Introduction to Revelation
Rev. Brian Schwertley -- March 18, 2007
Rev. 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.
Symbols defined in the immediate context (next time)
---------------To Be Continued----------------
