The Book of Revelation

The Good News From Patmos

Almost two millennia ago, the apostle John was exiled on a small rocky island in the Aegean Sea because of his faithful witness to the gospel. The aged apostle endured all the hardships of Roman imprisonment. On one particular Sabbath, he had a special visit from Jesus Christ, who came to encourage His servant in his suffering. In a series of visions, Jesus showed him the panoramic history of the church and what God’s people would experience as they waited for their Lord’s return.

What John had seen in vision he faithfully recorded in a scroll that he titled “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). The book that he wrote reveals Jesus’ work in heaven and on earth since His ascension and what He will do when He returns. It was intended to assure Christians through the ages of Christ’s presence and to sustain them as they experience the trials of daily life amid a fallen world immersed in the great controversy.

This quarter, we will delve into this book. In broad brushstrokes we will focus on the book’s major parts and themes. The idea is to become familiar with the book’s key themes and to see that it, indeed, reveals Jesus Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His high-priestly ministry in behalf of His people.

As we do so, we will proceed in the following ways:

1. Our study of Revelation is based on the biblical concept of the inspiration of the Bible. While the messages of the book came from God, the language in which they were communicated is human. Noting language and images derived from the history of God’s people in the Old Testament, we will discover how John communicated those messages.

2. A careful reading of Revelation’s prophecies (like those of Daniel) shows that the historicist method of prophetic interpretation is the correct way to understand the prophecies’ intended fulfillment because they follow the flow of history, from the prophet’s time to the end of the world. This method illustrates how we should make every effort to derive meaning from the text itself, rather than imposing a predetermined interpretation upon it.

3. The organizational structure of Revelation is in many ways crucial for responsible application of the book’s prophecies. Our analysis of Revelation will be based on the fourfold structure of the book:

a. Revelation 1:1-3:22 employs the situation of the churches of John’s day to prophetically address the situation of the church in different periods of history.

b. Revelation 4:1-11:19 repeats (or recapitulates) and builds on this history of the church, using apocalyptic symbols that add progressively more detail.

c. Revelation 12:1-14:20 is the thematic center of the book and spans the history of the great controversy from before the time of Jesus to the Second Advent.

d. Revelation 15:1-22:21 focuses exclusively on the end time.

4. A meaningful interpretation of Revelation’s prophecies must be Christ-centered. The entire book was written from the perspective of Christ. It is only through Christ that the symbols and images of Revelation receive their ultimate meaning and significance.

Revelation promises blessings to those who read or listen to its words and who heed and keep the admonitions found therein. “The book of Revelation opens with an injunction to us to understand the instruction it contains. ‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,’ God declares, ‘and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.’ When we as a people understand what this book means to us, there will be seen among us a great revival. We do not understand fully the lessons that it teaches, notwithstanding the injunction given us to search and study it.” - Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Minsters and Gospel Workers, p. 113.

As we analyze this book, we invite you to discover for yourselves the things that you need to hear, and heed, as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ranko Stefanovic, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University. His specialty is the book of Revelation.

Video of the lesson presented by Pastor Doug Batchelor:

http://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media-archives/t/central-study-hour/sq/8/o/4/th/c.aspx


Video of the lesson presented by Dr Derek Norris:

http://hopess.hopetv.org/


The Teachers' Editions

https://www.absg.adventist.org/Teachers.htm

www.ssnet.org

Click on References below after the links to the lessons and before the cell phone signs for the verses of the week

1. The Gospel From Patmos • Dec 28 – Jan 4   
2. Among the Lampstands • January 5-11   
3. Jesus’ Messages to the Seven Churches • Jan 12-18   
4. Worthy Is the Lamb •  Jan 19-25   
5. The Seven Seals • Jan 26 – Feb 1   
6. The Sealed People of God • Feb 2-8   
7. The Seven Trumpets • Feb 9-15   
8. Satan, a Defeated Enemy • Feb 16-22   
9. Satan and His Allies • Feb 23 – Mar 1  
10. God’s Everlasting Gospel • Mar 2-8   
11. The Seven Last Plagues • Mar 9-15   
12. Judgment on Babylon • Mar 16-22   
13. “I Make All Things New” • Mar 23-29   

