The Unveiling

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is captivating. I have been drawn to it since my first thorough reading many years ago. Prior to this time, I had been introduced to many ancient images displayed in churches, museums, books, and galleries. I had experienced musical and artistic renditions depicting final judgment. Of course, there are also many modern myths projected in graphic novels and action movies portraying the cataclysmic end of days. However, as a Bible student, each time I approached the book to read and study it, I found it overwhelming. Both its content and the seemingly complicated flow always resulted in frustration leaving too many unanswered questions. This process would repeat year after year. I would regularly give up on trying to follow the revealed narrative and slide into the easy ruts of previously applied meanings taught in numerous sermon series on “The Last Days” or explanations I read in prophetic books and Bible commentaries.

Again, the assigned meanings always seemed to fall short. These explanations came across as a forced application of the Scripture. I would always be puzzled by the arbitrary mixture of described symbols and applied literal contemporary meanings, sometimes in the same sentence. This combination of signs and symbols, and the attempt to literally interpret them and apply them, appeared to lack intellectual integrity as if they were used or interpreted to build a case rather than reveal the truth. These applied interpretive systems or perspectives seemed to fit well in some explanations but did not fit at all in other areas. There was the added confusion of multiple varied and conflicting explanations of godly teachers and commentators, primarily in the past few generations.

Having read many of the known influential books from each perspective, and continuing to absorb as much as I could comprehend and apply, I still was not satisfied. I would love to be able to remember and give credit to the many sources I drew from or credit years of research and language study of my mentors that I have absorbed that have birthed the ideas that have come together to form this book. I have received from many good thinkers and an eclectic pool of teachers. I’ve heard and can relate to this excellent expression: “I milk a lot of cows, but I churn my own butter.” This book is the result of a lot of churning.

At one point, as many other frustrated readers of the Apocalypse, I eventually gave up on expecting a clear understanding and, therefore, lost sight of the obvious—the unveiling of God’s truth. I have personally interviewed many Bible students and pastors about their understanding and experience with The Revelation. They, too, expressed the same frustrations. Most had given up on a coherent reading and application of this most important book.

Every other book in the Bible seemed to make sense. Each book appeared to give a clear expression of God’s moral character and purpose and our problem and His remedy. All the stories in the Scripture seem to weave together the plight of humanity with the character of God. His moral nature, intentional acts, and overarching purposes are continually opened like the petals of a flower until the beauty of God’s love is revealed.

However, when I would arrive at the last book, The Revelation, I would again find myself at a loss as I attempted to assign meaning through historical context and current events. I had experienced this occasionally in previous prophetic books when they also shifted into an apocalyptic mode. As I became more aware of the history of these applications, my uncertainty and frustration increased.

The writer of Hebrews states that the revelation of God is not a mixed bag of puzzling parts. He is not challenging us to piece together a scenario that defines a specific paradigm. Rather, His revelation is clearly seen in Jesus Christ. He is the subject of all Scripture and all Scripture is realized in Him. He is the Word of God, the Word made flesh. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. This is The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

If I read or hear the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ with a natural mind that is motivated to discern or divine the future, I am as a deaf man attempting to judge music. If I pursue the flow of the seven documented visions with an eye to correlate the described events with recorded history or uncover a cryptic description of contemporary governments, or characters, or modern warfare, I am chasing my tail and will arrive where I began.

None of us has arrived. We are but pilgrims, a moving caravan slowly progressing through the gift of life, this threshold of eternity. I write about The Unveiling as a pilgrim, not an “End Times” expert. I seemed to have come upon a perspective of the seven revealed facets of the seven visions experienced by John that flow together and, to my understanding, correlate with all Scripture, which has begun to make sense to me. This perspective maintains an intellectual and Scriptural integrity that honors God’s Word and continues in the stream of a fulfillment theology.

It is my prayer that God’s Spirit will open our eyes to see that we might receive His unveiled truth, His great disclosure. I pray that He will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. For if He does not do this by His power, we are chasing the wind, trying to capture the elusive eternal and Divine infinite with a mortal and finite mind. God’s wisdom and purposes are mysterious and yet discernable for those in relationship with Him. This is not an understanding laying on the surface or a puzzle to be untangled. It is God’s greatest message to God’s people. It is as the prophet Isaiah proclaims, God’s great reveal.

For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. (Isaiah 64:4)