“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” - Revelation 22:12-13 (ESV)
Revelation is the last book written by the apostle John and is the last book of the New Testament, thus closing the canon of revealed Scripture. Revelation says that Christ is coming back soon and that there are going to be many major events involving the whole world, focusing on Jerusalem. Christ will put an end to sin and rebellion by conquering the whole earth, defeating evil, and finally uniting heaven and earth and God and the church forever. In Revelation, Christ is concerned that believers know the nature and circumstances surrounding His return. He wants the church to be ready and faithful. He also wants God’s people to keep hope as they anticipate eternity with Him then while experiencing evil now. We are in a similar place now to the original hearers. Christ has not returned yet; evil is still in the world, and we must be ready for the coming King!
The Big Idea of Revelation
I have taught the Big Idea of Revelation as the following: Christ Is Coming Soon. In the text above, we read Christ’s conclusion of all that has been said and seen. He is coming soon, bringing the payment for each person. As He is the cause of the beginning, so He is the cause of the end.[1]
One note about this article is that it is extra long, nearly triple the length of a typical post. This is due to the high number of details that seemed better to pull together rather than gloss over. It is not that Revelation cannot be summarized in the length of a typical post, but that it seemed best in this case to make an exception for Revelation for the sake of the reader rather than forcing the post to fit the mold. The reader may decide for himself whether this was a wise move.
An Outline of Revelation
Chapters 1-3: Letters to the Churches
Revelation begins by introducing itself as the revelation of Jesus Christ given from God (the Father) to the Son to show Christ’s servants what would happen soon. Christ gave it to John, who writes it down and sends it specifically to the seven churches in Asia.[2] John then takes up his own voice and addresses the churches directly. John begins nearly immediately by giving his thesis statement for the book, that Christ is coming again on the clouds and everyone will see Him, provoking anguish throughout the earth.[3] Christ’s first coming was accompanied by rejoicing and humility. Christ’s second coming will be accompanied by wailing and glory.
John then turns to describe the vision he received from Jesus Christ. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Sunday) when he heard a loud voice behind him that commanded him to write down what he was about to see and to send it to the seven churches.[4] What follows are letters to each of the seven churches. Smyrna is warned about future suffering; Pergamum is commended for their perseverance but commanded to repent for harboring false teachers; Thyatira is commended for several things and encouraged to persevere, but also rebuked for their toleration of evil; Sardis is exhorted to wake from their living death while the few who remain pure are praised; Philadelphia (in modern-day Turkey, not the US State of Pennsylvania) is honored for keeping Christ’s name in their weakness and promises protection; Laodicea is scolded for being lukewarm, which Christ hates, so He tells them to be zealous and repent.
Revelation 4-8:5: The Seven Seals
Revelation 4-8:5 focuses on the seven seals. John is invited into Heaven, where he sees a glorious figure on a throne surrounded by other beings who are all praising Him constantly. John then notices a scroll in the hand of the figure on the throne that no one can open except Jesus Christ, since He conquered.[5] Jesus appears as a slain lamb who takes the scroll. As He does, the beings around the throne praise Him and all creation joins in. The first four seals reveal horses, one white, one red, one black, and one pale. With each horse, the destruction on the earth is increasingly heavy. The fifth seal reveals martyrs impatient to be avenged. The sixth seal reveals the earth exposed to the wrath of God, with everyone on earth aware and attempting to escape. After this, angels put a seal on the foreheads of twelve thousand Jews from each tribe, totaling 144,000. Then John sees an uncountable multitude from all over the earth singing and praising God. A being explains to John that they have come out of the Great Tribulation and will now be safely in the presence of the Lamb. The seventh seal prompts a half hour of silence, following which seven angels described as those who stand before the throne were given seven trumpets.
Revelation 8:6-ch. 11: The Seven Trumpets
The opening of the seventh seal gives way to the blowing of the seven trumpets. The first trumpet triggers the burning of a third of the earth, leaving two-thirds of the trees and no grass at all. The second trumpet triggers a third of the sea to turn to blood, a third of the ships destroyed, and a third of all sea creatures dead. The third trumpet triggers a star named Wormwood that causes a third of the water to be made bitter and deadly, killing many people. The fourth trumpet triggers the sun being struck and only two-thirds of the light of day and night remaining. There follows a warning about the three trumpets that remain. The final three trumpets are referred to as “three woes.”
