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August 13, 2016

“Come, Lord Jesus!”

Rev 22:20

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Table of Contents

- SPEAKER BIO ...............................................................................2

- SCHEDULE ........................................................................................3

- REVELATION 6-22 OVERVIEW .................................5

- 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION ...........................6

- SESSION NOTES .................................................. ....................8

- TRIBULATION JUDGMENTS ......................................17

- EVIDENCES OF PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE ............................................................................................18

- HELPFUL RESOURCES ....................................................23

- DEDICATION ..................................................................................25

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Guest Speaker

Greg Peterson

Greg was born and raised in the mountain state of Colorado. Desiring to be in full-time ministry, Greg

attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where he received his B.A. in Bible/Theology and met his wife, Michelle. After a 2-year pastoral internship in Virginia,

they moved to California for Greg to study pastoral ministry at The Master’s Seminary. After receiving his Masters of Divinity, Greg went on to get his Masters of

Theology with an emphasis in End Time’s Studies. Currently, Greg is the Pastor of Student Ministry at Fellowship Bible Church in Springdale, Arkansas.

Greg loves watching & playing all kinds of sports (especially American Football and volleyball). He enjoys a good book, spending time doing pretty much anything

with this wifey, and would love to watch more rugby.

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Schedule Session #1 – “Seeing the Blueprints” (Reasons to be Excited about Studying Revelation)

Session #2 – “Laying the Foundation” (How to Study Revelation)

- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - -

Session #3 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 1)

- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - -

Session #4 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 2)

- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - -

- - - - - - Questions & Finish - - - - - -

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“Those who ignore Revelation deprive

themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth.”

- John MacArthur

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Session #1 Notes

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Session #2 Notes

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Session #3 Notes

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Session #4 Notes

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“The Book of Revelation is the final and definitive assemblage of God’s

prophecies of the future, incorporating and explicating all

those other prophecies of both Old and New Testaments that are yet to

be fulfilled. It is therefore a tremendously important book for

every Christian to study and master.” - Henry M. Morris

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Evidences for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture

The Bible describes the Rapture and

the Second Coming as different events

Rapture Second Coming

John 14:1-4

1 Cor 15:51-58

1 Thess 4:13-18

Rev 3:10

Zech 14

Matt 24:29-31

Mark 13:24-27

Luke 21:25-27

Rev 19

Believers meet Christ in the air. Christ returns to the Mount of

Olives to meet believers on the

earth.

Mount of Olives unchanged. Mount of Olives is divided,

forming a valley east of Jerusalem.

Living Believers obtain glorified

bodies.

Living believers remain in their

earthly bodies.

Believers go to Heaven. Believers stay on earth & glorified

believers come from Heaven.

Unjudged world left. World is judged and righteousness

established.

Depicted as deliverance from

wrath.

Depicted as deliverance for those

who endured wrath.

No signs precede it. Many signs precede it.

Revealed only in the NT. Revealed in both OT and NT.

Focus is only the saved. Focus is on both saved and not.

Satan remains free. Satan is bound.

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The Rapture is described as

occurring at any time

Jesus’ arrival will come when

nobody expects

Jesus’ Second Coming is preceded

by many events

Matt 24:36, 42-44, 50

Matt 25:13

Luke 12:35-48

1 Thess 4:18

Titus 2:13

1 John 2:28; 3:2-3

- Rise of Antichrist (Rev 12;

Zech 13:7-9)

- A treaty with Israel (Dan 9:27)

- Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple

(Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3-4)

- Plagues/Judgments destroying

much of the world’s population

(Rev 6-18)

The Tribulation Period is

not for the church

The church is told to expect

trials, temptations, and

persecution from false teachers.

Acts 20:29-30; 1 Thess 1:4;

2:13-14; 2 Thess 1:4; 1 Peter (all);

2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1-3;

Jude 4

The Church is told to prepare for

entering or enduring the

tribulation of Daniel’s 70th Week. Never

The Tribulation has a definite

Israel-focused character.

Deut 4:30; Jer 30:7; Ezek 20:37;

Dan 9:24-27; 12:1; Zech 13:8-9;

Matt 24:15-20

Further reading? See Michael A. Rydelnik, “Israel: Why the Church Must Be Raptured

Before the Tribulation,” in Evidence for the Rapture, edited by John F. Hart. Chicago:

Moody Publishers, 2015. 255-76.

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John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18

& Rev 3:10 only makes sense

as Pre-Tribulation

John 14:1-3 1 Thess 4:13-18 Rev 3:10

Context: the Upper

Room Discourse is

eschatological as

Ps 118 would have

just been sung prior

to Jesus’ teaching.

Context: the church

was grieving because

they fear their dead

loved ones will miss

the rapture.

Context: the church

was facing intense

hostility from

unbelieving Jews, so

Jesus promises, as

reward for their

obedience in the

midst of persecution,

complete removal

from the ultimate test.

Jesus’ departure to

prepare a place is

clearly Heaven.

A literal

understanding of this

passage can only lead

to a pre-trib rapture.

“I will keep you from

the hour of trial” =

necessitates complete

removal from the

time-period (“hour”).

Jesus’ returning is to

take home His

children, which must

be Heaven.

