Bible Study of the Book of Revelation, Study 1: Introduction

As the turn of the millennium approaches, there will be greater and greater interest in the biblical theme of the Last Days in general and the book of Revelation in particular. This interest is already evident in your local bookstore. Author Tim Lahaye has written several novels in the “Left Behind” Series. In them he is dramatizing the unfolding events of Revelation as he understands them from his Premillennialist viewpoint. They are prominently featured in secular as well as Christian bookstores. There is a great deal of interest in our day in the meaning and purpose of the Book of Revelation.

Unfortunately, much of what is to be found in many Christian bookstores on the subject of Revelation tends to excite fanciful imaginations rather than encourage a sober interpretation of the text. G.K. Chesterton is reported to have said, “Though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators”. How sadly true that is.

Admittedly, interpreting the Book of Revelation presents us with a number of challenges. Presumably, its first readers understood its meaning with little difficulty. The same is not true for today’s reader. The centuries between ours and theirs has made its interpretation more problematic. John and his first century Asia Minor readers shared a common culture and background. For the modern reader, the reading of Revelation does entail a cross-cultural experience. And that in turn leads to many questions. What is the proper meaning of its symbolism? How are we to understand its many fantastic images? What is Revelation’s genre? Is it a letter? Prophesy? Testimony? Apocalypse? Did John write to interpret events of his own day alone? Or, did he write of some far distant day of the church? Is the sequence of events in Revelation to be read chronologically? Or, is there a deliberate repetition and overlap? Perhaps the single most important question that must be answered is this: Are the symbols and images of Revelation intended to be understood as historically specific, that is, corresponding to events and persons in time and space as history unfolds, or, are they to be understood as symbolically representational of the experience of the church throughout all ages and in any particular time?1

An additional interpretive challenge arises from the fact that the Book of Revelation draws heavily upon history and imagery, especially the apocalyptic imagery of Daniel, of the Old Testament. For that reason, more so than in any other book in the New Testament, a knowledge of the Old Testament is particularly helpful in unlocking the meaning behind many of Revelation’s revelations. For this reason, the following study is a combination of commentary and question. The questions are included because unlocking the text for oneself is the most satisfying means of learning what the Bible has to say. The commentary is added to enable the average reader to have readily available the necessary background information.

Four Interpretive Methods

There are four basic ways of interpreting Revelation: the Preterist, the Idealist, the Historicist, and the Futurist. We will look briefly at each before we move to the text itself.

The Preterist method interprets the meaning of Revelation’s images according to its historical first century setting. It is the history of the first century church encoded in symbolism. The Preterist sees Revelation as a letter to a church in a particular time and place. Its images are interpreted as symbolic of the contemporary historical reality the church faced in Asia Minor in particular and the Roman world in general.

The Idealist method is the opposite. The images of Revelation are understood not as particular to a past historical setting but as symbolic of the ongoing conflict between good and evil; between the gospel and the church and the world and Satan. The Idealist recognizes that the symbolism of Revelation may have its roots in first century history. Did the original recipients understand Babylon the Great to be Rome? Certainly. Did they understand the Antichrist to be the emperor Nero? Probably. However, the Idealist interpreter does not close the door on the applicability of Revelation’s images at the turn of the first century. Each age can have its Babylon the Great and Antichrists. The Preterist and Idealist are the two most common hermeneutical perspectives utilized by Reformed biblical interpreters.

The most popular interpretive method in the 20th century is the Historicist. The Historicist sees the book of Revelation as a forecast of church and human history. The images in Revelation are seen as symbolic of specific historical events or persons. The historicist interpreter seeks to fit the imagery to specific events, people or entities of history, usually events unfolding in the interpreter’s time. Using this method, the Antichrist may be identified as being the pope2, Saddam Hussein, or Boris Yeltsin. Or, the beast with 10 horns is the European Common Market, or the former Soviet Union. While this is the most common and popular method of interpreting Revelation today, there are two significant weaknesses to this method. The first is that it takes much of the meaning of Revelation out of the hands of the church. It makes the book irrelevant to those who received it initially, as well as the church throughout the centuries, until such time as the historical events prophesied actually begin to come to pass. The second problem is the highly subjective nature of the method that encourages ever changing popular opinion, but not the discernment of unchanging truth.

The Futurist method is similar to the Historicist, but manages to avoid its excesses. The futurist sees the book as eschatological, emphasizing the final victory of God over evil. Many futurist interpreters see everything from chapter 4 to the end as occurring after Christ’s second coming. While this avoids the subjectivity of the Historicist method, it still reduces the meaning and vitality of Revelation as a book for the present.

The hermeneutical key I will use in this study is that of the Idealist. In addition to avoiding the excesses of some of the other methods, the Idealist method succeeds best in bringing out the pastoral applications of Revelation. The Book of Revelation was received by the early church with joy. It was read throughout Asia Minor. It was one of the earliest New Testament books to have commentaries written on it. What was the reason for its early and extensive popularity? Life was difficult for Christians during the first centuries of the church’s existence and Revelation had a powerful impact because it spoke to the pastoral needs of believers. It addressed the practical issues of life in Christ in difficult and hostile times. Excepting chapters 21 and 22, which communicate prophesies of the far future, Revelation communicates truths that are always relevant. The word revelation means disclosure. John’s intent was to reveal truth, not obscure it.

The Eight Scenes of Revelation

Revelation is best outlined as follows in eight scenes.3

• Prologue: 1:1 – 8
• Scene 1: 1:9 – 3:22. Dominant symbol: Seven Letters, Seven Churches. Theme: Church in the World.
• Scene 2: 4:1 – 8:1. Dominant symbol: Seven Seals. Theme: Suffering for the Church.
• Scene 3: 8:2 – 11:18. Dominant symbol: Seven Trumpets. Theme: Warning for the World.
• Scene 4: 11:11 – 15. Dominant symbol: Seven Visions of Cosmic Conflict. Theme: Drama of History.
• Scene 5: 15:5 – 16:21. Dominant symbol: Seven Bowls Poured Out. Theme: Punishment for the World.
• Scene 6: 17:1 – 19:10. Dominant symbol: Seven Words of Justice. Theme: Babylon the Whore.
• Scene 7: 19:11 – 21:8. Dominant symbol: Seven Visions of Ultimate Reality. Theme: Drama Behind History.
• Scene 8: 21:9 – 22:19. Dominant symbol: Seven Final Revelations. Theme: Jerusalem, the Bride.

These divisions are not perfect. But they represent a clear and accurate capture of the dramatic flow and movement of the work. It is important to note that these scenes do not tell history in a linear sense. Rather, each, except for the last, is telling the same story, but from a differing perspective. Each tells the story of God’s salvation. Yet the totality of the story must be understood by laying the scenes one on top of another. One layer is that of the church militant. Another is of the church suffering. A third is an evangelistic warning to an unrepentant world. A fourth is the unfolding drama of human history, etc. Each layer is true. Yet each layer captures only a portion of the truth.

This study first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Jul/Aug 1999).