Most people think that Revelation is impossible to understand. Most pastors view it as an impractical and unprofitable text to teach through. The good news is that neither of these opinions is true.
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?”
Explaining the text of the Bible to your congregation or Bible class should leave them less confused, not more. This means that its enigmatic final book is either imposed upon people as something to be endured rather than enjoyed, or it is neglected altogether.
For most people, reading through the prophecy, let alone teaching through it, is like watching a foreign movie with no subtitles, or being forced to sit through a continental European opera with no English libretto: you comprehend just enough to be able to identify the good guys and the bad guys, but the plot is obscure and your interpretation of the details is entirely arbitrary. But it is far worse than a mere language barrier: all of the verbose and expensive commentaries that were intended to help you to understand it seem to disagree with each other at just about every point.
On top of this, the self-styled Bible prophecy “experts” who interpret the latest global news headlines as fulfillments of the Apocalypse keep changing their story, and have been doing so for well over a century. According to Moses, these people are false prophets.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:22)
Some Bible teachers take the easy road and claim that the prophecy is simply a general “picture book” of God’s work in the world, and that the details do not matter. But if that is the case then most of the running time of this “foreign movie” is redundant. Deep down, we know that this cannot be true; the pointy, visceral, and often bizarre details are all there for a reason. Not a single word of the Bible is idle. But what good is “closure” when nobody can make sense of it?
So, as a preacher or teacher who wants to cover the book of Revelation, you might feel like you are the blind leading the blind. You are leading your people into some exotic country where not only is the culture a terrible shock but the nation is also at war. Like Moses, you look at their anxious and perplexed faces, and their eyes are asking, “Why did you bring us out here to die?”
Are we really left with only two choices—fumbling with the book or leaving it out altogether? If we include it in our teaching but get it wrong, we have fed our people something that is not from God’s kitchen, and is either indigestible or harmful, or both. On the other hand, if we omit it from our teaching, our people are missing out on a great feast that is not only nourishing but also extremely enjoyable. While the text functions perfectly as a staple diet of basic bread and milk for spiritual growth, there is also much steak and wine to be had, and Revelation reminds us that Jesus always keeps the best till the end. If you do not want those under your ministry to remain as spiritual infants when it comes to the ways of God, then it is time to upgrade the menu. This is not as difficult as it might sound, since you have the “recipe” already. Teaching through Revelation with the Old Testament as your guide means that instead of “looking into the sky” for the answers, you can follow Jesus’ advice to teachers and use the key that God has put in your pocket.
This neglected old key also reveals that Revelation is an immensely practical book. As with any Scripture, only if we interpret it correctly will we be able to apply it correctly. Once its meaning is nailed down, it gives us a prophetic wisdom beyond our years. And that is why God gave it to us.
Taking Revelation’s first-century context seriously makes its advice and warnings to its original hearers more practical for us today, not less. It enables us to understand our place in history, and to comprehend the crucial role that the Church’s ministry of service, testimony, and suffering plays in the transformation of the world. It also reveals how God works, and what He is up to when He seems distant, which is a great comfort for those who are struggling in the faith.
What is more, the prophecy is constructed organically—the details of the book are ordered according to the same pattern as the whole, in the way that the patterns on a leaf reflect the shape of the entire tree. (I could use broccoli as an illustration here but the Revelation is much more tasty.) As you work through these seven steps, you will become familiar with the basic pattern, and automatically primed to understand the Apocalypse at a more detailed level.
Even better, these sessions teach us how to read, study, and comprehend the Scriptures in a more mature way. The Bible unlocks Revelation, but Revelation in turn opens to us a wide window on the whole Bible. Getting a handle on its biting wit actually makes the rest of the Bible easier.
With that window opened to your people, the struggle of making the text relevant to them in your preaching and teaching will be a thing of the past. They will understand what is going on and why, and they will be keen to attend the next feast at your banquet table. And instead of having to push them to read and study the Scriptures, you will not be able to keep them away.
Since your people will be more grounded in their faith, they will also be more discerning when it comes to the philosophies and temptations of the world, and more in awe of the King who revealed His mind to us as His friends. This increased discernment will also liberate them from the ongoing predictions of the doomsayers inside the Church and the fearmongers out in the world. As the men in white in Acts 1 implied, “Stop looking at the sky and get back to work!” To put it more bluntly, instead of being rabbits in the headlights of the end of the world, your people will have their hands on the steering wheel.
This book comes with a warning, however. Using Moses and the Prophets as our interpretive key—as God intended —results in an interpretation of the book with which you might not be too familiar. But once you see the spectacular results, and observe how Revelation opens up to us both the Old Testament and the New, you will realize that much of the debate and confusion over the centuries could have been avoided.
This method should have been obvious to us all along, but in our desire to take the Bible seriously, we did not get its very serious “jokes.” Whatever your current eschatological school of thought might be, I guarantee that you will never look at the Bible in the same way again.
Hopefully, as you prepare to teach these sessions, you will be intrigued and empowered rather than overwhelmed, offended, or outraged, and also encouraged to press on and deliver these unique studies for the benefit of your students.
Remember that all theology, however technical, is also devotional. To make this a series that your congregation or class will never forget, you must first submit to the “sword” that you intend to wield. Only a willing sacrificial lamb is worthy to open the scroll (Luke 4:16-19; Revelation 5:9-10). Allow the Word to cut you to the heart, and God will use you to cut and transform the hearts of others.
COMING SOON: TEACH THROUGH REVELATION IN 7 STEPS
