDF Copy} - (Are Revelation’s visions presented in chronological sequence?)
  13. John, A Fellow-Participant in the Kingdom - {PDF Copy} - (John functions as a surrogate for faithful believers, especially the seven churches of Asia)
  14. The Missing Seventy Weeks - {PDF Copy} - (The book of Revelation does not apply the Seventy Weeks to any of its images or chronologies)


POPULAR POSTS

Second Trumpet

By David Maas
The second trumpet harms much of the commerce on which human society, the “inhabitants of the earth,” rely – Revelation 8:8-9.  The second trumpet blast upsets the sea, and thereby disrupts a third of all seaborne commerce. In Revelation , the “ sea ” is vital to the commerce on which “ Babylon ” depends, and it is the place from which the “ beast ” ascends. This explains why, at the end of the book, no “ sea ” is found in “ New Jerusalem .” In the symbolic world, it is linked to the “ Dragon ” and the “ beast .”
Read more

Redemption of the Nations

By David Maas
The  Book of Revelation  presents images that are often jarring and paradoxical, visions that do not conform to popular expectations about how God works or where His redemptive purposes will end. His goals in subjugating His enemies and judging the nations differ radically from many traditional notions and so-called “human wisdom.” Just as his contemporaries did not understand Jesus of Nazareth, so we too often fail to comprehend the “ Slain Lamb ” and how he reigns from the Divine throne.
Read more