The fifth trumpet results in creatures from the bottomless pit being freed to torment people who are not sealed by God. They are ruled by Apollyon. The sixth trumpet causes angels set aside for the purpose to kill a third of mankind. Before the seventh trumpet sounds, John eats a scroll given to him by a great angel who comes down from Heaven to earth. He is told to take measurements of the Temple and informed about two witnesses whose prophetic ministry will last for a time before they are killed and taken up to Heaven. The seventh trumpet triggers praise in Heaven, announcing that the earth has now become God’s kingdom. The ark of the covenant in Heaven is made visible.
Revelation 12-14: Dragons and Beasts
Revelation 12-14 showcases dragons and beasts. It begins with a great sign in heaven that includes a woman giving birth to a newborn. The newborn escapes being devoured by a great red dragon and is taken to God’s throne while the mother is nourished in the wilderness. War arises in Heaven, and the defeated dragon is revealed as Satan, who constantly accuses God’s people, who conquer nevertheless. The dragon pursues the mother to the wilderness, but she escapes, so the dragon leaves to wage war against her children, who are God’s people.
The dragon is pictured on the seashore, where a beast arises from the water, which is worshiped by the people. The beast speaks blasphemous words for three and a half years with all authority on the earth. Another beast arises from the sea that has similar authority and also performs signs, including making the image of the first beast speak. It also marks all the people of the earth so that no one can participate in the economy unless he has the mark of the beast. The number of the beast is revealed as 666.
Then 144,000 people were shown on Mount Zion with the Lamb from the beginning of the vision. Three angels fly across the earth, one announcing the gospel, another announcing the fall of Babylon, and a third threatening those who receive the beast’s mark with God’s wrath. Another figure described as like a son of man with a crown swings his sickle from a cloud to reap the earth. Finally, another angel emerges from Heaven’s temple, also with a sickle, who is instructed by yet another angel to gather grapes for the winepress of God’s wrath, and blood flows from it.
Revelation 15-18: Bowls and Babylon
Chapters 15–18 are about Babylon. Chapter 15 begins by introducing another great sign, consisting of seven angels with seven plagues who represent the final expressions of God‘s wrath. Chapter 15 describes a ceremony in which God’s sanctuary is cleared while one of the four living creatures before the throne gives to the angels bowls with the plagues of God‘s wrath. The sanctuary remains clear until God‘s wrath is finished by each of the seven bowls being poured out.
The first bowl causes sores on those who have the mark and the beast. The second bowl causes all creatures in the sea to die. The third bowl causes all of the freshwater streams and rivers to become blood. The fourth bowl causes the sun to produce burns on people. The fifth bowl plunges the earthly kingdom into darkness. The sixth bowl causes the river Euphrates to dry up, to which the dragon responds by belching forth demons who then go and assemble the kings of the Earth to do battle. The seventh bowl produces the greatest earthquake in history, including great hailstones from heaven that fall on people. The earthquake causes the great cities to come apart, including Babylon. An angel then comes and shows John the judgment of Babylon, pictured as a woman sitting on a great beast with multiple heads and horns. The angel explains how what John is seeing represents the major players and what will happen as they all move toward judgment by God. Chapter 18 is a prophetic declaration by an angel that reads like a lament for the fall of Babylon for all of the evil done in her, especially the persecution and killing of God’s people.
Revelation 19-22: The Very Last Things
Revelation 19–22 shows the very last things. There is a great cry in heaven for God to be praised, followed by a description of what is called the marriage supper of the Lamb. A rider on a white horse appears to strike down the nations with the name “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords” written on His robe and thigh. He wages war against the beast, the false prophet, and all the armies of the Earth, defeating them completely. The beast and false prophet are thrown alive into a lake of fire. Then the Dragon, named Satan, is thrown into a pit for 1000 years to keep him from deceiving the nations until the time of his release. Those who had been murdered for being faithful to Jesus are resurrected to reign with Christ for the thousand years. After the thousand years, Satan is released and another battle is waged, following which Satan is also thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and false prophet. Then there is a judgment from a great white throne in which all people are judged and anyone’s name not found written in the book of life are also thrown into the lake of fire, together with Death and Hades.
