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Understanding the Book of Revelation
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We're launching an eight-week series called "That's My King" on the Book of Revelation. When people hear about studying this book, they often have different responses. Some are enthusiastic and eager to understand its meaning. Others feel triggered—perhaps they were taught about the end times in a way that produced fear rather than faith.
I grew up on the Left Behind series, convinced I'd be left behind. The Book of Revelation deals heavily with eschatology—the study and theology of death, judgment, the last days, the Rapture, and all related matters. This conversation comes with mixed opinions, traditions, and explanations.
Before we begin, let's agree on a few healthy principles as a church community.
First, we are not going to fight. This conversation is loaded with diverse opinions. Our church represents a spectrum of different views on eschatology. It would be dishonoring to God and unproductive to resort to unnecessary arguing and debate over open-handed issues. We need to lean in with humility.
Second, we are not going to lose our fire. It's easy to lean heavy into theory and academics, looking for information and explanations. But our obsession with information can cause us to neglect our transformation. God's word must drop from our head to our heart and continue to transform our lives, ultimately producing God's work in us and through us.
This book ought to invoke passion, boldness, zeal, and an unyielding desire to pursue Christ despite what we face and the circumstances of our world. He is God. He is in full control. He is the Sovereign one who knows all things and is the source of all logic and reasoning. He has your best interest in mind.
For those of us in Christ, the Book of Revelation is great news that should come with great delight. If you read Revelation and it doesn't fill you with hope and put a smile on your face, chances are you're not reading it right. This wonderful, perplexing, moving text ultimately concludes that God is triumphant. His integrity is impeccable. What He says will come to pass will come to pass. You and I end up on the right side of history.
Third, we are not going to become Fanatics. Whenever people jump into Revelation, there's a tendency to pull out calendars and charts and listen to those who make bold, precise predictions about timing and place. But one thing all those people have in common is they were all wrong.
Throughout history, individuals with pure intentions have sought to interpret Revelation. Billy Graham, someone I hold in high regards as a hero of the faith, made a bold prediction about the end times—and later had to recant it. We can learn great wisdom from those who came before us by approaching this conversation with humility.
I feel confident that as a church and faith community, this is a conversation we can have that will be beneficial and a joy to journey through together. Iron sharpens iron when we stay with the dialogue.
A mark of spiritual maturity is someone who can sit in tension and embrace other perspectives. Every one of us comes from different experiences, traditions, and theological training. It would be a miss not to harness the collective brilliance of our church and move together as a unit.
There will be elements of this series that leave mysterious things mysterious. Some will be disappointed because I don't make the one bold prediction they're hoping for. Others will want more time on certain topics. I ask for your grace on the front end.
When it comes to the arrival of Christ and the second coming, we need to throw caution to the wind for anyone who rises up with certainty and confidence about when Christ will return. Matthew 24:36 has Christ Himself saying: no one knows the day or hour. Let's take a deep breath and not become fanatics.
Fourth, we are not going to succumb to fear. If you read Revelation and it produces fear, you read it wrong. It ought to put steel in your spine, giving you greater courage and stature to stand firmly in our world in a way that honors God and aligns us with His promises and purposes.
What we are going to do is remain faithful. One agenda of this text is to produce faithfulness within the community of believers. Come what may—surrounded by pain, noise, chaos, and wickedness—we're going to remain faithful to a God who is always faithful to us. Our faithfulness positions us to experience God's faithfulness. The breakdown is never on His end.
When it comes to eschatology and reading Revelation, there are four primary camps, and all of them are represented within our church.
Prism holds that all prophecies have already come to pass—they're behind us. The extreme view is that everything is behind us. A more balanced view recognizes some things have been fulfilled while others may not have been.
Historicism seeks to align all the text with events, people, places, and circumstances throughout history. There's merit to this approach. You can read the text and then read current events—the Middle East conflict, Russia and Ukraine, global turbulence—and sense these have echoes in Scripture. Over the last 12 months, there have been 60 national elections worldwide. When you examine the people and policies coming into power, you can't help but wonder: Is this the time Scripture was pointing to?
Idealism says it's all symbolism, allegory, metaphor, and imagery—not prophecy or prediction, but principles. The extreme view treats everything as metaphor with no literal interpretation. However, while there's much rich imagery in Revelation, not everything is meant to be pure metaphor. Jesus said things with clarity that will come to pass in literal statements.
