JOY of Living

Revelation

Blog address: joyoflivingfpc.wordpress.com

Contact Information: Email: pegbaker@pacbell.net Phone number: 858-486-5130

Name Tags: Judy Palm at thepalms@san.rr.com

Joy of Living

• Four Blood moons and One total solar eclipse 2014/2015• Rosh Hashanah began at sunset September 13 – sunset September 15

• This began the Jubilee Sabbath year

I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

Joel 2:30-32

“Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:29-31

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Revelation 6:12-14

San Diego – Total lunar eclipse begins at 7:11pm on Sunday, September 27th –

Full eclipse will be at 8:23pm

Simonet, 1887 Decapitation of St. Paul

Caravaggio ,Crucifixion of Peter

Rubens, Peter Paul 1577-1640The Emperor Vespasian

David Roberts 1850

Francesco Hayez- 1867

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

Author and Date:• John identifies himself as the author: 1:1, 4 ,8, 22:8• Since 101AD – church has held that John, the apostle, son of Zebedee• Irenaeus 202AD – John was arrested and banished to the Isle of Patmos

during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian. • Conservative scholars:

• Written between 81-96 AD; the last book of the NT after John’s Gospel and letters.

• Written around 68AD or before the destruction of Temple in Jerusalem• 9 month reign of Domitian in 69 during the civil wars of Rome

and the siege of Jerusalem

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

• Written when Christians were entering a time of persecution:

• Nero’s persecution – 54-68 AD

• Vespasian’s reign - 69-70 AD

• Domitian’s reign - 81-96 AD

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

Occasion:• Rome was beginning to enforce the cult of the emperor worship• Some in the church began advocating a policy of compromise

John moved from Jerusalem to Ephesus around 65 AD• Becomes the surviving apostolic leader of the church in Asia Minor

• Andrew & Luke die in 68AD• Thomas, Jude and Simon missionaries martyred in 79AD• Phillip in 80AD

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

Destination:• Letter addressed to the 7 churches in the mainland of Asia Minor

Literary Form – Apocalypse:

• The Greek word apokalypsis - from which we get the English word "apocalypse“.

• Literally means "something uncovered" or "revealed.”

I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

Revelation 1:9-11

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

Apocalyptic Writings:• Popular style 200BC – 100AD

• Time Period• Persecution• Divine disclosure – usually from an angel• God’s secret purpose is revealed• Almost all apocalypses are anonymous or attributed to some

ancient writer• Moses, Ezra, Enoch, Elijah or Abraham

• God and Satan do battle, but everything proceeds according to God’s plan

• Apocalyptic writers were not writing for a future audience, they addressed their own generation looking for meaning in their distress.

Revelation

The Apocalypse of John

Major Difference between Revelation and OT Apocalyptic writings:• John calls his letter an apocalypse – use of highly symbolic language • Jewish writers place the pivotal point of history as the coming of the

Messiah – John puts that point on the cross of Christ and His sacrifice. • John identifies himself as the writer who is known to the recipients of

the letter.• John, your brother• Prophecy and a revelation• Grounded in current history• Pastoral letter – written to the church at large but also to real

churches with real people living with persecution.• Revelation is a blend of three types of writings:

• Apocalypse, prophecy and letter