Getting the Most from Revelation (Part One)

When I interviewed for my first preaching ministry at age 23, I told the pulpit committee I absolutely believed in the power of God”s Word to transform lives. I told them I was convinced “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). I affirmed for them my commitment to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, English Standard Version).

That wasn”t 100 percent true.

That commitment was 65/66 percent true, but at that point in my life, there was one book of the Bible I didn”t preach, one part of “all Scripture” I steadfastly avoided.

The book of Revelation.

 

Staying Away from the Haunted House

Revelation just didn”t seem “useful for teaching,” and as a young preacher, I steered clear of the last book of the Bible.

Apparently I”m not the only one who has avoided Revelation. Fred Craddock says that reading through the New Testament is like walking down the street. The Gospels are first, and they are warm, inviting, well-lit homes””a familiar neighborhood. Next come Paul”s letters, still friendly territory. But as you move down the street through the Epistles, the shadows grow deeper””2 Peter, 1 John. The houses are small and neglected””2 John, 3 John, Jude. Then suddenly at the end of the street, shrouded in darkness, stands the frightening, haunted house of Revelation.1

Not many people want to go in there.

The reasons for staying out of Revelation are many. First of all, the book is just flat hard to understand. The church father Jerome said, “Revelation has as many mysteries as it does words.” Martin Luther said Revelation ought to be kicked out of the Bible because it doesn”t reveal anything. Let”s face it: bizarre images of strange creatures, a beast with 10 horns and claws of bronze, stars falling from the heavens, a great red dragon with seven heads, 666, blood, bowls of sulfur, people eating scrolls, bottomless pits, dragons, the four horses of the Apocalypse, war, pestilence, famine, and death aren”t normal watercooler conversation. This is strange stuff. I couldn”t make heads or tails of this book, so I just stayed away.

Another reason we sometimes ignore Revelation is because it”s been so abused. No other book in the Bible has sparked more obsession, strange teaching, and wild speculation than Revelation. When I started Bible college in the fall of 1988, everyone on campus was talking about Edgar Whisenant”s book 88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Come Again in 1988, which predicted Jesus” return in mid-September. (Matthew 24:36 says we can”t know the day or the hour, but apparently we can know the month and the year!)

I read about another preacher who claimed that “the literal building blocks for the new temple in Israel have been constructed and numbered and are being stored in the basements of Kmarts all over the United States until they can be shipped to Israel and used to build a new temple.”2(Seriously? Kmart? If there”s a new world order coming, everyone knows it”s going to be Walmart.)

Revelation seems to attract wild-eyed, delusional characters, prompting G. K. Chesterton to remark, “Though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.” I certainly didn”t want to be lumped in with those guys. To avoid guilt by association, I avoided Revelation.

A final reason I didn”t preach Revelation was what I”ll call job security. As a young preacher, I thought, If this book is so controversial and divisive, why should I stir up trouble? After all, I heard the true story of a preacher in Ohio who was teaching on Revelation, and when he finished, somebody shot him. I thought, I”m 23 years old. I”m too young to die. I”ll just stick with the Psalms.

A lot of Christians have done the same in their Bible reading. “I don”t think I really need to read Revelation,” said one woman in my church. “It doesn”t make any sense, and the rest of the Bible already tells me what I need to know.”

 

Reclaiming Revelation

This two-part article is intended as a call to get over our fear of Revelation.

The fact is, Revelation is part of “all Scripture,” it is “God-breathed,” it is “useful for teaching,” and it is part of “the whole counsel of God.” It is a significant portion of divine revelation, it is the culmination of the Old and New Testaments, and it answers the essential human question of what this world is coming to.

Revelation tells how the story of God”s people ends, and only when we know the end of our story can we make sense of the story”s middle where we live right now. Revelation must be read.

A turning point for me came when I enrolled at Lincoln Christian Seminary during that first ministry. I took a class on Revelation taught by Robert Lowery, and in those 16 weeks, my eyes were opened. He immersed me in the universe-shaping images of the Apocalypse. As he taught us how to read the book, I was swept up in the epic vision””the cosmic battle raging between Lamb and dragon, a battle waged in the earthbound lives of first-century believers, a battle for the allegiance and eternal destiny of human hearts and minds.

Sitting in Dr. Lowery”s class, I began to see that my church needed a strong dose of apocalyptic literature. My imagination was captured by Revelation”s images of the reality of the spiritual battle, the insidious influence of the Enemy in the surrounding culture, the harshness of the coming judgment, the imminence of Christ”s return, and the need for clear-eyed, uncompromising perseverance. I saw that all this needed to be preached because, as Eugene Peterson reminds us, we all too often suppose our lives are “so utterly ordinary. Sin-habits dull our free faith into stodgy moralism and respectable boredom.”3

But John”s Apocalypse “rips the veneer of cliché off everyday routines and reveals the side-by-side splendors and terrors of heaven and hell. Apocalypse is arson””it secretly sets a fire in the imagination” that burns away the Enemy”s façade, dissolves the “virtual reality” he seeks to create, and exposes reality in all its stark-but-hopeful clarity.4

I suddenly realized that, “With the vastness of the heavenly invasion and the urgency of the faith decision rolling into our consciousness like thunder and lightning, we cannot stand around on Sunday morning filling our time with pretentious small talk on how bad the world is and how wonderful this new stewardship campaign is going to be.”5 Revelation was a clarion call to live each day in light of the high stakes of eternity, and my people needed to hear that call. I needed to hear it.

