This is a continuation of the summary of Rev. Brian Schwertley's first sermon in his current series on the book of Revelation. Part 1 of the summary is given again and shown in red.
You can listen to his sermon using the tiny player in the column on the right.
Introduction to Revelation
Rev. Brian Schwertley -- March 18, 2007Rev. Schwertley opens by reading all of chapter 1 (3.5 minutes).The book of Revelation is the most popular book of the Bible among evangelicals because of pre-millennial dispensationalism. This point of view teaches that the book of Revelation had nothing to do with the generation when it was written. Most in this camp teach the erroneous idea that the book of Revelation can not be understood until the end of human history, which they say is our generation, or the generation that came to be when Israel became a state in 1948 (i.e., Lindsey, Walvoord, Dallas Theological Seminary). Books on this subject from the premillennial dispensational point of view are very popular. They read like entertaining, fascinating novels. Tim LaHaye and his co-author have made millions of dollars with this genre of books. Unfortunately these books are fantasy and fiction, based on an incorrect interpretation of Scripture. The speculations of these authors, however, provides for entertaining reading. These authors claim to interpret Scriptures literally, but their speculations are anything but literal. Rev. Schwertley recommends his listeners read Dr. Dwight Wilson's Dallas Theological Seminary PhD. thesis "Armageddon Now!" which traces the history of the premilennial dispensational interpretations in connection with the current events of the times.The book of Revelation is difficult to interpret. It is essential that the interpreter use proper techniques of interpretation.Rev. Schwertley claims that much interpretation of our day uses much speculation instead of sound interpretive principles.Proper interpretive techniques include the following:1. One must take account of the genre of the book of Revelation. It is inspired apocalyptic literature. It communicates ideas through a system of symbolism. Instead of attempting to interpret the symbols literally (which is impossible and absurd), or apply newspaper headline exegesis; rather, one must use Scripture to interpret Scripture. So one must find other places in Scripture where the various symbols and terms are used, and find out what they mean there. Any other approach is arbitrary. Rev. Schwertley illustrates the sound approach to interpretation using Rev. 6:12 (giant earthquake -- Ex. 19, Ps. 18, 60, Is. 13, 24, Nahum 1; sun became as black as sackcloth -- Ex. 10, Job 9, Is. 5, 24, Ez. 32, Joel 2, Amos 8, Micah 3; moon became as blood -- Job 25, Is. 13, 24, Ex. 32, Joel 2). John's audience would have been familiar with these symbols of divine judgment.2. The interpreter must seek to discover how the original audience would have understood this book. Any other approach is guess work and arbitrary. It is absurd to say that John wrote a book to encourage his audience and that only an audience 2000 years later would be able to understand it. When ordinary language is insufficient, the Bible uses symbolic language to evoke associations which have been established in the Bible's own literary art. While the book of Revelation does not quote the Old Testament, it constantly alludes to Old Testament symbols, types, and doctrines. Thus to interpret the book of Revelation properly one must have a solid grasp of Old Testament prophetic imagery. Use a concordance to find the Old Testament passages that use the various symbols and images found in the book of Revelation. This approach is much better than reading Hal Lindsey (except for the entertainment factor). The seven mountains in Rev. 17:9 would communicate immediately to first century Christians living in Asia Minor the city of Rome (or possibly Jerusalem), but definitely not San Francisco nor Seattle. Some symbols are defined in the immediate context. For example, the seven stars are the angels (probably the pastors of the churches) of the seven churches (Rev. 1:20). The seven candelsticks are the seven churches. So there are seven churches and the messengers of those churches.
3. Revelation can only be properly interpreted if one understands that many of the prophetic events discussed in the book are imminent to the original recipients of the prophecies (partial preterism).
There are three main schools of thought concerning the book of Revelation:
(1) historicism (Martin Luther, John Calvin) - the book of Revelation is a panorama of all of church history. One problem with this view is that all the commentators with this view come to different conclusions. Thus a historicist preacher must be very general and vague in his preaching (i.e., Richard Bacon), because if you get specific you could immediately be proved wrong by history;
(2) dispensational premillennialism - previously discussed; and
(3) partial preterism (Greg Bahnsen, David Chilton, Kenneth Gentry) - this is not the damnable heresy of full preterism (Rev. Schwertley has done a 14 part series refuting full preterism which is available at http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sortby=oldest&keyword=Brian%5ESchwertley&keywordWithin=Preterism&keywordDesc=Brian+Schwertley&SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&AudioOnly=false ).
