Guidelines for Interpreting the Book of Revelation

Before interpreting the book of Revelation, it should be a prerequisite to read and study the books of Daniel and Ezekiel, since they most closely resemble the type of prophetic language in Revelation, along with having overlapping information. Other books that could be helpful are Jeremiah and Isaiah, but those are not as essential. Matthew 24 is a key passage as well.

We must keep in mind that the God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament, and that Revelation is a continuation of that history in the Hebraic frame of mind.

Lay aside everything you have been taught in church and in culture about the end times. Realize the biases you have, question why you have them, what evidence there is for those views, and try to prove your biases wrong before holding on firmly to a belief. Search for evidence.

The nature of Revelation is primarily symbolic since it is prophetic literature. Therefore, our first approach is to apply a symbolic understanding from the other Old Testament literature we have. If the symbolic understanding does not make coherent sense, only then do we interpret it literally. This approach is opposite of the normal approach that we would typically take to interpret most of Scripture. However, the overall immediate context is the best clue for determining how literal or non-literal the subject in question is.

History repeats itself, and there are types and shadows of things to come, yet those types and shadows are not the substance. Some interpreters like Preterists, think that most, if not all, of Revelation has already been fulfilled, and that was done in the first century. However, as a Futurist, I would disagree. Just because something appears to have been fulfilled, that does not mean it was. Similarities between a historical event and a Scriptural text do not necessitate its fulfillment. As I said, history often repeats itself. Some things repeat themselves physically, and others repeat themselves spiritually. A valid fulfillment of prophecy could be physical or spiritual. There is no hard rule to say that it cannot be otherwise. Sometimes prophecy can also have a partial fulfillment, so that even though it may appear like it is fulfilled, the event is still waiting for its full fulfillment.

Not everything in the book of Revelation applies only to the future. Some things have already been fulfilled in their substance. Yet, there may still be a future aspect left to be fulfilled later. Here, I have in mind the twelve churches. They were real churches who had real problems, and they were addressed for the specific time that they were in. Yet, these are also churches in the future in a more spiritual and abstract sense, which represent various churches with various problems that they must overcome. This means that we must keep in mind the historical as well as the future aspects of Revelation.

It may be tempting to discover all the time frames of when these prophecies will happen and what chronology they are in. However, chronology is the most difficult thing to determine since the prophecies were not written in a logical and chronological format. One passage may show a short summary/overview of the things to take place, like the seals, trumpets, or bowls, while in another passage, that information is seen again, but in a zoomed-in and more detailed form.

Verb tenses cannot be relied upon for determining the sequence of events since those verb tenses are directly tied to the imagery that John saw in his vision, and in the order he saw and wrote down those visions.

Bible stories and other Scriptural parallels should not be used to determine the exact day of the rapture or of Christ’s coming. Correlations do not dictate interpretation or accurate predictions. However, we can use Bible parallels for their imagery to increase our imagination and reflection to aid our devotion. Correlations can also be used as a means to understand the meaning of language, various expressions, to define terms, and to have a closer-knit picture of end-time events.

Each character may have several identities, being called by various different names.

Revelation has overlapping qualities that are reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus and Levitical ceremonies.

Be on the lookout for premonitions of God’s judgment or victory. Just because the verb tense is in the past, that does not mean the event has sequentially happened yet in the vision.

It would be a good idea to start with the subjects of Revelation that we have the most information on, like the beast and the horns and the subjects that are clearly identified for us. Using this strategy, we establish the facts that we do know before going on to the more ambiguous things that we don’t know. But the more information that we are able to establish that is known, the easier it will be to discover the unknown.

After establishing the things we do know for sure, we can then establish what is not true for sure. That is, the refutation of invalid arguments and invalid interpretations brings us closer to the truth through the process of elimination.

The last rule we have is that we should not ascribe to any hard fast rule of interpretation. This is one of the mistakes that the Pharisees made about the Messiah. Jesus, as their Messiah, was standing right in front of them, yet they failed to recognize Him. Why? One of the reasons was because they were too pridefully caught up with their interpretive rules of Scripture. They were looking for a Messiah who would physically overthrow the oppressive Roman empire, but Jesus wasn’t their guy. Their interpretation was too literal, and they were wrong about it. At least, with the kind of immediate timeframe they had in mind.

We must be aware that God can choose to fulfill prophecy however He deems fit, and His methods may not make sense to our logical minds. However, even though this is the case, it is wise to have a rational framework for interpretation to avoid forcibly making the text mean what we want it to mean because of the things we experience in our present environment.

Don’t forget to use the Holy Spirit and work through the text with your own mind in meditating upon it and asking God for direction. Write out your own interpretation before going to books and commentaries.