The Book of Revelation is one of the most neglected book in the Bible. There are several reasons why people shied away from this book. For one, people find it difficult to interpret because of its many symbols. Some dislikes it because its frightening. Others neglect it because they believed the book speak about the future and not relevant in our present time. However, I believe the greatest hindrance is because there are a variety of interpretation to the Book of Revelation.
The Book of Revelation is one of the most important book in the Bible. It was written for people who are undergoing persecution and hardship. It assures believers of their victory, because Jesus Christ has already won the battle. And the only thing being awaited is the completion of God’s plan at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Revelation is not a book of prophecy per se. It is a book of hope. For this reason, it is a must read book. I hope pastors like me will preach more on this book. The church can definitely benefit from its rebukes and warnings.
How should we approach the book? Read the Book of Revelation in the light of the whole Scripture. The triumph of Jesus Christ is the central message of Revelation. The images of darkness is nothing but a word of caution that demonic activity continues on as the Church awaits Christ’s Second Coming. The Returning King of Vern S. Poythress is a helpful aid in understanding the Book of Revelation. I have been using it as a guide in my weekly Sunday school lesson. May the good Lord help us in the expansion of His kingdom. God bless!
I too have been puzzled by the Book of Revelation for many years and searched for a way to understand its meaning. Revelation begins with the charge that it is a message to show Jesus’ followers “the things that must shortly take place”. This clearly says that we need to understand the revelation message, yet it seems unclear. Why would God send us a message that we could not understand and then expect us to follow it? How could we understand the truth? This was the first challenge of Revelation to me. A second challenge comes from the book of Matthew. Jesus said, “See that no one misleads you” .
The bottom line, Jesus challenged us to try to understand the Book of Revelation and to not be misled. As you know, there are thousands of interpretations and millions of articles containing people’s views of the revelation. Who should I believe? As I studied and prayed for a way to address these challenges a thought came to me; could it be that Jesus has left us the information we need to unlock the mystery of the Book of Revelation elsewhere in the Bible? This began my effort to assemble all the verses in the Bible that address the end times and, through the wonders of word processing, insert them into the Book of Revelations where they appeared to fit. As I began to bring similar subjects from across the Bible together, it occurred to me that similar subjects could be brought together within Revelation itself. This is what started me on the journey to write a book. It is an amazing story that is different than what I expected when I began. Jesus has provided us what we need to unlock Revelation.
The key is that Revelation was written out of chronological order at God’s direction to conceal its meaning until the end-times. But why would the Apostle John, who was directed to write the revelation by God, write it out of order? The answer is that he didn’t. He was told to “Write in a book what you see.” Do you see the key? Revelation is confusing because it appears to be written in chronological order but is not. It is like a play that God showed John, but several scenes were shown to him out of chronological order. As a result, each generation could read events from their own time into the revelation events. This would lead them to believe that they were living in the end-times while preserving the true meaning of the revelation to be discovered as the end-times draws near.
The reordered text reveals a new interpretation of Revelation and answers many of the questions that have plagued Christians for hundreds of years. I would be happy to discuss these with you in this blog as you do your study and suggest that you might want to use the book I published as part of your efforts.
Charles Huettner, Author
Jesus Reveals Revelation
http://www.jesusrevealsrevelation.com