The Revelation* of Jesus Christ
The first word we encounter, from which the title of the book derives its name: Revelation.
*Translated from the Greek word: Apokalupsis, (ap-ok-al’-oop-sis),
- 1. laying bear, or making naked;
- 2. a disclosure of truth, or instruction;
- 2a. concerns things that were unknown before;
- 2b. it also describes events by which things are made visible to all;
- 3. finally, it can be a manifestation, or appearance. [Defined in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 1958]
What does the word ‘apocalypse’ commonly signify?
Catastrophe? The end of the world?
Notice how neither of these ideas are in the definition above? These commonly understood definitions are known as ‘idioms’.
An idiom is a word or phrase that may have a commonly understood definition separate, or differing, from the original meaning.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to the Church
It reveals, or, ‘unveils’:
- the things that were
- the things that are, and
- the things that are yet to come! [see REV 1:19]
The timeline above lists all the main topics that we will ‘uncover’ in this study of the Revelation. Many of these topics are in the form of a Biblical idiom. In order for us to better understand their usage, we need to rediscover how these idioms were first used, elsewhere in Scripture.