Sermon Tone Analysis

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[[@page.3.1.1]][[@bible.87.1.1]]!!!! 3.1.1

- Revelation  [[1:1|bible.87.1.1]]

Up to this point, we have spent considerable time discussing background information in order to better prepare the reader for the verse-by-verse exposition to follow.

Having read the background material, the reader should now be equipped to understand the principles behind the method of our exposition and the liabilities we believe attend competing views.

Moving forward, we will place greater emphasis upon exposition than refuting alternate views, although we will continue to make mention of them at key places in the text.1 See the /Introduction/ for a discussion of various background topics related to the book of Revelation.The Revelation \\ The first word of this book, Ἀποκάλυψις [Apokalypsis] , should be kept in mind by the reader throughout the book.

For it is God's intention to /reveal/ rather than /conceal/:In the New Testament, /apokalypsis/ always has the majestic sense of God's unveiling of himself to his creatures, an unveiling that we call by its Latin name /revelation/. . . .

It depicts the progressive and immediate unveiling of the otherwise unknown and unknowable God to his church throughout the ages.2

The clearness and lucidity (perspicuity) of the Scriptures is their consistent theme (Deu.

[[29:29|bible.5.29.29]];

Pr. [[13:13|bible.20.13.13]];

Isa.

[[5:24|bible.23.5.24]];

Isa.

[[45:19|bible.23.45.19]];

Mtt.

[[11:25|bible.61.11.25]];

Mtt.

[[24:15|bible.61.24.15]];

Luke [[10:21|bible.63.10.21]],

[[26|bible.63.10.26]];

[[24:25|bible.63.24.25]]; 2Ti.

[[3:16|bible.76.3.16]];

2Pe.

[[1:19|bible.82.1.19]]).

Yet if Scripture is meant to be understood, why do we have such a difficult time understanding it, and especially this book?

Our problem is not so much the difficulty of understanding, but our own idolatry and rebellion.

We are unwilling to /study/ to know God and to /submit/ in obedience to that which may be known.

We are more interested in other pursuits than in seeking God through His revealed words of life (John [[6:63|bible.64.6.63]],

[[68|bible.64.6.68]]).

As is often the case where Scripture is concerned, our inability to understand is more a reflection of our lack of zeal than the difficulty which attends the interpretation of God's Word.

When the average person in our country spends multiple hours in front of a television set /daily/, but "just can't find the time" to read God's Word, the issue is not one of time management, but /idolatry/.When we come to this last book of Scripture, our lack of preparation is evidenced all the more because what God intends as /revelation/, we see as /mystery/.

Yet Paul holds that revelation is the antithesis of mystery (Rom.

[[16:25|bible.66.16.25]]).

This book is not intended to be a veiled document full of mysterious symbols, but an unveiling and clarification of things which have heretofore not been revealed by God.3

In order to grasp the meaning of this /revelation/, we need a foundation in the rest of Scriptures, and especially the Old Testament.

(See /The Importance of the Old Testament/.)There are several reasons why we believe that this book is not intended to be enigmatic.

First, we believe that a chief purpose of God was the creation of language to communicate with man.

If this is so, then the intellect of man and the clarity of language must be sufficient for this task:If God is the originator of language and if the chief purpose of originating it was to convey His message to humanity, then it must follow that He, being all-wise and all-loving, originated sufficient language to convey all that was in His heart to tell mankind.

Furthermore, it must also follow that He would use language and expect people to understand it in its literal, normal, and plain sense.4

Second, we have the pattern established by the rest of Scripture.

"It is unthinkable to believe that God would speak with precision and clarity from Genesis to Jude, and then when it comes to the end abandon all precision and clarity."5

It is not God's intention to train us how to read and understand 65 books of the Bible and then "throw us a curve" in the 66th book by expecting that we adopt an entirely different approach.

(See the discussion regarding /The Art and Science of Interpretation/.)So it is our duty here to make sense of this book, based upon what related passages reveal concerning its central themes, while reading the text in the same way as the rest of Scripture.of

Jesus Christ \\ The central question surrounding this phrase is whether Jesus Christ is the /source/ of the revelation (subjective genitive) or being /described/ by the revelation (objective genitive).Elsewhere, a very similar Greek phrase ἀποκαλύψεως  Ἰησοῦ  Χριστοῦ [apokalypseōs Iēsou Christou] is used by Paul: "For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught /it/, but /it came/ through the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal.

