Revelation was written to fortify believers in the first century, and every century since then, to live out bold allegiance to Christ as they/we wait for the King of Kings to come and establish his kingdom on earth in all of its glorious fullness. Revelation is not primarily about the future. Yet this greater challenge is also what promises the greatest blessing. The challenge greater than understanding the book may be opening ourselves up to the adjustments in our lives this book calls for. This means that we are able to understand its central message. It was written for ordinary believers in the first century with the expectation that they would be able to understand its central message. But Revelation wasn’t written for scholars. It is a genre of literature (apocalyptic) that is unfamiliar to most of us, which requires that we develop some skills for reading it. Certainly there are some challenges to rightly interpreting some of its vivid imagery and plentiful symbolism.
Revelation is a book that many people avoid, convinced that it is too hard to interpret and understand. This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know series.
