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5 Questions on the Book of Revelation: Q&A
Matt Chandler
July 11, 2024
https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/voices/book-of-revelation-qa/
For many people, Revelation is a bit intimidating. It’s a big book with a lot of weird characters in it.
And yet, for the last 2000 years, the book of Revelation has put courage into the spines of Christians across the world — regardless of the time and period in which they lived.
Revelation spoke to them and let them know that despite what they were seeing and experiencing, Christ was on his throne, and he was ruling on high, and they were able to live faithfully in the moment of time that God had placed them.
What Is the Book of Revelation?
That’s an easy question to answer because John, the author, actually tells us what it is. In Revelation 1:4 he says that it has been written to the churches in Asia.
And so, what we see right out of the gate is Revelation is a letter to a specific group of people living at a specific time and in a specific place, much like Ephesians and Philippians or the book of Romans. This is written to a specific group of people.
Now here’s why that’s important.
It’s important because Revelation was written for us, but it wasn’t written to us. That means what we read in this book cannot mean to us what it did not mean to them.
This letter was given to the people of God across Christian history. It wasn’t just given to people who just happened to be here right before the return of Christ.
What Was Happening at the Writing of this Letter?
Revelation was written around AD 96, and for the 30 years before that, Christians had been subjugated to some of the most brutal torture and persecution imaginable. It started in AD 65 under Nero and only got worse later under Vespasian. By AD 92, Domitian took over and he took it to another level.
Now, throw into that mix that in AD 70, not only does Jerusalem fall, burned to the ground by the Romans, but in that same year, Paul, Peter and Timothy are all killed by the Roman empire.
It’s probably hard for us to get our minds around 30 years of perpetual torture, arrest, unfair laws. Domitian actually set a series of laws that people across the empire had to come to his temple, take a pinch of incense, sprinkle it in an altar, and say that he was the king of kings and Lord of lords. And he set laws that if Christians were found guilty of any crime, on top of being punished for that crime, they would have to recant their faith or face even harsher punishments than what their crime might’ve demanded in that moment and time.
Who Were the Recipients of this Letter?
The book was written to seven specific churches in seven different locations across the ancient near East. Each one of these churches was feeling an immense amount of pressure to sell out, an immense amount of pressure to fit in. The sheer pressure to just compromise a little for peace, just quiet down a little bit, just shrink back in order to not be persecuted and be able to raise their children the way we wanted to raise their children.
And yet, in each one of these churches, John writes with the words of Jesus for them to overcome, for them to stay strong. These seven churches fit into three categories.
1. Faith of the Head, but not of the Heart
The first thing that we see is, like in the church at Ephesus, they’re biblically knowledgeable. They know the word, they’ve got good doctrine, but their hearts have gone cold. They have an intellectual faith, but their heart is no longer in love with Jesus.
And Jesus rebukes them for this and tells them to return to their first love, to get back with a heart inflamed for his name and renowned, not just doctrinal correctness, but a heart for king Jesus.
2. Ethical Indifference
The second category are the four churches that are most strongly rebuked here are Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea. And what they’re doing, and you can see this everywhere right now in our current cultural moment, they know the gospel, they know Jesus, and yet they find themselves indifferent to His commands. They are fitting in with the Roman Empire regarding their sexual ethic, and about how they do their economic system. They are perpetually surrendering to the force of the Roman Empire and living an indifferent Christian life.
3. Faithful but Exhausted
The third category are the last two churches. I pray if you’re going to find yourself anywhere among the churches listed in chapter two and three, that you find yourself here. We see in Smyrna and Philadelphia, they’re faithful, they love him, they’re walking in correct doctrine, they’re just tired and weary and exhausted.
Courage to Overcome
And Jesus says to each of the seven churches, he encourages them to overcome, offers them rewards for overcoming and then rebukes them either for their indifference or their lack of love. But for those who are just weary and falling away, he whispers into their souls that he sees them, that he knows them, and he won’t let them go.
Isn’t Revelation About the Future?
Revelation is a letter, but it’s not just a letter. If you look back at Revelation 1:3, you’ll see that this is a prophecy.
Now if you think of like the major prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, they’re not saying, “This is what the future looks like.” They’re saying, “thus sayeth the Lord.”
And that’s the way Revelation is prophetic. It’s not so much just saying, this is what the future is going to be — although there’s some of that in the book. It’s saying, this is what the Lord God wants you to hear and wants you to be confident of in this moment.
What Is a ‘Revelation’?
So, the book is a letter. It is a prophecy. And then lastly, and you see this in Revelation 1:1, it is a “revelation,” or the Greek word apocalypsis. It is an apocalypse, where we’re going to find our minds being stretched.
The purpose of apocalyptic literature is to unveil, to make clear, to let you see what is unseen. Apocalyptic literature is also wildly strange. It uses images and strange scenes to provoke our hearts and our imaginations to feel and experience things that are different than just intellectual ascent. And so, it’s not uncommon in apocalyptic literature for things to get a little strange.
What’s the Purpose of Revelation?
Things aren’t always as they seem — both now and in the future.
The primary purpose of the Book of Revelation is to show readers of every generation of Christians between the first century and the return of Christ that things are not always as they seem, despite the data that we see and despite what we’re experiencing in the world.
Cover of 'The Overcomers' with overlay advertising a free 5-day devotional
If I could put a catchphrase here, I would say “fear not tomorrow, for tomorrow is already won.”
Want more from Matt Chandler? Check out his bible study on the book of Revelation, The Overcomers — and watch the full first session of the study for free.
Plus, sign up for a free 5-day devotional based on The Overcomers.
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