Recently, a woman in our church confided in me after a sermon I had preached from Revelation 5, “I haven’t opened that book of the Bible in twenty years. The way my pastors preached from it terrified me. Thank you for the hope and encouragement. I’ll have to try reading it again.” Her response was not unique.

As soon as churches start talking about angels, demons, and spiritual warfare, read How To Cast Out a Demon, and Is Spiritual Warfare a Thing?, people immediately turn to the bizarre imagery of the apocalypse: dragons, beasts, antichrist, rapture, tribulation, end-times calendar, one-world-government, natural disasters, and more. That’s scary stuff. For many people, the book of Revelation has been a source of fear and not comfort. A veritable cottage industry of authors and pastors has correlated contemporary political figures with ancient prophecies and shoehorned Biblical texts into front-page news. Many Christians, instead of reaching the lost, are terrified and reaching for the exit doors. I don’t believe this is healthy. Here are some thoughts to help us get over our end-times phobia.

1. Front Page News: “God is in Control”

Apocalyptic literature, like Revelation and Daniel, was written to encourage believers already going through difficult times. The core message was that God is still on his throne. The suffering Lamb is also the Lion of Judah, who has already conquered evil. No matter what iteration of human injustice we face today, Jesus has already won, the saints will be vindicated, and justice will prevail. The book of Revelation begins with the risen Messiah in full glory and ends with the King on his throne. We have to zoom out to look from 30,000 feet. Our hope and peace are not anchored in our present trials changing, they are anchored in the Lamb who overcame the world.

2. Worship is Central

Worship is the central flow of the text, NOT FEAR! The atmosphere of heaven and the outbreak of praise to God permeate every high and low of human experience. Fifteen separate hymns or hymn fragments are dispersed throughout [4:8; 4:9–11; 5:9–10, 12-13; 7:10-12; 11:15-18; 12:10–12; 15:2–4; 16:5–7; 19:1–8]. Let the words sweep you up into joyful praise. “And they cried ‘Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (7:10).

3. God is Saving the Nations

We tend to get distracted by the beasts and bad news. Revelation tells us good news: “Hang in there, God is saving the nations!” Early in the vision, we see that the Lamb holds the scroll of destiny and determines the future. “You were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9). The great heavenly chorus shouts, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb” (7:10). A loud voice from heaven says, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah… They triumphed over (the accuser of the brethren) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (12:10-11). The book emphasizes our victory in Jesus and how he is sharing that victory with all people of the earth who believe in him. The power of Christ’s love is stronger than death.

4. A Book of Symbols, Deeper Meaning, and Cosmic Struggle

The book of Revelation is complex. It contains some similarities in purpose to prophetic literature and form to the letter-writing genre. Its primary genre, however, is apocalyptic. In my own analogy, that’s like watching a Marvel comic book movie. Instead of a historical period piece in which accuracy is paramount, we are mesmerized by the broad story of superheroes and supervillains colliding. Through a fantasia of symbolism, numbers, colors, and mythical language, the author energetically depicts the world’s cosmic struggle for good and evil.

Apocalyptic books often provide decoder clues so that we may understand their intended meanings. The dragon is explicitly called Satan (Revelation 12:9). Daniel explicitly interprets his beasts as four kings or kingdoms (7:17). The Bride of Christ is God’s faithful people in his holy city (Revelation 21:2-3) contrasted with the harlot—the idolatrous and immoral people (17:5). The “666” symbolizes a financial system (13:17) governmentally enforced (13:15-16) to punish people who don’t believe (13:2) as the prescribed authorities demand. Notice that we have all of these same elements at play in the world today.

Ways to Interpret Revelation

The heavy use of symbolic language makes the storyline resonate in every generation. In overly simplistic terms, there are four predominant ways to interpret Revelation: First, it was primarily fulfilled in the 1st Century. Second, it was fulfilled in an ongoing way throughout church history. Third, it is only spiritualized language and not exactly historical. Fourth, it will all be fulfilled at the end of times.

I appreciate how Robert Mounce notes that “no single approach is sufficient in itself.” Still, all of these approaches are true, in some sense, and add something to our understanding of the book (Isaac, Left Behind or Left Befuddled, p. 134). The Revelation apocalypse is, in that sense, ultimately real and universally true! The 15th-century Protestants accused the Medieval Catholic Pope of being the anti-Christ and Catholicism of being the Beast system. And before them, the Byzantine Church thought Muhammad was the anti-Christ and Islam the Beast. I’m not suggesting that Revelation won’t be fulfilled in some ultimate way in the days to come. I’m saying it has been true, it is true, and it will be true. I’m cautioning us from getting so predictive that we think Vladimir Putin is the anti-Christ or that Jesus is going to rapture the church in September of 2025.

Some specific cautions: 

Jesus is definitely coming back, and he will judge all the people of the earth. When he comes, there will certainly be a renewal of all things. As we live through cosmic warfare, I’m suggesting a few specific cautions for us as we strive to understand the “end times.” 

1. If we are stoking fear and not faith, something is wrong.
2. If we’re more obsessed with predictive charts and headlines than we are with strategically transforming the world with God’s truth, then we are out of balance.
3. If we withdraw from the world instead of engaging in the world, then we are moving in the wrong direction.
4. We are too dogmatic if we are unwilling to entertain other opinions or interpretations.
5. If we are prepping for a hopeless “end-time” scenario and not prepping for our final victory with Jesus, then we have misunderstood our hope.
6. If our view leads to violence or misguided political activism, then we are building the wrong kingdom with the wrong tools.
7. If our plans don’t include compassion and justice for all peoples, then we’ve misunderstood God’s plans.

Conclusion:

Revelation is a beautiful book full of eternal truths. It teaches us to worship God and have faith in his final victory. It’s not attempting to give us an exact calendar for end times. It’s showing us the victory we have through the Lamb who has conquered death. His salvation is global and eternal. In his timing, he will restore all things. Our mission, amid the cosmic struggle for justice, has not changed in 2,000 years—“Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.” Eternal destinies are hanging in the balance. We are building an eternal kingdom, and the justice of our conquering Lamb will prevail.

Rcommended Resource:

For a well-balanced commentary on the book of Revelation, read John R. Yeatts’ Revelation, a contribution to the Believer’s Church Bible Commentary. Yeatts was my Apocalyptic Literature professor at Messiah University, and I have enduringly appreciated his insight and wisdom.

Yeatts, John R. Revelation. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2003.

Citation:

Isaac, Gordon L., Left Behind or Left Befuddled: The Subtle Dangers of Popularizing the End Times. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008).

Tags: church, worship, jesus, salvation, fear, revelation, prophet, devil, rapture, apocalypse, satan, dragon, anti-christ, beast, one world government