This article deals with instruction on how to study the book of Revelations. Many of the references that I make point to certain things that I point out in my book “The Revelation of the Truth of God’s Word” and what I have written explaining certain parts of the book of Revelations in the Bible.
Even so, the following explanations will help a person to study Revelations in your Bible and provide a better understanding of what you are reading.
Bible teachers have for many hundreds of years put their own interpretation upon the book of Revelations. There are as many interpretations of Revelations in circulation as there are versions of the Bible. When a person begins his study of the book of Revelations, they find it difficult to determine whether to take a literal view of what it says or to take a figurative approach. Some of the statements in the Bible are understandably straightforward and a consensus among Bible students is that those statements can be taken literally. But in a lot of cases, a decision must be made if one should assume the literal interpretation or not. The book of Revelations is considerably more difficult to understand than most of the other books, because it contains a great amount of symbolic language and differs from the other books due to its futuristic theme rather than a historical one.
One thing that is important in being able to understand the book of Revelations is the ability to recognize certain keywords or clues that help to put the events in a proper perspective, chronologically. But these clues are not important enough by themselves to insure accuracy; it takes something that is more important. One of the most important things to recognize is that the Word of God is very consistent and does not vary from Genesis to Revelations. Being able to better understand Revelations depends upon comparing what it says with the rest of the scripture in the Bible.
Another problem that plagues most people is the lack of their ability to understand everything they encounter. It is an ego problem. People need to realize that when it comes to understanding God’s Word, they will understand only what God wants them to understand, only the portion of it that we need to know at that time. God has historically proven to mankind that He has a set time for everything, not only a time when He wants some specific thing to happen, but a time of His own when anyone is to understand different parts of His plan for mankind. Just as God has prevented the Jews from understanding that Jesus was the Messiah until He is ready, He continues to keep certain mysteries hidden from mankind until His time is right.
One important key to understanding the book of Revelations is to be able to understand the mysteries hidden in the seven-sealed book. And the most important key to understanding the seven-sealed book is to recognize that it can be opened by only one person. Revelations 5:5 says: “Only the Lamb of God has prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals of it.”
The Apostle John said in the first chapter of his gospel that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The Word of God was with God in the beginning and still is. The Word of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, is God’s manifested Word. The spoken Word of God is with us now in the form of the written Word of God and is still the same Word.
If only the Lamb of God can open the book and loose the seven seals, and the Lamb is Jesus Christ, and Christ represents the Word, then the Word, the written Word, can open the book and loose the seven seals for our understanding. We must depend first and foremost on finding the interpretation of the scriptures, in the scriptures. In other words, understanding what is written in Revelations is not dependent upon anyone's interpretation, but is understood by other relative scriptures in the Bible.
The purpose of the writing of my book is two-fold, firstly not to attempt to give my own interpretation to the book of Revelations, but to give way to an understanding of these scriptures on their own merits, allowing God’s Word to have the preeminence in its own interpretation, without regard to the past teaching of any person. I intend to give the maximum weight of interpretation to the written Word of God, a lesser importance to historical publications, and the least value to my own suppositions. The first step necessary to discovering the truth about what the Bible says is to completely forget what you have learned from someone else, and give your full attention to understanding what the scriptures are actually saying, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding.
The second purpose of my book is to attempt to organize the details of the book of Revelations in, as much as possible, a chronological order. Assembling Revelations in the order of the occurrence of its events should enable the reader to better understand God’s plan and provide the reader with a means of realizing just where we are today, in relation to that plan.
In past years, Bible teachers have classified themselves in at least four major groups as they have put their own interpretation to the order of occurrences in the book of Revelations. Those four are: (1) The Postmillennial view, (2) The Premillennial view, (3) The Premillennial / Posttribulational view, and (4) The Amillennial view.
The meaning of these four groups has to do with the order of occurrence of the events in Revelations with respect to the second coming of Christ.
Instead of presenting my own opinion in regard to these diverse millennial views in my book, I prefer to allow the reader to develop their own, without biasing their thoughts with what I believe to be the truth.
As will be shown by this exposition of the book of Revelations, using only the scriptures for the interpretation, we will discover that the seven seals cover events that occur from the beginning of the creation to the end of time, as we know it.
Everyone demands the right to their own opinion, and that is their God-given right if they chose to do so. But there is only one Truth, and that is the Truth of God’s Word. I will gladly relinquish my individual rights to accept the Truth of the Word of God, but will you?
Throughout the Bible and my book, where scripture is quoted, you will encounter some words with the caret signs around them ... i.e. <words>. This indicates that those words were added by the editors of the Bible and appear in italics in the printed Bible. These by no means are all of the words that were added when the original scriptures were translated into English. Many more words were added without being indicated in italics. As it becomes important to point out these words and show how they affect the meaning of what you are reading in my book, a comment will be made.
Anyone wishing to purchase a copy of my book can click on the book’s image in this blog post which will take you to the book store. Those who don’t have the extra money for purchase may contact me and I will send them a copy free of charge and postage paid. Send me your name and mailing address to elias3013@att.net and a copy will be mailed to you.
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