I started posting my notes from my studies on the book of Revelation on here a while back, but didn’t keep it up, so I’m now going to resume posting them on a weekly basis, starting on Sunday. I wrote these a couple of years back now, so I might have changed my opinions on some things.

The studies already on my blog are:

• Introduction and Revelation Chapter 1
• Revelation 2:1-7 – The Letter to the Church in Ephesus
• Revelation 2:8-17 – The Letters to Smyrna and Pergamum

But before I resume my tour through this book of the Bible that has sadly become a happy hunting ground for weirdos, I’ll just outline the basic principles I apply in trying to understand it. These are what we started with on Contagious back in 2003 when we went through the book over the course of the week’s conference, as outlined by the legendary Pete Woodcock:

• Understand Revelation in light of the whole of the Bible

The book of Revelation tends to get a lot of attention – after all, it’s where the New Testament gets interesting again after the long stretch of just other people’s letters after the good bits about Jesus and the early church, or so it might seem! But if you take it in isolation, then you miss all the allusions and links with the rest of the Bible. Most of Revelation’ images are taken from elsewhere in the Bible, and it’s message is in unity with the rest of the Bible.

• Understand the unclear by the clear

Someone once said that it’s not the parts of the Bible that they don’t understand that worry them, but the parts that they do!

• Look at the big picture

Another pitfall is getting caught up in the fine details – trying to work out what the third crown on the seventh horn on the first beast probably won’t yield you much spiritual benefit. If you zoom in too far, then there’s the danger that you’ll miss what the book is actually going on about.

• It’s all about Jesus

Like all of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, Revelation is about Jesus Christ, and is there to instruct us and train us up in the lives of love and holiness that he has called us to. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near – Revelation 1:3. Revelation is meant to bless you, not to baffle you, and we should come to it first of all to discover God better, not to decipher future events or win arguments about eschatology.

I think most people could agree on the above principles – they’re pretty commonsensical, and are the same principles that you always apply in understanding the Bible. I’ll outline some of the more contentious points I hold to in interpreting Revelation in a later post. Stay tuned!