[[1:12|bible.69.1.12]]).6

It would seem that in Galatians the genitive Ἰησοῦ  Χριστοῦ [Iēsou Christou] is subjective rather than objective, for Paul is discussing the /source/ of his revelatory knowledge.

It did not come through man, nor was it taught, but it /came/ through the revelation of Jesus.

Jesus was the source of Paul's revelation, not man.In favor of the objective genitive (Jesus as the object being revealed), is the oft-expressed longing of the NT writers for His appearing (1Cor.

[[1:7|bible.67.1.7]];

2Th.

[[1:7|bible.74.1.7]];

1Pe.

[[1:7|bible.81.1.7]]).

In these passages, the appearing of Jesus is referred to as the "revelation of Jesus Christ."

Apart from the glimpses provided within this book and elsewhere in the NT, the true character and glory of Christ is yet hidden.

When He appears, His glory will no longer be veiled and all men everywhere will understand that He is God.7 If "context is king" in interpretation, then the next phrase would indicate we are to take this as the subjective genitive: "which God gave Him to show His servants."8

The emphasis here is on Jesus Christ as the /source/ of the revelation being given to John.Wallace suggests the possibility that this is a /plenary genitive/ indicating the revelation is both /from/ Christ and /about/ Christ.9

However, as Thomas has observed, such an understanding violates the basic interpretive principle that the original author had /only one/ intended meaning.10

The context favors the subjective genitive (the revelation is /from/ Jesus Christ), but we should be aware that throughout Scripture, Jesus is involved with revelation in at least three ways: #.

He is the /source/ of revelation (Gal.

[[1:12|bible.69.1.12]];

1Pe.

[[1:11|bible.81.1.11]];

Rev. [[1:1|bible.87.1.1]]+).

#.

He is the /object/ of revelation (Luke [[24:44|bible.63.24.44]]; 1Cor.

[[1:7|bible.67.1.7]];

2Th.

[[1:7|bible.74.1.7]];

1Pe.

[[1:7|bible.81.1.7]];

Rev. [[1:11-18|bible.87.1.11-87.1.18]]+;

[[5:6-10|bible.87.5.6-87.5.10]]+; [[19:11-16|bible.87.19.11-87.19.16]]+).

"Many fail to see the centrality of Jesus Christ in this volume. . . .

[Some] become preoccupied with the identification of events and persons other than our Lord.

Many seem to be more interested in the Antichrist than in Jesus Christ."11

#.

His /incarnation/ is the revelation of God to man (Isa.

[[9:1-2|bible.23.9.1-23.9.2]]; John [[1:14|bible.64.1.14]],

[[18|bible.64.1.18]];

[[12:45|bible.64.12.45]]; [[14:8-9|bible.64.14.8-64.14.9]];

Col. [[1:15|bible.72.1.15]];

[[2:9|bible.72.2.9]]; Heb.

[[1:2|bible.79.1.2]];

1Jn.

[[1:2|bible.83.1.2]]).

Paul makes plain that the revelation he received was not the result of teaching he received from men.

In other words, /biblical revelation is not by human insight or instruction/.

It is the unveiling of that which was previously unknown /and would forever remain unknown/ if God had not graciously granted us His self-disclosure.

This is why the natural world can never be classified as the 67th book of the Bible, for the "revelation" it provides is not biblical revelation.

It is subject to the finding out of man and the manner in which it is discerned is subject to the flawed interpretations and theories of fallen men.

This alone tells us why Genesis takes precedence over the speculative investigation of prehistory by modern science.

Scriptural revelation, the direct revelation of God, has no equal.

It is for these very reasons that biblical revelation is /always initiated by God/ and never by man.

It was the Lord who opened Hagar's eyes so that she saw water nearby (Gen.

[[21:19|bible.1.21.19]]).

It was the Lord who revealed the Angel of the Lord blocking Balaam's way (Num.

[[22:31|bible.4.22.31]]).

The Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant so that he might see the angelic host (2K.

[[6:17|bible.12.6.17]]).

Moses would have remained a man unknown to history if the Lord had not made His ways known to him (Ps.