The Day of the Lord...

Unveiling the Mysteries in the Book of Revelation

Patrick R. Basal

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781098027025
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The Day of the Lord, Unveiling the Mysteries in the Book of Revelation establishes a revolutionary new perspective on how to view the approaching prophetic end times. Developed out of his own Bible study for US Soldiers who were asking hard questions about the Apocalypse while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Chaplain Basal thoroughly addresses these mysteries and draws our attention to the major focus of the entire Revelation. This insight is revealed in two parallel, but separate set of interwoven visions. Both sets of visions start with a broad, overall big picture of what will take place, then the picture is refined with more detail, and finally the picture is brought into focus. The first sets of visions are depicted in the Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Bowls, which culminates with the focus on the Wrath of God. The second set of visions, which he calls the First, Second, and Third Previews depict the struggle between the forces of God and Satan and finally focuses with the Third Preview on the Victorious Christ.

Revelation

Chapter 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (New American Standard Bible, NASB)

Message to the Seven Churches

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The Patmos Vision

9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Notes on Revelation 1

The Key to Unveiling the Revelation

From the very beginning of this prophecy, the Disciple John informs the reader that the Book of Revelation is all about Jesus Christ returning in all His Glory. For it is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God (Yahweh) gave Him (Jesus) to show to His (Jesus’s) bond-servants (us Christians), the things which must soon take place.” This glory is revealed in the things that will soon take place, which will establish Jesus as “the King of kings and the Lord of lords” allowing His full glory to be revealed. In other words, the Book is all about the Victorious Christ, for He wins in the end. There is nothing to fear and nothing to dread, for every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Even though John was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos, having been banished and exiled there around 92 AD, he identifies with the reader as a “fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus.” John lets us the reader know that there will be persecution in the believer’s Christian walk, like he and his fellow disciples experienced. (For a better understanding on the martyrdom of the Disciples read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.)

Now according to the early Church Father, Tertullian, in the second century, John had been sentenced to death by Emperor Domitian and had been thrown or plunged into a pot of boiling oil for political offenses to Rome (prophecy was perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order). John, however, miraculously survived unscathed and was than exiled to the Island of Patmos. So he knows something about the tribulation that we will experience as we read the prophecy; he also knows something about perseverance and steadfastness in the faith. The kingdom part on the other hand is what the whole revelation is all about. Yes, the Kingdom of God is within us, but it is also something we will experience once Christ returns, and that is what John will reveal through this prophecy, the “Kingdom of the Victorious Christ.”

Now the main key to unveiling the whole revelation is found in chapter 1 verse 19: “Therefore write the things which you have seen (past), and the things which are (present), and the things which will take place after these things (future),” so the prophecy covers past, present and future all at the same time. However, in order to assist the reader through the prophetical narrative which can become quite scary at times and confusing, we are given several clues or key phrases, which will help in our understanding of this prophecy.

Like most of John’s revelation, the scenes are not in sequential or chronological order and do not follow one another as many Prophecy Buffs teach, so it is important to watch for these key phrases (i.e., after these things, meta tauta; and I saw, kai eidon; and I heard, kai nkousa; then I saw, kai hŏraō, etc.…). These phrases denote scene changes and assist the reader in following the prophetical narrative for they will move the reader either forward or backwards throughout the prophecy: past, present or future within the prophecy itself which is repeated throughout the revelation, as well shall see.

So if you are paying attention to verse 19, you should be asking the question; what things will take place after these things? What future event will take place after some future event which has already taken place? Well, the keys to understanding how the prophetic application of the phrase meta tauta, “After these things,” fits into the revelation can be found in chapters 4, 7, 18, and 19. Where they all point the reader back to chapters 2 and 3, which deals with the epistles (letters) to the seven churches whom prophetically become “the Church age” (which is the unfolding of all subsequent church history). This will become clear when we get to chapters 2 and 3.

However, the phrase applied here means that “after” the “end of the church age...

Table of contents

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22