Do you remember the first time that you actually sat behind the wheel of a

car and drove it? It was a little scary, wasn’t it? There where so many

unknowns. You might have understood what all the gauges and buttons were for

but you had to figure out the delicate balance between steering and pressing

on the accelerator just enough and not slamming on the brakes. There was a

lot that you had to figure out. For many of us, it’s that way with the book

of Revelation. Lots of unknowns. Lots to figure out. But now that you’ve

been driving a while you know how to slow down when it’s snowy and how to

avoid that car that just cut in front of you and other such things. You are

much more comfortable with driving. That’s my goal for you when it comes to

this book of the Bible. There still are things that you don’t understand

about your car and there will still be things that you won’t understand

about Revelation. But, hopefully, you’ll be comfortable enough with the book

to be blessed by its message. I am not interested in trying to convey to you

some secret knowledge of the future or to fill your heads with information

that will only encourage your pride. My goal is that you would be blessed by

the Spirit by means of His Word. And that is why Revelation is in the Bible.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed

are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is

near. Revelation 1:3

Now, toward that end what I will do today is take a broad look at the book

in the hope that doing so will make it easier for you to understand its

message. There are ways in which Revelation is very much like any other book

of the Bible. You need to see that so that some of the mystery that has been

placed on the book might be removed. But then there are ways in which

Revelation is not at all like the other books of the Bible. You need to see

why this is also so that you can overcome those obstacles to your

understanding. Keep in mind the goal of all of this. To grasp what it is

that the Spirit has written here for our good so that we all might be

blessed.

Let’s start with some general statements. First, Revelation is a letter. It

is a letter much like the other letters of the New Testament. You can see

that in the way that it starts.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him

who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are

before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn

of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. Revelation 1:4-5

This is just like the openings of the other letters. It tells us who is

writing and to whom he is writing. And then there is an appropriate

Christian greeting. It’s just like the opening of Jude’s letter one page

before this.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are

called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy,

peace, and love be multiplied to you. Jude 1:1-2

Revelation doesn’t just start as a letter. It ends the same way.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen. Rev. 22:21

That sounds just like the end to one of Paul’s letters. Revelation is just

another letter of the New Testament.

Now, you also need to see that this is a letter that was sent to certain

churches, the seven churches of Asia Minor. John even says so in His

introduction. This is a very important anchor in understanding the message

of the book. Whatever the book is about, it is intended, first of all, for

these churches. The book of Revelation was sent to these seven churches. So,

whatever the beast is, or whatever the seven trumpets are about, these

things were, first of all, for the benefit of these churches. And this fits.

When Paul wrote what we call ‘Romans’ he had a particular audience in mind,

the first century church at Rome. So, it makes sense for him to write about

people’s opinions on what foods to eat. That was an issue in that church.

Now, does that mean that we can just skip that section of Romans? Of course

not! There are things there that apply to us. That’s where Paul talks about

how the brother who is stronger in faith is to help the brother who is

weaker in faith. That’s a teaching that applies to us and to our

relationships in the church. Likewise here. John writes to the seven

churches. They are his original audience and he writes for their sake. But

we benefit by seeing how what John wrote to those first century Christians

applies to us as well. We look at Revelation in the same way that we look at

Romans or 1 Corinthians or any other of the letters of the New Testament. We

understand the content of the letter in terms of the original audience first

while, at the same time, we look for principles that apply to us also.

Now, what else does this letter have in common with the other letters of the

New Testament? The basic message is the same. Now, what do I mean by that?

Is Romans very different from 1 Thessalonians? In one sense they are very

different. Yet in another sense they are dealing with the same basic

message. And what is that? In both of those letters Paul is helping the

members of the church to live as faithful disciples of Jesus in a fallen and

hostile world. The particulars are different because the situations of the

two churches are different. But the point is exactly the same: faithful

discipleship in the face of opposition. Is Revelation different? No! It has

the same point, the same goal: living as faithful disciples of Jesus in a

fallen, hostile world. Again, you see that Revelation is like any other New

Testament letter.