It was time I reclaimed Revelation.

If you are ready to reclaim Revelation for yourself, then you have two important questions you”ll need to answer: Why exactly should I read Revelation? And how do I read Revelation in a way that will help me make sense of this strange book? Let me tackle the second question first.

 

How Do I Read Revelation?

Revelation might be the most challenging genre of Scripture to interpret, and as one of my professors used to say, it can give you “a charley horse between the ears.” Let me suggest four keys for unlocking the meaning of this book.

 

The Setting of Revelation

The first key: as you begin to read this book, you should understand the historical setting of Revelation”s original readers. The apostle John writes to seven churches in Asia Minor that are facing two threats near the end of the first century. The first threat is persecution. The Jews targeted the “heretical” Christians, and while Roman persecution of Christians is not yet empire-wide policy, it”s real and rampant nonetheless””especially for those who refused to participate in emperor worship. Believers who declined to say their Roman “pledge of allegiance” by offering a pinch of incense and pronouncing “Caesar is Lord” were viewed as treasonous and could lose their friends, jobs, even their lives.

So the believers in Ephesus have endured hardships for Christ”s name (2:3). Those in Smyrna have been slandered and will be put in prison (2:9, 10). In Pergamum, Antipas has already been killed (2:13). John himself is in exile on the prison island of Patmos (1:9). Someone said, “I would love Revelation if I was an oppressed minority,” and it is true this book speaks to those who face life-and-death struggles.

In building the application bridge from the original audience to us today, then, we must understand that Revelation deals with issues of true suffering, “not minor daily trials or inconvenient obstacles. The first-century believers to whom Revelation was addressed were facing martyrdom, not flat tires.”6 John”s book addresses those in deep despair”””when the police dogs are being released toward the marchers on the bridge into Selma, when the knock of the secret police is heard at the door and the church is hiding an attic full of Jews, when the diagnosis is melanoma and there is nothing more that the physicians can do.”7

But the second and greater threat John”s readers face is cultural seduction. They are tempted to conform to the priorities, values, and lifestyles of the culture around them. If the Enemy cannot destroy the believers through open conflict, he will dilute them through subtle compromise. Why push them into the electric chair when the easy chair will do? If they will just relax their obedience a bit to “fit in,” then the devil”s job is done. They will be “lukewarm””neither hot nor cold” and God will spit them out of his mouth (3:16).

Revelation is written to a comfortable church in an immoral culture, and the application bridge to contemporary American Christians is clear. Ronald Sider”s book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Christians Are Living Just Like the Rest of the World cites surveys showing that Christians aren”t living much differently than the culture””percentages of spousal abuse, giving habits, cohabitation, divorce, racism, and addiction to pornography are almost the same as those among non-Christians.8 John writes to challenge his readers””there are 72 second-person imperatives in the book””not to give in to the world. This book is not a crystal ball but a megaphone in John”s hands””a trumpet call to faith and endurance and radical holiness of life. When you understand the historical setting, you will begin to see Revelation”s relevance.

 

The Structure of Revelation

Next key: you”ll want to get a handle on the structure of Revelation. A simple, portable outline for the book can help you make sense of what you”re reading””so you can get the big sweep of the book. One friend said a simple outline of Revelation is “Things Are Bad, Things Are Going to Get Worse, We Win.” That”s not bad for starters, but let me offer a few more specific labels.

“¢ Chapters 1-3 might be Jesus counsels the church, as we see the Lord comforting and confronting the seven churches in Asia Minor.

“¢ Chapters 4 and 5 might be Jesus controls the universe, as we see the Lamb on the throne with the scroll of history in his hand.

“¢ Chapters 6-11 might be Jesus condemns the earth, as the seven seals and seven trumpets unleash God”s judgment on a sinful world.

“¢ Chapters 12-20 might be Jesus conquers Satan, as the conflict deepens and moves from the earthly sphere into the heavenlies where Christ is ultimately victorious.

“¢ Chapters 21 and 22 might be Jesus consummates his long-awaited marriage, as the book climaxes with the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

A special note: while we can appreciate the natural organization that the three sevens of judgment (seals, trumpets, bowls) provide, understand that they are not necessarily in chronological order””like some 21-point time line. In fact, John is likely employing repetition. Like a song returns to its chorus, with each set of sevens, John”s book is returning to the same event each time. In each of the sevens of judgment, he brings us to the end of the world, intensifying the degree of evil and God”s resulting judgment with each progressive “seven.”

Notice also that an interlude appears between the sixth and seventh of each group. The interlude in 7:1-17 stresses the saints” security; 10:1″“11:14 stresses the saints” witness; 16:15 stresses the saints” vigilance.9

When you look at the structure of Revelation, you will see that, in the midst of all the mind-blowing noise, visuals, and special effects, there”s a powerful story””an understandable plot that drives the whole book.

