The Book of Revelation is the only book of
the Bible that promises a special blessing to
the reader.1
(Many verses in the Bible encourage reading
God's Word--in general--but only one book has
the "audacity" to claim, in effect, "Read me,
I'm special.")
What is surprising is that, even for many
avid Bible readers, this book is overlooked or
neglected. One would expect just the opposite.
There are many reasons why this book
invariably results in a special blessing to the
diligent inquirer. Perhaps the most basic
blessing accrues from the fact that in order to
understand the back ground of the many idioms
and allusions, one will have to trace back into
virtually every book of the Bible.
The Book of Revelation consists of 404 verses
which contain over 800 allusions to the Old
Testament alone!2
One reason the book appears so strange to the
uninitiated is that most of us haven't developed
enough familiarity with the Old Testament.
One of the keys to understanding the book is
also to take it seriously,not to get distracted
with fanciful allegories or speculations but to
read it with care and diligence as part of the
whole Word of God. The Bible consists of 66
books, penned by 40 authors over thousands of
years, and yet we now discover that it is an
integrated message: every detail, every word,
every number, every place name is there by
supernatural engineering. And no study makes
this clearer than the study of the Book of
Revelation.
(The Bible is like any textbook in school,
the answers are all in the back!)
Organization of
the Book
The Book of Revelation is the only book I
know which also has a divinely inspired outline
included! Jesus Himself has provided the key to
the structure of the book:3
He told John to write:
- the things which thou hast seen, and
- the things which are, and
- the things which shall be hereafter.
The "things which thou hast seen" refers to
the vision of our risen Lord just experienced
previously in Chapter 1.
The "things which are" refers to the seven
churches which were existing at that time in
Chapters 2 and 3. Interestingly, the Lord's
letters to the churches in these two chapters
are the most relevant part of the book for you
and me today.
The "things which shall be hereafter (meta
tauta)" refers to the remainder of the book.
Joshua as a
Model?
It is interesting to notice the parallels in
design between the Book of Joshua in the Old
Testament and the Book of Revelation. Joshua's
name is in Hebrew; in Greek it could be rendered
"Jesus." Joshua's mission is to dispossess the
usurpers from the Land on behalf of God's
people; in Revelation, Jesus' mission is to
dispossess the Planet Earth of the usurpers.
Joshua initially sends ahead two witnesses.4
(We call them spies, but all they accomplished
was getting a Gentile woman saved.) The two
witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11 are a
prominent element.
In the initial attack on the Amorite capital
of Jericho, every rule of the Torah was
violated: the Levites were exempt from military
duties, yet they lead the procession. They were
to do no work on Sabbath Day, yet here they
march around Jericho once a day for six days,
and then seven times on the seventh day! They
are to keep silent until the final trumpet
blast, etc. It is interesting that the Seven
Trumpets in Revelation are introduced after a
strange silence.5
The opposing kings align themselves under a
leader who calls himself Adoni-Zedek ("The Lord
of Righteousness"), who is ultimately defeated
with signs in the sun and the moon at the battle
of Beth Horon.6
The defeated kings hide in caves, etc.
It seems that in Revelation we have the final
"Joshua," dispossessing the Planet Earth of its
usurpers on behalf of God's people in a manner
that is remarkably parallel.