After this judgment from the great white throne, John sees a new heaven and a new earth. Jerusalem comes down out of heaven onto earth, and God declares that He will be with His people always and they will no longer experience evil or suffering. Then one of the angels who had poured the bowls gives John a tour of the heavenly city. John notes its measurements, the fact that there is no temple, and that the river of life and the tree of life are centered in the city together with the throne of God and the Lamb. The book ends with Christ remarking that He is returning soon. Those who are pure are blessed, but those who persist in sin will experience judgment. John warns people from changing the words of his prophecy and concludes with a prayer for Christ to come soon and a blessing to his recipients.
Benefits of Revelation
One of the obvious and well-known difficulties of Revelation is the question of its interpretation. How do we understand what this book is saying? Some interpret the book to refer to things that have mostly already happened, others to things that are somewhat happening now, and others to things that are mostly in the future. Where some trip up is in attempting to interpret Revelation without reference to the rest of the Bible. Revelation stands on its own, but how a person interprets the book as a whole reflects how the person interprets the entire Bible. How does Genesis connect to Revelation?
For myself, I interpret, in line with my theological system, most of the things described in Revelation to refer to the future. I take Revelation to describe a mostly chronological progression of events.[6] Revelation is describing how the end will come about.
There are many thorny interpretive issues in Revelation. There are many decisions that need to be made regarding the flow of the story of the entire Bible that impact how one interprets it. Why would God finish off with such a difficult book to understand?
Here is where we can sympathize with God’s people throughout the ages more than we typically do. We are accustomed to having much clearer revelation in the Bible because we have the benefit of hindsight. During the time in which the Bible was being composed, God’s people were in the middle of living the things that were being revealed and which would be explained later both by further revelation and the benefit of hindsight. We can see how things came together even when it seemed impossible. But with Revelation, it is different.
With Revelation, more than any other book, we are faced with a rather opaque window into the future. There is plenty that is revealed and there are plenty of questions that are clearly answered, but there are others that are not. God does not tell us everything.
So why did God give us this particular revelation with these particular details? Indeed, there are many details which God could have left out, but He included them, and we can be grateful for that. If all Revelation had said is that Christ is coming soon, that is enough. But He did not do that. Instead, God describes in striking and vivid details how the earth will be undone, how wickedness will reach a sort of climax, and all will seem lost, but it will not be. Christ will come; the final battles will belong to Him, and the war will be over. All wickedness, all evil, all sorrow, all suffering, will be done away with forever. Death and Hades themselves will be cast into Hell. Death itself will die.
How do Christians respond to the book? In a myriad of helpful ways. Revelation calls for endurance.[7] Our suffering is not concluded with our conversion. Our suffering is concluded when Christ makes all things new. There is much left to undergo, much left in which to remain faithful, and much left to temper our expectations.
Christians throughout the ages have constantly experienced the temptation to make the present world our permanent hope. Revelation destroys that fiction. This world is not our home. How things are is not how they will be. Present peace, present comfort, present luxuries, present wealth, will not last. We will suffer. Most of us will die. But all of us look forward to a new heaven and a new earth that is fundamentally different and fundamentally better than this one. If only it were because Christ was there, this would be so. But Christ will make all things new, and with that our hearts’ desires can be set on the kingdom that is to come. We can live lives marked by gratitude for the goods we experience now, while we remember that they are but shadows of what is to come. And as evil comes and wickedness seems to rise, we can remember that there is no wickedness so great that Christ’s plan will not be fulfilled. We will all be safe in God’s presence forever. Amen, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
[1] Cf. John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2.
[2] Revelation 1:1-3.
[3] Revelation 1:5-7.
[4] Revelation 1:9-11. The seven churches are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
[5] Revelation 5:5.
[6] Cf. Chapter 15, where with the seventh bowl God’s judgements are said to be finished, implying a progression from the seals, then to the trumpets, then to the bowls.
[7] Revelation 14:12.