An Adult Sunday School Class On The Revelation to John, Courtesy of Trinity Episcopal Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi

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The Book of Revelation: Session 7

The Last Things

May 6 , 2007

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

Session 7

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    On a technical note, each class session is accompanied by visual aids (slide projections). At Trinity Episcopal Church, these are projected from a computer using a digital projector. For the on-line sessions, the same slide shows are linked to the individual lessons. Periodically in the text there are buttons like this one: . If you left double click on the button you will be taken to the pertinent slide show for that lesson. You can look at the slide(s), and then use the "Back" button on your browser to bring you back to this page. Try it now on the slide show button above. Also a printable handout is avalable in pdf format that you can read with Adobe Acrobat Reader™.

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Course Review.  Thus far, we have covered six sections of Revelation (Slides 2-3; ):

• The (then) present situation of the Churches in Asia Minor (The Letters to the Seven Churches; Class 1)
• The future of the Church based on the actions of the Roman Empire (the seven seals; Class 2 and Class 3)
• God's warnings to Rome and Domitian, the emperor (the seven trumpets; Class 4)
• The seven scenes leading up to the final judgment (Class 5)
• The seven bowls of God's wrath (Class 5)
• Babylon and Her Fall (Class 6)

 

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Last Class Review (Class 6).

1. Using Old Testament imagery of Israel prostituting herself when her people were unfaithful to Yahweh and worshipped other gods, John describes Rome as the harlot of the known world. John's imagery of this woman contrasts sharply with the imagery of the Church as the Mother of God. (Slide 4; )
2. John saw that the harlot Rome, and her consorts, the provinces of the empire, would eventually fall, and that Rome's undoing would in fact be led by an uprising of the provincial governors.
3. John provides several clues to his symbolism, and the identity of Rome and the Caesars as the harlot and the beast, respectively. The city is compared to Babylon, and a list of the Roman emperors is given in coded language.(Slide 5; )
4. Finally, the fall of Rome is lamented by people of power and commerce (political and financial power being Rome's base). (Slide 6; )

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Today's Class (Class 7) (Slide 7; )

This last section of Revelation is John's vision of the end of history. The setting is in heaven, and as the curtain rises, we see preparations for a great banquet.  The text begins with and adaptation of Ps 134 and the wedding feast of the Lamb (Slide 8; ):

 

Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready;

to her it has been granted to be clothed

with fine linen, bright and pure"—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

(Rev. 19:7-8, NRSV)

 

This imagery falls in line with John's use of other Old Testament imagery, particularly Hosea.  It is also in keeping with the New Testament imagery of the heavenly banquet. (Slide 9; )

 

In today's class we will cover the following (Slide 10; ):

 

Topic	Text of Revelation
The King of Kings	19:11-21
The Millennium and the Defeat of Satan	20:1-10
The Final Judgment	20:11-15
The New Heaven and Earth	21:1-8
The New Jerusalem	21:9-22:5
The Epilog and Closing	22:6-21

 

 

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The King of Kings (19:11-21) (Slide 11; )

 

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords enters the scene. He is named as the "Word of God" and is the rider of the white horse (see the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Class 2). A graphic illustration of him can be found at http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image24.asp.  

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.  (19:12-13) (Slide 12; ) The Word of God (a.k.a., the Lamb, Jesus) (Slide 13; ), defeats the beast of the earth and the false prophet, as well as the kings of the earth and their armies (the ten horns described in Class 6) (Slide 14; ).  The beast and the false prophet will be cast into the fiery pool of burning sulfur.  The burning pool (or pit) is also described in 1 Enoch as a place of punishment for fallen angels, false prophets, and evil doers.

 

Summary and reflection (Slide 15; ). Note that John was correct that persecutions would end, and that Christ would be victorious when Constantine made Christianity the official religion. This is not quite the defeat that John had in mind. Was John "wrong" in his vision?

 

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The Millennium and the Defeat of Satan (20:1-10)

 

This is perhaps the most controversial section of the Book of Revelation. What is the 1000 year reign of Christ that John refers to that coincides with the 1000-year imprisonment of Satan? (Slide 16; )

 

The millennium is the holy trinity of completeness. 10 equals completeness, so 10 ´ 10 ´ 10 = 1000 (Chapman, 123). Chapman points out that John repeats himself in order to emphasize certain points. Rome's destruction is told 3 times (and in 3 ways), and the victory of Christ is described in 3 ways. (Slide 17; )

 

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The Final Judgment (20:11-15)

 

Returning to a scene of heaven and to the imagery of scrolls, John sees a vision of God on his throne in heaven holding the scroll of life.  The dead are judged according to their deeds.  Hades and death itself are cast into the pool of fire, as were those who's names are not written in the scroll of life.  Note that those who suffer this fate suffer the second death, which is spiritual death, the ultimate destruction.  (Slide 21; )

 

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The New Heaven and Earth (21:1-8)

 

Using the imagery of Isaiah (65:17-18), an entire new cosmological creation is born:  a new heaven, and a new earth, and it is a return to the idea of Genesis:  God walking with God's people.  And to the victor (Christ), God will be his father.  God will be Alpha and the Omega (this is the same way God referred to Godself in 1:8).(Slide 22; )

 

God provides a warning that there are several sins that will result in the second death (Slide 23; ):

 

Cowardliness

Unfaithfulness

Depravity

Murder

Unchastity

Sorcery

Idol worship

Deceitfulness

 

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The New Jerusalem

 

A holy city (the new Jerusalem) will descend onto the earth (Slide 24; ). For a painting of this, see http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image33.asp

 

It is interesting that the description of the New Jerusalem is somewhat parallel to the new temple described in Ezekiel. Ezekiel wrote about his vision of the new Temple in Jerusalem in great detail. It is in fact a temple that was never built. (Slide 25; )

 

The numerical descriptions in Revelation are used by John to show that the new city will be open to all, be all encompassing.  It will be a universal city. It will have 12 "pearly gates" (21:21).

 

It is important to note that the city has no Temple. There is no need, because God is not contained in a Holy of Holies anymore.  God and the Lamb are readily accessible to everyone.  (Slide 26; )

 

The city has a river of life-giving waters, and a holy tree (like the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) (22:1-2).

 

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The Epilog and Closing (22:6-21) (Slide 27; )

 

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!" And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." (22:8-11)

 

Daniel was told to keep his prophecy a secret (Daniel's future was a long way off). Not so with John, because the future is high! The imminent return of Christ is foreseen, and John's people are told to worry about themselves individually, and now worry about others (Let the wicked be wicked, you do what is righteous [22:11]).(Slide 28; )

 

The book ends with a prayer and a threat. (Slide 29; ) The promise is the hopefulness in Jesus' return: "The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.' And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.' And let everyone who is thirsty come.  Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift" (22:7).

 

(Slide 30; ) The threat: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (22:18-19). In other words: "Don't mess around with this scroll!"

 

And the cry of hopefulness: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (22:20).

 

Summary and Reflection. What is meant about the return of Christ? Is Christ really "gone" from us right now? Are we in the millennial period, or is that figurative language of John reflecting back on the history of Israel and the early church? (Slide 31; )

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Artistic Renderings of John's Visions

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