Here comes the Good Part: An Introduction to the Book of Revelation
By Dr. Donald Whitchard
No book except the Bible gives us the accurate, honest, and true description of history as we know it and its conclusion according to God’s terms. History is not a conglomeration of separate incidents or accidents. History has a logical, rational flow of events, where everything at one time or another is intermingled to either prove a point, promote an agenda, create a nation, or for us to see the problems of the nation and do our best to correct them. True history according to the Bible is completely orchestrated by the Sovereign will of God Almighty. In this series, we will look at how He brings this current world to an end, and the beginning of the eternal heaven and earth, forever free from the sins and troubles that have held us captive, gave us cause for concern, broken our hearts, and made us yearn for lasting peace. We see all of this happen when we read the book of Revelation, which is in and of itself an exciting adventure.
For some Christians, Revelation is a fog and a mystery that cannot be understood. Some people avoid it because it has been the subject of abuse, alarm, hysteria, sensationalism, and misinterpretation. However, none of these are valid excuses for not studying this book. Like any portion of Scripture, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes as to what it means and receive the promised blessing to everybody who reads and understands it (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Revelation 1;3). The only people who really misunderstand, misinterpret, and avoid this book altogether are those that truly do not believe in the Bible, the power of God, or the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the center of this book. The diligent student of the book will also soon discover the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is more clearly revealed that His anywhere else in the Word of God. Revelation is not a book to be avoided. It is to be read and studied.
Revelation is a derivative of the Greek word “apocalypse.” When we hear that word, we think of terrible events such as war, famines, disease, and everything that can be compiled or be defined as the end of the world as we know it. However, the apocalypse is nothing more than an “unveiling” of what is to come. God, in his mercy and grace, shows his people what is going to happen, the purpose for why it happens, and how it all brings him glory and honor, and strengthens our faith in him. Over the past two thousand years since this book was written by the apostle John, there have been theologians, historians, and common folk who have sought to interpret this book by four prominent methods. The first of these methods is known as the Preterist Interpretation. Preterists see the events recorded in the Book of Revelation as a historical record of first century events and little more. A Preterist will argue that the Lord Jesus Christ returned in the form of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, as he had prophesied. Many preterists will tell you that they do believe in a literal return of Jesus Christ to earth in the last days as the Rightful King who will make all things new, as Revelation promises.
The major problem with the Preterist interpretation is that those who hold to this position tend to be afraid of Bible prophecy in its entirety. They do not want to seem like they are outlandish or sensationalists when they teach or preach about the events mentioned in Revelation. The Preterist interpretation does not address the person and work of the Antichrist and his False Prophet (Revelation 13). What about all the plagues, destruction, and horror that are clearly described in detail throughout the book? The preterist tends to avoid these issues and often claim that they are symbolic of the troubles we have now that will conclude at the return of Christ. While this is an interesting point of view, it is a clear attempt to avoid the issues of end-time prophetic issues and literal events.
There is the Idealistic Interpretation of the Book of Revelation, primarily used by theologians and historians who are liberal in persuasion. They believe that it is a collection of stories that show the continuing battle between good and evil, with good eventually winning. Idealists tend to downplay the reality of the Second Coming and see that the events described in Revelation as on the same level as a myth or a fable. This goes against the entirety of the Bible, which if you will take the time to study, describes actual, literal, historical events that have been proven by the work of archaeologists, as well as experts in biblical manuscripts, languages, cultures, customs, and history of the region. Anybody who claims that the Bible is a book of fables and myths has obviously not read it, for Jesus himself attested to the fact of creation, Noah’s flood, the parting of the Red Sea, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments at Sinai, and the miracles described in what we call the Old Testament. As God Incarnate, our Lord is the Author of Scripture, using a variety of individuals over the centuries to write down the words that He wants to say to us, and how we can trust Him to see that all things work together for His purpose and will. The Scriptures are divinely inspired, without error, and are fully sufficient for everything we need to know about faith, belief, doctrine, and assurance. Nothing else needs to be added.
If the authors of Scripture wanted to say that what they wrote was an allegory or symbolic, they would have used the Greek word to describe an allegory. The only specific place in the New Testament where an allegory is used is in Galatians 4, where Paul uses Ishmael and Isaac as illustrations of works and grace. The serious Bible student, whether they be pastor, teacher, or believer in general needs to study the Bible from a literal perspective, which means to read the text without using any special keys or codes. The literal method embraces the normal, everyday, collective understanding of the terms. Words are given the meaning they normally have in common communication. It is the basic, plain, and normal way of interpretating a passage. The third method of interpretation is to view Revelation as Historical. It is a timeline of Church history from the days of the apostles to this present day. The Historical interpretation teaches that most of the events in the book describe the past. This view ignores the book’s claims to be prophetic and offers very odd interpretations of strange applications of the text. Instead of seeing it as true literal events that have and will happen.
The last interpretation is known as Futurist. This view teaches that Revelation is prophetic in nature and takes a literal approach to interpretation. Everything described in Revelation is an actual historical prophetic event, not things to be spiritualized or regulated to the realm of allegory or legend. Everything this book says from the time of the Rapture of the Church to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the formation of a literal millennial Kingdom is presented as real. The Futurist Interpretation allows Revelation to be considered as it is written. The Futurist interpretation is what I will use as we progress through this study.
Those of you who are reading this message might be skeptical of Revelation or the Bible in its entirety. I personally welcome a skeptical mindset to read what I am going to present, and for you to make up your mind as to whether the Bible is the Word of God, but more important, that the message of redemption and salvation found in Scripture will be applied to your life. The Bible says that we are sinners in need of a Savior. That Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ and nobody else (John 3:16, 10:9, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 6:23; 1 John 2:1-2). God gave us no other option, and He will not bow to our demands that we must have another option. It does not work that way. God’s grace is what saves us, not our works (Isaiah 53:4-6, 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). This is something you need to understand. When it comes to the process of salvation, we cannot in any way save ourselves because of our sins. We must trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins and to make us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). We do that by confessing our sins to him and asking him to save us (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10, 13). It is as simple as that. There is nothing elaborate about asking Jesus to save you. But by doing so, you will have life everlasting (John 8:36), and a mind open to understanding how he will bring all things to an end (Revelation 21:5). You can be part of that great, glorious ending to history as we know it and the beginning of eternity as He creates it.
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