Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter (KJV).The (NLT) says it this way....."Write down what you have seen-- both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen later."
Everything we do has a key to it. Cars require it to be engaged before you can start the thing or even get into it. We use keys to lock up our valuables. Songs are written in it. Without the key to a song, you don't sing or play it properly. Well, the book of Revelation is no different. When God had the Apostle John write the apocalypse He gave him a key. Like an automobile, this literary key will help you unlock this marvelous book and provide smooth intellectual and apocalyptic understanding of what God is teaching in this study.
Thanks for joining me in this walk through the Word. Let's put the key into the book of The Revelation and open it for our understanding. The key is the three part division found in Rev. 1:19. "Write down the things, (first) which thou hast seen, (second) and the things which are, (third) and the things which shall be hereafter."
Because the book of Revelation is a succession of consecutive events from beginning to the end, the events are to be taken in the order as God gave them, and not according to some person's own whimsical or preconceived idea as to their occurrence. God clearly uses His written 'key' to explain the three time periods of how things will happen, as well as what will happen in each time period.
Part#1 of the key to Revelation is, the things "which thou hast seen.' This is what John was seeing at the time of this vision. I believe it was so that John knew with certainty and unmistakable conviction that what he was about to write was given to him from the mind of Jehovah God. So John's first vision is meant sell him on the magnanimity of the Author Himself, and the dependability of that source. This is no menial dream, make no mistake about it. Jesus is saying to John, "you are writing about Me, and you know Me, but the Me that you know will be an obstacle as we proceed. What you know of Me as Jesus the Messiah, the earthly Savior, will obstruct you concerning the universiality of the apocalypse - and the apocalyptice events forthcoming." So, Jesus appears to John in so much grandeur, and with so much glory and power, (and blows him up inside is head). John sees the magnificent vision of Christ in the midst of the candlesticks (Rev.1), the beloved of the Lord saw the cosmic Creator, the Alpha, the yesterday, today and forever; maybe we can call it a glimse of the Shikinah glory, and it was magnificent to him. So this first division of Revelation is 'the things which thou seest.' Rev.1:19; 4:1.
Part #2 of the key is, "write the things which are," that is, the things concerning the churches then and those which should exist throughout the Church Age up to the rapture. This Part #2 includes Rev.2-3. Special Note: This is the only part of the entire book of Revelation that is now being fulfilled. When the church is raptured before the begining of the fulfillment of any detail of Rev. 4-22, the messages to the churches that exist at this time will cease to apply to the those left behind from the Rapture. The Church age will be finished and the things which must be fulfilled after, will begin to be fulfilled.
Part #3, the last part of the key is, "write the things which shall be hereafter." These are the things that take place with the churches remaining who have not been raptured. Everything that starts from Chapter 4 to the conclusion of the Book is considered in Part 3 (which is quite intense and something, I am certain, that none of us want to be here for!!)
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