An Exposition of the Book of Revelation

By Odell Furtick Jr.

Odell Furtick begins this exposition by saying, Do you believe? Its a question that everyone must answer personally. Its been over two thousand years since anyone has 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 leads his readers through the book of Revelation verse by verse, reassuring the readers that Gods final words are reliable and precise. The book of Revelation is one of the most neglected books in the Bible because of fear and lack of comprehension of its apocalyptic writings and prophetic symbols. This book brings to life a concise knowledge of the mysteries of God concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The book of Revelation is relevant in the twenty-first century, and the world should believe the testimony of the apostle John and believe all the sayings written in the Word of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973614906

Odell Furtick Jr.

ODELL FURTICK, JR. president of the Behind the Scene Ministries, reaching out to the lost in societies through the living word of God. He holds Th.D degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary; MA at Webster University and BS at University of Louisville. Continues Studied on-line at Dallas Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School: HarvardX edX: Religious Literacy Project.

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Copyright © 2018 Odell Furtick, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1491-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1492-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1490-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018900306

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/21/2018

Dedication

This humble work is dedicated to: Behind the Scenes Ministries.

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

My Lovely wife, Bernadette Porras Furtick, and

Most of all to my dearly beloved children: (Pierre, Dominique, Brandon, Liam and my Little Princess, Ayesha)

Odell Furtick, Jr.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1     Prologue

Chapter 2     The Letters To The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

Chapter 3     Letter to the seven Churches of Asia Minors

Chapter 4     A Door was opened in Heaven (The Tribulation period 4:1-22:21)

Chapter 5     Worthy is the Lamb of God

Chapter 6     The Beginning of the End: The Seven Seals opened

Chapter 7     God’s Seal of Protection

Chapter 8     The Seventh Seal Events (Trumpet Judgment 1-4)

Chapter 9     The Seven Trumpet Judgment (5-6)

Chapter 10   The Little Book

Chapter 11   The Two Witnesses and the Last Trumpet

Chapter 12   The Woman Clothed with the sun

Chapter 13   The Beginning of the End: The Beasts from the Sea and the Earth

Chapter 14   The End of the Beginning (The Judgement by the Lamb)

Chapter 15   Prelude to the Bowl Judgment

Chapter 16   The Bowls Judgment

Chapter 17   The Destruction of Babylon: Ecclesiastical

Chapter 18   The Destruction of Babylon: Commercial

Chapter 19   The Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ

Chapter 20   The Millennial Kingdom

Chapter 21   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 were concealed from the prophets in the Old Testament.

John was 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.¹ It is known as a rocky island where since this revelation, John had not seen Jesus in about 63 years.

The Three Main Divisions of Revelation:

I. Chapter 1, WRITE THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST SEEN

II. Chapters 2-3, WRITE THE THINGS WHICH ARE

• The letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor.

III. 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 important things when reading the Bible:

1. Who is the orator?

2. What’s the purpose of the book?

3. Who is the beneficiary?

Christ put together three different programs for three groups of people; they represent the three groups of mankind in the world.

1. Submissive and defiant members of the church.

2. Unbelieving Israel.

3. The world of unbelievers.

Four basic views of interpreting the book of Revelation, According to Bible scholars.

1. The Idealist View [Catholic Church]: This view uses a non-literal or allegorical approach to interpreting the book of Revelation. 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 at 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.²

2. The Preterist View- Preter, which means past, is derived from the Latin. The preterist view is divided into two groups (1) Partial/orthodox Preterism (2) Full/Radical Preterism. The Partial Preterist teaches that part of the prophecies found in the Book of 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 of the prophecies found in Revelation had already been fulfilled in 70 AD and we are currently living in the new heaven and the new earth now. Their view denies the second coming of Christ.

