Revelation Commentary

REVELATION & THE INDUCTIVEAPPROACHMark E. Hardgrove, D.Min.

Overview of this study

:This study will be a weekly, chapter-by-chapter, study of the book of Revelation. It will notmerely be a review of what others have said or written, but will require that participants of thisstudy discover for him or her self what God is communicating through this book. Students will be encouraged to share his or her insights each week as he or she explores each chapter.

Objectives of this study

:1. To equip believers with the tools to engage in meaningful Bible study.2. To help believers to engage the text of Scripture and to be engaged by Scripture.3. To heighten the sense of eschatological expectancy and thus lead believers to pursue godlylives.4. To provide a foundation upon which each student can build a program of Bible study for themselves, for their family, or in their community.

An Overview of the Inductive Bible Study Process

In most typical Bible studies in a traditional classroom setting, whether in the church or in aseminary setting, we as students sit passively in the seats and feverishly taken notes as theinstructor lectures. Other than reading the text and offering a few insights, the weight of the preparation lay on the shoulders of the instructor. He or she would then bring his or her insightsinto the classroom for us to glean from the teacher’s efforts. Furthermore, the teacher herself isoften dependent upon the insights of others, whether from previous Bible studies, fromcommentaries, or from various other sources. An inductive approach to Bible study, however, issomewhat different. First, it requires that the students themselves invest themselves into thestudy process. Second, it begins by first allowing the text, that is, the Word of God, to “speak”to us and only after that, to turn to the insights of others.Inductive study is not, however, simply a matter of sitting around in a circle, reading thetext, and then asking each person what the text meant to them. Inductive study requires a process of investigation that leads the reader intellectually, emotionally and spiritually into thetext. It is a systematic process that requires disciplined study of the text. Without the proper process, the results will be flawed.The Inductive approach begins with several presuppositions:1.)That God provided the His Word in written form so that it could be read.

2.)

Since God intended for His Word to be read, we assume He wanted it to be understood.

3.)

Just as God used the Holy Spirit to move upon men in penning His Word (inspiration),God will move though His Holy Spirit to teach us His Word (illumination).

4.)

With respect to the Book of Revelation, the name itself communicates the fact that Godintends for this book to reveal some things to believers, while the use of the apocalypticgenre would indicate that He also intended to conceal some things from non-believers.The Inductive process begins before reading the Scriptures. It is important to begin the process by gaining some insight into the historical context of the text, which is to say, what wasgoing on in the world of the author and of the church when the text was written. Some of this isrevealed within the text, but a good prelude to reading the text is to do some basic research withrespect to authorship, date, and history of the text. This type of information can be found in theintroduction of a good commentary, in the introduction of the book in a good study Bible, in theintroduction of a good commentary, or in a New Testament introduction or survey book.

The Inductive Study Method

The following is an abbreviated introduction to the Inductive process. There are severalgood books on the subject of the Inductive study method, including

How to Study Your Bible,

byKay Arthur (1994), and a good complementary text to this book is

The New Inductive Study Bible,

published by Harvest House (.2000). Arthur summarizes the inductive method with threewords: Observation, Interpretation, and Application.

Observation

One of the keys to the inductive method is to begin by observing what the text itself says. We bring to the text our own thoughts and we can unintentionally read into the text what we think the text says without allowing the text to speak for itself. We bring to the text all the bookswe’ve read, all the preachers and teachers we’ve heard, all the tapes we’ve listened to, and all thetelevision and videos we’ve watched. The first step in the in the process is simple observation.It is one thing to have someone tell you about what they saw, and another to observe it for yourself.