Two groups present:

(1) dead believers

risen; (2) still alive

believers. No

unbelievers in view.

“the hour of trial that

is coming on the

whole world” =

literally, “that is

about to come,”

pointing to imminent

expectation that fits

the promise in v. 11,

“I am coming soon.”

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John 14:1-3 1 Thess 4:13-18 Rev 3:10

If neither of these are

true, then this passage

cannot make

logical/biblical sense

and Jesus was being

intentionally devious.

Alive believers will

be “caught up” or

“seized suddenly,”

pointing to an event

of transformation (cf.

1 Cor 15:51-52)

The purpose of “the

hour” is “to try” or

reveal the lack of

spiritual quality of

unbelieving

humanity.

The picture is of a

bridegroom coming

to retrieve His bride

(cf. John 14:1-3)

v. 13, “to the

churches” = points to

a universal church

promise.

If not pre-trib, then

the details are

unnecessary and

misleading.

If not pre-trib, then

there is a

contradiction with

Rev 6:9-11 & 7:14

where Christians are

slain.

Revelation never speaks

about the church during

the tribulation

(an argument about silence)

Argument from silence = drawing a conclusion based on the

absence of information. This is a logical fallacy.

Argument about silence = intentional absence of an object to

emphasize the thing in question as actually being absent.

- God is not mentioned in Esther to show His absence in

the lives of Jews still living in Persia post-Exile.

- The church is not mentioned in Revelation to show they

are absent and not a part of the tribulation time period.

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The church has believed

in the pre-tribulation,

imminent return of Jesus

Christ for 2,000 yrs

Early Church

Barnabas (ca. 100-105AD)

Papias (ca. 60-130AD)

Justin Martyr (ca. 110-195AD)

Irenaeus (ca. 120-202AD)

Tertullian (ca. 145-220AD)

Hippolytus (ca. 185-236AD)

Cyprian (ca. 200-250AD)

Lactantius (ca. 260-330AD)

Ephraem of Nisibis (ca. 306-373AD)

Abbot Ceolfrid (ca. 609-716AD)

Medieval & Beyond

Brother Dolcino (ca. 1304AD)

Joseph Mede (ca. 1586-1638AD)

Increase Mather (ca. 1639-1723AD)

Peter Jurieu (ca. 1687AD)

Philip Doddridge (ca. 1738AD)

John Gill (ca. 1748AD)

James McKnight (ca. 1763AD)

Thomas Scott (ca. 1752AD)

Morgan Edwards (ca. 1722-1795AD)

William Witherby (ca. 1818AD)

John Darby (ca. 1830AD)

To read these church fathers

original writings, see

James F. Stitzinger, “The

Rapture in Twenty Centuries of

Biblical Interpretation,” MSJ

13, no. 2 (Fall 2002): 149-171.

(www.tms.edu/m/msj13.2.pdf)

Martin Erdmann, The Millennial

Controversy in the Early

Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf &

Stock, 2005.

Paul Benware, Understanding

End Times Prophecy. Revised

edition. Chicago: Moody

Publishers, 2006. Pgs 245-48.

(note: all conservative Bible scholars agree)

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HELPFUL RESOURCES

Books

Book of Revelation

Couch, Mal, ed. A Bible Handbook to Revelation. Grand Rapids:

Kregel Publications, 2001.

MacArthur, John. Because the Time is Near. Chicago: Moody

Publishers, 2007.

Walvoord, John. Revelation. Revised and edited by Philip E.

Rawley & Mark Hitchcock. Chicago: Moody Publishers,

2011.

Wilson, Mark. Charts on the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids:

Kregel Publications, 2007.

End Times – General

Benware, Paul N. Understanding End Times Prophecy. Revised

Edition. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2006.

Hays, J. Daniel and J. Scott Duvall and C. Marvin Pate. An A-to-

Z Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.

House, H. Wayne and Randall Price. Charts of Bible Prophecy.

Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

Jones, Timothy Paul. Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy.

Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing, 2011.

Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come. Findlay, OH: Dunham

Publishing, 1958.

Rhodes, Ron. The End Times in Chronological Order. Eugene,

OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012.

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Premillennialism

Blaising, Craig A. “Premillennialism,” in Three Views on the

Millennium and Beyond, edited by Darrell L. Bock. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 1999. 157-227.

Cambell, Donald K. and Jeffery L. Townsend, eds. The Coming

Millennial Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications,

1997.

MacArthur, John and Richard Mayhue, eds. Christ’s Prophetic

Plans. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012.

Vlach, Michael J. Premillennialism. Los Angeles:

Theological Studies Press, 2015.

Waymeyer, Matthew. Revelation 20 and the Millennial

Debate. The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications,

2004.

Rapture Issues

Blaising, Craig. “A Case for the Pretribulation Rapture,” in

Three Views on the Rapture, edited by Alan Hultberg.

Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

Hart, John F. Evidence for the Rapture. Chicago: Moody

Publishers, 2015.

Websites

www.gotquestions.com

www.theologicalstudies.org

www.blueletterbible.com

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DEDICATION

To Nelspruit Bible Church,

Nelspruit, South Africa

You are well shepherded by pastor Richard, who I know loves

His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and who seeks to love you

with the needed nourishment from God’s Word, and to give

tender care and compassion to his sheep.