A lot of things in the book of Revelation have already been fulfilled (most by A.D. 70), others have not (i.e., the second coming and the final judgment). This, of course, places the date of the book of Revelation prior to A.D. 70, not in 95 or 96 A.D. (Rev. Schwertley then reads a lengthy quote from Walvoord's commentary on Revelation which explains the origin for the later date. Schwertley also mentions and finds persuasive, Dr. Kenneth Gentry's book in support of the earlier date, "Before Jerusalem Fell".)
In support of the earlier date are the following: (1) All the time indicators in the book of Revelation point to the "nearness" of many of the prophetic events (Rev. 1:1,3; 22:6,7,10,12,20). Rev. Schwertley then takes several minutes to explain the Greek terms behind the time indicators and unreasonableness in most cases of attempted futurist interpretations placing the fulfillments centuries of years laters.
The earlier date is supported by the following:
(1) the city of Jerusalem not yet destroyed (Rev. 11); the temple (original, not a future rebuilt temple) and altar is referenced (11:1); city of Jerusalem (11:8) to be trod underfoot by Gentiles for 42 months (11:2);
(2) the mystical number 666 (Rev. 13:18) when written in Hebrew letters is equivalent to Nero Caesar. Rev. 17:10 identifies the Beast and reigning emperor (the sixth emperor) as Nero (A.D. 64-68). The actual historical events fit perfectly with the book of Revelation;
(3) Revelation presents the judgments prophesied as imminent to the generation responsible for the crucifixion of Christ (Rev. 1:7) - Christ is describing, not His bodily return, but speaking symbolically of a coming in judgment (coming on the clouds: Gen. 15:17; Ex. 13:21-22, 14:19-20, 24, 16:19, 19:9; Ps. 18:8-14, 104:3; Is. 19:1; Ex. 32:7-8; Matt. 24:30; Mark 14:62; Acts 2:19). Rev. Schwertley finds amillennial efforts to get around the plain meaning of the Greek words unpersuasive. Also Rev. 14:14,19,20 uses imagery of Christ sitting on a cloud judging the earth (i.e., land). The vine of the land is apostate Israel which is being excommunicated and judged by God. The Jews rejected Christ's sacrificial death and His blood was shed outside the city. This great crime of Israel in rejecting and killing the Messiah is an allusion to Isaiah 5:1-7 where Israel is called God's vineyard. Another strong indicator that this passage refers to the Jews of Christ's time is the statement in Revelation 1:7 borrowed from Zechariah 12:10 (those who see Christ are the ones responsible for His death, the apostate Jews who rejected Christ, according to Peter in Acts 5:10, 23:36. Further, the Jews accepted responsibility for Christ's death, Matthew 27:25). A quote from Milton Terry is given in support of this view.
Rev. Schwertley comments that Revelation is a difficult book to interpret and different interpretations are not a test of fellowship.
4. Revelation is a prophecy, and thus should be understood in the same manner as other prophetical writings. Revelation is not given to satisfy our curiosity and entertain us about the future (pretribulation rapture view), but to move to ethical conduct and give hope. Prophecy is given so we will be more holy, so we will be more diligent in looking to Christ, and being faithful to Christ; for us to repent and follow and obey Christ; not so we can have prophecy conferences and fantasize about the future (Rev. 1:3). The audience of the book of Revelation are told they are going to be persecuted, they are not going to have food to eat (Rev. 16:15; 22:7,14). Fear God, live a holy life. The book of Revelation is a classic example of prophetic covenant lawsuit preaching. Consider the Old Testament prophets. As God's messengers, they brought charges against God's unfaithful covenant people, threatened God's judgement, called the people to repentance, and promised blessings for repentance and renewed faithfulness. The book of Revelation should, to a large part, be viewed as God's covenant wrath against apostate Israel. Israel had replaced God's law with man-made traditions, persecuted God's prophets, and murdered the sinless Son of God (see Matthew 23:29-36 for Christ's words and woes to the scribes and Pharisees and pronouncement that judgment for all those things would come to that generation, i.e., the Great Tribulation of A.D. 70; Matt. 21:33-43, 23:29-38; 1 Thess. 2:14-16). God is divorcing Israel, the great harlot (Rev. 17:1,5), for spiritual adultery, and taking the kingdom away from her and giving it to His new bride, Christ's church (international, trans-cultural, and spiritual).
Revelation can only be understood if one takes into account the intent of the author and the meaning in the first century era. The book of Revelation is a revelation of God to His first century persecuted audience.
So, (1) Scripture interprets Scripture, (2) it is crucial to know how the original audience interpreted these things, (3) the time indicators are important and (4) the book of Revelation must be looked at ethically.
