Purpose of the Book - A Message of Comfort, Hope and Assurance
Perhaps the principal purpose for Revelation was to comfort the persecuted church in its struggle against the forces of evil. It abounds with consolation for afflicted believers. Much of the consolation is in relatively plain text, while some is in symbolic form. Revelation contains a message of comfort and assurance that the conflict between the forces God and those of evil will ultimately result in a conquest and a victory over the opposition. This is true for opposition arising both from the physical and the spiritual realms. The book also shows the interconnections between the warfare in the spiritual realms and the physical realms are the source of the persecutions that Christians face. It also shows that God is in control, that the Lamb has already won the victory over the forces arrayed against the kingdom, and assures final victory. A second principal purpose of Revelation is to reveal to the saints how God will bring about His judgment on the world and to show them the temporary nature of suffering when contrasted with His eternal plan and ruler over the world.
Strict preterists would maintain these were only directly applicable to Christians in the first century. Others might expand this to Christians who lived through the terrible persecutions during the first 300-400 years of the church. Futurists place these events in our own future and maintain that Revelation, while applicable to early Christians, is really about the "Great Tribulation" (something still in our own future). In either case, these types of viewpoints effectively divorce the direct message of hope and assurance from Christians in any other age and limit it to one age only. In effect these interpretive schools diminish the message to Christians in most eras since the book was written to one of allegorical assurance only.
In contrast, this author maintains that we need to understand Revelation as applicable in all of the history of the church from its beginning to the final judgment and continuing on in the ages to come. From other plain Scripture we are told that Satan and his forces constantly work to destroy that which is good and that which belongs to God. This conflict began in the Garden of Eden, continues throughout the entire Bible and will end only with the final judgment and recreation of the new heaven and earth. Remember that we must keep our interpretation of Revelation to be consistent with other Scripture and that we have many other passages that deal with this conflict. For example, Peter (1 Peter 5:8) warns us that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Paul (Ephesians 6:12) affirms our struggle is ongoing against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
So this author maintains that one of the blessings promised is assurance and consolation for believers in all ages, not limited to the earliest years of the church or to the last era of the church before Christ's return. Some examples of this consolation include:
1. God sees the tears of
suffering Christians and He will wipe away their tears (Revelation
7:17).
2. God shall use the
prayers of Christians as part of how He judges the world (Revelation
8:3-5).
3. The deaths of
believers are precious and their souls ascend to Heaven (Revelation
14:13).
4. Death itself has been
conquered and believers will never die in the age to come. (Revelation
21:4)
5. The final victory of
Christ and of the saints is assured (Revelation
15).
6. Their blood will be
avenged (Revelation
6:9-17).
7. Christ lives and
reigns as king forever, far more powerful than any heavenly or earthly king (Revelation
5).
8. Christ is coming
again to take His people to Himself and to complete His victory over Satan and
his followers (Revelation
21-22). John describes the comforting of the saints in several places in
the book. Some examples include Revelation 6:9-11 (see above); 7:9-17.
Themes of the Book - Revelation has a number of themes. These include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following:
1. The victory of Christ
and the church over the Dragon (Satan) and his helpers is assured. Satan will attempt
his work of opposition and may seem to be in a triumphant position, but Christ
Is already the victor and will defeat Satan fully.
2. Christ conquers
death, Hades, the dragon, the false prophets, the sea beast and the land beast
and their worshipers.
3. Christ makes the
saints victorious even when they have apparently been defeated (Example - Revelation
3:7-13, especially verse 8 "I know that you have little strength"
or power in some translations).
4. The devil knows his
final end is near (Revelation
12:7-12, especially verse 12 - "his time is short").
5. John beholds the
victory of Christ in the apocalyptic visions where the forces of evil array in
battle against the forces of the Lamb (see Revelation
17:13-14; 19:19-20).
The fact that John witnesses it provides assurance that the battle has already
been won.
6. Believers will win
through the power of Christ, even though the opposition is powerful and seems
to have the upper hand.
a. They are not killed
forever, but rise on their feet to witness (Revelation
11:11).
b. They will be
triumphant over both the sea beast and the land beast and their followers (Revelation
15:2).
c. They stand victorious
with Christ on Mount Zion (Revelation
14:1).
d. Their prayers are
heard and God will act upon them (Revelation 6:10; 8:4-5 - see above).
e. They will reign upon
the earth (Revelation
5:10).
f. They will reign with
Christ and will be given authority to judge (Revelation
20:4).
g. They will be blessed
and will live with Christ in the new Heaven and the new Earth forever (Revelation
22:1-5).
