THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

By Jr. Dr. Odell Furtick

Odell Furtick begins this exposition by saying, "Do you believe?" A question that everyone must answer personally. It's been over 2,000 years since anyone seen Jesus on earth after His ascension and now the believers are told to wait for His return. Has humanity grown weary in their belief and lost faith in the promises of God? Dr. Furtick

• Language: English
• Publisher: GoldTouch Press, LLC
• Release date: Feb 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781954673748

Jr. Dr. Odell Furtick

ODELL FURTICK, JR. president of the Behind the Scene Ministries. He is a teacher and member of the CRU Ministry in his State reaching out to our Armed Forces through God's Living Word. Dr. Furtick is the author of the book title "An exposition of the Book of Revelation." He holds Th.D. degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary; Master of Arts at Webster University and BS at the University of Louisville. Continues Studied on-line at Dallas Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School: HarvardX edX: Religious Literacy Project.

Book preview

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The

Revelation

Of

Jesus Christ

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The End Times

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Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces Daniel 2:34.

Dr. Odell Furtick, Jr.

Copyright © 2021 by Dr. Odell Furtick, Jr.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2021903593

Paperback:    978-1-954673-73-1

eBook:             978-1-954673-74-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Dedication

This humble work is dedicated to: CRU Military Ministry

My parents, Mr. Odell Sr., and Juanita Furtick,

My Lovely wife, Bernadette Porras Furtick, and

Most of all to my dearly beloved children and grandsons

(Pierre, Dominique, Brandon, Liam and Ayesha)

-Odell Furtick, Jr.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1    Prologue: Christ In Glory

Part I: Write The Things Thou Hast Seen

Chapter 2    The Letters To The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

Part II: Write The Things Which Are

Chapter 3    The Letters To The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor (Con’t)

Chapter 4    The Throne Room Scene

Part III: Write The Thing Which Shall Be Hereafter

Chapter 5    The Scroll With Seven Seals

Chapter 6    The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse

Chapter 7    An Interlude: the Sealing Of The 144,000 Jewish Servants

Chapter 8    The Seventh Seal/Silence In Heaven/Seven Trumpets Judgment (1-4)

Chapter 9    The Fifth & Sixth Trumpets Judgment (5-6)

Chapter 10  The Mighty Angel And The Little Scroll

Chapter 11  The Two Witnesses And The Last Trumpet

Chapter 12  The Woman And The Dragon In Heaven

Chapter 13  The Two Dreadful And Terrible Beasts

Chapter 14  The Final Hours To A New Beginning

Chapter 15  Prelude To The Last Seven Plagues

Chapter 16  God’s Wrath Resume With The Final Seven Bowls Judgment

Chapter 17  The Destruction Of Babylon The Great: Ecclesiastical

Chapter 18  The Destruction Of Babylon The Great: Commercial

Chapter 19  The Transition Of Power: The Battle Of Armageddon And The Second Coming Of Christ

Chapter 20  The Millennial Kingdom On Earth: The Reign Of The Son Of God

Chapter 21  The Eternal Age: A New Heaven, A New Earth And A New Jerusalem

Chapter 22  Epilogue: Warnings And Promises

Bibliography

Introduction

The New Testament revealed the mysteries that was concealed from the prophets in the Old Testament.

John has exiled to an isolated Greek island in the Aegean Sea called the Isle of Patmos as an old man circa 95 A.D. by the decree of Emperor Domitian (Revelation 1:9). I, John... Was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. The island is about 10 miles long and 6 miles broad along the northern coast. It is known as a rocky island where John had not seen Jesus in about 63 years since this Revelation.

The Three Main Divisions of Revelation:

Chapter 1, WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN

Chapters 2-3, WRITE THE THINGS WHICH ARE

The letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor.

Chapters 4-22, WRITE THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE HEREAFTER:

The opening of the seven seals, in chapters 4 to 7 and 8:1.

The seven Trumpets Judgment, in chapters 8 to 11.

The beginning of the end, in chapters 12 to 14.

