Fulfilling the Mystery

Introduction

Is it possible to have a practical and useful interpretation of the Book of Revelation? After all, the Lord promises that He will bless those who read, hear, and keep its contents (Revelation 1:3). But this begs the question: “How are we to keep what we do not understand?” Instead of clear insight into God’s heart, many seem confused when they read the last book of the Bible. Perplexity is so prevalent that some even throw their hands into the air and simply give up. “Better to read those parts of Scripture that we can understand than to waste time trying to comprehend this stuff. John is just too mystical for me.” The problem with such an approach is that it guarantees we will miss the intended blessing for those who read and keep it. Hopefully, this short book will help to sort out some of the widespread confusion.

What many have seemed to miss is that the Book of Revelation is an apostolic letter. The apostolic vision (what burdened the New Testament writers) lies at the heart of John’s Revelation. Its contents are not primarily about events in the distant future, though it certainly does contain some of this emphasis (e.g., the second coming of Christ and the new heavens and new earth).^[1] However, John’s message was first and foremost relevant and applicable to the first century Church. God had promised to bless those (in the first century as well as throughout church history) who would read and keep the contents of this book.

John’s subject matter was the Lamb’s war against the powers of darkness. Though this book was written to the early Church, yet it contains timeless truth for all generations (as do all the New Testament epistles). Those who see John’s Revelation as only addressing the past or the future could limit their ability to hear what God would say in the present generation.

Specifically, the Book of Revelation was an apostolic epistle written to seven churches in Asia. As these early disciples read its contents, they received instructions appropriate to their circumstances. Therefore, it is imperative that as we read it in our day, we also gain insight on how to live just as we do when we read the rest of the Scriptures. The Church today must rediscover the apostolic nature of this book.

10 per page

Search Comments

This page has been visited 0006 times.

Contents