 

The Symbols of Revelation

Another key: pay close attention to the symbols of Revelation. In an attempt to convey the incredible vision he is given, John ransacks the Greek language for all the metaphors he can find. He pillages the Old Testament for images””more than 500 Old Testament allusions in 404 verses””as he pushes language to the breaking point trying to capture what he”s seeing.

As you read Revelation, you”ll want to interpret these symbols in two ways. First, look for the historical associations of the symbol. Rather than reading 21st-century connections into the text, point them to the first-century connections.

We must not rip Revelation”s metaphors out of their historical context, like the teachers who see modern-day Apache helicopters flying through John”s apocalypse. Instead we must seek to understand what the first readers would have understood.10

Second, look for the emotional associations of the symbols. The fact is, metaphors paint pictures that conjure powerful emotions. A lamb is innocent and vulnerable, a lion is fierce and noble, and a dragon is frighteningly large and evil. These images are meant to stir something in our hearts, but sometimes in our attempts to explain a symbol, some of its evocative power can be lost. Overexplaining can “unweave the rainbow.”

For example, when the dragon in Revelation 12 sweeps one-third of the stars from the sky with his tail when he falls, perhaps John is not trying to communicate a detailed piece of factual information (i.e., that a third of the angels fell with Satan to become demons). Perhaps John is just communicating that the dragon was really huge and really destructive. Maybe he”s trying to stir some visceral emotion within us, as much as transfer some intellectual knowledge to us. While the details are there for a reason, at the end of the day, don”t overpress the details of the symbolism. As Leland Ryken reminds us:

The truth is that for the most part the images and symbols of Revelation are universal. . . . Its images are those of our waking and sleeping dreams””lamb, dragon, beast, water, sea, sun, war, harvest, bride, throne, and jewels. Its color symbolism is equally universal””light for goodness, darkness for evil, red for bloodshed and perverse passion. Heaven is high, as we have always known it to be, and Hell is low and bottomless. . . . The book of Revelation does not require a guidebook to esoteric symbols. It requires a keen eye for the obvious.11

 

The Style of Revelation

A fourth and final key: understand the apocalyptic style of Revelation. The purpose of apocalyptic literature is “to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both the understanding and the behavior of the audience by means of divine authority.”12

A contemporary example: I was 8 years old when Star Wars first hit theatres, and I was immediately swept up into a “galaxy far, far away” with Luke Skywalker and the ragtag Rebel Alliance as they took on Darth Vader and the evil Empire. Mark Wegeierski notes:

The Star Wars movies arrived at a critical time in American history. Post-Vietnam malaise, the oil crisis and an economic recession””as well as the feeling that “there was nothing right with America”””had characterized the 1970s. The Star Wars trilogy clearly served as a fresh tonic, rekindling the breezy optimism in the American psyche.13

During this time, President Reagan sought popular support for his strategy to win the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In a 1983 speech, he famously characterized the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

While media critics chastised such language, many Americans immediately resonated with the allusion. The “monochromatic, militaristic Galactic Empire” in Star Wars looked a lot like the Soviet Union. Besides, what American wouldn”t want to imagine himself as part of the scrappy, democratic, multicultural Rebel Alliance fighting against the odds for freedom against tyranny?14 Reagan captured the national imagination by applying a futuristic, otherworldly image to a present-day, this-worldly reality. We saw our world in terms of that other world.

That”s what apocalyptic literature does. It addresses our contemporary “thoughts, attitudes, and feelings by the use of effective symbols and a narrative plot that invites imaginative participation.”15 John”s narrative of dragons and angels and swords is not a story of some future time, but is meant to be the story of our time. His readers should be swept up into the drama, imagining themselves as participants in the cosmic struggle of which he writes. His world of huge harlots and terrible beasts is really the Roman world of bustling marketplaces and cheering colosseums . . . and our world of minivans and Super Bowls and shopping malls.

The wise reader of Revelation will understand that the apocalyptic style envisions a strange world in order to recast the way we see our familiar world.

 

NEXT WEEK: Why should I read Revelation?

________

 

1Fred Craddock, “Reflections on an Early Christian Sermon: Form,” Abilene Christian University Lectures on Preaching (Abilene: 1999).

2John Ortberg, Experience God”s Power (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 12.

3Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989), 51.

4Ibid.

5Ibid., 47.

6Mike Graves, The Sermon as Symphony (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1997), 244, 245.

7Tom Long, “Preaching Apocalyptic Literature,” Review and Expositor 90, Summer 1993, 374.

8Ronald Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Christians Are Living Just Like the Rest of the World (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005).

9See Robert Lowery, Revelation”s Rhapsody (Joplin: College Press, 2006), chapter 7.

10Ibid., chapters 5 and 6.

11Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman, eds., A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 460.

12Adela Yarbro Collins, “Introduction: Early Christian Apocalypticism,” Semeia 36, 1986, 7.

13Mark Wegierski, “Reagan: Jedi Knight,” World, 22 May 1999.

14Ibid.

15Adela Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984), 145.

 

Matt Proctor is president of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and a CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editor.