1,000,000 Chapters – Part 6Sample

 “It’s too scary.” 

“It’s too confusing.” 

These are common responses that I hear from people who have tried to read the book known as Revelation and have found it to be too “crazy” and “out there” to understand. I get it. There is a way of understanding Revelation that is extremely helpful, however. 

The first thing we need to know is that Revelation is targeted to seven specific churches. They all have their own struggles, issues, and successes that are addressed in the first part of the book. Think of it as a letter and that changes things a bit – it means that everything included in the letter would be something that these seven churches would have understood. That will be helpful later on in the book. The writer, a man named John, is a pastor at heart and ended up being one of the oldest surviving members of the earliest church. He lived out the remainder of his life in Ephesus after writing this letter. 

Second, the book of Revelation is written in a style called apocalypse. Regardless of how this sounds, the word “apocalypse” simply means “revelation” or “disclosure.” It means something that was hidden is now coming out so that everyone could know it. The purpose of the book of Revelation is to reveal hidden things that would encourage the seven churches as they struggled with the Roman Empire and the way the Empire treated Christians. 

Apocalypse also means that the book of Revelation uses a lot of imagery. There are ten-headed beasts, dragons, horses riding through streets filled with blood, etc. and every single image had a deeper meaning. For example, Revelation talks about the “prostitute on seven hills” (17:1-9) who is called “Babylon.” At this point in history, Babylon no longer existed. So the author had to be talking about someone else. Second, the imagery of the “seven hills” and “by the waters” would have made sense as the city of Rome sat beside the water and was built on seven hills. In other words, the prostitute is the city of Rome and the point in the letter was to tell the Christians who were being oppressed by Rome because of their faith that a time was coming when the evil empire would fall. 

The reason this is all important is because the point of Revelation is not to give a roadmap for the end of the world. In fact, at the end of Revelation heaven comes to earth – not the other way around. 

The point of Revelation is to encourage the Christians that no matter how difficult things get, no matter how dark the darkness becomes, God is doing things of cosmic significance to be with His people again (see Revelation 21). 

It is important as you read to think about the challenges you face in your own life in the light of the fact that no matter how daunting, overpowering, or dominant the forces against us might seem – there is a God who is working to bring renewed life to those who seek Him and live closely with Him.