The Essence of Revelation by Curtis Hartshorn

ISBN 978-0-9890872-8-5

51895>

9 780989 087285

The Essence of Revelation

The Essence of Revelation

By Curtis Hartshorn

Yeomen Press PO Box 281 Walton KS 67151 www.yeomenpress.com yeomenpress@gmail.com

The Essence of Revelation

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other) except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of Hartshorn Ministries and Yeomen Press.

(All scriptures quoted from the New American Standard Version 1995ÂŽ update unless otherwise specified.)

The Lockman Foundation www.Lockman.org

First Printing September 2012 Second Printing February 2015 Copyright Š 2012 Curtis Hartshorn ISBN 13: 978-0-9890872-8-5 Page backgrounds and cover design by Karl Nordman Interior illustrations by Tony Garcia Printed in the U.S.A. by Mennonite Press, Newton, Kansas

The Essence of Revelation

As I read this great work by Curtis Hartshorn, I am not surprised at the ability he has to explain what some say is the most difficult book in the Bible. Not only was he an exceptional student in my class, but he is also an active evangelist, preacher,, and song leader. He was one of my students, but he has been a close, personal friend through the years.

As I read this commentary on the book of Revelation, I want to congratulate Curtis for writing a book that is so easy to read and understand. While there are many commentaries on this book, there are few that are as easy to comprehend. I recommend this book to any student of the Bible and in particularly any student of the book of Revelation. Well done, my brother!

Bill Stewart, Instructor Regional Director of Development and Recruiting Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver

The Essence of Revelation

The Essence of Revelation

Table of Contents Part One – Background Information I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.

Opening Thoughts .................................................... 1 What is Revelation? .................................................. 5 Human Author and Date......................................... 7 Popular Views of Revelation ................................. 11 Apocalyptic Literature ........................................... 13 Apocalyptic Numerology ...................................... 16 Roman Emperors .................................................... 18 Part Two – The Chapters of Revelation

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

Patmos Island .......................................................... 23 First Four Churches ................................................ 30 Next Three Churches.............................................. 39 The Heavenly Throne............................................. 46 The Lion and the Lamb .......................................... 51 Seven Seals ............................................................... 55 The 144,000 .............................................................. 62 First Four Trumpets................................................ 68 Next Three Trumpets ............................................. 73 The Little Scroll ....................................................... 80 The Two Witnesses ................................................. 84 The Woman and the Dragon ................................. 90 The 2 Beasts ............................................................. 94 The 144,000 Again ................................................. 100 Seven Bowls ........................................................... 107 Armageddon ......................................................... 111 The Great Prostitute ............................................. 117 Babylon the Great ................................................ 122 The Great Multitude ............................................. 128 Thousand Year Reign ........................................... 135 The New Jerusalem .............................................. 141 The River of Life ................................................... 146

The Essence of Revelation

The Essence of Revelation

Part One Background Information

21

The Essence of Revelation

The Essence of Revelation Opening Thoughts

Like a painter divulging the essence of a landscape, the following pages will, prayerfully, capture for you the true essence of the Book of Revelation. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, “essence” is “a: the permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being b: the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence c: the properties or attributes by means of which something can be placed in its proper class or identied as being what it is.” The following pages will break down the meaning of the apocalyptic writing of Revelation in a way that makes sense. The cookies will be on a shelf anyone can reach.

This is not a commentary per se. The guidance provided here is the result of years of diligent study from a teacher’s perspective.

I am a Christian, a preacher, and a teacher who loves teaching the Book of Revelation. This book will work as a lasting resource to refer back to but will not read like your typical commentary.

At the same time, you will nd in these pages more meat than a Bible class study guide. This book will equip you to refute the false teachings that have been forged out of the pages of Jesus’ Revelation, but not so much detail that you cannot see the forest for the trees. This is the layman’s guide to the Book of Revelation. This is The Essence of Revelation.

Within these pages you’ll not see a word by word break down of the text, but more of a turn by turn road map. This is a passing forward of my experiences from reading and studying the book repeatedly as well as familiarizing myself with what others are saying about Revelation. What will be different from commentary style writing is that I am not going to encumber readers with a tedious contemplation of each brush stroke.

We will step back to admire the whole painting. You will see Revelation in its intended context and understand to whom and why it was written as a single unit. This book of the Bible is 1

The Essence of Revelation

entitled Revelation; it is not Revelations. There is no “s” on the end. This is one single revelation from Jesus and that is the way it should be approached.

Some friends suggested I entitle my book “Revelation for Dummies,” but that wouldn’t be accurate because those who take the time to read and understand God’s Word are not dummies.

The third verse of Chapter 1 of Revelation off ers a blessing for the one who will take the time to learn the encouraging lessons this letter has to teach, and anyone who does that which receives God’s blessing is no dummy.

