Revelation might be the most neglected book in the Bible because of the symbols found within its pages. People ignore spending time in the book because they quickly assume that no one can truly understand what it means. Even we as pastors often avoid preaching or teaching from Revelation except for the first three chapters. This reality is tragic since this 66th book gives us the end of God’s great story that he began telling us in Genesis. These three keys will provide you with the encouragement and confidence to take a journey or continue your travels through this breathtaking book.
Key #1: God himself meant for you to understand Revelation!
“God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.”
Revelation 1:3 (NLT)
Revelation 1:3 contains the first and most prominent blessing found in the book. God promises to bless the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church. In the early church, everyone didn’t have a copy of the Scriptures, so an individual would have to read them aloud to the church. Today, this blessing extends to all who read the words of this book for themselves! God also promises to bless the one who hears Revelation read. Knowing how the story ends should bring peace to a troubled heart during troubling times. The last blessing is for those who obey the message of God found in Revelation. Obedience to Revelation’s message includes praying for the events described to come to pass so Christ can return. We should also be watching with a prayerful eye to see any events unfolding that could signal the coming of the end times. If we are to keep, practice, and obey the words of this book, we must be able to understand its contents.
Key #2: Most of Revelation’s content is not new information.
Many have given Revelation the nickname of the Grand Central Station of the Bible. Revelation is compared to the Grand Central Station because all the trains of thought throughout the Bible converge. Even though there is no direct quote of the Old Testament found within the 404 verses that make up its message, 278 of its verses allude to the Old Testament. General knowledge of the Old Testament or the practice of referencing the Old Testament while reading Revelation will help one understand its contents.
Key #3: Correctly interpret the symbols in Revelation.
As we read Revelation, it might feel as if we are like Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Alice finds herself falling into another world! A world with a talking cat, the world’s most dysfunctional tea party, a procrastinating rabbit, and a queen who wants her head. During your reading of Revelation, you, too, have been transported to a fantasy world, into a world filled with angels, demons, a seven-horned Lamb, beasts, cosmic and seismic catastrophes, and much more.
The plethora of symbols has led to some people adopting one of two extremes in their understanding of the book. The first extreme is that we cannot understand the book of Revelation. The only truth we can take away from this final book from God is that there is a cosmic struggle between good and evil. The second dangerous approach people take when interpreting the book’s symbols is to make the symbols mean whatever they want them to mean.
How to correctly interpret Revelation’s symbols
Here is a two-step process in helping you interpret the symbols in Revelation correctly.
Step 1: A symbol always refers to something literal.
Let’s look at an example found in Revelation chapter one. In this example, we will look at the seven golden lampstands that Jesus is standing in the middle of and the seven stars that he is holding in his right hand.
“And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.”
Revelation 1:13 (NLT)
“He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.”
Revelation 1:16 (NLT)
As we read to the end of the chapter, we see Jesus himself explains the meaning of the lampstands and the stars.
“This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Revelation 1:20 (NLT)
Jesus demonstrates this third key of understanding the symbolism in Revelation – symbols point to something literal, whether that be an actual person, place, or thing. We see that the seven lampstands refer to seven literal churches in Asia, and the seven stars represent the seven angels of those churches.
Step 2: Look to the Bible to explain a symbol’s meaning.
All of the book’s symbols are explained within Revelation or in the other parts of the Bible. The first place that we should look at when we are looking for an explanation of a particular symbol is within the same chapter describing the symbol. If we cannot find a symbol’s interpretation within the same chapter, we then look for its meaning in other parts of Revelation itself. If we cannot find the meaning of the symbol in its chapter or Revelation, we then look to the rest of Scripture.
In other words, look at the Base Chapter (the chapter you are reading in), the Bible Book (book that chapter is located), or the Bible as a whole.
Be encouraged; God wants you to understand Revelation! Use these three keys to help you better understand God’s plans for the future and to grow your affections for our coming King!
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