The Book of Revelation For Dummies Cheat Sheet

If the Book of Revelation leaves you confused, you're not alone. To gain clarity, start by exploring its overall structure, the main ways it has been interpreted, the different views on the Millennial Kingdom described in Revelation 20, and the significant events that influenced the author. Taking this approach will help you make sense of the last book in the New Testament.

Basic structure of the book of Revelation

Approaching the book of Revelation can be challenging, as its storyline doesn’t unfold in a straightforward chronological order. Although the book may seem confusing, it does follow an identifiable pattern. Below is a summary of how the book of Revelation is laid out:

• Setting up the scope of the book (1:1-20)
• Reading the seven messages to conflicted churches (1:19-3:22)
• Peeking into the throne room (4:1-5:14)
• Breaking seven seals (6:1-8:1)
• Sounding seven trumpets (8:2-11:19)
• Waging war on the woman and her child (12:1-14:20)
• Pouring out seven bowls (15:1-16:20)
• Taking down Babylon the Great (17-18)
• Coming of the King and his kingdom (19:1-20:15)
• Touring the New Jerusalem and returning to Eden (21:1-22:6)
• Promising to return (22:6-21)

Interpreting the book of Revelation

The interpretation of Revelation continues to spark discussion and debate. To help readers grasp and make sense of John’s apocalyptic letter, scholars have developed four main approaches to understanding Revelation.

Here are brief definitions of the four major interpretive approaches:

• Preterist: The book of Revelation views events of the first century CE as if they were yet future. Rather than predicting the end of time, the book addresses Christians living under the Roman Empire, helping them navigate their faith in that context. Many contemporary scholars favor this interpretation. Strength: It recognizes that Revelation was written for its original first-century audience. Weakness: This perspective dismisses the possibility that the Holy Spirit can reveal future events, as the book itself claims to do.
• Historicist: Revelation gives a bird’s-eye view of the entire sweep of Christian church history, from the post-Pentecost church (Acts 2) until Jesus returns. This view has few adherents today.  Strength: The conviction that God controls the course of history.  Weakness: Revelation has little relevance for its original audience; also, historicists have wildly divergent views concerning the particulars.
• Idealist: This approach sees the visions in Revelation as purely symbolic, representing the timeless conflict between good and evil rather than corresponding to any specific historical events. Strength: It acknowledges that the book powerfully conveys lasting spiritual truths and principles. Weakness: By separating these ideals from historical context, it risks undermining the significance of Jesus’s actual death, resurrection, and ascension.
• Futurist: By the sixth seal (6:12–17), the book describes events leading up to Jesus’s return. Glances at earlier stages of redemptive history (as in Rev. 12) illuminate End Time events. The focus is on a historical struggle that unfolds at the end of the age and climaxes with Jesus’s Second Coming.  Strength: Incorporates the insights of the other views without sacrificing the essential point of their position: namely, that the book prophesies a literal return of Jesus and a new creation.  Weakness: The weakness of the futuristic view is that it interprets 1:9–3:22 just like preterists and historicists, that is, as referring to the first century. Then it declares that at 4:1, or at least by 6:12, the sixth seal, everything else is about the final period of earth history before Christ returns. Critics find this arbitrary and therefore unconvincing.

Perspectives on the interpretation of the Millennium

The exact meaning of the Millennium, the 1,000-year reign that John speaks of in Revelation 20, is a centuries-old debate in Christian circles. One problem comes from the different interpretations concerning the meaning of the Millennium. The following chart can help you sort out these respective viewpoints:

Events surrounding the Apostle John's writings

John, who wrote the Bible’s book of Revelation, was the longest living apostle; as such, he witnessed extraordinary changes in the political, social, religious, and economic world. The following historical events were significant to John the Apostle and his audience:

• First outbreak of persecution against Christians by Nero (64 CE)

• Paul and Peter are martyred at Rome (67–68 CE)

• Jerusalem is sacked and the Second Temple burns (70 CE)

• The emperor Domitian accepts worship as a god (81–96 CE)

• John is exiled to Patmos (90–95 CE)

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