Victory

THROUGH THE LAMB

A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language

MARK WILSON

Victory through the Lamb: A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language

© 2014 by Mark Wilson

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

First edition by Weaver Book Company.

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

The translation of portions of the New Testament and the entire book of Revelation is by Mark Wilson. Translation of the book of Revelation copyright © 2014 by Mark Wilson. Used by permission. All right reserved.

Old Testament quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Print ISBN 9781683591962

Digital ISBN 9781683591979

Cover Design: Frank Gutbrod

Copyeditor: Redslate Editing

To the memory of Necati Aydın,

Uğur Yüksel, and Tilmann Geske

who laid down their lives

for the word of God and

the witness of Jesus Christ.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Victory in the Seven Churches (1:1–3:22)

Chapter 2

Victory of the Lamb (4:1–5:14)

Chapter 3

Victory of the Large Multitude (6:1–9:21)

Chapter 4

Victory of the Two Witnesses (10:1–11:19)

Chapter 5

Victory of the Male Child, the Woman, and Her Offspring (12:1–17)

Chapter 6

Victory over the Beasts (13:1–18)

Chapter 7

Victory of the 144,000 and the Harvest of the Victors (14:1–20)

Chapter 8

Victory in the Song of Moses and of the Lamb (15:1–16:21)

Chapter 9

Victory over Mystery Babylon (17:1–19:10)

Chapter 10

Victory over the Lamb’s Enemies (19:11–20:15)

Chapter 11

Victory in the New Heaven and New Earth (21:1–22:5)

Chapter 12

Victory at Jesus’ Second Coming (22:6–21)

Epilogue

In the Presence of Martyrs: A Reflection from Turkey in 2007

Prologue

On April 18, 2007, three Christians were killed in eastern Turkey in the city of Malatya. Two were Turks, Necati Aydın and Uğur Yüksel, while the third was German, Tilmann Geske. Their brutal murder shocked both the country’s small Christian community as well as many Turkish citizens. At the time my wife Dindy and I were living in Izmir, ancient Smyrna, one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. Necati had formerly lived in Izmir so his funeral, interment, and a later memorial service were all held in that city. We attended these along with many other Christians from around Turkey.

Before this, my understanding of martyrdom had been an academic one. I had read about Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, who had visited Smyrna on the way to his death in the Roman Colosseum in the early second century AD. And I had also read about the martyrdom of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, in the city’s stadium in AD 156. (Both Ignatius’ letter to the church in Smyrna and the account of Polycarp’s death are found in a collection of early Christian documents ...