The seven Bowls Judgment: The destruction of the Antichrist’s religious system and régime, in chapters 15 to 19.

The Millennial Kingdom, the final war, and the Great White Throne Judgment, in chapter 20.

A new beginning and eternal future with God and the Word of God in chapters 21-22.

Three critical things when reading the Bible:

Who is the orator?

What’s the purpose of the book?

Who is the beneficiary?

Four Views on the Book of Revelation:

The Idealist View [Catholic Church]: This view uses a non-literal or allegorical approach to interpreting Revelation’s book. It is not to be taken literally. This idea was developed in Alexandria, Egypt. The Idealist view also teaches that good will triumph over evil in the end. Robert Mounce argues the Idealist view, saying, Revelation is a theological poem presenting the ageless, struggle between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. It is the notion that Christ’s forces are continuously meeting and conquering the demonic forces of evils.¹

The Preterist View- Preter, which means past, is derived from the Latin. The preterist view is divided into two groups (1) Partial/orthodox Preterist (2) Full/Radical Preterist. The Partial Preterist teaches that part of the prophecies found in Revelation 1-19 was fulfilled in the first century of John’s days. Specifically, after the destruction of the Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD under the hand of Emperor Titus-Domitian. Their defending argument comes from the prophecies of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. Revelation 20-22 will be fulfilled in the future. Full Preterists believe that all the prophecies found in Revelation have been fulfilled in 70 A.D. We are currently living in the new heaven and the new earth now. Their view denies the second coming of Christ.

The Historicist approach [Protestant Reformers/ the Seventh - Day Adventist]. This view teaches that Revelation is symbolic of the church’s history and the apostle’s life through the end of the ages. The symbols in the Apocalypse correspond to events in the history of Western Europe, including various popes. Most interpreters place the events of their day in the later chapters of Revelation.²

◾ Chapters 1-3: seven periods in church history.

◾ Chapters 4-7: the breaking of the seals and denote the fall of the Roman Empire.

◾ Chapters 8-10: The Trumpet Judgments represent the Roman Empire’s invasions by the Vandals, Huns, Saracens, and Turks. According to Protestant historians of the Reformation Period, the Antichrist in Revelation was believed to be the Papacy.

◾ Chapters 11-13: represent the true Church in its struggle against Roman Catholicism.

◾ Chapters14-16: The Bowl Judgments of Revelation represent God’s judgment on the Catholic Church, culminating in the future overthrow of Catholicism depicted in chapters 17-19.

◾ Chapter 20-22: the final thing that we are waiting for, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

Futurist View [Evangelical Christian] This view teaches that the Olivet Discourse and Revelation chapter 4-22 will occur in the future. The Futurist divides the book of Revelation into three sections as indicated in 1:19: (1) write the things which thou has seen (2) write the things which are (3) write the things which shall be hereafter. Futurists apply a literal approach to interpreting Revelation.

Replacement Theology:

Replacement theology teaches that the church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church, not in Israel. So, the prophecies in scripture concerning Israel’s blessing and restoration to the Promised Land are spiritualized or allegorized into promises of God’s approval for the church. There are significant problems considered to exist with this view, such as the Jewish people’s continuing existence throughout the centuries and the revival of Israel’s modern state. If God has condemned Israel, and there is no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain the Jewish people’s supernatural survival over the past 2000 years despite the many attempts to destroy them? How do we explain why and how Israel reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not existing for about 1900 years?

The Type of Language in the Book of Revelation: Pictorial Language

The language is often called Apocalyptic. This term describes the language because the first Greek word in this book is apokalupsis [translated in our English versions as The Revelation]. The word means an uncovering, or unveiling.

The language is designed to uncover [reveal] things which must shortly come to pass (Revelation 1:1). This is its purpose, but this does not describe the language. The message of this book was signified to John. This indicates the abundant use of signs (symbols) in its presentation. The words and phrases are used to signify, symbolize, and reveal what is otherwise hidden in the text.

---

1 Mounce, Robert, The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Williams Eermans Publishing Company, 1977), p43.

