I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship
at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.
Revelation 22:8
Let’s take a step back and look at Revelation. It is important to note that out of all 66 books in the Bible, only the book of Revelation promises a blessing to those who read and understand it (1:3 and 22:7). It is also important to realize that Revelation is of the apocalyptic genre. There are several other genres in the Bible including poetry, historical narrative, prophetic, Gospel, letters, etc. Some books even contain more than one genre or sub-genres.
The point is, you shouldn’t read and interpret Revelation the same way you do Psalms for example. Look at it this way: you don’t read a book or watch a movie that is science fiction and treat it as a romantic comedy. You would be lost and miss the point entirely. Further, Revelation was written in the late first century A.D., so you need to understand historical context too – what the world was going through in John’s day.
Here is the basic topical structure of Revelation. It opens with messages for seven churches in cities situated in modern-day Turkey. It then gets a good bit more symbolic: the throne in heaven, the Lamb of God, seven seals, trumpets, plagues and bowls, 144,000 witnesses and two other witnesses, persecution by beasts, three angels, a woman on a beast, the fall of Babylon, the rider on the white horse, a thousand years, a new Jerusalem, and the river of life. Whew! That’s exhausting and a bit daunting to read, much less try and figure out the meaning.
Let me mention again about the different schools of thought. There are those “smarter” than I who believe that most of Revelation was fulfilled in the days of and immediately following the Apostle John, and that the rest of the book is metaphorical, not literal. There are others who believe it is all to be fulfilled in the future. Still there are some that believe this and other Bible prophecies have some measure of dual fulfillment, meaning fulfillment in the days relatively soon after the prophecies were given and written, and also at the End of the Age.
I have found it helpful to read commentaries on Revelation. I’ve also found it helpful to read this and other books in one sitting if possible. It gives you the big picture and helps you understand the flow. You will probably read and realize details you hadn’t noticed before. Ultimately, it’s worth focusing on the final chapter and the return of “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13). That’s something to truly look forward to.
