Do you ever like to experience the thrill of a good scare? For some of us growing up, that was what the book of Revelation was for. Perhaps as a kid, there were times you would be glancing through a Bible, and then—after checking to see if anyone was watching—you’d quickly flip to the end to the book of Revelation. Past the letters. Past the scene in heaven. All the way to Revelation 13, where you meet the beast who crawls out of the sea, then the beast which emerges out of the earth. You’d keep reading until—there it is—the mark of the beast: 666. “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark…” (Revelation 13:16-17). You shuddered and closed the book.
There are many mysteries connected to the book of Revelation, but here is something worth noting about the book: The book of Revelation wasn’t originally written to make American Christians scared. It was originally written to make Asian Christians strong.
Revelation was written by the Apostle John, by now an old man exiled on a prison island called Patmos, to seven churches in Asia. Specifically, this was Asia Minor, now called Turkey. These are cities that you can still visit today in Turkey, and these 7 churches were either already persecuted or persecution was on its way. And Revelation wasn’t meant to give them the shivers or make them scared. It was meant to make them strong for what was to come.
Some ways of reading Revelation
An article on Revelation definitely has the potential of disappointing some people. We won’t be trying to predict which presidential candidate is the beast out of the sea (that’s a joke, by the way). We won’t be predicting what year Jesus will be coming back (that’s impossible, after all). Jesus himself said that he didn’t know when he’d be coming back, so we for sure don’t know. We won’t even be taking a stand on which of the main ways to read Revelation is the right way. But it’ll be helpful to look at a few of the basics to understanding the book.
First, there are three main views as to how we should read Revelation, and all three views go back to Revelation 20. Revelation 20 talks about a thousand-year reign of Jesus, which has become known as the “Millennium.” Some people believe Jesus comes back before the Millennium (and they’re called “premillennialists”). Others believe Jesus comes back after the Millennium (they’re called “postmillennialists”). Still others believe the 1,000 years is basically symbolic for the church age (they’re called “amillennialists), since Revelation includes a great many numbers which are symbolic.
Then I suppose there is a fourth view. These people believe that everything is about them. They’re called “millennials.” (Just a joke; I’m a millennial too even if I don’t like to admit it.)
“It’ll be helpful to look at a few of the basics to understanding the book.”
From there, it can get even more complicated. Take the premillennialists (the people who believe Jesus returns before the Millennium). There are two kinds of premillennialists. There are the historic pre-millennialists (what most pre-millennialists have been throughout history), and then there is a newer kind of premillennialist, called “premillennial dispensationalists”). Premillennial dispensationalists make a clear distinction between how God is working through the church and how God will work through Israel in the future. So, premillennial dispensationalists have a view in which God removes the church (through an event called the Rapture) and then focuses on drawing Israel back to himself during a 7-year time period of calamity called the Great Tribulation.
This is where the terminology can get fun. Within premillennial dispensationalism, you have people who think the Rapture will take place before the Great Tribulation, and they are called pretribulational premillennial dispensationalists. Then you have people who believe the Rapture will take place in the middle of the Great Tribulation, and they are called midtribulational premillennial dispensationalists. Lastly, you have those who believe the Rapture will take place at the end of the Great Tribulation, and they are called posttribulational premillennial dispensationalists. A little confusing?
If you want to understand Revelation…
One thing we can say with confidence when it comes to reading Revelation is this: If we really want to understand it, we need to look less at news headlines and more at the Old Testament. There are roughly 400 verses in Revelation, and in those 400 verses, there are tons of allusions to the Old Testament; some have counted as many as 500. We’ve already met the great serpent in Genesis. We’ve already met similar beasts in Daniel. We’ve already met the locusts in Joel. When it comes to all the judgment we see in Revelation—the 7 seals, the 7 trumpets, the 7 bowls—a lot of it looks like the 10 plagues back in Egypt during the Exodus. Now, the Book of Revelation is still not easy to understand, but it gets a lot easier when we know our Old Testaments better.
I’m this article, let’s focus in on three basic truths we learn from the book of Revelation. Embracing these three truths will make us stronger Christians for whatever comes.
“Embracing these three truths will make us stronger Christians for whatever comes.”
Book of Revelation Truth #1 – What We’re In
As disciples of Jesus, what are we in? Early in Revelation, we are introduced to a creature who is both a Lion and a Lamb. Who is this Lion-Lamb? We meet him when he takes a scroll which no one else was able to open. And when he takes it, all of heaven goes wild. Here’s what they say to the Lion-Lamb:
“…You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9, NIV)
The Lion-Lamb is Jesus. And then all throughout Revelation, there’s a dragon fighting against Jesus’ church. The dragon is Satan. If you keep reading, you learn that the dragon has two main puppets. He’s got the beasts and the harlot. The beasts persecute and the harlot seduces. In short, Satan fights the church through persecution and seduction.
“Satan fights the church through persecution and seduction.”
Although there are many interpretations of Revelation, there’s a good chance that, when the 7 churches in Asia Minor would have read about the harlot and the beasts, they would have thought, Oh, this is talking about Rome. The harlot sits on 7 hills, and Rome was famously built on 7 hills. One beast says that everyone has to worship the other beast, which sounds a lot like the Roman imperial religion which said that everybody had to offer worship to the Roman emperor. You look back at the vision of 4 beasts in Daniel 7 (depicting Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome), and the terrifying fourth beast with 10 horns looks a lot like the beast from the sea mentioned in Revelation 13:
“…It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its head…” (Revelation 13:1-2, NIV)
Yet it’s also clear from reading Revelation that things are happening that are a lot bigger than just the Roman Empire. We are getting an inside look at the cosmic battle between God and Satan, between angels and demons. And what are they battling over? They’re battling over people. Every person you’ll ever meet is a battlefield. God wants you and Satan wants you.
