Revelation: An Overview

[Originally preached 12 January, 2003]

Revelation 1.1-8

Do you remember the first time that you actually sat behind the wheel of a car and drove it? It was a little scary, wasn’t it? There where so many unknowns. You might have understood what all the gauges and buttons were for but you had to figure out the delicate balance between steering and pressing on the accelerator just enough and not slamming on the brakes. There was a lot that you had to figure out. For many of us, it’s that way with the book of Revelation. Lots of unknowns. Lots to figure out. But now that you’ve been driving a while you know how to slow down when it’s snowy and how to avoid that car that just cut in front of you and other such things. You are much more comfortable with driving. That’s my goal for you when it comes to this book of the Bible. There still are things that you don’t understand about your car and there will still be things that you won’t understand about Revelation. But, hopefully, you’ll be comfortable enough with the book to be blessed by its message. I am not interested in trying to convey to you some secret knowledge of the future or to fill your heads with information that will only encourage your pride. My goal is that you would be blessed by the Spirit by means of His Word. And that is why Revelation is in the Bible.

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. Revelation 1:3

Now, toward that end what I will do today is take a broad look at the book in the hope that doing so will make it easier for you to understand its message. There are ways in which Revelation is very much like any other book of the Bible. You need to see that so that some of the mystery that has been placed on the book might be removed. But then there are ways in which Revelation is not at all like the other books of the Bible. You need to see why this is also so that you can overcome those obstacles to your understanding. Keep in mind the goal of all of this. To grasp what it is that the Spirit has written here for our good so that we all might be blessed.

Let’s start with some general statements. First, Revelation is a letter. It is a letter much like the other letters of the New Testament. You can see that in the way that it starts.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. Revelation 1:4-5

This is just like the openings of the other letters. It tells us who is writing and to whom he is writing. And then there is an appropriate Christian greeting. It’s just like the opening of Jude’s letter one page before this.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude 1:1-2

Revelation doesn’t just start as a letter. It ends the same way.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen. Rev. 22:21

That sounds just like the end to one of Paul’s letters. Revelation is just another letter of the New Testament.

Now, you also need to see that this is a letter that was sent to certain churches, the seven churches of Asia Minor. John even says so in His introduction. This is a very important anchor in understanding the message of the book. Whatever the book is about, it is intended, first of all, for these churches. The book of Revelation was sent to these seven churches. So, whatever the beast is, or whatever the seven trumpets are about, these things were, first of all, for the benefit of these churches. And this fits. When Paul wrote what we call ‘Romans’ he had a particular audience in mind, the first century church at Rome. So, it makes sense for him to write about people’s opinions on what foods to eat. That was an issue in that church. Now, does that mean that we can just skip that section of Romans? Of course not! There are things there that apply to us. That’s where Paul talks about how the brother who is stronger in faith is to help the brother who is weaker in faith. That’s a teaching that applies to us and to our relationships in the church. Likewise here. John writes to the seven churches. They are his original audience and he writes for their sake. But we benefit by seeing how what John wrote to those first century Christians applies to us as well. We look at Revelation in the same way that we look at Romans or 1 Corinthians or any other of the letters of the New Testament. We understand the content of the letter in terms of the original audience first while, at the same time, we look for principles that apply to us also.

Now, what else does this letter have in common with the other letters of the New Testament? The basic message is the same. Now, what do I mean by that? Is Romans very different from 1 Thessalonians? In one sense they are very different. Yet in another sense they are dealing with the same basic message. And what is that? In both of those letters Paul is helping the members of the church to live as faithful disciples of Jesus in a fallen and hostile world. The particulars are different because the situations of the two churches are different. But the point is exactly the same: faithful discipleship in the face of opposition. Is Revelation different? No! It has the same point, the same goal: living as faithful disciples of Jesus in a fallen, hostile world. Again, you see that Revelation is like any other New Testament letter.

Now, the other letters have a certain structure to them with certain themes running through each. So, for example, Romans can be understood in two parts. The first answers the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’ The second part deals with the question, ‘How shall we live this Gospel?’ Revelation can also be understood in two parts. The first, chapters 1-11, looks at the church’s struggle to be faithful from the perspective of earth, that is, in terms of the things that we can see. The second part of Revelation, chapters 12-22, looks at the church’s struggle to be faithful from the perspective of heaven, that is, in terms of the things that we cannot see. Now, that’s a very simple outline, just like the one I offered for Romans, but it is one that can be helpful. The other letters have different themes running through them. Hebrews is looks at the many different ways that the work of Jesus is related to the Old Testament. It looks at how Jesus relates to Moses, Levi, Melchizedek, the sacrificial system and more. Likewise, Revelation has themes running through it. Let me list some of them for you.

1. Heaven and earth are interconnected. So, for one thing, we are not alone in the fight.

2. Christ rules over every aspect of this chaotic, sinful world. That can give us great hope.

3. One of Satan’s tools is spiritual counterfeiting. There is the evil ‘trinity’ of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet trying to counterfeit the three Persons of the Trinity. The mark of the beast on those who follow him is a counterfeit of the seal of God on those who follow Him. Success in spiritual warfare, then, is tied to being able to see the counterfeits for what they are.

4. Though this world is filled with strife and suffering the ultimate victory is assured. Jesus rules now and He will rule forever with us by His side.

So, while there is all the language of war and suffering and Satan and persecution and all such things, the book of Revelation is actually very optimistic. It is a book intended to encourage us.

Now, I went through all of that to show you that Revelation is like all the other letters of the New Testament. Seeing it in this light helps as you work to understand and apply its message.