It is a challenge presenting a simple approach to the most complex book in the Bible. Revelation is not an easy piece of literature to comprehend. You cannot merely read it as you would Mark or James and come away with a solid understanding unless you first learn the nuances of apocalyptic literature and have a basic knowledge of the Old Testament. I will not attempt to answer all the technical questions about the Thousand Year Reign or the Mark of the Beast, but will explore the perimeters established by God’s Holy Word so that false teachings will be clearly identified. When we are done, you may or may not fully understand what Revelation means, but you will, at the very least, know what it cannot mean, what the text will not allow. If you have had your brain scrambled by watching TV evangelists and listening to some of the false teachers on the radio, this book may fall short of providing the full unscrambling you desire. When finished you may not know all that is right, but you should have sufficient understanding to cast aside what is wrong.

What this book can give you is a simple, sensible approach to Jesus’ inspired message of victory for God’s people and God’s Word. Revelation is like a journey through the mountains. As you travel along with some idea of where it appears the road may be 2

The Essence of Revelation

going, you turn down a trail you want to explore. But you hit a road block, realizing the implied meaning goes nowhere. At that point, all you can do is back up and start over. Been there. Done that. My hope is that I can save you the frustration of veering off on dead end trails along your journey the way I have done at times on my faith journey. It is my prayer this book will inspire you to want to know your Bible in a deeper way, thus knowing its Author more intimately.

This book is not intended as a Bible class guide, but if you are using it for a group Bible study or class, let me encourage both teacher and students to read Revelation once a week for as long as the class lasts.

If you have an audio Bible, try listening to it combined with reading the text. The heightened senses of hearing and seeing the Word of God at the same time is a multiplied faith building experience. At the very least, make it a point to read the chapter in Revelation prior to reading the chapter in this book which talks about it. And have your Bible with you and open as you journey through this book. The entire chapter will not be written out as commentaries often do, so have your Bible open to the text and listen to God’s Word first before you listen to me or any other man. Any portions of Revelation I quote will be in italics and quoted from the New American Standard Bible.

If you are teaching the class or Bible study, have your students either read Revelation straight through once a week or read 3-4 chapters a day. There is no substitute for daily Bible reading. It will also jump-start each class session if your students know the context of the chapter you are covering. It is recommended you read the verses referenced at the beginning of each paragraph. At the end of each chapter there are discussion questions to gauge how well your students are absorbing what is being taught and to help the class maintain its focus. They are discussion question and not test 3

The Essence of Revelation

questions. The questions are designed to invoke deeper thought and generate a healthy dialogue among Bible students.

The chapters in this book correspond to the chapters in Revelation to make it as user friendly as possible. I hope it will be a useful quick reference book for you in the years to come. Turn back to the table of contents and take a look at the short chapter titles. These chapter titles are designed for memorization. This knowledge will help you ďŹ nd what you are looking for more quickly every time you turn to the Book of Revelation. Memorize these glossary titles and ask a friend to test you on your memory work. It will be time well spent.

4

The Essence of Revelation

What is Revelation?

Strange reactions occur at the mention of the Book of Revelation.

Many fear the book. Some find it confusing. For a long time I believed Revelation would take more study time than I wanted to invest, therefore I would leave its unraveling to those with nothing better to do. I one time said from the pulpit, “It is a good thing Revelation is in the back of the Bible because it is the last book I plan on studying.” I am now ashamed of having such a foolish attitude. Fortunately, our God is patient with simpletons like me.

Revelation takes eff ort to understand. There is no denying that, but the blessing these pages have to give make it well worth the effort.

Is Revelation a book to fear? There is nothing to fear from Revelation unless you are lost in sin. The book will not harm you and you have nothing but blessings to gain from studying it. Confusing?

The confusion goes away once you learn the fundamentals of apocalyptic language and stop listening to false teachers. (Turn off the radio and open your Bible.) Revelation is a book of hope. It is God saying to His people, “You may feel weak and insignificant, but in My own time, I will deal with the injustice. Faithfulness will be rewarded and wickedness will be punished.”

Revelation has a potent and essential message for our generation, but first it had a message for the audience to which it was originally written. Only by understanding the book’s original intension for the seven churches of Asia Minor can we truly know what the message is for us today. If you have been taught that Revelation is about bar code scanning, Apache helicopters, and 200 million mounted Chinese troops, then this will be an eye-opening study for you.

Block out your pre-programmed notions and let God’s Word teach you. Before this journey is over it will be clear that Revelation is not about the bizarre conjecture some try to read into its pages.

Getting the true meaning of Revelation takes an understanding of apocalyptic language and an adequate knowledge of the Old Testament. Once those tools are in place, you can let Scripture 5

The Essence of Revelation

interpret Scripture. Reading each passage in context and associating it with other scriptures that have a common theme will open the doors of understanding. The light bulb will come on. God does not put books in the Bible to confuse His people. Revelation starts with a blessing for those who will read and understand it (1:3). But it also ends with a curse on those who alter its message (22:18-19). Launch into this study with both expectancy and sobriety. Do not dare be frivolous or ippant about studying Revelation, but in every way be conďŹ dent that God rewards truth seekers.

6