The Book of Revelation

Key Terms

(Note - All reference passages will be from the New King James Version. However any responsible version of the Bible will yield the same meaning.)

There are within the Revelation certain key terms which must be noted and remembered, for they mark boundaries of the time of fulfillment of the prophecies contained in the book.

l. "…things which must shortly come to pass…" Revelation 1:1

The very first verse of the book states the purpose of the Revelation. It was to show the servants of the Lord things which must shortly take place. In order to make this term clear to us, John is caused to double the impact of it almost in the same breath; Rev. 1:3 "For the time is at hand."

At the end of this book this promise is restated. Although in some versions, as in the New King James, the wording may be different in English, the Greek phrase is exactly the same as that in Rev. 1:1 cited above: "…things which must shortly be done." Revelation 22:6. This, too, is doubled to us in the next breath: Rev. 22:10 "For the time is at hand."

2. "Behold, I come quickly."

Jesus repeats this theme in these passages:

Rev. 3:11 "Behold, I come quickly"

Rev. 22:7 "Behold, I come quickly"

Rev. 22:12 "Behold, I come quickly"

Rev. 22:20 "Surely, I come quickly"

Friend, if you never get anything else in this study, get this firmly in your mind. This is our first boundary mark; we can look for the fulfillment of the prophecies of this book to commence soon after John is caused to write them. In these phrases, stated immediately upon the beginning of the Revelation, at the end of it, and all through it, we come to understand that these prophecies are NOT for thousands of years later, but they will begin their fulfillment in a relatively short period of time.

Obviously this flies in the face of virtually everything you may have ever heard about the Revelation. But these are the FACTS from the book itself. Jesus says these things will "shortly come to pass"…"let God be true and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).

Ready to move on to the other key terms used in the Revelation?  Click the arrow pointing to the right below.

 

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