Oneness in Christ from September 29 2018 to December 28 2018

Oneness in Christ

Video of the lesson presented by Pastor Doug Batchelor:

http://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media-archives/t/central-study-hour/sq/8/o/4/th/c.aspx


Video of the lesson presented by Dr Derek Norris:

http://hopess.hopetv.org/


The Teachers' Editions

https://www.absg.adventist.org/Teachers.htm

www.ssnet.org

Click on References below after the links to the lessons and before the cell phone signs for the verses of the week

This Quarter’s Study Contents: The Book of Acts – Victory of the Gospel

1. Creation and Fall • Sep 28 – Oct 5   
2. Causes of Disunity • Oct 6 – 12   
3. “That They All May Be One” • Oct 13 – 19   
4. The Key to Unity •  Oct 20 – 26   
5. The Experience of Unity in the Early Church • Oct 27 – Nov 2   
6. Images of Unity • Nov 3 – 9   
7. When Conflicts Arise • Nov 10 – 16   
8. Unity in Faith • Nov 17 – 23   
9. The Most Convincing Proof • NOv 24 – 30  
10. Unity and Broken Relationships • Dec 1 – 7   
11. Unity in Worship • Dec 8 – 14   
12. Church Organization and Unity • Dec 15 – 21   
13. Final Restoration of Unity • Dec 22 – 28   

Oneness in Christ

Our Unity in Christ

The church is God’s family on earth: serving, studying, and worshiping together. Looking to Jesus as its leader and Redeemer, the church is called to take the good news of salvation to all people.

Number 14 of the Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church states, in part: “The church is the community of believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In continuity with the people of God in Old Testament times, we are called out from the world; and we join together for worship, for fellowship, for instruction in the Word, for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, for service to all mankind, and for the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel.” - Seventh-day Adventists Believe (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press© Publishing Association, 2005) p. 163.

But what do we mean by church? Who belongs to the church? The answer to these questions depends in part on our definition of the church.

A church is certainly the local community of believers in Jesus who obey the Lord and who assemble themselves for worship and service. They can meet in house churches or in larger congregations (Rom. 16:10, 11). By church we also mean the building in which Christians assemble. But this is hardly the best definition of the church. The church is about people, not about buildings.

In the New Testament, the church sometimes is referred to as the group of believers in a particular geographical area. So, when Paul addressed the church in Galatia, he referred to many local congregations in towns and villages in that region (Gal. 1:2; see also 1 Pet. 1:1). By church we sometimes also mean a group of people who belong to a particular denomination or who call themselves by a particular name given for their beliefs and heritage.

Yet, all these definitions are incomplete. The church is the people of God all over the earth. And though Christ has faithful followers in various denominations (many of whom will in the final crisis join God’s remnant [Rev. 18:1-4]), this quarter we are going to focus on our church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and what unity in Christ means to us.

Fundamental Belief 14, called Unity in the Body of Christ, states: “The church is one body with many members, called from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. In Christ we are a new creation; distinctions of race, culture, learning, and nationality, and differences between high and low, rich and poor, male and female, must not be divisive among us. We are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation. Through the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures we share the same faith and hope and reach out in one witness to all. This unity has its source in the oneness of the triune God, who has adopted us as His children.” - Seventh-day Adventist Believe, p. 201.

The purpose of this series of Bible study lessons is to provide biblical instruction on the topic of Christian unity for us as Seventh-day Adventists, who, now, as always, face challenges to that unity, and will until the end of time.

However, in the Scriptures we find numerous insights and instructions on how to live God’s gift of oneness in Christ. Those insights, those instructions about living out and expressing in our church the unity we have been given, are the focus of this quarter.

Denis Fortin is a professor of theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. Since joining the Theological Seminary faculty in 1994, Fortin has served also as director of the Master of Divinity program (1999-2001), associate dean (2000-2004), chair of the Department of Theology and Christian Philosophy (2006), and until recently, dean (2006-2013).