3. The Historicist approach [Protestant Reformers/ the Seventh - Day Adventist]. This view teaches that Revelation is a symbolic of the church’s history and of the apostle’s life through the end of the age. 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.³

• 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 invasions of the Roman Empire by the Vandals, Huns, Saracens, and Turks. According to Protestant historicians 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.

4. Futurist View [Evangelical Christian] This view teaches that the events of the Olivet Discourse and Revelation chapters 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 the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are spiritualized or allegorized into promises of God’s blessing for the church. There are major problems considered to exist with this view, such as: the continuing existence of the Jewish people throughout the centuries and the revival of the modern state of Israel. If Israel has been condemned by God, and there is no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain the supernatural survival of the Jewish people 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 1900 years?

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

The language is often called Apocalyptic. This term is used to describe 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.⁴

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.

CHAPTER ONE

Prologue

PART I: WRITE THE THINGS THOU HAST SEEN.

1:1

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’s servant, John, to know the things that were disclosed from the prophets of old. Here, John receives the glorious Revelation of Christ. It is Possible this Revelation 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 which must shortly come to pass in a vision.

About 710 years before the writing of the book of Revelation, the Archangel Gabriel had spoken to Daniel concerning future events. It could also be the Archangel Michael; the prince of Israel had shown him the things he saw in heaven and recorded these visions in his book.

1:2-3

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 and record what was revealed to him. John 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 will be blessed.

Here in this passage, John warns his readers that Christ’s return is imminent, and they need 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.⁵

The church adopted the public reading of the scriptures of the old synagogue (Luke 4:16; Acts 13:15; Colossians 4:16; I Thessalonians 5:27).

1:4 Greetings and Doxology (Former Salutation)

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

1. The first view, is mentioned 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 of the fear of the Lord. The Bible doesn’t indicate what the seven spirits are but gives references to His works.

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

3. 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.

1:5

First begotten of the dead- Jesus was the firstborn from the dead, in His resurrection.

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 didn’t recognize Christ in His glorified form.

1:6

"Made us kings and priests"- In the Millennial Kingdoms, 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. Revelation chapter 22 gives a detailed description of the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus will serve as King of Kings and King David as His co-regent.

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 marvellous light, (1 Peter 2:9).

1:7

He cometh with clouds:

The Hebrew meaning for clouds is to cover. The cloud plays a symbolic role as a recurrent Theophany of God, a 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 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 say 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 by way of television, news channels, and internet website. When Christ returns, He will be visible to all including those in hell whopersecuted Him and the saints. The world will have an emotional reaction about Christ’s return because they didn’t 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 of 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).

1:8

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 of the self-existent One, saying I am He. The men went backward and fell to the ground from the power of the voice of Jesus, (John 18:6).

The world was created by the Word of God. A man only has the ability to make things with his hands and a mind to design them. All creation was 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).

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).

1:9 The Vision of Christ Glorified.

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] they were under by Emperor Domitian. John, was later released by Emperor Nerva after the death of Domitian, circa 96A.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 the reign of Nero. 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 the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple were left in ruins, and three years later the Masada fell by the hand Emperor Titus and his Generals. Jesus foretold of this event in Matthew 24:2.

(3) Persecution of the Church: Under Emperor Domitian, 81 A.D.

According to tradition Domitian put out a decree to kill anyone in of King David. Among the persecuted were Christian martyrs Simeon and, the Bishop of Jerusalem, who was found crucified. Apostle John, was boiled in oil and afterward banished to the Isle of Patmos.

1:10

The Lord rose from the dead on a Sunday morning. John was in the Spirit or worshipping the Lord on Sunday and heard the Lord behind him. Alternatively, he could be referring to the voice of I am.

The Gift of the Torah- The acknowledgment of the five books of Moses given to the Children of Israel in the wilderness.

The Great Day of Judgment The sound of blowing Shophar is sharp and alert. It is meant to emphasize the holiness and greatness of these days of remorse and the Day of Judgment as it approaches, Yom Kippur.

The coming of the Messiah the horn will blow