Oftentimes a document’s opening words tell us what we are about to read. The words “once upon a time,” signal that we are about to read a fairy tale. Or “Four score and seven years ago,” tell us we are about to read Lincoln’s famous speech. “Step one in assembling your new table…,” is a clue that we’re looking at a manual. The very first words of the Book of Revelation tell us that it is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is not a code for predicting the return of Jesus. It is an unveiling by and about the Lord Jesus. So if our study of Revelation leads us to spend more time speculating about a rapture or an antichrist then we are missing what Revelation was given to us for.

Though it is not to be read as a linear chronology of history or of final few years before Christ’s return, it the Book of Revelation certainly does tell us of specific events that will happen at the end of the age. Though it is not a secret code, it certainly does make use of a great deal of symbolic language. But ultimately, the Book of Revelation is about King Jesus, the Lamb at the center of the throne who glory and holiness and eternal authority are firmly established.

The Book of Revelation reminds us that, no matter how wicked the devil gets and how broken the world becomes and how much suffering sin inflicts, the truth remains that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever” (11:15). The church needs this unveiling in every generation. The message of Revelation is better by far than vain speculations and failed predictions. It is the unveiling of the truth that in the ongoing conflict between God and the old dragon, the Lamb wins.