Many people find the book of Revelation to be confusing. One way to take away confusion is to look at the big picture of Revelation. Read or listen to Revelation in one sitting, start to finish. It takes about an hour to listen to the entire book. One good place to listen online or download audio files is AudioTreasure.
An online class I found helpful on Revelation is a series taught by Charles E. Hill of Reformed Theological Seminary. It is an adult Sunday School series that is oriented to people without theological degrees. His Revelation course is here . Dr. Hill teaches from an idealist and amillennial perspective.
What is the Big Picture? Reading Revelation reveals at least the following scheme:
(1) There is a heavenly vision of Christ.
(2) A letter to seven churches with particular exhortations to those churches.
(3) Lots of trouble, but God is active in preserving the saints. The saints may loose their lives, but they are ultimately protected.
(4) Final judgement.
(5) Final victory of Christ and his people.
Most everyone can see that general flow no matter how one approaches Revelation. Of course we can see more detail than that, just seeing a very big layout helps in starting to understand Revelation.
Another thing to notice is Revelation is full of images. In some passages the images are identified. in other passages the images are not explicitly identified. Revelation is written in symbolic form. Revelation gathers images from the Old Testament -- but modifies them, has numerous allusions to the New Testament, pulls images from Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture -- but again modifies these.
Question: Is John reporting the symbols just as he is seeing them? Or is John looking into the future, seeing things that he has no idea of they are and describes them as best as he can? For instance, did John see in the future wave after wave of Apache attack helicopters, and since he did not know what they were, he described them as locusts?
The answer, I think, is that John is reporting the symbols just as he sees them. Locusts are actually locusts, not helicopters. Many symbols cannot be pictured as a literal thing. For instance:
Literally there is no city that is Egypt, Sodom, and where Christ was crucified. The symbol description gives a picture of this city. The Israelites, before the Exodus, were in bondage in Egypt. Egypt is a place of bondage. In the Old Testament, Sodom was a city of great evil. Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified, was the center of false religion. This word image paints a picture of where the dead bodies of the two witnesses (another symbol) will lay. The place is evil, enslaves its residents, and practices false religion.
Numbers show up. Numbers have symbolic importance. Seven indicates universality or completeness. The seven churches are literal seven churches in Revelation, but the number seven indicates the universality of the message to all the churches throughout the ages. Twelve is associated with the twelve apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, twenty-four can indicate the entire span of history from Israel through the church. Look for sentence structures of threes, often indicating attributes of the Triune God.
Let the images percolate in you mind as you read them. Sometimes one symbol can refer to several related things. Revelation is a book for ruminating, playing the images over and over in your mind.
| Listen Online | MP3 Download |
|---|---|
| Streaming KJV | Zipped MP3 KJV |
| Streaming World English Bible (WEB) | Zipped MP3 Chapters 1-11 (WEB), Zipped MP3 Chapters 12-22 (WEB) |
An online class I found helpful on Revelation is a series taught by Charles E. Hill of Reformed Theological Seminary. It is an adult Sunday School series that is oriented to people without theological degrees. His Revelation course is here . Dr. Hill teaches from an idealist and amillennial perspective.
What is the Big Picture? Reading Revelation reveals at least the following scheme:
(1) There is a heavenly vision of Christ.
(2) A letter to seven churches with particular exhortations to those churches.
(3) Lots of trouble, but God is active in preserving the saints. The saints may loose their lives, but they are ultimately protected.
(4) Final judgement.
(5) Final victory of Christ and his people.
Most everyone can see that general flow no matter how one approaches Revelation. Of course we can see more detail than that, just seeing a very big layout helps in starting to understand Revelation.
Another thing to notice is Revelation is full of images. In some passages the images are identified. in other passages the images are not explicitly identified. Revelation is written in symbolic form. Revelation gathers images from the Old Testament -- but modifies them, has numerous allusions to the New Testament, pulls images from Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture -- but again modifies these.
Question: Is John reporting the symbols just as he is seeing them? Or is John looking into the future, seeing things that he has no idea of they are and describes them as best as he can? For instance, did John see in the future wave after wave of Apache attack helicopters, and since he did not know what they were, he described them as locusts?
The answer, I think, is that John is reporting the symbols just as he sees them. Locusts are actually locusts, not helicopters. Many symbols cannot be pictured as a literal thing. For instance:
(Revelation 11:8 NASB) And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
Literally there is no city that is Egypt, Sodom, and where Christ was crucified. The symbol description gives a picture of this city. The Israelites, before the Exodus, were in bondage in Egypt. Egypt is a place of bondage. In the Old Testament, Sodom was a city of great evil. Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified, was the center of false religion. This word image paints a picture of where the dead bodies of the two witnesses (another symbol) will lay. The place is evil, enslaves its residents, and practices false religion.
Numbers show up. Numbers have symbolic importance. Seven indicates universality or completeness. The seven churches are literal seven churches in Revelation, but the number seven indicates the universality of the message to all the churches throughout the ages. Twelve is associated with the twelve apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, twenty-four can indicate the entire span of history from Israel through the church. Look for sentence structures of threes, often indicating attributes of the Triune God.
Let the images percolate in you mind as you read them. Sometimes one symbol can refer to several related things. Revelation is a book for ruminating, playing the images over and over in your mind.
