Monday, April 18, 2011

An Introduction to Revelation Part 1, An Outline (The Study of the Apocalypse)

So, where does one start with the Apocalypse?  Many start with authorship, settings, or maybe location.  The more I thought and prayed about this, the more I felt led to provide an outline in the beginning of this study.  I've read this book many times, but I always get lost in all of the imagery and lose focus on the events.  What could be used to keep people on track?  An outline!

I felt that the best place for people to start on the journey of the book of Revelation was to see the book broken down into its parts and sub-parts.  This will give the student a great overview of how the book (letter) flows and it will give one an idea of the layout of the book.

The author, Grant Osborne*** provides an outstanding outline in his book on Revelation (see below).

The decision has also been made that a bibliography will be provided in each blog to list the sources that Stephen and I are using throughout this study.  They will be found at the bottom on every blog (starting on this one).

One more thing, I will interchange Apocalypse and Revelation regularly.  Both words refer to the title of the book.

Outline of the Apocalypse (Based Osborne’s*** outline, (pgs. 30-31) 
  1. Prologue (1:1-8)
  2. Churches addressed (1:9-3:22)
    1. Inaugural vision (1:9-20)
    2. Letters to the seven churches (2:1-3:22)
      1. Letter to Ephesus (2:1-7)
      2. Letter to Smyrna (2:8-11)
      3. Letter to Pergamum (2:12-17)
      4. Letter to Thyatira (2:18-29)
      5. Letter to Sardis (3:1-6)
      6. Letter to Philadelphia (3:7-13)
      7. Letter to Laodicea (3:14-22)
  3. God in majesty and judgment (4:1-16:21)
    1. God’s sovereignty in judgement (4:1-11:19
      1. Throne room vision (4:1-5:14)
        1. God on his throne (4:1-11)
        2. Christ the Lamb, worthy to open the seals (5:1-14)
      2. Opening the seals (6:1-8:1)
        1. First six seals (6:1-17)
        2. First interlude: saints on earth and in heaven (7:1-17)
          1. Sealing the saints (7:1-8)
          2. Great multitude in heaven (7:9-17)
        3. Seventh seal (8:1)
      3. Seven trumpets (8:2-11:19)
        1. Introduction to trumpet judgements (8:2-6)
        2. First four trumpets (8:7-12)
        3. Fifth trumpet / first woe (8:13-9:11)
        4. Sixth trumpet (9:12-21)
        5. Interlude: prophecy and witness (10:1-11:13)
          1. John and the little scroll (10:1-11)
          2. John measures the temple and altar (11:1-2)
          3. Ministry, death, and resurrection of the two witnesses (11:3-13)
        6. Seventh trumpet (11:14-19)
    2. Great conflict between God and the forces of evil (12:1-16:21
      1. Interlude: great conflict described (12:1-14:20)
        1. Conflict between the dragon and God as well as his people (12:1-13:18)
          1. The woman and the dragon (12:1-6)
          2. War in heaven (12:7-9)
          3. War on earth (12:13-17)
          4. Two beast wage war (12:18-13-18)
            1. The beast from the sea - the Antichrist (12:18-13:10)
            2. The beast from the earth - the false prophet (13:11-18)
        2. Song of the 144,000 (14:1-5)
        3. Message of three angels (14:6-13)
        4. Harvest of the earth (14:14-20)
      2. Great conflict culminated (15:1-16:21)
        1. Introduction to the bowls - angel with final plagues (15:1-8)
        2. Seven last bowl judgments (16:1-21)
  4. Final judgement at the arrival of the eschaton (17:1-20:15)
    1. Destruction of Babylon the Great (17:1-19-5)
      1. The great prostitute on the scarlet beast (17:1-18)
      2. Fall of Babylon the Great (18:1-24)
      3. Hallelujah chorus - joy at his just judgement (19:1-5)
    2. Final victory: the end of the evil empire at the parousia (19:6-21)
    3. The thousand-year reign of Christ and final destruction of Satan (20:1-10)
    4. Great white throne judgement (20:11-15)
  5. New heaven and new earth (21:1-22:5)
    1. Coming of new heaven and new earth (21:1-8)
    2. New Jerusalem as the Holy of Holies (21:9-27)
    3. New Jerusalem as the final Eden (22:1-5)
  6. Epilogue (22:6-21)

List of resources used:


The Greek New Testament with Greek-English Dictionary B. Aland (Editor), K. Aland (Editor), J. Karavidopoulos (Editor), B. M. Metzger (Editor), C. M. Martini (Editor)
(BDAG) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition Walter Bauer (Author), Frederick William Danker (Editor)
A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament Bruce M. Metzger
(Kittel) Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (VOLUMES 1-10) Gerhard Kittel (Editor), Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Translator)
*The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.).) G. K. Beale
**The Book of Revelation (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) Robert H. Mounce
***Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Grant R. Osborne
+Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics Daniel B. Wallace
++An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek C. F. D. Moule
+++Biblical Greek (Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici) Maximilian Zerwick
A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament Max Zerwick (Author), Mary Grosvenor (Author)
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