Three keys to understanding Revelation

When John sent the book of Revelation to the seven churches, he expected the people to understand what he was talking about. And they did, because they understood apocalyptic literature, they understood the symbols being used, and they knew their Old Testament. It’s a little more difficult for us, because the genre and symbolism are foreign to us. But we can learn them.

The first five and the last two chapters of Revelation are easy to understand. They contain magnificent visions of God, Jesus, and of heaven.

 

The problem comes in the middle 15 chapters which are full of apparently impenetrable symbolisms. People have terrible trouble making sense of these chapters. But they are meant to be understood.








 

 

 

 

 

 

Three keys to understanding the middle 15 chapters.
 

1. We need to understand the nature of apocalyptic writing.
 

Apocalyptic writing is a foreign kind of writing to us – full of apparently obtuse symbolism and mixed metaphors. But it was very common at the time and the original recipients of Revelation were very familiar with it. It was commonly written to people under tremendous persecution, and was actually designed to hide from the authorities what was really being talked about. At the time of the writing of Revelation (about 90AD) Christians were under fearful persecution at the hands of the Emperor Domition, and it would have been very dangerous for him to find out that Revelation was actually a condemnation of Rome.

2. Revelation is not chronological prophecy.

 

The world is not going to experience seven seals, then seven trumpets, then the beast from the sea, then the Antichrist, then the Millennium. Rather, the 15 chapters should be seen as seven cycles. They are repetitive. Each of the seven includes a picture of the final judgement, and of the second coming of Christ. We are clearly not meant to expect seven final judgements and seven second comings! The seven cycles could be seen as seven CCTV cameras in a mall. If you are in Mr Price, you can’t see what is happening in Game. But the security manager downstairs looking at all the monitors can see everything that is happening. The seven cycles each give us seven different aspect of reality.

In a sense the book of Revelation is not strictly prophecy at all. The final judgement and the second coming of Christ are certainly prophesied. But it is fruitless for us to try to identify who the Beast is, who the Antichrist is, and whether the tribulation will come before the millennium. Revelation simply is not about that sort of specific prophecy. These 15 chapters are seven pictures of the world as it was then (and still is now), rather than specific prophecies about the future.

3. Almost nothing in these 15 chapters is literal.

 

It is all figurative. And to understand the figurative language, we need  background information. Fortunately most of this is available to us. (I’ve listed below the meaning of some of the symbols and numbers.) But nothing is literal.
 

The meaning of some of the symbols in Revelation: