DecoDing Revelation

[Pages:27]Decoding Revelation

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Decoding Revelation

Decoding Revelation

Learn how to interpret Bible prophecy for yourself.

Christians everywhere are thoroughly confused about the book of Revelation and the other prophetic books of the Bible. Many years ago, I was involved in a public seminar for the community explaining the prophecies of the last days, and there was a young man attending every night. He loved what he was hearing and was especially fascinated by what he was learning because at the time, he was currently enrolled at a local seminary in the area studying to become a minister. During his time at seminary they had only one single class period to cover the entire book of Revelation. That's a single one-hour class session! His professor summed up the class by saying that the book of Revelation is so full of symbols and strange scenes that we can't really know for sure what it means. Right at this time, he gets a flyer in the mail for the meetings I was involved in which advertised that we would be spending over a week explaining the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. He was there. And as he heard the mysterious prophecies of the Bible being clearly and powerfully explained night after night, he was blown away. He found it a far cry from his one-class session at seminary that had essentially ruled out the entire book of Revelation as too hard to be understood.

Friends, God gave us the book of Revelation to be understood -- to be "revealed" as the book's name indicates -- not to be locked in darkness! It can be understood, and I'll go so far as to say that it needs to understood! The truths that it reveals which apply specifically to us living in the last days are so important that it says that anyone who adds or takes away from it will have their name taken out of the book of life and the plagues added to them (Revelation 22:18, 19). It also says that if anyone worships the Antichrist power and receives his mark, he will have the wrath of God poured out upon him without mixture (meaning without it being watered down). And how will anyone avoid worshiping an Antichrist they can't identify? How can you avoid the mark when you don't even know what it is? Understanding prophecy is 100% necessary in order to remain undeceived in the last days.

Five Keys

But how can it be clearly understood, with all the beasts and symbols and scenes that sound like something out of a science-fiction novel? We're going to look at five keys

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that will enable any Bible student to correctly understand the prophecies of Revelation. The first of these keys to understanding the book of Revelation is revealed in the following passage.

"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar." -- Galatians 4:22-24

Did you catch that? I'm sure the bold emphasis helped, but Paul, under inspiration, speaking about the two sons of Abraham said that they were an "allegory." That's the Greek word "allegereo" the textbook definition of that word meaning a picture or symbol.

Key #1

The Bible often speaks in allegories or symbols to convey a hidden or secret message.

Did you notice from which part of the Bible the symbolic language is coming? The story of Abraham. Which part of the Bible is that story located in? The Old Testament. This is our second key.

Key #2

You must read and understand the rest of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, to understand the book of Revelation.

There's a common error taught by some churches today that the Old Testament is the dusty, old, dead letter and that the New Testament is what Christians today need to be focused on. What a big mistake! Did you know that out of the 404 verses in the book of Revelation, 276 are either direct quotes or references from the other books of the Bible and most of them from the Old Testament? No wonder many Christians don't understand the book of Revelation; they don't read and understand the Old Testament, which Revelation is drawing from almost continually. If we really believe the New Testament, then we will also believe the Old because it says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God," which would include the Old Testament. That was the Bible that Jesus used, as well as the early church.

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Decoding Revelation

So we now have two keys to understand how to properly decode the book of Revelation. The first is that it speaks in symbols, and second is that the meaning behind many of those symbols will be found in the Old Testament. Third, we need to establish a very important principle that applies to all Scripture -- prophecy included.

Key #3

The Bible must be its own interpreter. And it will interpret itself by the Holy Spirit speaking to your mind through other passages of Scripture.

It's not up to you, or to me, or to any church or denomination to decide what the symbols mean. It's up to God. They are His symbols and therefore His interpretations. Anything short of this would be following man and not God, and then you would have a cult, not a church. Notice how Peter puts it...

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." -- 2 Peter 1:20

He also says, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." -- 2 Peter 1:21

Scripture cannot be interpreted privately. Its author is the Holy Ghost who will teach you its true meaning by using other passages of Scripture. Thankfully, God has promised to do this very thing if we're willing to listen.

It says in John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth... and he will shew you things to come."

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" -- Luke 11:10-13

I know it sounds too easy, but it's true. Cherish no sin in your life (Acts 5:32), just ask for the Holy Spirit, and He will come and guide you into the truth!

And will the Holy Spirit contradict the Holy word that He inspired? No. That would be a house divided against itself. The Holy Spirit is not bipolar. We're the ones who have that problem. God says of Himself, "For I am the LORD, I change not" Malachi 3:6.

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Now let's look at our fourth key.

Key #4

Context.

Context is always king. Without context, we are like a floating bottle in a sea of symbols, not knowing how or when to apply them. Context tells us when a word is to be understood literally or spiritually, whether it's referring to something past or something future, or if its application is for a limited, local setting only or if it's spiritual and universal. For instance, we'll see shortly that a woman in the Bible is a symbol for God's people, His church. Does that mean that every time we read the word "woman" in the Bible that it actually means church? No, that's where context comes in. It directs us as to when to apply a prophetic meaning or not. Some Bible symbols even have multiple meanings such as the symbol of a lion. In Revelation 5:5 and 10:3 it's a clear symbol of Christ, but in 1 Peter 5:8 it refers to the devil. Context will always tell us which application applies. We will cover this concept more later.

Let's summarize our first four foundational keys before we can come to our fifth.

