What Happened on Patmos

A short distance off the coast of present-day Turkey, in the sparkling blue waters of the Aegean Sea, lies a tiny, rocky island called Patmos. In Roman times, its barren isolation made it ideal as a site for the banishment of political prisoners, ambitious enemies, or others considered undesirable by the imperial state. To it in the last years of the first century A.D. came the exiled apostle John, known also as the Beloved. And to that rocky island prison on a Sunday over nineteen hundred years ago came the glorified, exalted Christ.

Heralded by the trumpet blast of the godly voice and standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks symbolic of the seven branches of His Church in Asia was the Savior. Some fifty or sixty years before, he had hung in agony on the cross and had been laid in the dark recesses of a borrowed tomb. Now he stood in blinding, blazing glory before John. “I am he that liveth, and was dead,” he declared, “and, behold, I am alive for evermore.”

John fell to the earth as though dead, but the glorious figure touched him, commanding him to fear not, commanding him to write those things which he was about to receive from his Master. That was the revelation of Jesus Christ - to become The Book of Revelation.

We began teaching the book of Revelation last week with its rich imagery, its bold proclamations and profound promises to the saints in two ages.

The book of Revelation is unique. It is quite different from any of the other New Testament books. To many, it is a baffling and confusing book, containing symbolism and imagery foreign to anything with which they are familiar. To many, its name seems to be a contradiction, for in Greek Apocalypsis means “an uncovering” or “an unveiling” of something, and the typical reader finds the content of this book veiled and obscure rather than the opposite.

We created several charts, handouts, quizes and worksheets to help clarify the metaphors used in Revelation. The theme of the work is very simple and is stated by John in the first verse: it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation presents a picture of Christ’s dealings with men throughout the ages of earth’s history - that which has happened and that which is to happen. We have only two more lessons to discuss this great book.