Revelation

 June 14, 2022

It’s been awhile since I’ve tackled the Biblical book of Revelation, but it’s where I am in my personal readings at the moment, and hearing a lot of apocalyptic talk lately, maybe it’s time to deal with it in this more public way, so here goes:

How we interpret the very first words of the book will impact how we interpret the rest of it, so it is important to understand at the beginning what John is all about in writing this book. He begins with these words: 

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

—Revelation 1:1-3 NKJV

The words “the revelation of Jesus Christ” can mean two things; either “the revelation about Jesus Christ,” or “the revelation from Jesus Christ.” Which way we see this makes a big difference in how we see the rest of the book. It’s tempting to see this as the latter—the revelation from Jesus Christ—because John goes on to talk about things which must shortly take place, implying that the main purpose of the revelation is to inform us of the future.

I think this is a mistake. To read the book of Revelation this way is to reduce it to fortune-telling, a Christian sort of divination. We often say we want to know what the future brings, but once it is here, we’re often glad we didn’t know beforehand what was coming down the road; we would be tempted to back up and beg for a do-over. The Revelation isn’t merely FROM Jesus; it is ABOUT Jesus. He is the central figure of the entire book, and to miss this is to miss its message and make the mistake so many have made of setting dates and interpreting it’s symbols in terms of their present circumstances.

If we look at the Revelation as Jesus pulling back the curtain to show us more of himself rather than more of the future, we can avoid the sensationalism that causes many to dismiss us as quacks and fanatics, and it might even keep us from the foolishness of selling everything, donning white robes, and sitting on a mountaintop to await Jesus’ return. If anything, this book is an encouragement to faithful living in difficult times—something much needed today.

Finally, there are these comforting words: “Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things with are written in it; for the time is near.” John omits a blessing for those who understand this book, which is a good thing. We don’t have to understand everything in it to be blessed by it. All we have to do is read, listen, and do. The time is always near; none of us knows when Jesus will return, and none of us knows when he will call us home in the meantime. The time is always near, so a revelation of Jesus Christ is always timely for his servants, for which I am grateful in this particular time of my life.