BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS
The title of the book of Revelation derives from the opening Greek word apokalypsis (“apocalypse”) meaning “uncovering” or “unveiling.” It belongs to the category of apocalyptic writings characterized by complex symbolic language. Early Christian authors living close to the time of its composition unanimously regarded the self-identified author John (Rev. 1:1, 4, 9) as one of the twelve apostles (cf. Matt. 10:2), the brother of James, and also the author of the fourth gospel and three epistles.
John wrote Revelation while he was on the rocky island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea (Rev. 1:9) around AD 95, near the end of the reign of Emperor Domitian, which was a time of increasing persecution. It first circulated among the seven local congregations situated in the cosmopolitan cities of Asia Minor (Rev. 1:4, 11)—the southwestern part of modern Turkey. The book sought to encourage those Christians in their dire circumstance but primarily unveils God’s providential working throughout history for His people until the end. Revelation reveals that God is in ultimate control of the world, will triumph over the forces of evil, and will then establish His everlasting kingdom.
The book states that its contents were “signified” to John in a vision (Rev. 1:1). (The Greek word sēmainō carries the primary meaning: “to show by signs or symbols”). John recorded those symbolic presentations exactly as he had seen them in vision (v. 2). The use of such symbolic language indicates that we must not interpret its images and scenes literally but symbolically. Revelation’s symbolic language was familiar to readers and listeners of the first century. Most of its symbolism comes from the Old Testament. In endeavoring to unlock the meaning of Revelation’s imagery, the reader must first pay attention to its Old Testament background, especially the book of Daniel. Additional help in understanding the symbols of the book may be found in other portions of the New Testament, especially the sayings of Jesus. Study of the book of Revelation should seek to understand the meaning that those symbols had for the original recipients.
There are four primary approaches in interpreting the book of Revelation:
(1)Preterism (from Latin preter meaning “past”) argues that Revelation deals with the situation of the Christian church in Asia Minor in the first century during its struggle with Rome. The book offers no predictions of the future. Rather, its whole purpose was to encourage the Christians of the early centuries to persevere in their faithfulness to God.
(2) Futurism holds that Revelation 4-22 describes the events that will take place shortly before the Second Coming. Therefore, these chapters of Revelation pertain only to the last generation of Christians.
(3) Idealism contends that the book describes, in vivid symbolism, the ongoing struggle between good and evil that will result in God’s ultimate triumph over evil. Revelation does not speak about literal events fulfilled in the past or yet to be fulfilled in the future. Its messages generally provide guidance for every generation of Christians. Idealism is the successor of the allegorical form of interpretation that characterized the medieval approach to the Bible.
(4) Historicism holds that Revelation portrays, in symbolic visions, the course of events unfolding under God’s control through history from the first century until the time of the end. In fact, the book itself, like the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, points to historicism as the most adequate approach for prophetic interpretation.
Apart from the prologue (Rev. 1:1-8) and the epilogue (Rev. 22:6-21), the basic structure of Revelation is delineated in terms of “the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this” (Rev. 1:19). The main body of Revelation falls into four distinctive parts:
(1) The messages to the seven churches (Rev. 1:9–3:22). This section, introduced by John’s apocalyptic vision of Christ, uses the historical situation in the cities of the seven churches of Asia Minor symbolically to portray the situation of the church in successive periods of its history.
(2) The historical section (Rev. 4:1–11:19). The series of seven seals and seven trumpets, also introduced by a vision—this time of heaven’s throne room and of Christ as the Lamb—recapitulates from somewhat different perspectives events in Christian history from the first century until the second advent.
(3) The thematic center (Rev. 12:1–14:20) reveals the history of the great controversy from the entrance of sin to the second advent.
(4) The eschatological section (Rev. 15:1–22:5). This section concentrates on the end time events leading up to the coming of Christ and the establishment of God’s kingdom.
This outline of Revelation will help readers locate the key visions of the book in history. It further points to the importance of the central chapters as the dividing line between the historical and eschatological sections of the book. While the first half of Revelation concentrates primarily on the Christian age, the last section deals exclusively with the end-time events. This outline also shows that the visions of the seven seals and the seven trumpets run throughout Christian history, while “the seven last plagues” (15:1) take place just before Christ returns.
Paulien,“The Hermeneutics of Biblical Apocalyptic,”245–270.
Stefanovic, Revelation of Jesus Christ.