The Book of Revelation

The book of Revelation makes clear the promise that Jesus is coming back.

It has a reputation for being hard to understand, and for good reason. This end-times book contains a significant amount of figurative language. It uses symbols like lampstands, horses, and numbers to communicate its message. Interpreting it can be daunting for even experienced Bible students, but it ultimately is a message about Jesus’s future return.

The book is full of references to conquest, judgment, and destruction. Some readers become so engrossed in trying to figure it all out, what it means and when these events will take place, they sometimes fall into the trap of missing the purpose of the book altogether. So, why bother? If this book is as demanding as it appears to be, and if its events are set to happen in some undisclosed future we can do nothing about, we might find ourselves wondering if it’s really worth the effort.

The book gets its name from the opening sentence and from its genre as prophetic and apocalyptic literature. In this sense, the word “apocalyptic” means to reveal or unveil. And that’s exactly what we find when we read this book, a revelation, an unveiling of events through a vision given to John by the Holy Spirit.

John—who wrote the gospel and letters that bear his name—tells us he was on the island of Patmos “on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9). While we don’t know the specific circumstances that led him there, history teaches that at the time Revelation was written, Patmos was a place reserved for criminals banished by Rome. So, when John addresses the book to “the seven churches that are in Asia” and calls himself their “brother and partner in the tribulation,” he meant it literally (1:4, 9). Forced from his home and stripped of the comforts of family and community, it is in this place that God drew near to John. In the midst of exile, where isolation, loneliness, and despair were meant to be his only companions, God graced him with a vision not of mourning but of joy. He graced him with hope.

So, why study the book of Revelation? Because, perhaps more than any other book in the Bible, this book is about hope, about the hope that comes from a God who keeps his promises. Written in a time of persecution, the book of Revelation reminds the church that Jesus is King and he will one day return. That our God is a God who gives rest to the weary, comfort to the brokenhearted, justice to the oppressed, and life to the dead. And as we study Revelation, the same God who met John in his place of exile will meet us in ours. Whether our pain is a broken marriage, a sick parent, or an empty bank account, the book of Revelation is our gift of hope. The hope that one day God will restore heaven and earth, wipe away every tear, and be with us, his people, forever. Because Jesus is our hope. This book is hope revealed.