Having said that I also need to say that Revelation is really different from the other letters and because of that it is hard for us to understand. It is clearly harder for us to understand than, say, the Gospel of Mark or 1 Peter. Why? For one thing, this is a book that needs to be seen. It is a book of images. We have all been trained to like prose. We like clear, unambiguous statements of the facts. We can handle those. Do you remember when you studied poetry back in high school? Did you like it? Did it make sense? I’m going to guess that the great majority of you, at one point or another, found yourselves saying, ‘Why can’t he just say what he means?!?’ Poetry was frustrating for most of us. Just like Revelation, right? Then there are the times when you were forced to go to some art museum and you saw the people standing for what seemed an eternity in front of some picture, just looking at it. You took a minute and moved on. ‘What are they looking at? What are they seeing? It’s just a picture of a woman sitting in a field of flowers. What’s the big deal?’ Most of us have not been taught to communicate in anything but clear, unambiguous statements of facts. So, we love a verse like John 3.16. Clear and to the point. Nothing to misunderstand. Why couldn’t John have written Revelation in the same clear way that he wrote his Gospel? It would have been so much easier to understand!

But, have you ever gone to the movies and found yourself greatly moved by what you saw? Not just the plot but the pictures. I am told that ‘Saving Private Ryan’ is a very fine movie. I am also told that it is very intense. The first several minutes when the troops come ashore on D-Day are very graphic, very striking. When the movie came out I purposely decided not to see it though I have a strong interest in the history of World War II and usually enjoy watching movies about it. I was afraid to go see it. At the time I was afraid that the images might prove to be too strong for me, too intense, simply overwhelming. If I ever watch it, it will be by renting a video that I will see on my small TV with the remote at hand to stop it if I need to. Images can communicate very powerfully. Think about it. Would it make a difference if Darth Vader were 5’ 4”, 98 pounds and dressed in pink? He has to be a big guy with a powerful voice dressed in jet black. The image is important.

Revelation is a book of images and our problem is that we’re just not used to communicating with images. You know what we do? We look at an image and try to understand it as if it were a prosaic statement. So, we read that the beast of the sea has ten horns and seven heads and we ask, ‘Now, what would that look like? There are only seven heads, but there are ten horns. Do three of the heads have extra horns? Are the extras all on one head? What would that look like?’ That’s like asking, ‘Why is Darth Vader’s helmet flared in the back?’ You don’t communicate by images in that way. Our first problem is that we need to be taught how to ‘get’ the point of an image.

Our second problem, here, is that so many of the images of Revelation are rooted in the Old Testament and we just don’t know our Old Testament all that well. We read about lots of earthquakes but neglect to see how that comes out of what happened when God descended on Mount Sinai. We read about trumpets blaring but don’t remember that Israel was to have a trumpet that was sounded for different purposes. To ‘get’ the images we need to see them as coming from the Old Testament. If we can understand how they functioned in the Old Testament then we’ll understand why they are included in Revelation.

Then there’s one last problem. We’ve all been told that Revelation is about what is to happen right before the Lord’s return. It’s supposed to be about the (probably) distant future. And that twists our understanding of it. How can Revelation be about the distant future if it was written for those first century churches in Asia Minor? Revelation is not about strange happenings a long time from now. It’s about how we are to live as faithful disciples in a hostile world. Revelation is about today. It’s about the ‘today’ of the seven churches. It’s about our ‘today’. And if the Lord delays, it will be about the ‘today’ of the church a hundred years from now. Revelation is not a speculative book about strange events in the future. It’s a practical book, with practical counsel and practical hope as Christians like us deal with life in the here and now.

I’ve tried to explain some things to you to take away some of the mystique of the book so that you can actually be helped by it. But having some information, even correct information, isn’t enough. There are some things that you’ll need to do if you are going to benefit. Here, I have two things in mind. First, you really need to read the book. Most of you are unfamiliar with it. Read it. Don’t try to figure out what it means. Just read it so that you know what’s in there. You may not know what those seven bowls of wrath are about but you will know that there are seven of them, like other groups of seven, and you’ll know that they are bowls of wrath. You may not what in the world John is talking about when he writes about ‘Babylon’. But you’ll know that it’s pictured as a woman just like the church is, except that she is a prostitute while the church is a virgin bride. Read the book. Become familiar with it. For one thing, you’ll be surprised at how much you do understand. And that will be increasingly true as we work our way through the text each Sunday. Knowing the content will help you understand me as I preach and make reference to the different items in the book. Read the book.

Secondly, you’re going to need to pray. My goal for this series is not that you become expert in understanding the symbols and themes of Revelation. You don’t need to pray for that. Just spending enough time and effort will give you that. But such expertise alone is not only worthless. It’s dangerous. No, rather, my goal is that your hearts would be moved by the message of Revelation. And again, what is the message of Revelation? How to live as faithful disciples of Jesus in a hostile world. That is why Jesus included this book in the Bible and that’s what I want you to get out of it. But how can that happen unless the Spirit touches your heart? We all must pray that He would, in fact, do just that – touch our hearts with the message of this book so that we might be faithful. So, toward that end, you need to pray for yourselves. Pray that you will gain a measure of understanding of the book, enough understanding so that you can put it into practice in your own life. Pray that your own heart will respond well, that your own heart will respond with faith in the Gospel as it is presented in this book. And then, you need to pray for me. How much you are blessed by this book will depend, in large part, on how well I do at preaching it. So, pray that I would understand it, that I will get it basically right. Pray that my heart will receive the message of this book with faith. How can I urge you to believe the message if I don’t do that myself? And pray that I would preach the book well. It would be so easy to overwhelm you or to get so very abstract. That will not help you to be faithful disciples. Pray that the Spirit would enable me to explain these things well. As we pray for these things I am convinced that the Spirit will, in fact, act and that we all will receive the blessing that He promises in this book. And in this way we will be able to bring glory to our Savior, Jesus.