The document provides an overview of a New Testament survey course covering the book of Revelation. It discusses some of the challenges in interpreting Revelation, noting that the book has often been misunderstood and misused to make false predictions. However, the document emphasizes that Revelation's core message is one of hope, focusing on God establishing a new heaven and new earth where there will be no more death or suffering. It also provides background context on the literary genre of apocalyptic literature and symbols used in Revelation like numbers, colors, and animals.

1. New Testament
Survey
BIL102
Workshop 5
Glenn Johnson

2. New Testament
Survey
Devotion & Prayer
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the old heaven and the old earth had
disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven like a
beautiful bride prepared for her husband.
I heard a loud shout from the throne,
saying, "Look, the home of God is now
among his people! He will live with them,
and they will be his people. God himself will
be with them.
He will remove all of their sorrows, and
there will be no more death or sorrow or
crying or pain. For the old world and its
evils are gone forever.“
Revelation 21:1-4

3. New Testament
Survey
CHECK UP/UPDATES/QUESTIONS/TONIGHT

4. DISCUSSION ZONE
Revelation: A Hopeful and
Saving Message for Today (If
We Can Get Past the
Gobbledygook)
-There is need for its message of
hope in a lost world
a) What are the barriers to
understanding Revelation?
b) What verse most clearly defines
its message of hope
c) Discuss as class

5. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
99 AD
Pope Sylvester

6. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
March 21, 1843 and March
21, 1844
William Miller, 7th Day
Adventist

7. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
1982
Pat Robertson

8. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
1988
Edgar C. Whisenant

9. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
October 28, 1992
Lee Jang Rim

10. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
September 15-27, 1994
Harold Camping

11. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
March 19, 1997
Marshall Applewhite

12. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
November 5, 1999
“Temple” Group and
“House of Prayer” Group
Deported

13. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
November 19, 1999
Christian Sect In Philippines

14. Revelation
Gobbledygook:
Getting Past the
Goofiness
END TIME PREDICTIONS THAT WEREN’T….
Anything Positive From These Events?
Anything Negative?
How Should This Affect Our Study of The Bible In
General and Our View of Prophecy?

15. Understanding Revelation
“LOST” BOOK OF NT CANON
FEAR; GLOOM & DOOM

16. Understanding Revelation
HOLLYWOOD…..

17. Understanding Revelation
NEED: Sound and Sane
Teaching
MESSAGE: Timeless One of
Hope

18. Understanding Revelation
HISTORICAL SETTING
Patmos
Domitian 81-96 AD
An Organized Attempt to
Abolish Christianity

19. Understanding Revelation
Type of Literature
APOCALYPSE: from apokalupsis “to uncover or reveal”
ORIGIN: From Jews When They Came Into Contact With
Persian Religion in the Exile and After
CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Two Ages
2. Dualism
3. Visions
4. Messiah Figures
5. Symbols, Numbers, Animals, Colors, Theological Geography

20. Understanding Revelation
THEOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY
• THE SEA: symbolizes evil or hostile forces.
• THE ABYSS: home of the evil spirits, fallen angels and the point of origin for
plagues and monster-beasts (Rev. 9:1)
• THE MOUNTAIN: the site of visions and revelations (Rev. 21:10)
• THE NEW JERUSALEM: the center of hope and promises for God's people (Rev. 21:10)
• THE TEMPLE: the dwelling place of God and the center of action for many of the visions in
Revelation (Rev. 11:1)
• THE LAKE OF FIRE: sometimes called the second death and the final dwelling place of evil.
Gehenna, or, hell, is never used in Revelation (Rev. 20:15)
• 7. THE THRONE OF GOD: the site of holiness and expresses the presence of God. Appears in
17 chapters in Revelation (Rev. 4:2)
• 8. BABYLON: a code name for Rome or the enemy (Rev. 18:2)

21. Understanding Revelation
CODES IN REVELATION
A. COLOR CODES
1. Pale Green: death
2. Dark Green: life
3. White: purity or
conquering
4. Red: war
5. Black: famine
6. Gold: worth or value
7. Bronze: strength
8. Scarlet: Immorality
B. NUMBER CODES
7= divine
6=evil or imperfection
5=penalty
4=world 2=witnessing
1=unity
10=completeness
12=wholeness
144,000 (12x12)= whole
people of God
Fractions= incompleteness
C. ANIMAL CODES
1. LAMB WITH SEVEN
HORNS AND EYES= Jesus
2. FROG= most evil creature
in Revelation (6:13)
3. EAGLE= brings bad news
4. MONSTER-BEASTS= bits
and parts of wild animals to
represent extremely evil
persons as Caesar or Satan
5. LION=wild animals
6. OX= domesticated animals

