The book of Revelation is only book in the bible that is audacious enough to say,
“READ ME! I’m Special!”
It pretty clear to me that God WANTS us to read and understand this book.
It is, after all, the last chapter in the bible.
Like the last chapter in any book, it brings the whole story together and resolves all the mysteries.
Who ever reads a great book and skips the last chapter? No one!
Except, sadly, many Christians who try to read it and wind up with more “mysteries” than they started out with. It can be confusing.
There is a lot of symbolism that confuses many people. But the symbols are all explained in other parts of the bible. I will show them to you. There seems to be all these numerical codes like 7 of this and 12 of that and the always interesting and purportedly mysterious 666. We will look at what those number mean in the bible. The book can be very chronologically confusing because there are chapters that follow a timeline on earth interspersed with chapters with the timeless view from Heaven. We will unwrap those.
If you understand the last chapter THEN you understand the book. Of course, there are many parts of the story you have to understand before you can understand the last chapter. And I love to teach them.
I came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ under expository teaching of the book of Revelation over 20 years ago. Since then, The Holy Spirit has driven me to dig deep into this book - to study it, teach it, attempt to understand its mysteries, and to share it with others.
I am thrilled that God has given me the opportunity to share the finest fruit of my study and His promised blessing with my brothers and sisters at PHUMC through an expository teaching of the book Thursday evenings at 7:30 in the Choir room starting August 15th.
This is not the normal PHUMC bible study format. In this teaching you will learn the scripture, the story, the prophesy, the history and all significant viewpoints of the many controversial passages in the book, and why they are controversial. We will have Q&A after each session. This will be the 5th or 6th time I have taught the whole book. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever been disappointed or bored.
As an introduction, you are invited to a 2-session overview August 15th and August 22nd. The overview touches on the bible books of Genesis, Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus’ end times prophesies, along with summary of most chapters in Revelation. Just this overview can change your life by revealing your Savior, His plan for you and the end of days. You will likely be amazed at the clarity of the book, and you will definitely receive the promised blessing.
“Revelation” means “unveiling,” Like the cover pulled off a statue so it is seen publicly for the first time. Like the groom lifting the brides veil so she can see clearly her new husband and he his new wife for the first time. The Bride of Christ is unveiled at The Wedding Supper of the Lamb in Revelation Chapter 19. (You will want to be at this party!
So, what is being unveiled? Here’s the shortest synopsis off it you will ever see:
Of course, almost the whole bible is between those two verses. That scripture is the beginning and the end. It is the A and Z of God’s plan. In Greek, that would be the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
At the end of Revelation, Jesus says:
The book reveals Jesus Christ, God’s plan for your eternity and neatly ties together all the prophesy in the bible. It is the only book in the bible that makes this promise of a blessing for those who hear and keep the things written in it.
“Keeping” means “following or watching closely.” It is the same Greek word used in Matthew 19:17 when Jesus said “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Everyone wants a blessing, and I can testify that God has blessed me beyond measure through this book. But to keep what is written in it, you have to understand it. I have been working on that for a long time.
What I have learned is that if you look at this book through the lens of the old testament prophesies, along with Christ’s end times teaching - it makes sense out of the mysteries.
In fact, once you get grounded in Revelation, it is a lens through which you will see the whole bible more clearly! And it is EXCITING! It is the last chapter, the culmination of God’s plan for His creation. It is DRAMATIC! It is the end of the bible and the un-creation of Creation! A new Heaven and a new Earth.
I believe God longs for His own to understand it, and that is why He has promised us a special blessing for reading it. Come claim your blessing!
You are invited to our 2-session overview of the book of Revelation. Please come check it out.
Then, in the following months, we will go back to chapter 1, verse 1 for a weekly study. We will go chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse through the entire book. In this expository bible study, you will gain understanding of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The blessings are real and you are invited to join us in partaking of them. Child care will be available. I pray we will see you there.
Jerry Riggin
Member PHUMC
This is my favorite book of the bible because it promises blessing to those who read it and to those who hear it and take it to heart! Thanks for sharing Jerry!
I am SO looking forward to sharing this awesome story. I am praying I will see you there.