Calm down, you can do this! Yes, everyone can glean practical insights from reading Revelation.
Let's begin with discussing the type of writing that we find in Revelation. It is made of up three literary
genres: letter (1:4–5), prophecy (1:3, 22:6–7), and apocalyptic (this genre
stems from the Greek word for “revelation” in 1:1).
- As a letter, we need to see the “situational” nature of Revelation, keeping in mind factors of circumstances in the original setting and the relationship they have with the human author.
- As prophecy, we will be finding predictions of the future and/or messages from God about how we are to live.
- As apocalyptic,
we will find God communicating to his people, often through sweeping
visions and a heavy reliance on imagery. Some modern Christians are
suspicious when the term “apocalyptic” gets brought up, thinking that
Revelation is about to be explained away. But this genre is used in
Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, so we needn’t be afraid. Plus John begins
the book by saying that this is the “revelation” (Greek: apocalyptic) of
Jesus. It simply alerts us to the fact that much of what we’ll see in the book
will feature images, and much will be symbolic. Every interpreter agrees
that Revelation makes use of symbolism.
Ultimately, what Revelation does for us is pull back the curtain
of perception and show us reality. As we look at our world (and this would have
been particularly true for John’s original readers), it seems that the dominant
forces in this world are winning. It looks as though the wicked are triumphing
and God’s kingdom is being halted. But Revelation gives us a peek behind the
curtain. It shows us the throne room of God (chapters 4–5); the battle between
good and evil, including God’s judgment on the wicked (chapters 6–19); and the
glorious end of the world (chapters 20–22). There we see the evil of this world
exposed, judged, and destroyed. And we see the triumph of God and his kingdom.
As important as it is to wrestle with its predictions and
symbolism, perhaps the most important feature of this book is its call to
wholehearted allegiance to Christ. He calls us out of the corruption in the
world (18:4–5) and calls us to “wash our robes” in the blood of the Lamb and
“enter [God’s] city by the gates” (22:14). Ultimately, we have to see these
visions as a challenge to the way we see the world and a call to see our world
as God sees it.
