It can be the greatest excitement to see how perfectly biblical prophecies have been fulfilled. Seeing this is not only encouraging, but it can give us a clearer picture of what is happening today—and what is about to happen. Such knowledge of the future will soon be the most valuable knowledge we can have, second only to our knowledge of God. The value of this will increase as we get closer to the end of the age and the times become more chaotic and intense.
As we mature in our knowledge of the Lord and His Word, we should constantly be seeking to expand our knowledge of these. Creation teaches us that when something stops growing, it starts dying. As we grow in the knowledge of the Lord and His ways, we will constantly see how partial our previous understanding of something was. So, we must have the humility to continually adjust some of our understanding. This will help keep us from becoming old wineskins that are too rigid and brittle to accept His new wine.
One of the biggest and most important signs we have come to the end of the age is in Joel 2 and Acts 2. This prophecy is that “in the last days” the Spirit will be poured out, and the result will be dreams, visions, and prophecy. So, if we believe we are at the end of the age, we should be expecting a big increase of these prophetic revelations. Why is this such an important sign? It is because we are going to need much more specific revelation of the Lord’s will to navigate life at the end of the age.
In my studies of the writings of those considered the “early church fathers,” I have been surprised by how knowledgeable many were of the Revelation given to John. Many understood how it had already begun to unfold in their time and how it would also continue unfolding over a long period of time. We will cover some of these in this study, especially those who were the direct disciples of John, Peter, and other “apostles of the Lamb,” the twelve direct disciples of Jesus.
The leaders of the Advent Movement, whose new eschatology has become so popular, seemed ignorant of the writings of the early church fathers, of history, and of the eschatology of the Protestants which corroborated the early church fathers and the Scriptures. This recent eschatology leaves out many biblical prophecies. This is because the leaders of the Advent Movement could not see how the biblical prophecies fit with their understanding, which basically left out nearly 2,000 years of history. This left great holes in the eschatology and our view of what is yet to unfold. We will examine these and their merit to be included in our understanding.
The first requirement for understanding the book of Revelation to understand that it is a “revelation of Jesus Christ,” not just a book about a historic unfolding or the end of the age. Jesus is the purpose and the main theme of this prophecy, and He must be the main focus of this study. Our main goal for this study is not just to understand biblical prophecy better but to know Him better and to see Him more “in everything,” starting with where and how He is revealed in all biblical prophecy, but especially in Revelation.
The levels of relationship to the Lord that are addressed in Scripture are important for understanding the book of Revelation because ascending these levels is how we draw closer to Him. The first statement in Revelation 1:1 is, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bondservants …” Bondservant is the third of the five levels of relationship to Him revealed in Scripture. These are: 1) believer/convert, 2) disciple, 3) bondservant, 4) friend, and 5) son/daughter
Most Christians today remain on the level of believer/convert for their entire lives. The Great Commission is to “make disciples,” not just converts (see Matthew 28:19-20). We all began as converts. Becoming a convert is such a wonderful experience, we should want to continue to celebrate it. However, just as a baby is born and grows into maturity, no one who is born again should stay a babe in Christ.
When we view the Lord’s definition of a disciple, we will probably think we do not even know any disciples. It is a life of consecration beyond what even the most serious believers usually walk in today. This discipleship prepares us for the next level—bondservant. Only when we have the character and mindset of a bondservant can we truly grasp the deeper truths of the kingdom or the book of Revelation.
So, our first goal in this study is to become disciples according to the entire definition Jesus gave. Then, we want to graduate to being a bondservant of Christ, whose main purpose and focus in this life is to know Him as the Master and whose whole devotion is to serve Him.
