Revering The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Reclaiming Fact from Fiction

If ever there were a time to exercise the discipline and devotion due to God's Word, it is now in these days of popular obsession with the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming of Christ. When--with the help of the Holy Spirit and an obedient heart--we apply to the biblical text those reading strategies that separate fact from fiction, we will see that the Book of Revelation is not a riddle but exactly what it says: a revelation. Although clearly unique, this revelation is by no means the only source in Scripture of apocalyptic teachings and timelines.

Other sources include Daniel 7-12; Ezekiel 38-39; Joel 2-3; Zechariah 12-14; the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21); 1 Thessalonians 5; 2 Thessalonians 2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; and 2 Peter 3. This does not include the ubiquitous references to the return of Jesus Christ all throughout the New Testament epistles, which present approximately 318 references to the Second Coming in the 260 chapters of the New Testament. Some scholars estimate that the return of Christ occurs in one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament. Indisputably, 23 of the 27 books of the New Testament refer directly to this event.

The Four Approaches to the Book of Revelation

And yet far too often, people approach the Book of Revelation with both a spirit of license and also of disdain not applied to any of the other apocalyptic passages referencing Christ's return. The spirit of license accounts for three of the four common approaches to the Book of Revelation: the Preterist (the "Past" View); the Historicist (the "Ongoing History" View); and the Idealist (the "Symbolic" or "Spiritual" View). These views inject an external bias onto the plain hermeneutic of the text. The Futurist view, however, sees the Book of Revelation as prophecy yet to be fulfilled literally. Those who hold the Futurist view separate Revelation into two primary sections: Chapters 1-3, whose immediate historical fulfillment was seen in the fate of the seven churches of Asia; and Chapters 4-22, whose seven-year timeline unfolds the chronology of the Last Days of the world.

Fleeing "Escapism" through Obedient Overcoming

Within the Futurist view, questions of the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, and the Millennium meet with not only close scrutiny but heated debate. Although it might seem that those who hold the Futurist view of Revelation would show the most attention and respect for the book, this is not necessarily true. On the contrary, the default position among many evangelicals today would appear to be the assumption that we cannot understand the Book of Revelation and don't really need to, anyway, because "we won't be here."

This sort of disdain amounts to the same thing as a spirit of license to make the Book of Revelation less than it professes to be: prophecy of End Times events and the final, glorious revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact, a disdain for the unfolding events of Revelation assumes a superiority of omniscience even Christ our Lord did not claim when He plainly told His disciples that no man knows the day or the hour of His return, only the Father in Heaven (Matthew 24:36).

It would seem obvious, then, by logic alone, that we owe to this wonderful book that closes the Christian Bible the utmost sweat of our brow. Beyond picking a position we find comfortable--the Futurist view, the Preterist view, the Historicist view, or the Idealist view--we absolutely must return to the text itself to find what evidence therein speaks to our moment in history today. If we refuse to do this, writing off the events of Revelation as irrelevant to our own personal narrative, we are in effect invoking upon ourselves the very warning that closes this book: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:19). Ignoring the book altogether in a flippant assumption of our own mortal comfort equates to taking away from the book in the manner forbidden in John's vision.

Likewise, we are forbidden to add to this book in the preceding verse, Revelation 22:18: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." And yet many have done exactly that. The sensationalism that arose around the Book of Revelation in the late 20th century has had a two-pronged effect: it has created a false narrative obfuscating the timeline of events that is consistent all throughout Scripture--a timeline that dovetails without exception across all apocalyptic passages--and it has created confusion with the belief that no one knows who will be raptured, when, and whether there are even multiple raptures, multiple Second Comings, multiple resurrections, and multiple "last days." Clearly, both fear and false hope sell well, and there is no lack of those who have profited from "adding" their own notorious--and even nefarious--fiction to the Book of Revelation, shamelessly doing the very thing that Christ forbids.

Finding Courage, If Not Comfort

The resulting confusion has given most Christians a false takeaway: that the message of Tribulation events is comfort and not courage. It is high time we listened and truly heard what the Spirit says to the churches: this is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John; who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw" (Revelation 1:1-2). Clearly, this record is delivered with the solemnity and precision of a legal pronouncement not to be disputed, complete with multiple witnesses as Old Testament law demands: the Lord Jesus Himself, His Angel, the Apostle John, and the Word of God itself. And to this indisputable testimony, the opening of Revelation adds this blessing: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand" (Revelation 1:3).

So we see that those who ignore this book--in effect, taking away from it entirely by taking it away from honest consideration--will reap judgment. But those who read it and hear this prophecy--and it is plain enough that this is indeed prophecy--and who, in addition to reading and hearing this book as prophecy, will keep those things written herein--those people will be blessed. What does it mean to keep this prophecy? I can see reading it and hearing it and believing it, but to keep it? What is that? We don't have to wonder long, for Christ addresses the seven churches of Asia with varying degrees of commendation and conviction, and to every single one, He gives the command to overcome: to Ephesus, Revelation 2:7; to Smyrna, Revelation 2:11; to Pergamum, Revelation 2:17; to Thyatira, Revelation 2:26-28; to Sardis, Revelation 3:5; to Philadelphia, Revelation 3:12; and to Laodicea, Revelation 3:21. To overcome requires not complacency or comfort but courage--the courage of obedience.

Comfort and courage may seem to be opposites, especially if we come to believe that Christians must suffer through the Tribulation instead of being raptured out of it. One thing is clear: the Lord Himself said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). To overcome is to have peace, and courage to overcome brings that peace. In whom is our courage placed? In the One who has overcome death for us.

We may have "comfort" without peace; but peace brings its own comfort, and the courage to overcome will bring us peace in Christ. Jesus also clearly said, "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). Is it any accident that Paul begins his Romans 8:35-39 oratory by saying, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us" (Romans 8:35-37).

The "But if Not" Clarity of Consecration

Whatever we come to believe about the timeline of events in the Book of Revelation, we must not interject anything that is not there, and we must not subtract what is there: the glory of Jesus Christ in all tribulation. Our doctrine cannot be determined by what we want to be true; it must be determined by what is true. If we are not obedient here, our eyes will be blinded. But if we are indeed obedient here--knowing that, like Christians throughout the ages, we may be called upon to suffer for Christ--then will we not, like the three Hebrew children, have the "but if not" consecration that cast them into the fire?

Before an apoplectic Nebuchadnezzar, they could stare death in the face and refuse the escape they had been given: to bow down before the great golden image. They could look their king in the eye and see instead their heavenly King's tender smile, declaring, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (Daniel 3:17-18). Notice: "our God is able to deliver . . . and he will deliver us . . . but if not." The "but if not" consecration uniquely qualified Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for the very deliverance they appeared to forego. And delivered, they were. Christ Himself walked among them in the flames. And not a hair of their heads was singed.

Come, Study, and Be Blessed

We must revere this most blessed of books--the only book in the entire Bible with a specific blessing attached to studying it. But in order to do so, we must "Come" (Revelation 22:17). In fact, we must come boldly in faith, confident that our Lord Jesus wants us to understand what He has commanded us to study. This is not only our responsibility as the priesthood of believers but our privilege as children of God. If we leave this book merely to the "experts" or the "exploiters," we may be deceived by profit-reaping theories found only in clever eisegesis rather than in careful exegesis. And when we disagree, let us do so charitably, knowing that, whatever the ultimate truth should be regarding the final countdown, we have already surrendered to the worst, knowing the best is yet to be.