I am currently leading a Bible study group looking at the book of Revelation. Some may think I am either very brave or very foolish, or even both! Revelation is perhaps the most difficult book in the Bible to make sense of, and the one about which more rubbish has been spoken, written and published than any other book in the Bible. I guess that many people just dismiss Revelation as being beyond them, and some of those who do study the book are a little bit fixated. Moreover if you read three commentaries, even ones by "sensible" theologians, you will likely as not get at least three different opinions. So what are we to do? Just ignore it? Adopt a particular line of interpretation, dismissing all others? I will try to give some answers here. These are not intended to be a complete answer, but perhaps some will find it helpful.
Ignoring Revelation is not a viable option. The book itself says that the one who hears the words of the book will be blessed. Yet there are so many alternative ways of looking at the book: preterist, historicist, idealist and futurist. On this point I adopt the eclectic approach, i.e. seeking t take the best from each. But even that only gets us so far for within each of these streams there are multiple variations. Then there are the thorny issues of amilliennialism, premillennialism and postmillennialism. Added that is the rapture pre-tribulation, mid or post? If you want to know, I am a post-trib premillennialist, but there are many good Christians in every camp. So here is a go at approaching Revelation.
First, 2 Timothy 3:16,17 tells us that all Scripture is God breathed and given to us for the equipping of the saints. So the purpose of studying Revelation is not so that we can prove our pet theory, but to equip us to be better servants of Christ in difficult circumstances.
Now let's suppose the preterist view is entirely correct. Ie most of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century. What value is it to us? Well it shows us how the kingdom of God and evil interact in times of intense opposition, namely the overwhelming power of the Roman empire. So we can learn from it.
What if the pre-trib view is correct? In that case we will not be here during the worst events described in Revelation. Is it then of any value to us, other than idle curiosity and a sigh of relief that we will not have to endure the great tribulation? Well while we may not be here during the great tribulation, we may be here during pre-cursors. In 2 These 2:7 Paul says the man of lawlessness will come, but the spirit of lawlessness is already at work. If we look at history we see many instances of mini Antichrist's. The Roman empire and its emperor worship is the example pertinent in John's day. In recent history imagine what it was like to be in Nazi Germany. In fact it is worth reading history of those days to see how a truly evil empire works. Sadly much of the church in Germany did not do well in those days, much of it acquiescing to the Nazis, the Confessing church being a notable exception. Or there is the regime of Communist Russia. In our own day there are many Christians having to endure horrendous circumstances under Isil or in North Korea, and many other parts of the world. Even in the West our governments and society are increasingly anti-Christian. So there is certainly value in knowing how to live as a member of God's kingdom in evil times, indeed it is essential.
The same arguments apply if the post-trib view is correct, even more so. If the post-trib view is correct then our generation might go through the great tribulation, but it might not. And no preceding generation has gone through the great tribulation. So all the arguments applied to the pre-trib view apply equally. Then of course there is the real possibility that we will have to endure the great tribulation itself.
So regardless of the "correct" view, there is a need to read and learn from Revelation. I realise that all this can be seen as an argument for taking an idealist approach, and I would certainly advocate that as being a very useful approach, but not to the exclusion of the others.
What about all the graphic details we find in the book? Well we can try and give a detailed interpretation of it all, but I tend to think that that is often not too fruitful. It is sometimes more helpful to view Revelation as a drama. Consider Lord of the Rings, how should you view that? There is no need to get engrossed in every detail (I know that some do!), but instead to get absorbed in the drama to appreciate the battle between good and evil, and the workings of the human heart. There is value in doing the same with Revelation, not for all of it, and not as the only way of reading it, but it will benefit us to do this as part of our study.
I hope these ramblings are useful. You don't have to agree with everything I have said, and it certainly is not a complete approach, but hopefully it has some value. What I am certain about is that Revelation is a book we should all read and can all benefit from. Indeed there may come a time when it is essential to learn from it.
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