Good Introductory Revelation Series

The Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust (I incorrectly call him Martin Llyod Jones earlier), has many sermons from his 30 years as minister of Westminster Chapel in London.

In his Series on Great Biblical Doctrines I found 8 sermons highlighting a basic interpretation of the Book of Revelation. I encourage many to listen to this series. He covers most of the basic of Interpretation in a way I fully agree with. And he does a good job arguing the Historicist Interpretation View.

I my previous studies, with Dr. Dilday’s work, the Poole translations and Elliot and Durham readings I’ve tended towards the Protestant Reformers view, blended with sequential Historical Events view. I’ve shied away from the Views that were Ahistorical, i.e. Idealism Images, and those that were more allegorical(liberal) vs. literal(conservative) which Dr. Dilday discusses.

I do think Dr. John’s agrument needs to be considered and does present that the book is about actual history, while cautioning to spend time trying to tie 2,000 years of detail history to the text. I need to ponder that more.

1. There are natural divisions in the text: — Ch 1-3: Jesus among the churches — Ch 4-7: Jesus controls history; shows the redeemed and lost; spans from Jesus’ death to final judgment — Ch 8-11: Warnings of judgment; the church; from Jesus as high priest to final judgment — Ch 12-14: Jesus’ birth to final judgment; the devil’s opposition; the redeemed — Ch 15-16: Heaven, Jesus, his people, bowls of wrath, final battle, final judgment, redeemed and lost — Ch 17-19: Destruction of enemies; Jesus in glory; bride of Christ; final judgment; redeemed and lost — Ch 20-22: Devil’s doom; church’s triumph; new Jerusalem; Jesus amidst his people
2. There’s repetition and parallelism across the sections, all showing the conflict between Jesus/church and the devil/opposing forces. This began with Jesus’ birth and continues until his victory.

1. The Book of Revelation
2. The Preterist and Futurist Views
3. The Spiritual Historicist View
4. The Suffering and Safety of the Redeemed
5. The Trumpets
6. God’s Enemies Destroyed
7. The Premillennial View
8. Post-millennialism and the Spiritual View

You can find these links directly on the MLJTrust page, the last eight at the bottom.

https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/great-biblical-doctrines/

I have listened to all of them. I noticed that there are seven more sermons immediately before these, beginning with The Second Coming – an Introduction and covering a number of connected topics including a couple on Daniel 9.

Please note: Dr. Jones does state he is not preaching verse by verse through the Book, just giving a Doctrinal Overview Summary.

We are encouraged greatly to read, study and mediate on the book for ourselves.

And remember Dr. Dilday said in his lectures

• Concession: the Book is difficult
• “There is a vast chasm between “difficult” and “impossible”.

If you have not done so also consider watching the two introductory videos on Dr. Dilday’s site. And reading his short essay.

PREPARATION FOR STUDY

https://www.fromreformationtoreformation.com/revelation

Directions

WELCOME!  I’m so excited!

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I am anxious to get into the Book, but we have some preparatory work to do.  But here is how to proceed in order to get the most out of this week’s study:

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1.  First of all, you will want to watch the videos.

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2.  For the past 2000 years, some of the greatest minds in the history of the world have reflected upon and wrestled with this enigmatic prophecy.  Below I have recommended some commentaries with links, so that you may procure what you wish.

You can read about those in the links above.