Revelation

428 Pages·2011·2.8 MB·English

by  John F. F. Walvoord

{THE JOHN WALVOORD PROPHECY COMMENTARIES}
Revelation
John F. Walvoord
Edited by Philip E. Rawley & Mark Hitchcock
M P
OODY UBLISHERS
CHICAGO
© 2011 by
JOHN F. WALVOORD
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in
writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version. Copyrdight © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.
Original edition published in 1966, under the title of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Edited by Christopher Reese
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: Tan Nguyen
Cover image: iStock photo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walvoord, John F.
The John Walvoord prophecy commentaries: Revelation / John F. Walvoord, Philip E. Rawley,
Mark Hitchcock.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8024-7312-7
1. Bible. N.T. Revelation—Commentaries. I. Rawley, Philip E. II. Hitchcock, Mark.
III. Title. IV. Title: Revelation.
BS2825.53.W35 2011
228′.07—dc22
2010047804
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To my wife, Sarah,
my lifelong and only love
To my daughter, Bethany,
the child for whom we prayed
To my son, Philip,
the best a dad ever had
To my daughter-in-law, Denise Hill Rawley,
God’s gift to our family
To my grandson, Micah Ryan Rawley,
the light of all our lives
—Philip E. Rawley
Philip E. Rawley is a former Moody Publishers textbook editor, one of
the founding editors and writers for Today in the Word, and a freelance
writer living in Rockwall, Texas. He is a graduate of the University of
South Florida (BA) and Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM). Phil and his
wife, Sarah, have two children and a grandson.
Mark Hitchcock graduated from law school in 1984 and worked for a
judge at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. After a clear call to
full-time ministry, Mark attended Dallas Theological Seminary,
graduating in 1991. Since that time he has served as senior pastor of
Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He completed his PhD at
Dallas Theological Seminary in 2005 and serves as an adjunct faculty
member at DTS in the Bible Exposition Department. He has authored
over twenty books related to endtimes Bible prophecy.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
1. The Things That You Have Seen
2. The Letters to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira
3. The Letters to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea
4. The Church in Heaven
5. The Lamb and the Seven-Sealed Book
6. The Beginning of the Great Day of God’s Wrath
7. The Saints of the Great Tribulation
8. The Seventh Seal and the Beginning of the Trumpets
9. The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets: The First and Second Woes
10. The Mighty Angel with the Little Scroll
11. The Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet
12. The Conflict in Heaven and on Earth
13. The Two Beasts
14. The Victory of the Lamb and His Followers
15. The Vision of the Seven Last Plagues
16. The Bowls of God’s Wrath
17. The Destruction of Ecclesiastical Babylon
18. The Fall of Babylon
19. The Second Coming of Christ
20. The Reign of Christ
21. The New Heaven and the New Earth
22. Concluding Revelations and Exhortations
Bibliography
Subject Index
Scripture Index
Foreword
n the last few weeks before my father died we had time to
I
celebrate his life, tell stories about past family events, and dream
a little about the future. His mind and memory were sharp and he was as
upbeat and confident as ever. He was 92 years of age, had lived a full
life, and had served well the Lord he loved.
The doctors had given him six weeks to live, and in that time we
relived many a family story. He was visited by a parade of his close
friends, many influential leaders he had taught and mentored. From his
hospital room were days filled with warm memories and laughter, and
an occasional hymn echoed down the hall.
My father had a list of things he entrusted to me as his oldest son. But
in the last week of his life, the conversation turned to the seventy years
he had dedicated to the study of the Bible. And in all that time, he
explained, four key books of the Bible had been the subject of his most
intense study; Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.
He shared stories about how they were first written, taught, and
eventually published.
I remember many of those times. Every summer our family piled into
our car and drove across the U.S. and sometimes into Canada. We went
from one Bible conference to another, but a lot of that time was spent on
the road. And always somewhere in the car was a cardboard box filled
with books.
Many nights Dad put us to bed and quietly went into a motel
bathroom to read and take notes. Then when he was ready he would
dictate an entire chapter, footnotes and all. So whether on the road or at
home, this scholarly work was often done late at night and early in the
morning. And it continued all his life.
His dream in those final conversations was that his work and biblical
insights would live on after him. He remembered how the commentaries
and works of some of the great teachers of the Bible lived on for