1But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you. 2For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 3For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape. 4But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. 5You are all children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness, 6so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. 8But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
12But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake.
Be at peace among yourselves. 14We exhort you, brothers: Admonish the disorderly; encourage the faint-hearted; support the weak; be patient toward all. 15See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all.
16Always rejoice. 17Pray without ceasing. 18In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. 19Don’t quench the Spirit. 20Don’t despise prophecies. 21Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.
23May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
25Brothers, pray for us.
26Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.
28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
The book of the Revelation of Jesus the Messiah is different from any other book of the New Testament, though not different from portions of the New Testament such as is found in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, or the teaching of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 2, the teaching of Peter in 2 Peter 3, or major prophetic portions of the Old Testament, particularly the book of Daniel. The book is not merely an apocalyptic work. It has apocalyptic elements (primarily much symbolic and figurative language) but it is also a prophecy, and also includes historical accounts of the churches in Asia. The normal method of interpretation works well with the Revelation, as well as a very good familiarity with the Old Testament and the Gospel accounts. His imagery largely comes from these portions of the Bible, and elucidates the meaning of the text. The rule of thumb with all biblical interpretation, as well as other literature, is “when the Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense, lest it be nonsense.”
One should not avoid the book because it is a difficult book. St. Dionysius of Alexandria said that
The darkness of this book does not prevent one from being astonished at it. And even if I do not understand everything in it, that is only because of my incapability. I cannot be a judge of the truths which are contained in it or measure them with the poverty of my mind, being guided more by faith than by understanding. I find them only surpassing my understanding.
There are primarily four ways in which the events of the Revelation have been understood through the centuries, namely, the Preterist, Idealist, Historicist, and Futurist approaches.1 I will present these views by means of a chart that I included in my Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament:2
| 1-3 | 4-19 | 20-22 | |
| Preterist | Historic churches | Symbolic of contemporary conditions | Symbolic of heaven and victory |
| Idealist | Historic churches | Symbolic of conflict of good and evil | Victory of good |
| Historicist | Historic churches | Symbolic of events of history: fall of Rome, Mohammedanism, papacy, Reformation | Final judgment, millennium (?), eternal state |
| Futurist | Historic churches and/or seven stages of church history | Future tribulation; concentrated judgments on world and on antichrist; coming of Christ | Millennial kingdom; judgment of wicked dead; eternal state |
From a study of the book there are also four primary theological perspectives that have been developed, namely, Postmillennial or Preterist, Amillennial or Idealist, Premillennial, and Apocalyptic. The following chart from my charts book 3 explains how the different theological methods understand the book:
| 1-3 | 4-19 | 20-22 | |
| Postmillennial or Preterist | Historic churches | Generally historicist | Victory of Christianity over the world |
| Amillennial or Idealist | Historic churches | Generally historicist | Coming of Christ; judgment; eternal state |
| Premillennial | Historic churches representative of historical stages | Generally futurist | Literal millennial reign; judgment of great white throne; New Jerusalem |
| Apocalyptic | Historic churches | Generally preterist | Symbolic of heaven and victory |
See my brief treatment of the interpretive methods of revelation in H. Wayne House, Last Things: Four Views of Revelation (Kindle). ↩︎
H. Wayne House, “Interpretations of Revelation,” Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 152. ↩︎
H. Wayne House, “Theological Perspectives on Revelation,” Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 152. ↩︎