Introduction to Revelation

Author – God

Writer – John, the Apostle

Date – c. 95 A.D.

Destination – The original recipients were the seven churches in the province of Asia (Asia Minor) (1:4). It was written for God’s servants (1:1) and was designed to bless everyone who will read, hear, and keep the things written in it (1:3; 22:7). It will bring a curse to anyone who adds to or takes away from the words written in it (22:18-19). Even the parts addressed specifically to a church in one place (e.g. 2:1) were intended for everyone in all the churches of Christ in every place (e.g. 2:7). It is a revelation to God’s servants (1:1), and there is no guarantee it will reveal anything to anyone else nor is there any assurance it will bless anyone except those who will keep its teaching (1:3).

Purpose – To reveal (1:1) in such a way as to bless all God’s servants who read it (1:3). It is the only book in the Bible that pronounces a blessing on those who read, hear, and obey its words. It is not written just for historians, theologians, scholars, and intellectuals. Yet the difficulty of the book is frequently stressed to the discouragement of the would-be reader. For example, a recent commentator wrote:

Because of its symbolism, its saturation with Old Testament passages and themes, the various schemes of interpretation that have developed concerning this book through the ages, and the profundity and vastness of the subjects that are here unveiled, I believe that the Apocalypse, above every book of the Bible, will yield its meaning only to those who give it prolonged and careful study” (Wilbur Smith, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1500).

Surely, the more one studies the more one is apt to learn, but even a beginner is bound to learn something and may even see something the scholar has missed. A pertinent question here is “How much did God intend to reveal in his Revelation? Are we expecting it to have more meaning than God intended for it?”

To illustrate, the same writer referred to quoted these words regarding Revelation from a man he said is generally acknowledged to have been the most gifted Biblical expositor in the first quarter of the 20th century. “There is no book in the Bible which I have read so often, no book to which I have tried to give more patient and persistent attention….There is no book in the Bible to which I turn more eagerly in hours of depression than to this, with all its mystery, all the details of which I do not understand” (G. Campbell Morgan, Westminster Bible Record, Vol. 3 (1912), 105, 109). Could it be this scholar was looking for meanings in the details which the details were never intended to convey? Might it not have been sufficient that through these details God was able to convey a message sufficiently powerful to overcome his depression?

As another writer expressed it: “Whenever there is a world crisis, whenever the State exalts itself and demands an allegiance which Christians know they cannot pay without abandoning their very souls, whenever the church is threatened by destruction, and faith is dim and hearts are cold, then the Revelation will admonish and exhort, uplift and encourage all who heed its message” (Martin Kiddle in Moffatt Commentary, p. xlix).

How can we know what Revelation means? How do we interpret the Bible? How do we interpret any literature?

1. Allow it to explain itself (2:11; 20:14).
2. Interpret the part in light of the whole. (Recognize unity of Bible. Part must harmonize with whole.)
3. Consider historical background, purpose (don’t make it say more than it intends to say), and style of writing (prose and poetry are interpreted differently).
4. Interpret the complex by the simple, the confusing by the clear, the ambiguous by the unambiguous. Do not change the clear meaning of a simple passage to fit one possible meaning of a difficult passage.

What more should we consider in interpreting Revelation specifically?

1. Approach it with humility. One of the most respected Bible scholars in the world said very simply in the preface to his commentary on Revelation: “Some of the problems of this book are enormously difficult and I certainly have not the capacity to solve them” (Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, p. 13). That does not mean we can understand nothing nor be certain about anything. It is to approach Revelation with the kind of attitude Peter had toward some of Paul’s writings (2 Peter 3:15-18).
2. Recognize that it is highly symbolic. This does not mean we enter a world of unreality. As J.B. Phillips, who produced a popular translation of the New Testament, said: “He is carried, not into some never-never land of fancy, but into the Ever-ever land of God’s eternal Values and Judgments” (J.B. Phillips, The Book of Revelation, 1960, p.9, as quoted by Morris, op. cit., p. 15). Or as C.S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity,

   There is no need to be worried about facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of “Heaven” ridiculous by saying they do not want “to spend eternity playing harps.” The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolical attempt to express the inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who are united with God in eternity share this splendour and power and joy. Gold is mentioned to suggest the timelessness of Heaven (gold does not rust) and the preciousness of it. People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs (p. 121).

   That in Revelation we are dealing with some symbolic language can be seen from a few sample passages (3:18; 6:13; 8:10; 12:3-4). The rich imagery of Revelation introduces us to a whole menagerie of animals: horses, lions, leopards, bears, lambs, calves, locusts, scorpions, eagles, vultures, fish, and frogs.

   Revelation comes to us in living color with white symbolizing purity, black – distress, red – death (blood), purple – royalty and luxurious ease, and pale yellow – expiring life and the kingdom of the dead.

   Numbers are important symbols in Revelation. The number seven leads the way with fifty-four occurrences in Revelation. It symbolizes completeness, fullness or perfection. Three and a half is a broken number that appears in various forms (42 months, 1260 days, “a time, times and half a time”) symbolizing distress or tribulation. Ten also is a symbol of completeness or perfection (Ten Commandments, the Holy of Holies was a cube, each side being of ten cubits—symbolic of heaven, according to Hebrews 9:3, 24). Twelve is symbolic of God’s people, the church or the kingdom. So, we have twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twice twelve being the number of elders representing the redeemed church (4:4), the new Jerusalem has twelve gates, and the walls of the city have twelve foundations—all of this associated with God’s people.

   Multiples of these numbers are common, as the cube of ten which is a thousand. Certainly, one could turn Revelation into a bizarre mathematical nightmare with numerological games, but it is well to be aware of the possible symbolism that is often suggested and sometimes demanded by the context. We must not force into a symbol a meaning it does not naturally bear, or Revelation will become merely a playground for our own wild fantasies.

3. Recognize the Biblical context. Revelation was not a work produced in some sublime isolation, but it breathes the atmosphere of the whole Bible of which it is the climax. It has been concluded by the research of two Bible scholars, Westcott and Hort, that of the 404 verses in Revelation, 265 contain lines embracing approximately 550 references to Old Testament passages. A thorough knowledge of the Old and New Testaments will surely enrich one’s study and understanding of Revelation. Similarities to the language and symbolism of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and other prophecies and portions of scripture are found in abundance.

   While these comparisons can be helpful, they can also cause one to seriously distort the message and meaning of Revelation if the rest of the Bible is used as a kind of dictionary for assigning meanings to symbols. This assumes Revelation is a kind of cryptogram or code message to be deciphered by treasure hunting through all the Bible for hints and meanings. It is natural that Revelation would express itself in the familiar phrases of the rest of scripture since it is the summing up of God’s purpose in the history of his people.

   However, it would be a mistake to assume that a symbol used in one part of scripture will have the same meaning as the same symbol used in another place. (Consider the serpents in Eden and the wilderness; also, the cross, once a symbol of shame, became the symbol of salvation.) This mistake can be seen in some attempts to apply the symbolism of Revelation which refers to the glorified kingdom in its perfected state which is yet to...