7. Jesus is pictured as
always being present among the churches - see Revelation
1:12-20. Jesus still walks among and discerns the strengths and sinfulness
in His churches.
8. The worthiness of the
Lamb to be praised and worshiped, and His glory and honor are emphasized. False
worship is condemned in the strongest possible language.
9. The need for faith
and patient endurance by the saints is emphasized. God upholds the saints when
they experience suffering.
10. Revelation
underscores the fact that everyone will stand before God's presence and will
face the judgment of the Lamb. Each will be rewarded for righteousness or
punished for unrighteousness. Christians should pray "Come, Lord
Jesus" (Revelation
22:20; I
Cor. 16:22) at the same time they are trying to teach those who are outside
of a covenant relationship with Christ.
The Christian's "Messianic" Promise
Although this is a theme of Revelation, it is important enough that we need to consider it in some detail. The Old Testament has prophetic books that promise that God will send His Messiah to establish His Kingdom on the earth and to redeem the faithful. In particular it has the book of Daniel with its detail about the events leading to the appearance of the Messiah to establish the king on the throne of David and to redeem mankind.
To be complete, the New Testament must have a similar revealing of God's Will and "future history" to comfort and reassure the saints. Revelation is the prophetic Messianic promise for Christians. Revelation accomplishes this purpose with a review of "future" history (where the future is from the perspective of the first and second century Christians):
1. It points out the
great epochal changes as the forces of Satan attempt to overthrow the kingdom
and how these will affect the church in John's future. In so doing, it describes
the events of that future history using dramatic scenery and symbolic language.
2. It details the
apostasy that was predicted by both Paul and Peter (along with depicting the
persecutions and significant oppositions that would occur). In general order as
to the time frame and occurrence of the fulfillments of these prophecies, it is
instructive to examine the following:
a.
Acts
20:29-31 - Paul warns against the rise of false teachers, declaring that "savage
wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own
number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples
after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped
warning each of you night and day with tears."
b.
II
Peter 2:1-22 - Peter warns that, just as in the days of the Old Testament,
there will be people who bring in heresies. In particular note that he warns
that these false teachers are a type of Balaam, that they deny the Master who
bought them, and that they overlook sin in return for material gain.
c.
I
Tim. 4:1-3 - In this passage, Paul defines some of the elements of the
heresies that are going to come " The Spirit clearly says that in later times
some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by
demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have
been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to
abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving
by those who believe and who know the truth."
d.
I
John 2:18-22 - This passage and it's furtherance in I
John 4:1-3 and II
John 1:7 are the only places in the New Testament where the term antichrist is used. Revelation
scholars often misapply these passages by equating them to the sea and land
beasts of Revelation 13 in an attempt to "foretell" the rise of a
single "Antichrist". However, John explicitly defines antichrist to
be a multiplicity and further states that "many deceivers, who do not
acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world.
Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist." He also says "every
spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of
the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the
world." Particularly note I John 4:1-3 - "Beloved, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. By this you may know the Spirit of God;
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God and
every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God. And this is the spirit
of antichrist, which you heard that it will come; and now it is in the world
already." John was quite clear. The so called antichrist was already
active and working even before Revelation was written so any theory putting
that in our own future contradicts plain Scripture.
e.
II
Thess. 2:1-12 - This passage in particular should give an idea of the
nature of the coming apostasy - "[The return of the Lord will not happen]
until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [sin] is revealed, the
man doomed to destruction [the son of perdition], He will oppose and will exalt
himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets
himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God."
For Whom the Book Was Written
Revelation was first written as a letter and a prophecy that was addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia (roughly the western third of modern Turkey). Specifically it was addressed to the churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These churches were on a connecting "circuit", were close geographically and tied to Asian trade routes, and yet were different socio-politically and religiously. These churches were probably chosen because they exemplified certain characteristics which tend to develop in churches over a period of time. In addition, these were among the "core" churches planted by Paul and nurtured by John and other great early church leaders.
In addition to being written to the seven churches in Asia, Revelation was written to all early Christians as an answer to their tears, suffering, and prayers when they were facing Roman persecution and all seemed lost at times.
Even though it was written primarily for the encouragement of and as a call to endurance for the early Christians, Revelation is also intended for Christians in all ages who read, study, and keep the works of the prophecy (Revelation 1:3; 22:18).
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