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The Book of Revelation
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The New Testament concludes with the Book of Revelation, a highly symbolic and apocalyptic text. It promises the eventual triumph of God over all evil and the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth. This book partakes of three different genres: 1) it is a letter to seven churches (Rev. 2-3), 2) it is a prophesy of things to come (Rev. 1:1-3; 22:18-19), and 3) it is an apocalypse (Rev. 1:1).
An apocalypse is a genre we do not really have today, but it was a known Jewish type of literature around the time of Christ. In an apocalypse, a heavenly figure (in this case Jesus) visits an important earthly prophetic figure (in this case John) and gives them a “revelation.” This is a revelation about what is about to unfold in history. While things might look bleak at present, God is going to win! The heavenly figure opens a window into what is going on behind the scenes in heaven and about what is about to take place on earth.
Messages to the Seven Churches
Revelation begins with messages to seven churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 2-3). These messages combine commendations, critiques, and calls to repentance, providing timeless lessons for all churches.
Visions and Symbolism
Revelation is filled with vivid visions and symbolic imagery. This includes the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of wrath (Revelation 6-16), each unleashing a series of catastrophic events. These images probably should not be taken literally or necessarily as a chronological sequence of events. They are probably more like a kaleidoscope of images surrounding the same basic set of events.
Imagery of the final judgment also seems to blur with image of John’s own day. For example, “Babylon” was a code name for Rome among many Jews (cf. Rev. 18:2). Similarly, a city with seven hills and five kings would have immediately brought the city of Rome to mind for people living in the first century (Rev. 17:9-11).
The Final Victory
Revelation culminates in the final defeat of Satan, the judgment of the dead, and the arrival of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 20-22). This offers a profound message of hope for believers: despite present sufferings and trials, God's ultimate victory is assured, and believers will dwell with Him in eternity.
The Book of Revelation is filled with symbolic language and imagery that convey its apocalyptic message. In this activity, you will research several of the symbols and reflect on how they might help you interpret the Book of Revelation.
Debates over Revelation
A good deal of debate surrounds the meaning of the book of Revelation. The book’s highly symbolic and prophetic language has led to a host of different interpretations, especially as people have tried to line up the symbolism with current events. A notorious book was once titled, Eighty-eight Reasons Why the Lord is Coming Back in 1988.
There are generally four ways to approach Revelation as prophecy, and there have been Christians who hold to inerrancy that have held to each one of them:
- Futurist – the futurist approach is the most common in the church, and it sees almost all of Revelation in terms of events that have not yet happened.
- Preterist – there are also Bible-believing Christians who have held that the majority of the events in Revelation were about John’s own day rather than the future.
- Historist – the historist perspective is a combination of the previous two perspectives. It sees Revelation pointing to moments throughout the last 2000 years, including the future.
- Idealist – the idealist approach sees Revelation as less about certain times and places as a symbolic representation of the repeated struggle between God and Satan in all times and places.
Another significant area of debate over Revelation relates to beliefs about the Millennium, a thousand-year period mentioned in Revelation 20, and the return of Christ. This debate primarily revolves around pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, and amillennialism.
- Pre-millennialists believe that Christ will return prior to the millennium and will reign on earth literally for a thousand years. This view is further divided into dispensational and historical pre-millennialism. The pre-millennial view became very popular in English-speaking circles in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
- The dispensational approach looks for a seven year Tribulation with a rapture happening either at its beginning, middle, or end. In this understanding, the rapture is the taking of Christians from the earth (cf. 1 Thess. 4:15-17).
- Historical premillennialism sees 1 Thessalonians 4 in terms of believers joining Christ for the final judgment rather than them being whisked away before, during, or after a seven-year Tribulation.
- Post-millennialists, by contrast, hold the view that the Millennium relates to this current age, the Church Age. Christ will return at the end of this age and the judgment will immediately ensue. While pre-millennialism tends to see history getting worse and worse before Christ’s return, post-millennialism is more optimistic about the possibility of changing the world positively in preparation for Christ’s return. This was the predominant view throughout Christian history until modern times.
- Amillennialists interpret the millennium symbolically and believe that it represents the current reign of Christ in heaven, alongside his saints, and that Christ’s return will happen after this unspecified period, leading directly into the final judgment and eternal state.
The various views on the millennium and the interpretation of Revelation demonstrate the diversity and complexity of eschatological or “end time” beliefs within Christianity.