Futurism believes all prophecies and promises are still in front of us in the future. The extreme view says everything is still coming. A more conservative view acknowledges that Scripture tells us what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen.
Our church leadership leans toward a futurist view—that Scripture tells us what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen.
I grew up in Colorado, where the Four Corners region brought four states together perfectly. I'm a bit of a nonconformist, and I think if you do away with three of these four camps, you lose a bit of the truth. There is merit and benefit to recognizing the effort and reasoning behind each group.
Despite whatever group you're in, you can be part of our church. It's nonsense to think the moment you find disagreement with a community, you must alienate yourself from fellowship. That creates havoc and is unhealthy. We can lean in together.
Scripture is a library of 66 books all telling the same story. Here are some important statistics about Revelation:
Basically, every sentence is drenched and clothed in God's word. What's remarkable is that while there are 518 references to Scripture, there's not a single direct quote. The writing skill that requires is quite impressive.
For those eager to dive into Revelation: wonderful. For those new to the faith thinking you'll crack the code: understand this. You cannot interpret the last book of the Bible if you don't have a solid grasp on the first 65 books. This is one cohesive narrative and thought.
Someone once shared a video of a theology teacher claiming God got to the end of Scripture and realized His plan wasn't working, so He tried a new strategy—thus came Revelation. I say, as gently and politely as possible: that is heresy. Our God does not change His mind. What you find in Revelation is not a new strategy or new truth. It is truth in a new view, a new perspective that enlarges and enhances our vision.
Revelation 1:1 says: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ."
Two things deserve emphasis. First, it's Revelation, not Revelations. Second, this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word "of" means both "from" and "about." Is this Revelation from Jesus Christ or about Jesus Christ? Yes—both. This is His doing and it is a gift to all of us.
The text continues:
"Which God gave Him to show His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angels to His servant John. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."
Some theologians call this the Beatitudes of Revelation. Just as the Sermon on the Mount begins with blessings—blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who mourn—Revelation begins similarly: blessed are those who read this text, blessed are those who hear it, blessed are those who keep it.
The good news: by showing up, you've already received two of three blessings. We are reading this aloud and listening to what God says. The question is: will we keep it?
The word "keep" doesn't mean keep it safe or hidden. It means keep it up, keep at it, keep going forward. There's a sequence that runs through Revelation:
You could almost make an acronym: LOCK. As we listen and obey, obedience is always first. Ultimately, we discover our lives are positioned to triumph over what we're facing. We learn God's promises are true—that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We discover that greater is He who is within us than he who is within the world.
There are things in all our lives that we need to conquer—challenges coming our way. We shouldn't retreat but rise up in faith, saying God has positioned and equipped us for these challenges. As we do so, we arrive at greater confidence and certainty. I know that I know my God is trustworthy. I know He is faithful. I can take Him at His word. He has impeccable integrity.
To understand Revelation, you must grasp the type of literature it is. Revelation is three things:
First, it is an Apocalypse. When we hear "apocalypse," we think natural disasters and extreme circumstances. But the original word means a breaking through, an unveiling, a revealing. Right from the start, this book is a breaking through and unveiling from Christ about Christ. It opens our eyes to a reality: there is more than what just meets our five senses.
Yes, there is much we can see and experience, but if you don't understand that much of what we face is clothed in the spiritual, you'll miss a lot of what's taking place. There is more than meets the eye.
Second, it is Prophecy. The moment I say "prophecy," it creates two groups. One group gets enthusiastic and excited—though some want to turn church into a circus, forgetting God cares about order. The other group resists prophecy, turned off by manipulation and false claims made in God's name.
As your pastor, I have concern for both camps. For those assuming God lacks order: that's not a proper understanding of prophecy. For those resisting it: understand that 26% of your Bible is prophecy. Much of what shapes and guides your spiritual formation is prophetic. It's part of this literature.
Third, it is a Letter. John is writing a real letter to real people in real places facing real problems. This matters for interpretation.
John addresses his letter:
"John to the seven churches that are in Asia grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before His throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of Earth."
I want to emphasize: the ruler of the kings of Earth. Whoever your favorite candidate is, know they're accountable to somebody—to Him.
The text continues:
"To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom priests to His God and Father—to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming!"
I need to say this again: Behold, He is coming.
There's a movement of young, cute theologians trying to dismiss and do away with the second coming of Christ. Folks, if you want to succumb to despair, depression, and hopelessness, do away with the second coming and subscribe to a god who abandons his children, leaving us hopeless orphans.