2 Pate, C. Marvin, ed. Four Views on the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

CHAPTER ONE

Prologue: Christ In Glory

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Part I: Write The Things Thou Hast Seen

The Revelation of Jesus Christ (vv. 1-3)

Christ in Glory-The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the unveiling of the incarnate person of Christ in the past, present, and future. The primary focus of this book is on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. God wanted Jesus’ servant, John, to know His plans for the future for humanity. Here, John receives the glorious Revelation of Christ. Possible this oracle was given to Jesus Christ by the Father, or Christ signified it by His angel (Gabriel or John’s guardian angel) to communicate or reveal to John the things that must shortly come to pass. The Gk. word signified means to communicate to.

About 710 years before writing the book of Revelation, the Archangel Gabriel had spoken to Daniel concerning future events. Its prophecies speak with increased meaning to a future generation. The angel Gabriel specifically told Daniel to seal up these prophecies until the time of the end. (Daniel 12:4).

His angel could also be the Archangel Michael; the prince of Israel had shown John the things he saw in Heaven and recorded these visions in his book.

John describes that what he saw was the Word of God. John’s calling was to bear witness and make a record of what he had seen and all the things he witnessed Christ doing during His earthly ministry. While banished to the Isle of Patmos, John was transported to Heaven to gaze into the future. He records all things the Word of God communicated to him. He writes, in John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not (John 1:6-10).

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you, that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us). Blessed is he 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 (1 John 1:1-3).

The LORD promises a special blessing to the readers and hearers of this prophecy. Not everyone in the first century would have a copy of the manuscript of Revelation. There was no printing press available in those days to manufacture copies and circulate them to the churches throughout Asia Minor.

The Lord promised that "the readers and hearers of this book they will be blessed."

Here in this passage, John warns his readers that Christ’s return is imminent and needs to be ready. According to the Justinian Martyr, A.D. 167, he confirms the early church communities read passages from the four Gospels and the Old Testament writings.³

The Church adopted the public reading of the scriptures in a synagogue (Luke 4:16, Acts 13:15, Colossians 4:16, and I Thessalonians 5:27).

Greetings and Doxology (vv. 4-8)

John addresses the seven churches in Asia. There were probably other churches within the same region.

The Lord uses these churches to reveal Himself to all churches present in John’s day and throughout the church age.

"Grace be unto you, and peace," John identifies from the Triune God as the source of grace and peace.

The Doxology: "From Him which is, and which was, and which is to come God the Father Yahweh" is viewed as eternal, existing in the past, present, and future.

The Doxology: "From the seven Spirits which are before His throne" This is a complicated expression here in context referring to the Holy Spirit.

The opinion held by Albert Barnes It is difficult to perceived in what sense seven spirits could ascribed to God, or how he could be described as a being of Seven Spirits. At lease, if he could be spoken of as such, there would no objection to applying the phrase to the Holy Spirit.

The Scriptures give us three views for interpretations of the seven Spirits of God.

The first view recorded in the writings of Isaiah 11:2, which says: And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Bible does not indicate what the seven Spirits are but gives references to His works.

The second view concerns the seven angelic beings found in Revelation 4:6-9, 5:6-14, and 1:5.

The number 7 in biblical terms refers to completion and perfection. The seven Spirits of God specified the perfection and completeness of the Holy Spirit.

vv. 5-6 The Doxology: "From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness," Jesus is above all the witness; He was a martyr (Isaiah 53) and a faithful witness unto death. All praise to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for His finished work. It is was through His work on the cross that we are made blameless.

"First begotten of the dead Jesus was the firstborn from the dead, in His resurrection (Acts 2:24, 26:23, 1 Corthinians15:23,1 Peter 1:3, and Revelation 14:13). Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" (Colossians 1:15). Jesus had risen from the dead unto glorify and was given a resurrected body. This was the reason that John did not recognize Christ in His glorified form.

