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Original Artwork by Keely Draheim

By: Pastor Peter Schlicht

Starting on April 28th and continuing through June 2nd, you will hear sermons at Eastside from the book of Revelation. Yes, it is the one you’re thinking of, that crazy thing at the end of the Bible. Yes, the one with the dragons and the weird stuff. Yes, that Revelation, and you know what? I’m excited! I’m pumped up to preach and teach about Revelation, partially because I’m a pastor and just a little odd to begin with, but mainly because this book is all about Jesus. In fact, that is the main interpretive key which helps us stay on the right track when appreciating the book of Revelation.

It has been said too plainly or without explanation that Revelation is a simple book, or that it really isn’t complicated. The truth is that the main message of the book is very simple. It is often summed up in two words, “Jesus wins.” This is true. The basic message is clear. Just like the Bible’s message is certainly clear as a whole, but the study of any Scriptural text, especially a prophet book like Revelation, can be very complex and can be difficult to do without any guidance or prior knowledge. This is part of what makes God’s Word so useful and enduring:  A small child can understand that Jesus loves them, but an adult can read the Bible every day of their life and still learn more each day. I love studying the Bible and yet I am only beginning to understand just how little I really grasp. The same is true of Revelation; its main message is clear, but there is much to study and ponder beyond the basic points.

Which brings me to how we interpret this book. Rarely, if ever, do we approach any literature, whether a newspaper, blog post, or sports column, without built-in knowledge. For instance, we know that Milwaukee Bucks are doing well this year, and so the article which says they have a good shot at the championship makes a lot of sense. However, imagine that you didn’t even know the Bucks were a basketball team. You might be incredibly confused to hear that some hoofed ruminant mammals are dominating a professional Basketball league! The same is true of Revelation. There are certain things you need to know before you start.

I won’t get into a book on interpretation here in a blog post, but I will give 3 starting points which should help tremendously:

1. Revelation is a vision and should be interpreted as such. The fantastic pictures in this book are vividly painted to hit home with readers on a metaphoric level. (Ex. Is the Devil an actual dragon?! No, this is a picture of the Devil which reminds us that he is a deadly and dangerous adversary.) A God-glorifying interpretation recognizes the unique genre of John’s vision and will interpret it as such. Don’t get too bogged down on individual verses until you understand the bigger picture as a whole.
2. Revelation is just one of 66 books in the Bible. It isn’t more important than any other book. So if any interpretation you hear contradicts the 65 books which preceded it, that interpretation is wrong.
3. Focus on Jesus. If you hear an interpretation that goes into long, detailed connections of specific numbers, or complicated timelines, beware of an over-literal interpretation which has lost the main focus: Jesus and his victory.

If you’d like further explanation of Revelation I’d suggest watching The Bible Project’s Read Scripture video. Here is Part 1 and Part 2. In twenty minutes they give you an excellent overview of the purpose and structure of the book. I’m really looking forward to exploring the different titles for Jesus our  Savior in the REVEALED series this month. I hope you are too! God will bless our time together in the book of Revelation as he promises anytime we gather around his Word.