The book of Revelation is the gospel – the good news. It is not an appendix to the gospel. It is not merely its final chapter. It is not an epilogue to the Bible. Revelation is the gospel, no less than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Admittedly, in a more symbolic form.
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I have written (and podcasted) extensively on Revelation. You can go to the complete list of recordings and scripts for more detailed interpretation. What follows here is a ‘Big Picture’ take.
Promise and Fulfilment
How does Revelation fit into the bigger picture of Scripture? The Bible begins with promise – a theme that continues to develop throughout much of the OT. There is some fulfilment, but it is limited. What is the promise about? We could say, in one word, salvation. And the kingdom: God will judge the earth, establish justice, and rule as king over creation. Shalom, that would be another one-word summary.
The opening of the NT marks the beginning of a new era: that of fulfilment. Fulfilment is as yet incomplete, but it is real.
Clarification Needed
However, the beginning of this new era brings surprises. We were expecting salvation – but it came in the form of Jesus dying on a cross. That wasn’t obvious. No one saw it coming, except perhaps for a few prophets (see Isa. 53; Zech. 11). The four gospels do little to explain it. There are a few hints: the lamb of God (John 1:36), a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45), the new covenant and Passover meal initiating a second exodus (Lk. 22:19f); it is not much.
Interestingly, these same three themes are essential to Revelation and confirm the book as the gospel. The Lamb of God is its central person. He gave his blood as a ransom (Rev. 5:9). The result is a second exodus, as shown by the many elements taken from the book of Exodus in Revelation.
A second surprise: We were expecting the kingdom. But what came, is the church – not at all the same thing, and something about which the four gospels say hardly anything at all.
So, what does it all mean: the cross as salvation, the kingdom coming this way, and the church? Plus, how should we now live, in this unanticipated in-between era?
This is where the letters come in. Written to communities and workers of the new movement – which we now call church and Christianity – they explain much and impart a new way of living.
Still, more clarification was needed. The process of fulfilment remained unfinished. Jesus knew this, as the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13) makes abundantly clear. We will return to this prayer; it truly gives us the key to Revelation. Like the book of Revelation, the Lord’s Prayer is not something different, something added to gospel. It is an expression of its essence as well as of the need for completion.
How will the kingdom come fully? How will it be completed? Scattered throughout both gospels and letters we find bits and pieces of an answer. But it is the book of Revelation that makes completion its focus.
Futurism
Because of this focus on completion, many readers of Revelation think the book is about the future – our future, and usually the near future. This approach to interpreting Revelation is called futurism. In futurism, Revelation is concerned with the final years – perhaps seven years, maybe less – that precede the second coming of Christ.
Although futurism is widespread, it does not make sense. Why would God tell believers at the end of the first century what would happen 1900 years later? And then claim that these things “must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1)?
Preterism
What if the book is – at least in part – about things that were in the future when it was written, but that are now in the past? Then it is indeed about things that took place soon.
A near fulfilment of much of the book – ‘near’ from the perspective of the first readers – seems a reasonable expectation, also because these readers are clearly identified: seven churches in the Roman province of Asia listed in Revelation 1:11.
These considerations have led to an approach called preterism, from a Latin prefix meaning that which is past. It seeks to understand the book as mostly fulfilled in the past, often in the conflict between the church and the Roman Empire as it unfolded in the early centuries.
Idealism
Recognizing the first century setting of Revelation enables us to make excellent sense of many details. Preterism, however, cannot quite be the whole story, because Revelation does also touch on the end. Different from the gospels and Acts, it is not open-ended.
In addition, many elements from Revelation and the experience of the early church repeat themselves, with variations of course, throughout history. We find patterns that reappear, such as the beast as emperor and empire. Babylon stands for Rome, but it is also much more than Rome. The battle does not just happen once.
These insights lead to an approach to Revelation that is called idealism: The book describes, in Roman form, more general patterns, forces, and principles that can be recognized elsewhere.
As such, it is relevant to believers in every century. And it fills the gap between the beginning of fulfilment in the gospels and its completion.
Your Kingdom Come: The Key to Revelation
This brings us to the question Revelation ultimately addresses: How, then, will God’s kingdom come? It also connects with the Lord’s Prayer, because this prayer is programmatic for what believers should pray – and work – for. The beginning and end of the prayer highlight what remains incomplete and needs fulfilment.
It opens with three petitions that are not synonymous but do overlap in meaning:
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Mt. 6:9f)
This is precisely what the book of Revelation is about. God’s name will be vindicated, his kingdom will come, and his will be done on earth.
Deliver Us from Evil: A Work in Progress
The transition is not a peaceful one. Revelation is all about the messianic war that has intensified dramatically with the birth of Jesus (Rev. 12!) and that marks the entire church age.
The Lord’s Prayer reflects this reality in its final – seventh! – petition: “Deliver us from evil” (Mt. 6:13b). There are opponents. There is resistance. And its source is the presence of evil in creation. Creation needs to be liberated from evil.
This is not as easy as it may appear: just remove the devil and his allies – and be done with it! The petition against evil is the second part of a sentence. The request does not stand in isolation. The full sentence reads:
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. (Mt. 6:13)
The combination implies that the presence of evil in the world has something to do with us. We ourselves are at risk of succumbing to evil and being part of the problem. We are neither exempt nor immune.
Evil is not easily located. We cannot simply point at it: There it is! We cannot locate it on a map and claim: Remove these countries and evil is done with. Or overthrow this tyranny and that dictatorship and evil is done with. Evil is deeply entrenched in individual people, in us, in our nations, and in our cultures. It is part of our systems and structures (in some more than in others). And: Overcoming evil begins with us (not ‘them’).
There is no quick fix; it requires a long obedience.
It is not easy, but evil will be dealt with. It will not prevail. That is the good news of Revelation: that evil will be defeated and God will be king over all – and therefore Revelation is the gospel.
Attribution
Pictures taken from Pixabay.com
References
Unless indicated differently, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.