Amill Minute -Revelation 1:1

Hi there, welcome to Reformed Ex Mormon. I am Pastor Brayden and I hope you're having a wonderful and blessed day today.

This is a new series called Ah! Millennialism Minute, whereby a minute I don't mean a literal 60 seconds, but rather a short amount of time to discuss a topic.

And the topic we're going to be discussing today is specifically going to be Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 and my conclusion on how

I believe that the book of Revelation should be interpreted. Now, there's four main interpretation methods that theologians and Christians have come to conclusions on looking at the exact same text.

I've made a video on this and so I will link that video down in the description below as well as thumbnail it for us now.

But those four interpretive methods are Futurists, who say that the book of Revelation is for the future.

Historicists, that would say that the book of Revelation is fulfilled throughout historical events. And the

Predatorists, who says that majority of the book of Revelation was fulfilled in the past.

And the fourth, which I consider myself an idealist, which says that the book of Revelation is applied to all generations.

And I would actually consider myself what would be termed the Redemptive Historical Idealist by G .K.

Beale, which I would highly recommend his commentary, both the shorter and the larger commentary that he has on the book of Revelation.

And then please check it out and support him and check out the book. I think it is a blessing to read and it gives a great perspective that I believe that the book of Revelation is speaking about.

So I consider myself to be an idealist and this this idea of a Redemptive Historical Idealist says that the book of Revelation finds its fulfillment over and over again throughout the inaugurated

Kingdom Church Age. So today, yesterday, and tomorrow until Jesus Christ comes again, the book of Revelation is being fulfilled throughout all of history, throughout all of this

Church Age that we're in. And it is meant to give hope and joy and peace to those that are in Tribulation, which comes from the unbelieving world, to those that are members of the

Kingdom, those that are in the Church. And it is for the means of perseverance in our

Lord Jesus Christ. The book is a guide for us to look to the heavens amidst intense persecutions and trials that come from this world while we wait the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now my encouragement for you today is that when you read the book of Revelation, as I encourage you to please do, do not do so with the news like CNN on in the background.

What you will tend to do, as many Christians have done, is start to read things that they hear on the news back into the

Bible and they end up with a very strange eschatology as well as a very strange theology because of said things.

So please avoid doing this and understand that this was written 2 ,000 years ago by John, the disciple whom

Jesus loved. So let's read Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 and we will see what it says in here.

It says, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants, the things which must shortly take place.

And he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John. Now many would accuse somebody like myself, an idealist, that we are reading things too symbolic and we're not being literal when we read things.

Now when we say we come to the text with a literal approach, it means that a sentence is a sentence, a pronoun is a pronoun, a verb is a verb, a question mark is a question mark, and we cannot change those things.

Now Jesus Christ, and this is important to understand this, Jesus is referred to as the

Lamb of God. Does that mean that he's a literal sheep, a physical sheep?

No, it does not. It has a theological, symbolic meaning that we are to take from it.

Jesus is also known as the door. Does that mean that Jesus Christ is a literal physical door that is upon door hinges?

Absolutely not. It means that he's the only way, the only entrance by which we can have access to God.

He has done this. Now, he's also referred to as the way. Does that mean that he is a literal physical path?

Well, no, it means that that it is only through what he has done that we gain entrance in to the kingdom, that it is through his work upon the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection.

This is what I would call theological symbolism, meaning that these are metaphorical terms that have theological implications that give much more beauty and meaning to what is being said.

So when I come to the book of Revelation, I read in here verse 1 of chapter 1,

I see that there's many allusions to the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 2.

Now just as a side note, the book of Revelation in its totality has over 500 allusions to Old Testament prophecy.

And this is found in 404 verses in the book of Revelation. And it is more allusions to the

Old Testament than all other New Testament books combined. So it'd be my understanding that when we come to the book of Revelation to understand what it means, we have to continually go back and forth to the

Old Testament. I would encourage you to have two Bibles open, one to flip through the Old Testament with and the other one to be looking through the book of Revelation, as if it is alluding to something in the

Old Testament, we need to understand the context of that text in the Old Testament, why it's being referred to in the book of Revelation and apply it in said ways.

So there's four things that I see that are taking place here in Revelation chapter 1 verse 1.

And I want to read it for us one more time. It says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservant the things which must shortly take place.

And he sent and communicated it. This word could also be known as signified.

He signified it by his angel to his bondservant John. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 2 verses 28 through 30, as well as verse 45, where we find the exact same set of words that are being used over and over again, like we see in Revelation chapter 1.

Now there's four things that I see that are taking place in Revelation chapter 1 verse 1. And it says in there that there's a revelation and uncovering this revelation that's to John.

A revelation has taken place. It says that God has shown, and it says what will come to pass, and he communicated it or he signified it.

Those are the four things that I see. And so let's look now and see how this is an obvious allusion to Daniel chapter 2.

Verse 28 through 30 says this, However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days.

This was your dream and the vision in your mind while on your bed.

As for you, O King, while you were on your bed, your thoughts turn to what would take place in the future.

And he who reveals mysteries has made known, signified, what will take place.

But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me, for any wisdom resides in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

And now to give us a little bit more of context, this is a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar has had. No one else is able to interpret it, and now

Daniel is recalling the dream and also giving the interpretation for it. So I would encourage you by yourself to read verses 31 and on just throughout the rest of this chapter.

But what Daniel describes is that there's going to be these kingdoms that are set up as a head, a torso, the legs, and the feet, all representing different kingdoms, symbolically, theologically, representing different kingdoms.

And it's this man -made image, and then there's going to be a stone that is cut out without hands.

And this is an obvious illusion, an obvious telling and prophecy of Jesus Christ, who is referred to as the

Rock in so many different places. The Rock, the chief cornerstone that was cast out by the very builders is the

Lord Jesus Christ. That is the Rock. And it says in verse 35, it says, "...then the iron, the clay, the bronze, and the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floor.

And the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth."

Now, this is just important to remember, that when we look at verse 35 and the other verses around it, that these are vision, symbolic tellings of a future event.

Now, follow me to verse 45. It says, "...inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron and the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great

God has made known to the king what will take place in the future, so that the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."

Now, if you can't see the obvious allusions to Revelation chapter 1, verse 1, the way that John is starting off this book for us, it says in verses 30, or verse 28 through 30, as well as in verse 45, that God reveals mysteries.

He has shown, and it's something that's going to take place, and he signified it.

He semeno it. He communicated it. He made it known to them.

Now, these are four correlating things that happen in Revelation chapter 1, verse 1.

This is John obviously starting out his book of Revelation in this way.

Now, I would ask you, does what takes place in the vision of Daniel, what John is recalling back to, is that a literal image that is to be set up and is to be walking around town, this almost like a

Godzilla character that's walking around? No, is Jesus Christ in this text a literal physical rock?

No, it's symbolic. It's theologically important, and so when I go back to the book of Revelation, I would argue that I read the book of Revelation literally, and it forces and tells me to read it symbolically, and so I hope that this video has helped you understand the idealist's approach and the reason why they come to this conclusion when they read the book of Revelation.

I hope that this video blesses you. I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day, and I would encourage you to please subscribe, like, and share this video as we seek to advance the kingdom of God through the preaching of his word.