22. Understanding Revelation
TIME IN REVELATION
MIXTURE OF GREEK and HEBREW
GREEK= CYCLE
HEBREW= STRAIGHT LINE
RESULT: Spiraling Effect

23. Understanding Revelation
DRAMA IN REVELATION
Makes It Stand Out
EPHESIAN THEATER: 25,000

24. Understanding Revelation
OTHER INTERESTING TIDBITS….
30 HYMNS IN REVELATION
7 BEATITUDES…remember, “Blessed are the Meek?”
PLEDGE
“I Pledge….
To never, ever refer to the book of Revelation…
…As ‘RevelationS’
I pledge to correct anyone who says
‘Revelations’….whether in conversation, in
Sunday School or a pastor in a sermon”

25. Understanding Revelation
MORE DISTINCTIVE
FEATURES
Variety of Interpretations
Preterist
Historicist
Futurist
Idealist

26. Understanding Revelation
MORE DISTINCTIVE
FEATURES
Variety of MILLENNIAL
VIEWS
Premillennial
Postmillennial
Amillennial

27. Understanding Revelation
MORE DISTINCTIVE
FEATURES
•The number seven appears 52 times in Revelation.
•Depending on your view of the book, the final
judgment of God may be presented numerous times
throughout the book (Rev. 6:12-17; 7:9-17; 11:15-19;
14:14-20; 16:17-21; 19:11-21; 20:11-21:8).
•The primary focus in Revelation is on the future in so
much as that knowledge helps the believer live obediently
in the present.
•Notable for its simplicity (in spite of what most people
think). John promised a blessing to the one who reads
and those who hear and obey the prophecy (1:3). The
picture is obviously one of the church at worship with a
designated reader. John apparently thought that this book
could be understood simply by listening to it being read.
It takes about an hour and a half to read the book aloud.

28. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
The Southern Baptist
Convention has never had
Revelation as a topic for it’s
January Bible Study in 60
years.

29. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Greek Orthodox Church: does not
accept Revelation

30. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Columns In Parthenon and Ephesian
stage acoustics: have not been
duplicated in modern era

31. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Same year they dug up
Ephesian theater, they dug
up a 16 foot tall statue of
Domitian with tunnels going
into it where Romans would
speak through slits in the
statue to deceive poor
people (“image is given
power to speak”)
Domitian Temple

32. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
7 Acts of Revelation:
contains themes of the
destroyed Jewish Temple

33. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
2 Cities, Laodicea and
Philadelphia, have not been
found/excavated

34. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
30% of NT took place in
Turkey….almost no Xn
churches and only handful
of Xns today

35. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Ephesus: 500,000; Temple of
Artemis; church of about 30
people

36. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Smyrna: mountain city of
250,000; crown of
city…looked like a crown on
top of mountain; first city to
build a temple to Rome;
strong city; had persecutions

37. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Pergamum: 250,000; political
influence; first city to be
zoned; 3 medical schools
(Luke may have trained
there); temple of Zeus
(throne of Satan)

38. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Thyatira: working persons
town on open plain; no
defenses; trade unions

39. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
SARDIS
Cyrus the Great of Persia
(546BC) took city as “thief in
the night”

40. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Philadelphia: frontier town;
destroyed by earthquake in 17 AD
and inhabitants were still in tents at
John’s time

41. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
Laodicea: weakest city, banks,
clothing, rich, eye medicine, no
good water supply….water came out
of ground 95 degrees, by the time it
got to city it was lukewarm….had
sulfur in it too
Clay Aqueduct Believed From Laodicea

42. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
THRONE OF GOD: appears in every chapter except two

43. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
DOMITIAN TEMPLE…..
Tried To Ban Christianity and Begun
Persecution of Christians

44. Revelation FunFactoidizations
FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE
APOCALYPSE

45. Revelation Fun
Factoidizations
PROBLEMS in INTERPRETATION

46. WHAT WE’VE DONE
New Testament Survey- BIL102
Background: Preparing
the World for Christ-
centered living
The Gospels
Jesus of Nazareth, God’s
Son, the focus of Christ-
centered living
ACTS
The spread of
Christ-centered
living through
mission of the
Church
REVELATION
Obedience
and hope of
Christ-
centered
living
ROMANS/JUD
E
Instructions
on theory and
practice of
Christ-
centered
living

47. New Testament
Survey
NOT SO FAMOUS LAST
WORDS….