He is coming again. The first time He showed up to punish sin. The next time He shows up to rescue and redeem the saints for all eternity. This is a Hardline belief we won't waver on. Jesus Christ is returning, and that is a wonderful promise.
"He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him."
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
That's my King. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
You must understand not only the literature you're reading but also the person writing it and their context. John is experiencing hell on earth. The final 30 years of his life are terrible. None of us in this room, across all our locations—and I'm not diminishing anyone's personal pain—have experienced or witnessed what John witnessed.
John is now writing in his 80s. Around 60 AD, things went South for the Christian community. A man named Nero had a disgusting disdain for believers, finding sport in murdering Christians. He would gather large groups and feed Christians to lions—and that was only the beginning.
Following Nero came other Caesars who continued his legacy. They murdered 40,000 Christians at one time—a mass massacre. Peter was murdered. Paul was murdered. Timothy was murdered. The temple was destroyed. By any measure, it could not be worse.
Yet this man's resolute confidence, faith, and devotion to Christ is mesmerizing and inspiring. This is why you cannot read Revelation without finding that it puts steel in your spine. It causes us to rise up and recognize the heritage of faith—the heroes who came before us and the paths they blazed so we could walk this journey with Christ.
We all ought to salute John as a remarkable man of God.
John was a brilliant man who would later write his own Gospel. He begins in John 1:1 declaring: In the beginning was the Word—the logos, the source of all logic and reasoning, the Creator himself. He was with God and he was God, and all things were created through him. He made his dwelling among us because something about this God wants to have a personal relationship with you and me. He was full of grace and truth—grace without truth is spineless, and truth without grace is heartless. He did not forfeit one or the other.
Eugene Peterson, one of the greatest contemporary theologians and translator of the Message Bible, said this about John:
St John is a theologian of a particularly attractive type—all his thinking about God took place under fire. He was on the isle called Patmos, a prison isle. He was a man thinking on his feet, running, or on his knees praying—postures characteristic of our best theologians.
Peterson explains that throughout history, the most important theologians have done their thinking and writing about God in the middle of the world, in the thick of action. The Apostle Paul wrote from prison. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin all articulated theology amid hardship and struggle.
The task of these theologians, Peterson says, is this:
To demonstrate a gospel order in the chaos of evil—to arrange the elements of experience and reason so that they are perceived proportionately and coherently. Sin, defeat, discouragement, prayer, suffering, persecution, praise, and politics are placed in relation to the realities of God and Christ, holiness and healing, heaven and hell, victory and judgment, beginning and ending.
Their achievement is that the community of persons who live by faith in Christ continue to live with a reasonable hope and an intelligent love. This is one of my primary goals throughout this series: that the Lord would graft within us and help us maintain a reasonable hope and an intelligent love. The world desperately needs theologians who get us to think critically about God—not just tell us what to think, but give us the handles for how to think.
You also have to understand that John is St. John the Poet. Most don't realize this, and it causes them to misread or misinterpret the text. Revelation is poetry—marked with vivid imagery and artistry. If you do not read it as poetry, I do not think you can fully grasp or understand where John is leading us.
Poetry must accomplish two things. First, it must be a well-made verbal object that honors the language in which it is written. There is no question that this piece of work, given those circumstances, is a brilliant use of the language John had access to.
Second, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. Revelation does exactly that. We all know that Jesus is King, but when you open Revelation, you see his kingship from a perspective that is mesmerizing and transformative. We all know that in the end we win, but Revelation shows that victory with such fireworks. John gives us a perspective that is both common and uniquely compelling.
My favorite thing about John—the thing I think you must understand—is that he is St. John the Pastor. Some in the futurism camp really miss this because John is writing a letter to real people facing real problems in real places. If everything John wrote had nothing to do with the people experiencing hell, but only spoke to us 2,000 years later, what a tone-deaf and inconsiderate letter that would be. No—this is someone who cares deeply about the congregations he has been leading.
The passage tells us: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Part of our theology is that the beginning was good and we are convinced that the ending is good. So we often assume the middle would be good as well. But we discover that humanity fractured God's beautiful, wonderful plan. Though we live anchored to two good points—one at the beginning and one at the end—we often live in a confusing, heartbreaking, perplexing, painful, wicked, evil, broken middle.
The pastor is the one who comes alongside people in the broken middle, empathizes with their pain, yet doggedly insists: He's still good. He's still faithful. You can still trust him. And in the end he works all things together for the good of those who trust him.
