Revelation: What's in Store

Written by the apostle John, Revelation is a book of prophecy that describes what will happen in the end times. But Revelation isn't just meant to be a bunch of revelations about the future; it's mainly the revelation of one particular person: Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:19 gives us the outline of the book: "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this." The vision of Jesus that John had in chapter 1 is "the things which you have seen." "The things which are" refers to John writing to seven real-life churches in chapters 2-3. And then "the things which will take place after this" is chapters 4-22.

More specifically, Revelation 6-18 and part of 19 describes the tribulation period on the earth, when, after the rapture, God will judge a Christ-rejecting world through three sets of intense judgments: seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. At the end of the tribulation, which will be the worst period of history mankind has ever seen, Jesus will return.

Think It Through

Read Isaiah 2:12; 13:6-9; Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Joel 1:15; 2:1-11; Zephaniah 1:15; Matthew 24:21-22; and 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. What are some of the characteristics of the tribulation, also called the day of the Lord?

To what does Revelation 12:1-5 refer? Compare and contrast it to the prophecy concerning Jesus in Genesis 3:15.

Jesus Christ is not just the main subject of Revelation, but of the whole Bible. How does Revelation 13:8 reveal this truth.

A Word of Encouragement

The word revelation means to take the veil off or to make something clear, and this is the idea I want you to get in your mind about this book. A lot of people think Revelation is shrouded in mystery and hard to understand. But it's not—it's meant to clearly reveal Jesus as the glorified Judge of all the earth and the coming King.

Prayer

Father, thank You for the revelation of Jesus Christ as revealed in this book. Thank You that even though this world is only going to get worse, eventually it will all lead to Jesus returning to this earth. Help me to keep my eyes on You in the meantime.

Land and Explore

If you're interested in learning more about the book of Revelation, download Pastor Skip's fourteen-message series about the end times called What's Next?