The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the Book of Revelation Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.
[callout]For the past several weeks, I’ve been co-teaching a class called, Bible Hacks where myself and Daryl Docterman have been teaching short sessions designed to help you read the Bible better. Below are my teaching notes from session eight as well as the audio of the class. Past sessions are listed at the bottom of this article:[/callout]
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Bible Hacks: How to Read the Book of Revelation Well
How can we read the book of Revelation well? That’s a question that has caused many, many books to be written. It has caused many, many doctrines to be taught. What we’re going to attempt here in about fifteen minutes is to examine a humble, balanced approach to the book of Revelation.
The Basics
The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, who also wrote the gospel according to John, as well as 1, 2, and 3 John. At the time of writing, John is in exile at the island of Patmos. In Revelation 1:9-11, we see the immediate situation John found himself in:
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
In the book of Revelation, then, John tells us about the visions he saw.
3 Genres
The book of Revelation is really a combination of three different genres:
The word apocalypse means “an uncovering.” The apocalyptic imagery that is found in the book of Revelation is rooted in OT Prophecy, mainly in Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and parts of Isaiah.
In addition to being apocalyptic, it is prophetic. It is God’s word to the seven churches and it is forth telling and foretelling. In other words, not only does John share what Christ says, acting as a prophet, but he tells them what will happen in the future.
Also, it is a letter. It is to a specific group of churches and it is addressing a specific occasion for them.
The book of Revelation is, at the same time, a word of encouragement as well as a word of judgment. It is a word of encouragement to those within the Church. It is a word of judgment to those outside of the Church.
Images in the Book of Revelation
The difficulty of reading the book of Revelation occurs when we come upon the many, many images. We read about numbers, clothing, dragons, beasts, trumpets, and more. Upon a light reading of Revelation, it can all get quite confusing. And that’s probably why a lot of us stay away from it altogether. But there is hope.
The following are six images in Revelation that are interpreted simply from reading the text and seeing the vision as a whole.
6 Interpreted Images in Revelation
1. One like a son of man (1:13) = Christ
2. Golden lamp stands (1:20) = the seven churches
3. The seven stars (1:20) = seven angels, or messengers, of the churches
4. The great dragon (12:9) = Satan
5. The seven heads (17:9) = the seven hills the woman sits on (as well as seven kings – a fluid image)
6. The prostitute (17:18) = the great city (Rome)
When it comes to reading Revelation well, we must approach the imagery in it in the correct way. Many people approach the imagery in Revelation in an allegorical way. Every little detail is representative of something. And this is where we run into trouble. Instead of looking at them allegorically, we’re better off taking them as a whole and looking at the big details.
Here’s the thing when it comes to imagery in Revelation: what we are reading are pictures and we ought to treat them as such. Or, better yet, they are paintings of what John is seeing. In other words, the details and finer points of the pictures may or may not be how reality did or will play out.
For instance, Robert H. Stein, in his book A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible used this illustration and I think it’s valuable: let’s look at the difference between a 15th-century painting and a 19th-century painting.
Click here to see an example of 15th-century art.
Click here to see an example of 19th-century art.
The 15th Century piece is very exact. It is very realistic. The lines are clean. If you zoom in, you’ll see the realism. The 19th Century piece is not exact. It as less straight, hard lines. If you zoom in, you may be confused at what you are looking at. But when you zoom out, you see the scene in a clear, but not too clear sense..
Stein makes the case, and I tend to agree with him, that the picture we get in Revelation is more like the style of the 19th Century piece than the 15th Century. When we look at it as a whole, it is still humbling to try and understand, but the image is noticeable. In other words, when we look at the book of Revelation as a whole, we see the overall message. The finer details will surely still stump us, but that’s okay.
An Outline of Revelation
* Ch. 1: Christ’s glory, wisdom, and power
* Chs. 2-3: Christ’s authority over the Church
* Ch. 4: The glory of God and the throne room
* Ch. 5: Christ is the Lamb who was slain and worthy to open the book of Judgment
* Chs. 6-18: Wrath of Christ is poured out upon the earth
* Chs. 19-20: Christ returns to judge his enemies and to reign as Lord over all
* Chs. 21-22: Christ rules over the new heavens and new earth
Let’s Get to Work
In our handout, we’re going to dive into the book of Revelation and get a good idea of the overall message and flow of the book.
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Session one: The Overarching Story of the Bible – by Daryl Docterman
Session one: Seeing the Gospel in Every Crevice of the Bible – by Brandon Kelley
Session two: Understanding the Old Testament Context – by Daryl Docterman
Session two: Understanding the New Testament Context – by Brandon Kelley
Session three: Going From Original Meaning to Contemporary Application – by Daryl Docterman
Session three: Identifying Theological Realities and Obedient Actions – by Brandon Kelley
Session four: Reading the OT Narratives Well – by Daryl Docterman
Session four: Reading the Gospels Well – by Brandon Kelley
Session five: Understanding OT Law – by Daryl Docterman
Session five: Understanding Jesus’ Parables – by Brandon Kelley
Session six: Reading the Psalms Well – by Daryl Docterman
Session six: Reading the Book of Acts Well – by Brandon Kelley
Session seven: Understanding the Wisdom Literature – by Daryl Docterman
Session seven: How to Read the New Testament Letters – by Brandon Kelley
Session eight: Understanding Old Testament Prophecy – by Daryl Docterman
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The post Bible Hacks: How to Read the Book of Revelation Well appeared first on Brandon Kelley.
