On Reading the Book of Revelation (Updated)

Apocalyptic Literature

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Rev. 1:1-3

Apocalyptic writing tells a symbolic story by which eternal insight is given by an angel to a visionary prophet. This heavenly perspective explains God’s eternal purposes to a church struggling with persecution, oppression, trials, and sorrow. Apocalyptic literature uses powerful images to prick the imagination and draw the reader into God’s eternal perspective on the events of this world.

How do we understand these symbols? First, seventy percent of the symbols’ meanings are drawn from the Old Testament. Second, twenty percent of John’s symbols are pulled from the contemporary Roman world using pagan images to illustrate sources of evil throughout the world. In our culture, we think that symbols mean something is less than real or true.

Third, John’s symbols are intended to convey deep theological meaning while simultaneously impacting our spirits and emotions. We read a text literally as opposed to reading it symbolically.  We fear a less-than-literal interpretation makes the text untrue or unreliable. In the Bible and especially in the Book of Revelation, symbols are understood to be just as true as other Scripture passages.

Before Apocalyptic literature can be applied to our day, the text must be read in the light of its original context. John’s letter must make sense to the readers of the first century before we apply that truth to a reader in the twenty-first century.

Apocalyptic literature was written by the Biblical authors not only to educate the Church. Apocalyptic literature impacts believers’ emotions, encourages their spirits, and informs the mind. We need to read the Book of Revelation with our hearts as well as with our minds. Apocalyptic literature is designed to uplift our emotions by strengthening our wills with the truth of God’s sovereign grace and the power of his redeeming Cross.

What then is the Book of Revelation’s message?

1. That God is awesomely majestic, as well as sovereign in all our troubles.

2. That Jesus’ sacrifice as the Lamb ultimately brings complete deliverance for those who trust in him.

3. That God’s judgements on the world are often to serve notice on the world that God will avenge his people.

4. That regardless of how things appear in the short run, “sin does not go unpunished,” and God will judge.

5. That God can accomplish his purposes through a small and persecuted remnant; he is not dependent on what the world values as power.

6. That worship leads us from grief over our sufferings to God’s eternal purposes seen from a heavenly perspective.

7. That proclaiming Christ invited persecution, the normal state of committed believers in this age.

8. That Christ is worth dying for.

9. That a radical contrast exists between God’s kingdom (exemplified in the bride, the new Jerusalem) and the world’s values (exemplified in the prostitute, Babylon).

10. That the hope God has prepared for us exceeds our present sufferings.

11. That God’s plan and church ultimately include representatives of all peoples.

Craig S. Keener, Revelation, NIVAC (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 41.