A Testimony of Jesus Christ: A Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Vol. 1

573 Pages·2007·11 MB·English

by  Anthony C. Garland

A Testimony of Jesus Christ -
Volume 1
A Commentary on the Book of Revelation
Preface
Introduction
Revelation 1-14
...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
(Rev. 19:10)
Brought to you By
ND-Warez.info & WarezPoets.com
Copyright © 2004 by Tony Garland
Revision 2.1
Copyright
This commentary is freely available and may be distributed with the following restrictions:
Copyright ©2004 by Tony Garland.
Anyone may reproduce and distribute unmodified copies of this commentary in any media
provided that this copyright notice is retained in full. Copyrighted images which appear
herein by special permission[1.2] may not be extracted or reproduced for use in derivative
works. In preparing this commentary the writer has received help from many sources,
some acknowledged and many unacknowledged. He believes the material contained herein
to be a true statement of Scripture truth, and his desire is to further, not to restrict, its use.
This commentary may be obtained free of charge from www.SpiritAndTruth.org
(http://www.SpiritAndTruth.org/download/revelation/index.htm).
This copyright was registered with the United States Copyright Office effective July 8, 2004.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright ©1982 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked ASV used by permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc., original publisher of the American
Standard Version.
Scripture quotations marked NASB or NASB95 are from the New American Standard Bible, ©the Lockman
Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Published by SpiritAndTruth.org, Camano Island, WA U.S.A. 98282
Garland, Anthony C., 1957-
A Testimony of Jesus Christ - Volume 1 :
A Commentary on the Book of Revelation / Anthony C. Garland
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9788864-1-7
ISBN-10: 0-9788864-1-0
1. Bible. N.T. Revelation I-XIV—Commentaries.
Table of Contents i
Table of Contents
Volume 1
1 - Preface............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 – Copyright...............................................................................................................................2
1.2 - Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................3
1.3 - Special Permission.................................................................................................................5
1.4 - About the Author...................................................................................................................6
1.5 - Revision History....................................................................................................................7
2 – Introduction..................................................................................................................................12
2.1 - Audio Course.......................................................................................................................13
2.2 - As We Begin........................................................................................................................14
2.3 - Audience and Purpose.........................................................................................................36
2.4 – Theme..................................................................................................................................42
2.5 - Anti-supernatural Bias.........................................................................................................47
2.6 - The Genre of the book of Revelation...................................................................................52
2.7 - Interpreting Symbols............................................................................................................55
2.8 - Style of Writing...................................................................................................................83
2.9 – Authorship...........................................................................................................................85
2.10 - Acceptance into the Canon................................................................................................94
2.11 – Date...................................................................................................................................98
2.12 - Systems of Interpretation.................................................................................................112
2.13 - Related Passages and Themes..........................................................................................131
2.14 - Literary Structure.............................................................................................................153
3 – Commentary...............................................................................................................................160
3.1 - Revelation 1.......................................................................................................................161
3.2 - Revelation 2.......................................................................................................................209
3.3 - Revelation 3.......................................................................................................................250
3.4 - Revelation 4.......................................................................................................................285
3.5 - Revelation 5.......................................................................................................................300
3.6 - Revelation 6.......................................................................................................................322
3.7 - Revelation 7.......................................................................................................................351
3.8 - Revelation 8.......................................................................................................................372
3.9 - Revelation 9.......................................................................................................................390
3.10 - Revelation 10...................................................................................................................420
3.11 - Revelation 11...................................................................................................................437
3.12 - Revelation 12...................................................................................................................473
3.13 - Revelation 13...................................................................................................................505
3.14 - Revelation 14...................................................................................................................541
ii Table of Contents
Volume 2
3.15 - Revelation 15.............................................................................................................................1
3.16 - Revelation 16...........................................................................................................................13
3.17 - Revelation 17...........................................................................................................................37
3.18 - Revelation 18...........................................................................................................................61
3.19 - Revelation 19...........................................................................................................................79
3.20 - Revelation 20.........................................................................................................................105
3.21 - Revelation 21.........................................................................................................................137
3.22 - Revelation 22.........................................................................................................................164
4 - Related Topics..................................................................................................................................190
4.1 - Babylon and the Harlot............................................................................................................191
4.2 - The Beast.................................................................................................................................220
4.3 - Beasts, Heads, and Horns........................................................................................................229
4.4 - Book of Life............................................................................................................................248
4.5 - Campaign of Armageddon......................................................................................................253
4.6 – Crowns....................................................................................................................................268
4.7 - Four Gospels............................................................................................................................271
4.8 – Imminency..............................................................................................................................279
4.9 - Jezebel.....................................................................................................................................281
4.10 - Marriage of the Lamb............................................................................................................284
