Hal Lindsey: Revelation (Part 1)

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Revelation (Part 1)

Hal Lindsey’s Bible Study of the Book of Revelation

Yesterday’s Prophecies for Today’s World

Revelation 1
“The revelation of Jesus Christ”—literally, the apokalypsis of Jesus Christ. Apokalypsis would be better translated “the unveiling” of Jesus Christ. That is the theme of this book: an unveiling of who Jesus really is. As it says in Revelation 19:10, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” He is central to prophecy, and this book unveils who He truly is. The very first phrase gives us the theme.

The unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His bondservants the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bondservant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ—even to all that he saw. (Rev. 1:1–2)

Let me capsulize the significance. These opening verses give you the divine origin of the book. More clearly than any other book in the Bible, Revelation states its inspiration and source.

• Theme: “The unveiling of Jesus Christ.”
• Source & purpose: “Which God gave to show”—God gave it, and the purpose is to show the things that are soon to take place.
• Messenger: It was sent “by His angel.”
• Recipient/writer: “To His bondservant John.”

Why would God be so explicit? Because throughout history Revelation has been the most maligned book in the New Testament. Some early church voices questioned whether it belonged in the canon. The Reformers—Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others—were, in God’s timing, unveiling the truth of salvation by faith alone. They focused on soteriology and ecclesiology and largely ignored Revelation and prophecy. That was proper for their era; the time for prophecy’s clarity had not yet arrived.

Beginning in the late 1600s, however, a few writers started taking prophecy literally. I have volumes from 1690 in my library (I wouldn’t loan them to the archangel Michael!) where men wrote that Russia would one day become a great enemy of God, leading an attack against Israel—requiring Israel to be reborn. Imagine writing that in 1690!

Prophecy didn’t gain broad, systematic attention until the 19th century—many in Scotland began to take it literally. By the 20th century, interest multiplied—just as God predicted through Daniel.

Daniel Foretold a Sealed Book—Until the End

Daniel 12:4

“But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the time of the end; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”

That little word until is one of the most important in the Bible. Daniel is told the book of prophecy would be sealed—literally encrypted—until the time of the end.

Daniel 12:8–9

“As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?’ He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the time of the end.’”

Some critics say, “If Luther and Calvin didn’t teach prophecy, why should we?” Because it wasn’t time. God says prophecy would be encrypted until the end. I believe prophecy moved to the fast track in the 20th century—and 1948, when Israel was reborn, ignited global interest. Yet much of the church still slumbered.

In the early 1960s, working on college campuses, I loved prophecy and prayed to make complex truth simple. God helped me speak plainly, without “churchy” jargon, to largely hostile audiences. That clarity birthed The Late Great Planet Earth, and by God’s grace it sparked a revolution of interest in prophecy, opening doors for many solid authors to follow.

C. I. Scofield wrote in 1903:

“The book [of Revelation] is so written that, as the actual time of these events approaches, current events will unlock its meaning.”

How true. When I wrote There’s a New World Coming (a paragraph-by-paragraph study of Revelation), I wrestled with symbols that aren’t explained elsewhere in Scripture. I prayed for a key—and the Holy Spirit directed me back to Revelation 1:

“Who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all that he saw.” (Rev. 1:2)

The Greek emphasizes perception by actually seeing—eyewitness sight. John was there. God, who created time, transported John forward to see events, then brought him back to write them down.

Revelation 1:10–11

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches…’”

John was commanded to write what he saw. But how does a first-century man describe 21st-century science and technology? By the Spirit’s inspiration, he used familiar first-century phenomena—saying things “looked like” or “sounded like” what he knew—to convey what he witnessed.

Keep that key in mind as we proceed.

The Built-In Outline of Revelation

Revelation 1:19

“Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things.”

There’s your outline:

1. “What you have seen” — John’s initial vision (chapter 1).
2. “The things which are” — the church age (chapters 2–3).
3. “After these things” (meta tauta) — events after the church age (chapters 4–22).

John underscores his eyewitness role throughout the book:

• “I saw” — used 46 times.
• “I looked, and behold” — 7 key transitions.
• “I looked and I heard” — 31 times, pairing sight and sound.

He is assuring us: I was there.