What Does
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
Teach about the End Times?
notes compiled by T. J.L. Young
Part 1
Introduction
The title of the book, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” although usually shortened to “Revelation,” is found in chapter 1 verse 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, there are references to the end times, or the last days, but it is difficult to put the pieces together without the book of “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
It is very important to take the teachings of the book of Revelation in the order in which the book has been written. Many people try to rearrange the book to fit their doctrines or preconceived ideas about the last days. This has caused much perplexity in many hearts and minds; and, therefore, people are prone to cease studying the book of Revelation or will just skim through it desiring to receive the blessing that is promised to those who read it. The blessing, however, is not promised to those who just read it. It is promised to him "that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (Revelation 1:3) We are not only to read, but we are to hear and give attention to the words of this prophecy; and we are to keep those words as a guard keeps his eye on someone and prevents him from escaping.
The events of the end times will occur in the order in which God laid them out in the book of Revelation. We must remember that God is not the author of confusion, and that God is a God of order. He gave the words of the book of Revelation to His Son Jesus Christ who in turn gave them to the apostle John, and they were written down in the order in which they were given. It is not for us to rearrange the order. Doing so will only result in confusion and misunderstanding. That is not to say that we will understand everything written in the Revelation. There are many things that we will probably never understand until we get to Heaven or until they are fulfilled. But we should strive to do our best to understand the order of the main events.
The events are also to be taken literally unless the context makes it clear that they are figurative. Some scholars try to explain away the miracles by equating them with things familiar to people – nuclear explosions, tsunamis, jet streams, radioactive fallout, etc. Trying to understand the events of the end times according to human reasoning will only cause more confusion. We must remember that God is a God of miracles, and He has never changed. He does not need to use man’s inventions or the normal forces of nature to accomplish His purposes.
A brief outline of Revelation
A simple outline of Revelation may be found in chapter 1 verse 19. John was told to Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.
The things which thou hast seen Chapter 1 past The Alpha and Omega
The things which are Chapters 2 & 3 present The Church Age
The things which shall be Chapters 4-22 future The End Times
Since these studies will be concentrating on the end times, we will be looking only at the third point of the outline, “The things which shall be,” chapters 4 through 22.