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The Old Testament and the Book of Revelation
To understand the Book of Revelation, you have to understand the Old Testament
Revelation 21.3
Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • May 26, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019
Scripture Reader and Reading: Jacob Noveske – Revelation 21.1–3
Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Phil Joseph – No Suggestions
Prelude:
- Years ago, the last sentence of Revelation 19.10 said something to me
- about the relationship between
- the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation:
10b …the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
– Revelation 19.10
- Also, when I learned from the Old Testament
- how God makes multiple prophecies of the same people and events,
- I saw that He continued that method in the Book of Revelation.
- Almost everyone sees the Book of Revelation
- as one long chronological view of the future.
- Consider the Book of Daniel.
- Consider Pharaoh’s dreams.
- Consider all the different things said about the Messiah,
- the fact that multiple prophecies and promises,
- types and shadows pointed to the same person.
- Another thing that I have spoken to you is The Family Promise of God.
- There are five elements to this promise.
- It is in the Book of Revelation where you see all five come together.
- John uses all kinds of material from the Old Testament.
- Creation, the Flood, the Exodus, David, Babylon and
- John made references to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
- John also used Zechariah, Joel, Amos, and Hosea.
- He used the Psalms.
- In fact, I used to go to a lectureship in Texas every year, and
- one year it was on Revelation.
- The lectureship was five days from 9am to 9pm
- of lectures on the Book of Revelation.
- As you can imagine we heard a lot of information.
- The last speaker’s job was to summarize Revelation.
- He walked to the pulpit and
- do you know what the first words out of his mouth were?
- Several quotations from the Book of Psalms
- without commentary on his part, but
- he knew what we had been experiencing and
- he knew we would see the truths of those Psalms.
- I am fully persuaded that this commentator had it right:
“…whoever endeavors to comprehend Revelation without a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament will find it virtually impossible to understand the book.”
– Ranko Stefanovic
- As you read Revelation,
- you will see many times
- where John speaks as the Old Testament.
- No other New Testament Book
- has more Old Testament references than the Book of Revelation, yet,
- John ever quotes directly from the Old Testament.
- John was like the early Restoration Movement preachers or
- the early Restoration Movement preachers were like John,
- in that they just spoke Bible.
- America’s Founding Fathers were the same way.
- They spoke as the Bible spoke
- without telling people what they were saying because
- everyone knew what they were saying.
- They all read the Bible constantly.
- As you read Revelation,
- By the way, John also used Judges, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Job.
- Creation, the Flood, the Exodus, David, Babylon and
Persuasion:
- Ranko states that:
“the vision in Revelation 4-5 is built on the coronation of Israelite kings (cf. Deut. 17:18-20; 2 Kings 11:12); that the Old Testament covenant curses (cf. Lev 26:21-26) lie in the background of the vision of the seven seals; that the 144, 000 standing victoriously on the sea of glass and singing the song of Moses and of the lamb is a clear allusion to Exodus 15; and that the scene of Revelation 16:12-18:24 is built on the capture of historical Babylon by Cyrus the Persian and his armies (cf. Isa. 44:26-45:7; Jer 50-51).”
- Some Comparisons
- All Nations
- Daniel 7.14
- Revelation 5.9
- Horses and Chariots
- Zechariah 6
- Revelation 6
- Sealing God’s Servants
- Ezekiel 9.1–8
- Revelation 7.1–8
- A Great Harvest
- Joel 3.11–13
- Revelation 14.14–20
- Babylon’s Overthrow
- Jeremiah 51.60–64
- Revelation 18.21
- Locusts
- Joel 2.10, 31; 3.15 and Revelation 9.2
- Joel 2.4 and Revelation 9.7
- Joel 1.6 and Revelation 9.8
- Joel 2.5 and Revelation 9.9
- The Witnesses
- Zechariah 4
- Revelation 11.3–6
- The Beast
- Daniel 7.2–3 and Revelation 13.1
- Daniel 7.8, 11, 20, 25; 11.36 and Revelation 13.1, 5, 6
- All Nations
- Revelation 12 | That Serpent of Old
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
– Revelation 12.9
- What We Lost in Genesis, We Regain in Revelation
- Natural Creation
- Gained: Gen 1.1
- Lost: Rev 20.11
- A Home for Man
- Gained: Gen 2.8
- Lost: Gen 3.22–24
- Revelation 21 and 22 show a Garden of Eden-like setting
- Gained: Gen 2.8
- The Serpent
- Gained: Gen 3.1
- Lost: Rev 20.10
- Pain and Sorrow
- Gained: Gen 3.8
- Lost: Rev 7.13–17; 21.4
- The Curse
- Gained: Gen 3.16–19
- Lost: Rev 22.3–4
- The Tree of Life
- Gained: Gen 2.9
- Lost: Gen 3.22–24
- Regained: Rev 22.2, 14
- Gained: Gen 2.9
- The Light
- Gained: Gen 1.3
- Better: Rev 21.23–26; 22.5
- Natural Creation
Exhortation:
- If you have read the Book of Revelation before and
- noted things that sounded familiar, but
- perhaps you could not identify it all,
- you need to know that it was not accidental nor coincidental.
- Jesus sent His angel to John
- to show these things intentionally, and
- John had grown up in the Hebrew Scriptures, and
- he never stopped reading them and using them.
- To read the Hebrew Bible is to read the words of the Holy Spirit.
- To speak as the Hebrew Bible does
- is to speak the words of the Holy Spirit.
- The Book of Revelation brings together in one place
- the entire biblical message and
- if you read the entire Bible repeatedly,
- you will see that happening.
- The Book of Revelation does not quote the Old Testament directly, but
- it uses the language, stories, figures, images, and so on
- of the Old Testament
- so that someone familiar with the overall message of the Bible
- will get the message of the Book of Revelation and
- will not fear that message, but
- will see it for why God revealed it to John:
- A message of hope.
- John expected his readers to be familiar with all the stuff that he uses from the Hebrew Bible.
- He was like Jude in verse 11 of his book.
- Jude expects us
- to know what the way of Cain is,
- to know how Balaam ran greedily for profit, and
- to know what the rebellion of Korah was.
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