Now, the other letters have a certain structure to them with certain themes

running through each. So, for example, Romans can be understood in two

parts. The first answers the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’ The second part

deals with the question, ‘How shall we live this Gospel?’ Revelation can

also be understood in two parts. The first, chapters 1-11, looks at the

church’s struggle to be faithful from the perspective of earth, that is, in

terms of the things that we can see. The second part of Revelation, chapters

12-22, looks at the church’s struggle to be faithful from the perspective of

heaven, that is, in terms of the things that we cannot see. Now, that’s a

very simple outline, just like the one I offered for Romans, but it is one

that can be helpful. The other letters have different themes running through

them. Hebrews is looks at the many different ways that the work of Jesus is

related to the Old Testament. It looks at how Jesus relates to Moses, Levi,

Melchizedek, the sacrificial system and more. Likewise, Revelation has

themes running through it. Let me list some of them for you.

Heaven and earth are interconnected. So, for one thing, we are not alone in

the fight.

Christ rules over every aspect of this chaotic, sinful world. That can give

us great hope.

One of Satan’s tools is spiritual counterfeiting. There is the evil ‘trinity

’ of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet trying to counterfeit the

three Persons of the Trinity. The mark of the beast on those who follow him

is a counterfeit of the seal of God on those who follow Him. Success in

spiritual warfare, then, is tied to being able to see the counterfeits for

what they are.

Though this world is filled with strife and suffering the ultimate victory

is assured. Jesus rules now and He will rule forever with us by His side.

So, while there is all the language of war and suffering and Satan and

persecution and all such things, the book of Revelation is actually very

optimistic. It is a book intended to encourage us.

Now, I went through all of that to show you that Revelation is like all the

other letters of the New Testament. Seeing it in this light helps as you

work to understand and apply its message.

Having said that I also need to say that Revelation is really different from

the other letters and because of that it is hard for us to understand. It is

clearly harder for us to understand than, say, the Gospel of Mark or 1

Peter. Why? For one thing, this is a book that needs to be seen. It is a

book of images. We have all been trained to like prose. We like clear,

unambiguous statements of the facts. We can handle those. Do you remember

when you studied poetry back in high school? Did you like it? Did it make

sense? I’m going to guess that the great majority of you, at one point or

another, found yourselves saying, ‘Why can’t he just say what he means?!?’

Poetry was frustrating for most of us. Just like Revelation, right? Then

there are the times when you were forced to go to some art museum and you

saw the people standing for what seemed an eternity in front of some

picture, just looking at it. You took a minute and moved on. ‘What are they

looking at? What are they seeing? It’s just a picture of a woman sitting in

a field of flowers. What’s the big deal?’ Most of us have not been taught to

communicate in anything but clear, unambiguous statements of facts. So, we

love a verse like John 3.16. Clear and to the point. Nothing to

misunderstand. Why couldn’t John have written Revelation in the same clear

way that he wrote his Gospel? It would have been so much easier to

understand!

But, have you ever gone to the movies and found yourself greatly moved by

what you saw? Not just the plot but the pictures. I am told that ‘Saving

Private Ryan’ is a very fine movie. I am also told that it is very intense.

The first several minutes when the troops come ashore on D-Day are very

graphic, very striking. When the movie came out I purposely decided not to

see it though I have a strong interest in the history of World War II and

usually enjoy watching movies about it. I was afraid to go see it. At the

time I was afraid that the images might prove to be too strong for me, too

intense, simply overwhelming. If I ever watch it, it will be by renting a

video that I will see on my small TV with the remote at hand to stop it if I

need to. Images can communicate very powerfully. Think about it. Would it

make a difference if Darth Vader were 5’ 4", 98 pounds and dressed in pink?

He has to be a big guy with a powerful voice dressed in jet black. The image

is important.

