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BIBLE SURVEY (ENG) by Samson Henry, Kollam
Its English word revelation means revelation of the secret, divine revelation, or
revelation given by God to man, divinely revealed fact. “The Greek word is
"apokalupsis", and the Hebrew word for this is Gala and in Latin it is called Revelation
i.e. revelation. The word Apokalupsis is a combination of two Greek words, namely sapoo
and kalupsis. Apo means away from and kalupsis means veiling = Apocalypses mean
unveiling or revealing. In this book, God willingly bestows His grace on the Holy Spirit,
who removes all veils and coverings, and displays Christ, H is ministry, and His
sovereignty and His glorious presence in heaven.
God commanded Daniel, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book
until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4). But the commandment to John in the book of
Revelation is: Do not sea l up the prophecy of this book, for the time is near........
behold, I come quickly (Rev .22:10,11,12). In short, Revelation is an ”open book" for
understanding God's sovereignty, His visions of the Church, and so on.
The book of Revelation of John is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev .1:1).
Revelation is the 27th book of the New Testament in numerical order. Like the twenty -
seventh book of the Old Testament, the book of Daniel, this prophecy contains a display
of future judgments. John is the most belove d disciple of the writers, just as Daniel was
the most beloved man. The book of Revelation is known as “The Throne R oom”.
Just like the high priest entering the Most Holy Place after the courtyard and the
sanctuary in the Old Testament, The Book of Reve lation is the “throne room” of Christ
the King in the New Testament . The Spirit of God clearly states in three places that
nothing should be added to or subtracted from the Word of God (Deu t.4:2;
Proverbs .30:6; Rev.22:18,19). According to Rev.22:18 ,19 - It is forbidden to add any
doctrine or prophecy after the book of Revelation, and it is also forbidden to leave out
anything from it. Another feature is seen in Rev. 1:3. Blessed is he who reads and those
who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those th ings which are written in it; for
the time is near.
When John is alone on the Patmos Island, he receives visions of the glorious,
radiant and risen Jesus Christ. Christ's authority and personality are described as the
Firstborn, the Ruler of the k ings of the earth, the King of k ings who rules over all the
earth, and the Great High Priest.
In the opening verse it is stated that God showed John through Jesus Christ to
show his servants what will happen soon ( Rev.1:1). The Lord Himself has divided the
things to be written into three parts and delivered them to John. No other book of
Scripture, except Revelation, commands its writers to maintain such a division. Through
these three divisions, the message of Revelation is clearly defined and related to the
past, present, and future.
(1) The things which you have seen - were the visions of the glorious Son of Man,
who appeared at Patmos on the Lord's Day ( Rev.1:10-18).
(2) The things which are - The Messages to the Seven Churches (Rev.2:1 - 3:22) -The
present condition of the Churches.
(3) The things which will take place after these things - Things that will happen
after this The Church Age ( Rev.4:1-22:5).