Background to the Revelation

I have a series of Bible study books by a scholar named, Irving L. Jensen, so below are a few outline notes from the one on the Revelation. Why the Revelation? My church has an adult Bible study where we just started a study in this book. This is an outline of Jensen’s work with a few of my own additions.

1. The author: identified as John the youngest disciple and apostle connected to the church at Ephesus (Revelation 1:1:4, 9, 22:8).
2. Date and destination: written around AD 96 at the end of the reign of Domitian (AD 81-96). John was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his stand on Christianity. The designated list of recipients is in the text (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 19, 3:6, 13, 22).
3. Historical setting:
   1. John’s ministry moved from Jerusalem to Asia Minor (Ephesus).
   2. The age of the churches when the Revelation was written, founding around AD 52-56).
   3. Increasing intensity of imperial opposition to Christianity.
   4. John’s writing came over three decades after all the other New Testament writings.
4. John’s experience of inspiration: not wild dreams but dramatic God-sent visions (Revelation 1:10) and he was an active participant in the book (Revelation 5:1-5). For the most part he is only a recorder of what he sees and hears.
5. The title of the book: Revelation is actually apocalypse, meaning unveiling or uncovering something that was previously hidden. John is revealing what is hidden (Galatians 1:12, Romans 8:18, 1 Corinthians 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:7, 13, 4:13, 5:1, Daniel 2:19, 22, 28, 30, 47, 10:1, 11:35).
6. The Theme: twofold theme of the book is 1) revealing the person Jesus Christ, and 2) revealing instructions to the Christian church.
   1. The person of Jesus:
      1. About him: he is judge, redeemer, and triumphant king, the climax of Christianity.
      2. From and by him: in word (Revelation 1:2, 2:1-3:22) and in deed (Revelation 5:5).
   2. Instructions to the church:
      1. Prophecy: predicting future event to those in John’s day and those at the end of time.
      2. Historical perspective: showing the history of the end times as God see it, and describe his justice to both individuals and nations.World history is controlled by God (Revelation 11:5).
      3. Doctrinal instruction: if this was the only surviving book of the NT, we would still know much about man, sin, angels, Satan, judgment, salvation, church, worship, heaven, hell, and God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
      4. Spiritual application: exhortation is another theme of the book. Notice Revelation 1:3 (the words reads, hears, keeps).
7. Purposes: the message to believers and unbelievers is loud and clear
   1. Believers must overcome and persevere persecution.
   2. Believers must be warned against apostasy.
   3. The Revelation does not give all the prophetic details.
      1. It describes the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).
      2. It describes large movements and trends in world history.
      3. It teaches spiritual principles underlying God’s redemptive plan.
8. Apocalyptic writing:
   1. Main eschatological.
   2. Written in times of persecution.
   3. Employ the use of visions.
   4. Style is generally figurative with an abundance of symbols.
9. Relation to other Scriptures: Genesis 1:1 is about beginnings, Revelation 22:5, 13 is about the end.
   1. Jeremiah 51 / Revelation 18
   2. Daniel 7, 8 / Revelation 13
   3. Zechariah 4 / Revelation 11
   4. Daniel 12:7 / Revelation 12:14
   5. Exodus 19:6 / Revelation 1:6
   6. Daniel 7:13, Zechariah 12:10, 12 / Revelation 1:7
   7. Daniel 7:9, 13, 10:5 / Revelation 1:14
   8. Daniel 10:6, Ezekiel 1:24 / Revelation 1:15
   9. Isaiah 11:4, 49:2 / Revelation 1:16
   10. Isaiah 44:6, 48:12 / Revelation 1:17
   11. Isaiah 38:10 / Revelation 1:18
10. Relation to the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:1-25:46, Mark 13:1-37, Luke 21:5-36).
11. Relation to other writing from John: the gospel of LIFE
    1. Biography – eternal life for the Christian (John’s gospel).
    2. Epistles – divine life in Christian living (John’s letters).
    3. Visions – victorious life for now and for eternity (John’s apocalypse).