“THE VICTORY OF CHRIST AND HIS PEOPLE”
SUMMARISING THE MESSAGE OF REVELATION
The apostle John is given a behind the scenes pass to see the spiritual realities behind the stage of world history, which presently is the battleground between the kingdoms of God (and His church) and Satan (and His antichristian forces). He sees the glorified Christ reigning in heaven and holding the plans for the culmination of history. He sees the end-time salvation of Israel and the nations through the faithful preaching of the gospel by God’s people, even though their ministry also arouses the opposition of the world. He sees the outpouring of God’s judgement on the unrepentant nations and vanquishing of death and evil. Ultimately he is shown the future triumph of God’s kingdom and coming of Christ’s rule on earth as it is in heaven: first in the Millennium and then completely in the New Creation. The light of this eschatological future is meant to illuminate and inform how we live as God’s people in all ages until the end when He returns.
For us, Revelation is a message of hope (God knows His people and they are secured by Him; He will deliver them and they shall share in His victorious new creation) and a call to endurance (hold onto Christ while resisting the flesh (with its apathy and idolatry), the world (with its temptations and seductions), and the devil (with his heresies and persecutions). We are to continue as His faithful witnesses until He comes, whatever is thrown against us. In the end Jesus wins and we will be on the winning side by faith in Him!
INTERPRETING THE BOOK OF REVELATION
We will combine insights from the four schools of interpretation: Revelation prepares 1st generation Christians for 1st century assaults against them (Preterism), but in terms that prepare later generations for further assaults (Historicism), and ultimately the final assault (Futurism) - as well as teaching timeless theological truths about God and His victory over evil through His Son, Jesus (Idealism).
In terms of chronology, we will suggest a Historic Premillennial reading of Revelation (Jesus will return after a seven year period of evil and persecution against His people, establishing His reign on earth for 1000 years, before the Final Judgement and New Creation).
Revelation combines three literary genres which we have to grapple with simultaneously in interpretation:
(1) Epistle: Revelation is a letter written to churches in Asia-Minor at the end of the 1st century facing persecution from outside, and heresy, corruption, and apathy inside. These daily struggles of sanctification and persecution they are encountering are part of the cosmic struggle of God’s kingdom against Satan. Many of will suffer for their witness to Christ, but will be vindicated by Christ. Christians are assured that they are secure in Christ for eternity, whatever happens in time. Christians are assured that Christ and His people will triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil, because in light of Christ’s death and resurrection (The Lion and the Slain Lamb) the victory has already been secured! One day the kingdom realities around God’s throne in heaven will prevail on the earth, so we must endure and be faithful witnesses in order to overcome and share in Christ’s victory and new creation.
(2) Prophecy: Revelation is God’s revelation of His plans for the eschatological consummation of all things in Christ, in whose light these churches were to respond for living in the present (fore-telling serves forth-telling). Indeed, there is a seven-fold blessing for those who read and respond to the words of the prophecy. So while there is a chronology of the final seven years of history prior to Christ’s Second Coming presented in Revelation (consistent with the trajectory of OT prophecies and NT eschatology), it also must have some contemporary relevance to the church in the 1st century and in all centuries as it is confronted by evil. For example, the Beast, False Prophet and Great Prostitute are eschatological individuals and institutions (political, religious, socio-economic-cultural); yet they are also pre-figured in the 1st century in Rome, and by all other anti-Christian powers throughout history. These are all various manifestations of the same Satanic power which will climax in the end-time Antichrist and his False Prophet. Therefore, this book is Futuristic in ultimate outlook, but also speaks powerfully to the church in all ages.
(3) Apocalyptic: While the dominant genre of Revelation is prophecy, the prophecies are expressed in apocalyptic visionary scenes, which draw extensively on allusions to the Old Testament (especially Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah) and New Testament (Matthew 24-25, 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Peter 3) apocalyptic passages. As per apocalyptic literature, these visions are replete with symbolic images and numbers. To faithfully interpret these visions particular attention ought to be paid to the explanations given in the text itself (e.g. the lampstands are the seven churches being written to) and to their OT references (e.g. the Dragon is the serpent in Genesis 3, the enemy of God and His people) to determine the literal referent – and just because there is a symbolic connotation this does not negate their being a literal fulfilment of OT prophecy (e.g. 7 and 3.5 years can symbolically refer to the fullness of time and a short-time of persecution, yet the parallels with Daniel 9’s outstanding historical fulfilment of the last part of the 70 Weeks should not be dismissed).
Why has God spoken in this literary form filled with symbols? God is giving his people a series of images to renew the Christian imagination and help Christians to see their lives in this world from heaven’s perspective. In some cases these images are powerful correctives to the cultural propaganda of John’s day (e.g. the Great City of Rome is depicted as the beautiful goddess Roma in John’s day, but in Revelation she is a tawdry prostitute enthralled to demonic powers and destined for destruction; while the church trampled on by Rome is the beautiful bride of Christ, destined for life in the New Jerusalem). Likewise some of these images show the counterfeit/deceptive nature of Satanic power and its opposition to the truth of God (e.g. the parody of the Trinity in the Dragon/Antichrist/False Prophet; the parody of the death/resurrection of Jesus in the slain/healed Beast; the parody of the seal of God in the mark of the Beast; the parody of the worship of Christ with the worship of the Beast by people from every tribe, nation, tongue and language; the Harlot and the Bride). Such Apocalyptic images are uncompromising to challenge Christians to decide which side they are on, and warn them against being ensnared by the world.