"Made us kings and priests" In the Millennial Kingdom, this would refer to selected duties for some of the saints. The kings of the earth will be subordinate under the kingship and authority of Christ. In chapter 22, we are given detailed descriptions of the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus will reign as King of kings and king David as His co-regent. The saints will reign with The Messiah in His earthly kingdom as kings and priests of the Most High God (cf. Daniel 7:27, Zechariah 14:9-20, Isaiah 11:1-9, 1 Corinthians 6:1-3, Galatians 3:29, 2 Timothy 2:12, and Revelation 5:10).

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, (1 Peter 2:9).

v. 7 "He cometh with clouds This one of most important themes of this book is Christ will return. The Heb. meaning for clouds is to cover." The cloud plays a symbolic role as a recurrent theophany of God, His slender Glory or presence concealed from humanity (cf. Exodus 16:10; 33:9; Numbers 11:25; 12:5; Job 22:14 and Psalms 18:11). The cloud is associate with Christ second coming in (Acts 1:9-11, I Thessalonians 4:17, and Matthew 24:30).

The LORD called Moses from a pillar of cloud and told him that His Shekinah Glory would be with the Israelites (cf. 13:21-22, 24:16-18, Exodus 33:9-11, 40:34-38 and Leviticus 16:2).

When he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel (Acts 1:9-10).

Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).

Jesus says unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:64).

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory (Mark 13:26).

Every eye shall see Christ’s Second Coming worldwide through television, news channels, and internet website. When Christ returns, He will be visible to all, including those in Hell who persecuted Him and the saints. The world will have an emotional reaction to Christ’s return because they did not believe in Him. The Jewish people, and those who persecuted the Lord, shall mourn because of their former disbelief.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn, (Zechariah 12:10).

v.8 I am, Jesus said unless you believe I am (John 8:24), you will die with your sins. He said that before Abraham was I am (John 8:58), an intentional reference of Christ as the self-existent One of Exodus (Exodus 3:6-14) for which the Jews attempted to stone. When Jesus was approached by the band of soldiers in the garden of Gethsemane that came to apprehend Him, he spoke with the voice such command, I am He. The men went backward and fell to the ground from the power of Jesus’s voice (John 18:6).

The Word of God created the world. Men can make things with their hands and the knowledge to design. However, all created things were brought into existence by the Word of God.

Alpha and Omega- signifies God’s eternity. The first and last letters (A-O) of the Greek alphabet. God has no beginning or end because He is the beginning of all things and will be the end of all things (cf. Revelation 1:11, 17, 18, Revelation 2:8, 22:13, and Isaiah 41:4, 44:6 48:12).

"Beginning and end, God is the Sovereign Creator. He has been a part of man history from the beginning of creation until the end of civilization. Everything that happens in human history did so under His dominion. He is the present Eternal One, I am" (Rev 1:17).

Jesus is the Creator and Judge. He is the always one who could give revelation to His people.

For that which is (present), and which was (past), and which is to come (future), God is eternal.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God (Psalm 90:2).

The Glorified Christ, Judging His Church as High Priest (vv. 9-18)

v. 9 John was exiled to the isle of Patmos as a prisoner for preaching the gospel. Many attempts were made on his life to silence him, but he was chosen by Christ to be a witness for Him and to testify on behalf of His earthly ministry and all the visions of Jesus’ Revelation. John identified himself as a brother in the same tribulation [persecution] under Emperor Domitian. Emperor Nerva later released John after the death of Domitian, ca. 96 A.D.

The Persecution of the Early Church:

(1) Nero Burns Rome: History blames Emperor Nero for one of the greatest disasters to befall Rome. A great fire broke out the night of July 18, 64 A.D., utterly destroying the imperial city. Nero’s intention was to bypass the Senate and rebuild Rome to his specification and to further his political agenda. In 67 A.D., the first persecution of the Church spread throughout the whole Roman Empire. Tradition says, Paul the Apostle of the Gentile and Peter the Apostle of the Jews died under Nero’s reign. Paul was beheaded, and Peter crucified upside down on a cross.

(2) The Destruction of Jerusalem, 70 A.D.: During the first war between the Roman and Jews, a decisive Roman victory was made as they besieged and conquered Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple was left in ruins, and three years later, the