Prophecies of Revelation: Part 1
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
Revelation 1:3
A couple years ago, I was on a flight to Boise, Idaho, and by providence, I happened to sit next to a certain woman, and we struck up a conversation. She asked me what I did, and so I explained that I was a religious discrimination attorney. She then started telling me about how she found Christ a few years back and became a Christian. She explained how she loved reading the New Testament, except the Book of Revelation. I inquired why. She said it is very cryptic and scary, and impossible to understand. I had my Bible in the overhead bin, so I asked her if I could explain it to her, at least the big picture, as we only had a short flight. I told her Revelation is quite simple if you understand the key that unlocks all the symbolic language. (Indeed, Revelation is like a giant door into heaven. If one doesn’t have the key to open the door, it would seem very daunting, but with the right key, anyone can open the door.) She agreed. So for the rest of the flight we had an illuminating study on how to understand Revelation and the big picture.
The very first verse tells us that it is a “revelation.” So Jesus isn’t hiding something, in fact, just the opposite. He is informing “His servants” about what will “shortly take place.” Without going past the first verse, we know that God wants us to be informed about what is written in the Book, and that it deals with the future. The purpose of informing “His servants” (i.e. us) of the future, isn’t to scare us, but to let us know that THE FUTURE IS IN GOD’S CONTROL. As scary as parts might seem, God knows everything that will take place, and there will be a beautiful ending.
God Blesses Those Who Read It
Additionally, Jesus said in John 14:29 “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.” Believe what? That it happened? No, we already know it happened. It is so we may believe in God and His word. When we see the prophesies of Revelation fulfilled before our very eyes, it will strengthen our faith in God and the Bible.
God then pronounces a blessing on all who (1) read, (2) hear, and (3) “keep those things which are written in it…” (Revelation 1:3). So, not only does God want us to be informed about Revelation, but we will receive an extra blessing if we do. In fact, Revelation is the only book that God gives a blessing to those who read it. So God truly does want you to read and understand it.
Because He wants you to read it, He also gives you the key to understand it. This key is given in Isaiah 28:9-10. Isaiah 28:9 asks who can understand the message and who can God teach knowledge? In the following verse, Isaiah 28:10, God tells us how to understand His messages: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” So the key to understanding the message is the Bible. Yes, it is that simple! You don’t have to go spelunking through a dark cave, or climbing to the top of Everest. The key is right there, 65 books bound to the front of Revelation, so that everyone may understand.
To use the key, we simply search the Bible for the words used in Revelation to find their real meaning. For example, in Revelation 5:6, we see “a Lamb as though it had been slain.” Searching the Bible, we see that Jesus is called the “Lamb of God” in John 1:29, and was “led as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). So we know that Revelation 5:6 is talking about Jesus after He died on the cross and was returning to heaven.
In Revelation 6, at the opening of the first four seals, we see four horses, all different colors. In order to understand what God is revealing to us, we need to look up the word “horse” in the Bible. In Zechariah 10:3b, we find where the Bible uses the term “horse” in a symbolic way. It says: “For the LORD of hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His royal horse in the battle.” So applying that definition to Revelation 6, we see that the four horses represent God’s flock (i.e. His people) in the battle.
What do you do if you come across two definitions for the same word? Read each one and see which one fits. For example, Revelation 8:3 states “He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints….”
When looking up the word incense, I found two different definitions: 1) Psalms 141:2 states that our prayers are an incense; and 2) Ephesians 5:2 says that Christ’s merit is an incense. When plugging the two definitions into Revelation 8:3, we see that Ephesians 5:2 is the only one that makes sense. Thus, we can understand Revelation 8:3, that while the saints are praying, Jesus is in heaven offering His own merits (his incense) in their behalf, thereby making their prayers acceptable to God.
Call to Action
By using the Bible as the key to unlocking Revelation, and letting the Bible interpret itself, we can understand God’s special message to us. So grab your Bible, get a concordance, and start exploring its amazing prophecies, “for the time is near.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
