What does the book of Revelation mean? Ask different people and you will get a lot of different answers. Supposedly, John Calvin, a great theologian of the reformation period, was asked why he had written commentaries on all the books in the Bible except Revelation. His response was “when I can understand it, I will write one”.
Some people believe the whole book should be taken literally while others believe some parts should be taken figuratively. Views among believers range from dispensationalists, reformed, pre-millennialists, post-millennialists, and a-millennialists, etc.
Chapter 1 recounts John’s vision of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing to him telling him to write letters to the seven churches in a province called Asia. These were real towns in the western area of what is today Turkey. Jesus told him to “write down what you have seen – both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen”. Revelation 1:19 NLT. (That is the theme of Revelation).
Then in chapters 2 and 3, John writes short letters to each church describing their good and/or bad points. These three chapters deal with reality in those churches, characteristics of people and churches ever since.
Chapters 4-22 are the challenging part of the book. “Then as I looked, I saw a door standing
open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this’.” Revelation 4:1 NLT. This is the key verse to understanding Revelation, and the problem is how to interpret it: literally or figuratively. There are some questions that must be asked before arriving at an answer.
First, in chapter 5, John writes, “then I saw a Lamb”. The Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God. In reading the chapter, we discover that the Lamb referred to is the Lord Jesus Christ. The question here is should we take this picture of the Lord as real or symbolic? Will Christ actually appear to us as a Lamb or is this a word picture referring to Isaiah 53 where we are told “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7 NLT.
Second, Revelation 10:7 says, “He said, ‘There will be no more delay. When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as He announced it to His servants the prophets’.” What is God’s mysterious plan? Is this the same plan Paul wrote about in Ephesians 1:9-11 when he said, “God has now revealed to us His mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan”. Or is John referring to another of God’s plans?
Third, in chapter 12, John gives us in figurative form the story of the first coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the Nation of Israel. If the book of Revelation is about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, why is the story of His birth placed in the middle of future events? One well known Christian writer describes this as an intermission in the book. This chapter talks about a “large red dragon beginning in verse 3 that is described in verse 9 as “this great dragon – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world – was thrown down to the earth with his angels.” Is the term dragon a metaphor for Satan or is Satan a metaphor for the dragon?
Fourth, in chapters 13-18, we meet the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, the
great prostitute, and Babylon. Are these to be taken literally or figuratively and did they refer to something past or to something future?
Fifth, chapter 20 discusses the thousand years where Satan is defeated and bound in chains and cast into a bottomless pit. According to some Bible interpreters, this will be a time of a kingdom on earth where Christ will reign as a fulfilled promised to the Jews and/or Christians and/or the surviving people of the earth. However, except for judges sitting on thrones, the only people mentioned in this 1,000 years are “the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God”.
Sixth, in chapters 21 and 22, John talks about the new Jerusalem and, in each chapter, he sees it coming down out of heaven to earth. In 21:9-10, John wrote that one of the seven angels said to him, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” Now, Paul plainly says that the church is the bride of Christ. “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” Ephesians 5:25-27 NLT. Is the new city to be the bride of Christ or is this a representation of the church? (see also Revelation 21:1-2).
And seventh, John says, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations”. Revelation 22:1-2 NLT. Why will there be a need for leaves used to heal the nations if everything is to be taken literally. In verse 15, John writes “outside the city are the dogs – the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie”. Won’t those people be in the eternal lake of fire if this is to be taken literally and not outside the city.
Finally, how would the people of John’s day have understood this message? Would they have thought this is the real thing and someday in the future all will be well? Or would they have understood that this book (letter to them) was a picture of the struggle they were experiencing of problems, heartaches, persecutions, etc., with the belief that when this life is over they will be with their risen Lord Who loved them and redeemed them with His blood?