The book of Revelation gets mixed reactions from people. There’s a certain sense of curiosity about the future, yet the book can be intimidating and overwhelming because of the futuristic symbolism used.
In this amazing, and some say the best, book of the Bible, God offers a special blessing for all who read it, believe it and practice what it says. To understand the book of Revelation, and to receive those blessings, it helps your congregation to have an understanding of the events of the end times.
The Bible tells us that John was sentenced to a small Greek island called Patmos. Patmos was quarry mine for the Roman Empire, located in the Aegean Sea. It was used to house political and religious prisoners of Rome. John probably worked in the quarry, yet his faith was unwavering. It was there that Jesus gave him the book of Revelation. John wrote down what he saw. Just imagine what it must have been like as John saw these things from the future. He was miraculously transported from the primitive, non-technical age of the first century into the future. John witnesses the most horrific war of all times, fought with weapons completely beyond his comprehension.
Today, we still struggle with comprehension. After years of being a pastor and having preached on Revelation many times, the long recovery from a heart transplant gave me the opportunity to study it again and receive additional insights.
I realized there was a need for a simple user-friendly explanation of every verse in Revelation to help demystify what it meant. Additionally, many people were reading Revelation without direction to other Scriptures that supported what they were reading. Those who study Revelation can also be surprised to find that they also have to understand the different Old Testament covenants with Israel that won’t be totally fulfilled until the end times.
The symbolism in Revelation is used to demonstrate how severe divine judgment is going to be. When the symbolism and the sensational pictures of judgment become the focus of study the readers miss the main message of the blessing of Revelation—the assurance that Jesus is coming again and will bring judgment on evil and injustice. Then Jesus Christ will rule on earth with all believers during His
Millennial Kingdom!
Excerpted from Understanding Revelation and End Time Events by David Baxley, D. Min.