Revelation is a book of images and our problem is that we’re just not used

to communicating with images. You know what we do? We look at an image and

try to understand it as if it were a prosaic statement. So, we read that the

beast of the sea has ten horns and seven heads and we ask, ‘Now, what would

that look like? There are only seven heads, but there are ten horns. Do

three of the heads have extra horns? Are the extras all on one head? What

would that look like?’ That’s like asking, ‘Why is Darth Vader’s helmet

flared in the back?’ You don’t communicate by images in that way. Our first

problem is that we need to be taught how to ‘get’ the point of an image.

Our second problem, here, is that so many of the images of Revelation are

rooted in the Old Testament and we just don’t know our Old Testament all

that well. We read about lots of earthquakes but neglect to see how that

comes out of what happened when God descended on Mount Sinai. We read about

trumpets blaring but don’t remember that Israel was to have a trumpet that

was sounded for different purposes. To ‘get’ the images we need to see them

as coming from the Old Testament. If we can understand how they functioned

in the Old Testament then we’ll understand why they are included in

Revelation.

Then there’s one last problem. We’ve all been told that Revelation is about

what is to happen right before the Lord’s return. It’s supposed to be about

the (probably) distant future. And that twists our understanding of it. How

can Revelation be about the distant future if it was written for those first

century churches in Asia Minor? Revelation is not about strange happenings a

long time from now. It’s about how we are to live as faithful disciples in a

hostile world. Revelation is about today. It’s about the ‘today’ of the

seven churches. It’s about our ‘today’. And if the Lord delays, it will be

about the ‘today’ of the church a hundred years from now. Revelation is not

a speculative book about strange events in the future. It’s a practical

book, with practical counsel and practical hope as Christians like us deal

with life in the here and now.

I’ve tried to explain some things to you to take away some of the mystique

of the book so that you can actually be helped by it. But having some

information, even correct information, isn’t enough. There are some things

that you’ll need to do if you are going to benefit. Here, I have two things

in mind. First, you really need to read the book. Most of you are unfamiliar

with it. Read it. Don’t try to figure out what it means. Just read it so

that you know what’s in there. You may not know what those seven bowls of

wrath are about but you will know that there are seven of them, like other

groups of seven, and you’ll know that they are bowls of wrath. You may not

what in the world John is talking about when he writes about ‘Babylon’. But

you’ll know that it’s pictured as a woman just like the church is, except

that she is a prostitute while the church is a virgin bride. Read the book.

Become familiar with it. For one thing, you’ll be surprised at how much you

do understand. And that will be increasingly true as we work our way through

the text each Sunday. Knowing the content will help you understand me as I

preach and make reference to the different items in the book. Read the book.

Secondly, you’re going to need to pray. My goal for this series is not that

you become expert in understanding the symbols and themes of Revelation. You

don’t need to pray for that. Just spending enough time and effort will give

you that. But such expertise alone is not only worthless. It’s dangerous.

No, rather, my goal is that your hearts would be moved by the message of

Revelation. And again, what is the message of Revelation? How to live as

faithful disciples of Jesus in a hostile world. That is why Jesus included

this book in the Bible and that’s what I want you to get out of it. But how

can that happen unless the Spirit touches your heart? We all must pray that

He would, in fact, do just that – touch our hearts with the message of this

book so that we might be faithful. So, toward that end, you need to pray for

yourselves. Pray that you will gain a measure of understanding of the book,

enough understanding so that you can put it into practice in your own life.

Pray that your own heart will respond well, that your own heart will respond

with faith in the Gospel as it is presented in this book. And then, you need

to pray for me. How much you are blessed by this book will depend, in large

part, on how well I do at preaching it. So, pray that I would understand it,

that I will get it basically right. Pray that my heart will receive the

message of this book with faith. How can I urge you to believe the message

if I don’t do that myself? And pray that I would preach the book well. It

would be so easy to overwhelm you or to get so very abstract. That will not

help you to be faithful disciples. Pray that the Spirit would enable me to

explain these things well. As we pray for these things I am convinced that

the Spirit will, in fact, act and that we all will receive the blessing that

He promises in this book. And in this way we will be able to bring glory to

our Savior, Jesus.