When I was growing up, my parents bought me a set of Popular Science books. There were 10 or 12 books in the set and each one was about the size of an encyclopedia. One of my favorite parts of that series was the series on the human body. In one section of Popular Science, there were these transparency pages. Some of you will remember this as I talk about it. On the first page, there was nothing but the skeleton of a human body. The next page was a transparency, that when laid over that skeleton showed the position of all the vital organs in the body. The next page was another transparency that revealed the placement of all the muscles and ligaments in the body. Finally, the last page was a transparency that covered that body with skin. When all the pages were in place, there before you was a finished human body. It was shown to you layer by layer.

That is how I see that John lays out this book. It has many layers. Each layer presents a picture. But it takes all the pictures to show us the full picture. If I see them as linear—then I will get confused. But if I see them as many layers of the same picture, everything begins to come clear. As our journey continues, ask God to help you hear what the Spirit might be saying to you through this book!