So, what are we in? We’re in a war. It’s the Lion-Lamb VS the dragon who persecutes (through the beasts) and seduces (through the harlot).
“It’s the Lion-Lamb VS the dragon who persecutes (through the beasts) and seduces (through the harlot).”
One way or another, Satan is going to try to conquer you and the people you love—either through persecution (“look what you’ll lose if you keep the faith”) or through seduction (“look what you’ll gain if you give up the faith”).
Book of Revelation Truth #2 – That We Win
If you flip to the very end of Revelation, you’ll see that the harlot gets eaten, and the beasts and the dragon get thrown into the lake of fire. And there is peace.
Notice how the Bible begins and ends:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NIV)
“Then I saw a ‘new heaven and a new earth…’” (Revelation 21:1, NIV)
The Bible begins in a garden with a tree of life; guess where the Bible ends?
“…On each side of the river stood the tree of life….No longer will there be any curse…” (Revelation 22:1-3, NIV)
The Bible begins with humans having a perfect relationship with God and with each other. Guess where the Bible ends?
“…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain…” (Revelation 21:3-4, NIV)
What does Revelation reveal? It reveals that, in the end, Jesus wins. Trust in Jesus, and you win, too. Follow Jesus, even if you get persecuted for it, and you win. Don’t be afraid of the beasts; instead, be afraid of the lake of fire where the beasts end up. Don’t be seduced by the harlot; instead, be won over by the love of the Lamb. And in the end, you get to be in a wedding where the groom is Christ, and the glorious bride is the Church.
Revelation reveals what we’re in (we’re in a war) and that we win.
“Follow Jesus, even if you get persecuted for it, and you win.”
Book of Revelation Truth #3 – How We Win
We know from Revelation that Jesus wins. So, how does he win?
The movie Master and Commander is set during the days that Britain and France are at war. In it, a British ship is in pursuit of a French ship. The French ship is a faster vessel, and in each skirmish the sailors find themselves in, the French sailors seem to get the better of the British. But although victory against the French seems impossible, the British captain is struck with an idea. They’ll hide the British flag, paint a new name on the ship’s side, exchange their soldier uniforms for everyday sailor garb, and pretend to be clumsily walking around on deck rather than obeying strict orders. In short, they’ll pretend to be a whaling ship instead of a ship in the British navy. The hope is that the French sailors will spot the ship, get greedy, and decide to take the British ship captive.
So, the disguised British sailors wait. Sure enough, they’ve been spotted. The French ship comes alongside them and orders them to surrender. It looks like the British ship is done for; they’ve been captured. Suddenly, the British raise their flag and aim their cannons squarely at the French ship which is now right beside them. “Kaboom!” And that day the British sailors defeat the French vessel. What looked like defeat for the British sailors actually turned out to be victory.
How do we win? Well, how did Jesus win?
“…You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9, NIV)
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Jesus won how? Through sacrifice. Through what looked like defeat. It’s victory through sacrifice. And how do we win?
“…They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11, NIV)
The word testimony here is the Greek word marturion, from which we get our word “martyr.”
7 options for the churches of Revelation
New Testament scholar Eugene Boring (which is a great name for a scholar) tells us in his commentary on Revelation that, when the early church was faced with persecution, to worship the emperor or else, they had six options:
- They could quit, give in, and just worship the emperor.
- They could lie about their true faith; they could go ahead and pretend to worship the emperor, but not really do it in their heart.
- They could fight the empire, but outfighting Rome isn’t going to work.
- They could try changing the laws, but that’s not going to happen (at least for many centuries).
- They could adjust their faith, making room in Christianity for worshiping both God and Caesar.
- They could be faithful to Jesus and die.
Option #6 is the option most faithful to Jesus, but it’s also the option we naturally want to do the least. Yet it’s also the only option that really wins. Again, how do they win?
“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11, NIV)
How do you beat a cosmic enemy you can’t even see? Victory through sacrifice. You quit looking for the easy life. You quit trying to please everybody. You quit trying to save your life at all costs. And you just follow Jesus, come what may. And make no mistake about it: If you follow Jesus and keep following Jesus to the very end, then, in the end, you win. The outcome of the war has already been decided. The end has already been written.
“How do you beat a cosmic enemy you can’t even see? Victory through sacrifice.”
D-Day and V-Day
It was June 6, 1944. The place was the shores of Normandy on the coast of France. The first wave was 12,000 airplanes, 7,000 boats, and 150,000 troops. These were British, American, and Canadian forces all embarking on France.
Landing on shore, however, was a major sacrifice. As soon as the boat ramp would go down and the soldiers would file out to take the beach, they were mowed down by German machine guns. But still they kept coming, the largest seaborne invasion in history. After the initial 150,000 troops came another 300,000 British soldiers, and the Americans sent another 300,000.
Once the Allied Powers established a beachhead in France and took these shores, then the war was won. The outcome was decided. The Nazis simply didn’t have the manpower to beat what was now coming their way. True, the war in Europe went on for another few months, but once D-Day had come (the day the Allies took the shores of Normandy), V-Day was coming (the day the Allies declared victory). There were more battles to come, but the Nazis had already lost the war. It was just a matter of time.
“There were more battles to come, but the Nazis had already lost the war.”
Christians, you live between D-Day and V-Day. The outcome of the war has already been decided. The end of the book has already been written. The Lion-Lamb already won victory at the cross and resurrection. And when he returns, he will finish the war.
“…It is done.I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:5-8, NIV)
Revelation tells us what we’re in: we’re in a war. Revelation tells us that we win. And Revelation tells us how we win. So, whatever happens, keep trusting and following King Jesus.