That is John. You have to receive him as a pastor.
When you're writing or explaining something, subconsciously there is a question in the back of your mind that you're answering. For many who jump into Revelation, the question is: What does this mean? But that's not the question John was asking. The question of a pastor is: How does this work? How does this work in the church? How does this work in the lives of those in the broken middle? How does this work for individuals just trying their best to honor God and live in the perplexities of our life? When you understand that's John's aim, I think as a church we could benefit greatly.
John closes his introduction by describing what he saw:
I John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches."
Then he turned to see who was speaking and saw seven golden lampstands. In the midst of them stood one like the Son of Man.
Jesus was clothed with a long robe, indicating his priesthood, with a golden sash around his chest, indicating his kingship. The hair of his head was white like wool, white like snow—indicating his purity, his timelessness, and his wisdom. His eyes were like a flame of fire—indicating his sovereignty and his omniscient ability to know all things, see all things, and hold everything accountable to his righteousness.
His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. All the strongest metals have to go through a refiner's fire. John is saying: When I looked at our King, I seen him resolute. I seen him immovable. I seen him unshakable. Nothing is getting him bumped off his footing. Our God stands firmly, able to accomplish what he promises to do—refined by fire.
His voice was like the roar of many waters. If you've ever stood next to a river, you recognize there's a surround sound to it. God's word and voice is all-encompassing. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When John saw him, he fell at his feet as though dead. But Jesus laid his right hand on him saying: Fear not. I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and Hades.
He commanded John: Write therefore the things you have seen—those that are and those that are to take place after this. Jesus then revealed that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven golden lampstands are the seven churches themselves.
Jesus is breaking through to send a message to the churches of the day. But what does he do? He doesn't send a task force. He doesn't send a new strategy. He doesn't suggest new methods. He simply gives them a vision of who he truly is.
Over the last couple of years, I had the terrible experience of riding in the back of an ambulance with two of my children. One fell over a second-story balcony and ended up in the ICU. Another had a grand mal seizure and was rushed to the ICU. In those moments, I felt completely paralyzed as a father. Medics were all around, hooking my children up, doing all kinds of things. All I could do was tell my children: Hey, look at me. Don't worry about what they're doing. Would you just look at me? Focus. Would you just keep your eyes on me?
In many ways, Christ is coming to people going through absolute turmoil, perplexed and confused about the world. He's saying: I know there's a ton of noise. I know there's a ton of wickedness and pain. I know people are doing wild things. But up here—would you look at me? Would you keep your eyes on me? The King of Kings. The Sovereign Lord of it all.
The church is the lampstand. In Exodus 25, God describes the Tabernacle and all its furnishings. In the Holy of Holies, the lampstand was the only source of light, positioned strategically right in front of the table of showbreads.
The table of showbreads symbolically represented four things: God's power, God's provision, his purpose, and the fact that he is personal. This was a moment where the King would dine in fellowship with God himself. The lampstand was supposed to shine light on that, and the light was never supposed to go out.
Christ says: The church is the lampstand—the thing that's supposed to shine light on a powerful God, one who provides, one who is purposeful, and one who desires to be personal.
But what do we want to do? We want to take the lampstand and run around shining it on everything else. We want to use it to expose. We want to use it to endorse. Let's expose that political party. Let's endorse this political party. Let's chase around Hollywood. Let's go after these individuals. And what's even more gross is we get in churches and on platforms and say: Let's shine some light on me.
That is a terrible miss. Never get obsessed with man's leadership and overlook the lordship of Jesus Christ. The purpose of the church is to shine light on a God who is powerful, a God who is a provider, a God who is purposeful, and a God who is personal. The purpose of the church is to allow individuals the opportunity to show up in a space and see clearly: Whoa. That's my King. That is my King.
When it comes to the Book of Revelation, what I find interesting is that people get excited and say, Yes, I can't wait to talk about the arrival of the Antichrist. But what about the arrival of Christ? I want to talk about the mark of the beast. But what about the mark of the Lamb? I want to talk about the end of the world. But what about the beginning of God's wonderful, beautiful creation?
We cannot move the lampstand. He's King Jesus. And when we see him accurately, it shakes us to our core. John fell in fear after he saw Christ, and Jesus put his hand on his shoulder and said: Fear not. And some of you—I get it. I'm living in the same world you're living in. Fear not. This God is outstanding, and you can trust him.