Key #1: The Bible will often speak in allegories or symbols to convey a hidden or secret message. Key #2: You must read and understand the rest of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, to understand the book of Revelation. Key #3: The Bible will interpret itself by the Holy Spirit speaking to your mind through other passages of Scripture if you ask for Him. Key #4: Context will always determine how to apply the word or phrase in question.

Our fifth key isn't a principle like the first four, but rather a comprehensive list of many of the Bibles main prophetic symbols and what their decoded symbolic meaning is.

Key #5

The Bible's symbols decoded.

The Bible is filled with symbols. So much so, that when you realize just how much symbolism is in it, you wonder how anyone could ever understand the Bible without

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Decoding Revelation

understanding the symbols it's filled with. And of course Bible prophecy heavily relies on symbols. It is IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to correctly understand Bible prophecy without correctly understanding what the prophetic symbols mean. Therefore, I am going to spend some time covering the many different types of symbols there are in Bible prophecy. You might be surprised at how many different types of symbols we find in Bible prophecy. Below is a list.

There are symbolic: things and objects time periods colors

numbers names people

animals places and directions actions

Now let's look at some examples of each of these different types of symbols. For some, we will just look at a list of examples of the symbols and what they mean prophetically. With others, I'll discuss a little bit more.

Things and Objects

Yes, things and even objects carry symbolic meaning in prophecy. Notice this list...

Bread = Word of God (John 6:35, 51, 52, 63)

Clothing = character (Job 8:22; Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 19:8)

Forehead = mind, character (Exodus 28:36-38; Deuteronomy 6:6-8; Ezekiel 9:4; Revelation 14:1)

Fire = Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:1-6; Acts 2:3)

Hand = work, control (2 Samuel 18:2; 2 Kings 8:20; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Genesis 39:23; Judges 9:29)

Heads = major powers/rulers/governments (Deuteronomy 28:13; Daniel 7:6; Revelation 17:3, 9, 10)

Horns =powers -- political or religious (1 Samuel 2:10; Lamentations 2:3; Daniel 7:7, 8)

Lamp = Word of God (Psalm 119:105; Zechariah 4:1-6)

Oil = Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:1-6; 1 Samuel 16:13)

Mark = sign or seal (Ezekiel 9:4; Romans 4:11; Revelation 13:17; 7:2, 3; 14:9-11)

Mountains = kingdoms (Daniel 2:35, 44; Jeremiah 51:25)

Rock = Jesus/truth (Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 62:7; Isaiah 8:13, 14; Matthew 7:24; Romans 9:33; 1 Corinthians 10:4)

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Seal = sign or mark of approval or disapproval (Romans 4:11; Revelation 7:2, 3) Stars = angels/messengers (Revelation 1:16, 20; 12:4, 7-9; Job 38:7)

Sun = Jesus, the gospel (Psalm 84:11; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 17:2; John 8:12; 9:5)

Sword = Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16) Trees = people (Psalm 1:3, 92:12; Jeremiah 17:8) Waters = people and multitudes (Isaiah 17:13; Jeremiah 46:7, 8; Revelation 17:15) Winds = strife/commotion/"winds of war" (Jeremiah 4:11-13; 25:31-33; 49:36, 37;

Zechariah 7:14)

Time Periods

When there is a prophetic time period in the Bible, there is a formula the Bible gives us to apply to know how long the prophetic time period is in actual, literal time.

"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise." -- Numbers 14:34

"...I have appointed thee each day for a year." -- Ezekiel 4:6

1 Prophetic DAY = 1 Literal YEAR (Genesis 29:27; Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6)

Therefore, when you do the math using the above formula which the Bible gives us to interpret prophetic time periods, you get:

Prophetic Week = 7 literal years (Daniel 9:24) Prophetic Month = 30 literal years (Revelation 13:5) Prophetic Year/"Time" = 360 literal years (Revelation 12:14) Prophetic 2 Years/"Times" = 720 literal years (Revelation 12:14) Prophetic Half Year/"Half a time" = 180 literal years (Revelation 12:14)

You might be wondering, how will I know how if it's a literal time period or a prophetic time period? After we look at all the different symbol types, we'll also be looking at principles of prophetic interpretation so you can know how and when to apply them.

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Decoding Revelation

Colors

White = purity (Revelation 19:8) Blue = law/truth (Numbers 15:38-40) Red = blood/sacrifice (2 Kings 3:22; Numbers 19:2-4)

Purple = royalty (Esther 8:15; Mark 15:20) Gold = character and faith (1 Peter 1:7;, Zechariah 13:9)

Black/Darkness = sin, error, powers of darkness (Matthew 8:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:4, 5)

Places and Directions

Sodom = perversity Egypt = defiance against God

Babylon = apostate religious system Israel = God's people, His church

Jerusalem = God's people King of the North = God or one who tries to stand in the place of God King of the South = anti-religion, secularism

Actions

Eating a scroll or book = understanding the Word of God (Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 10:9)

Adultery = being spiritually unfaithful to God (James 4:4; Revelation 17:2)

Drinking = receiving a powerful experience or judgment (Jeremiah 25:15; Matthew 26:39; Revelation 14:10)

Persons

In the book of Revelation, persons are often symbolic. Let's take an example from the messages to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3. (Though these messages were to literal, local churches that existed in John's day, most scholars agree that each message also applies to a different phase of the Christian church from the time of Christ's ascension to our day.) The Old Testament character Balaam pops up in the third church period, which is Pergamos. Why is he mentioned during this church period? The history that this church period covers is the sad period of compromise. Did you ever wonder how the church went from the on-fire early church of the apostles

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