4.11 - Millennial Kingdom..............................................................................................................293
4.12 – Nero......................................................................................................................................317
4.13 – Nicolaitans............................................................................................................................326
4.14 – Rapture..................................................................................................................................329
4.15 - Seven Churches of Asia.........................................................................................................342
4.16 - Temple of God.......................................................................................................................357
4.17 - Ten Tribes Lost?....................................................................................................................389
4.18 - Worldly Churches..................................................................................................................403
4.19 - Zechariah’s Horses................................................................................................................406
5 - Reference Information.....................................................................................................................411
5.1 - Expanded Table of Contents...................................................................................................412
5.2 - Glossary...................................................................................................................................425
5.3 - Tables and Figures...................................................................................................................438
5.4 - Topic Index..............................................................................................................................441
5.5 - Scripture Index........................................................................................................................461
5.6 – Bibliography...........................................................................................................................572
1 – Preface 1
1 - Preface
1.1 – Copyright
1.2 - Acknowledgments
1.3 - Special Permission
1.4 - About the Author
1.5 - Revision History
2 A Testimony of Jesus Christ - Volume 1
1.1 – Copyright
This commentary is freely available and may be distributed with the following restrictions:
Copyright ©2004 by Tony Garland.
Anyone may reproduce and distribute unmodified copies of this commentary in any media provided
that this copyright notice is retained in full. Copyrighted images which appear herein by special
permission[1.3] may not be extracted or reproduced for use in derivative works. In preparing this
commentary the writer has received help from many sources, some acknowledged and many
unacknowledged. He believes the material contained herein to be a true statement of Scripture
truth, and his desire is to further, not to restrict, its use. This commentary may be obtained free of
charge from www.SpiritAndTruth.org
(http://www.spiritandtruth.org/download/document/index.htm).
This copyright was registered with the United States Copyright Office effective July 8, 2004.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright
©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked ASV used by permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc., original publisher of the
American Standard Version.
Scripture quotations marked NASB or NASB95 are from the New American Standard Bible, ©the
Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version® ©1973, 1978,
1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights
reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
1.2 - Acknowledgments 3
1.2 - Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who opened my eyes to the truth and
sustained me during this project. May this work, in some small way, bring You glory. I also am
grateful for my wife, Deb. For 13 years she lived with an unbelieving husband while petitioning God
on my behalf. Her faithful support and encouragement made this work possible. She also spent many
hours proofreading the commentary and providing detailed suggestions.
Beryl Cahoon provided invaluable assistance spending many hours proofreading the commentary and
the associated slide shows. Steve Lewis reviewed an early draft of the introduction, provided numerous
corrections to the associated slide shows, and provided much-appreciated encouragement when the
work seemed overwhelming. Even though I have had considerable help in finding and correcting
errors, whatever errors remain are my responsibility.
Dr. Mal Couch of Tyndale Theological Seminary (http://www.tyndale.edu) first suggested the project
of producing a detailed course on the Book of Revelation. Preparation for teaching that course
eventually led to the production of this commentary. I am also indebted to Dr. Couch and the
instructors at Tyndale Seminary for an affordable education in Systematic Theology and Biblical
languages.
Igor Stelmachenko provided website support so the commentary and associated slide shows could be
published for internet use. Mike McCorkle and Hugh and Celia Johnston showed great patience living
next door to a recluse for an extended period.
Brandon Staggs’ excellent SwordSearcher Bible Study Program (http://www.swordsearcher.com)
greatly facilitated access to my notes while making it possible to efficiently incorporate Scripture
information into the commentary. The magnitude of my task was greatly reduced by his excellent
program. I also relied heavily upon Libronix Bible Software (http://www.logos.com) for work in the
original Greek and for access to an extensive set of digital study resources.
Connecticut College’s Wetmore Print Collection1 provided non-copyrighted images of Albrecht
Durer’s famous woodcuts.2
Several individuals and ministries granted permission for their copyrighted materials to appear within
this commentary. See Special Permission[1.3].
The developers of the Python Programming Language (http://www.python.org) are to be thanked for
an extremely productive scripting language. Without the Python language, converting the marked-up
original text into an extensively cross-referenced, formatted, final version would have been much more
difficult. Python was also used to automatically generate the topic and Scripture indexes.
I am especially indebted to the many men of God who journeyed through the book of Revelation ahead
of me and took the time and effort to leave a path of “breadcrumbs” for those who would follow later.
Their down-to-earth, literal interpretation of the book of Revelation blows as a fresh breeze in the
midst of an ocean of allegory and symbolic conjecture. Many of these men have already gone on to
glory: Barnhouse,3 Bullinger,4 Larkin,5 McClain,6 Morris,7 Newell,8 Scott,9 Seiss,10 Trench,11 and
Walvoord.12 Others are still with us: Fruchtenbaum,13 MacArthur,14 Pentecost,15 and Thomas.16 How
much poorer we would be without their stewardship of the torch of literal, grammatical-historical
interpretation so that we might “keep the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 1:3; 22:7)!
_____________________________
Notes
1 See www.conncoll.edu/visual/wetmore.html.
2 See www.conncoll.edu/visual/Durer-prints/index.html.
3 Donald Grey Barnhouse, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971).
4 E. W. Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1984, 1935).
4 A Testimony of Jesus Christ - Volume 1
5 Clarence Larkin, The Book of Revelation (Glenside, PA: Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate, 1919).
6 Alva J. McClain, The Greatness Of The Kingdom (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1959).
7 Henry Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1983).
8 William R. Newell, Revelation: Chapter by Chapter (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1994,c1935).
9 Walter Scott, Exposition of The Revelation (London, England: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.).
10 J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1966).
11 Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 1861).
12 John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1966).
13 Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003).
14 [John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press,
1999)], [John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL:
Moody Press, 2000)].
15 J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1958).
16 [Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992)] and [Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-
22 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1995)].
1.3 - Special Permission 5
1.3 - Special Permission
We gratefully acknowledge the following ministries and individuals who granted permission to include
copyrighted materials herein.
● Ariel Ministries granted permission to include diagrams from [Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The
Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003)].2
● Todd Bolen of www.BiblePlaces.com granted permission to include photos of places of
significance to the book of Revelation.
Because these materials are copyrighted, they may not be extracted from this commentary for use in
derivative works. See the Copyright[1.1].
_____________________________
Notes
1 Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003).
2 Ariel Ministries, P.O. Box 3723, Tustin, CA 92781. www.Ariel.org.