Message Date: August 20, 2025

Part 3: How Are We To Read Revelation?

Link to a downloadable PDF:
2025-08-20 – Introduction to Revelation 1-3, Part 3

Victory Life Durant — Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Scripture Reading (Key Text)

Revelation 1:9–19 (ESV)⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. ¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

Introduction

Before delivering the message, John made it clear who the message was actually from. John has a dramatic “unveiling,” not of events first, but of a person.

Revelation 1:1 (ESV)¹ The Revelation of Jesus Christ

At the onset of the very first verse, John states that this is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The book is entitled THE REVELATION (singular), not “revelations” (plural). All that follows in this letter is from Jesus and ultimately about Jesus.

The seven messages to the seven churches (or the one message to the seven churches) tell us what Christ thinks of His church, as it was, is, and as He would have it; additionally, the messages tell us what He has to say to our churches if we have ears to hear.

Amid the challenges of the surrounding culture, temptations toward compromise or complacency, suffering and persecution, or drifts toward heresy or apathy, Jesus encourages His church with hope, warns them to repent, exhorting them to remain faithful, and “to hear and to overcome compromise in order to inherit eternal life.”

Hermeneutical Approaches

Hermeneutics: the science and art of interpretation of the Scriptures

One crucial aspect for the interpretation of the book of Revelation specifically, and the New Testament more generally, is the concept of “inaugurated eschatology,” or more simply stated, the “now/not yet” or “already/not yet” framework of the Kingdom of God.

“Inaugurated Eschatology” — “now/not yet” or “already/not yet”

When it comes to aspects of the Kingdom of God and the reign of Christ Jesus, how much do we understand its presence and power now in the life of the believer and the role of the church in the world (or the people of Israel)? And how much of what is said is “not yet” until the return of Christ and the full establishment of His Kingdom reign on earth at the end (the “eschaton,” hence, “eschatology” is the study of “the end”). Each of these interpretive strategies wrestles with these ideas as they relate to interpreting the book of Revelation and its message and purpose for the church and the future.

“The absolutely essential framework of the self-understanding of [early] Christianity…is an eschatological one. Christians had come to believe that, in the event of Christ, the New (Coming) Age had dawned, and that, especially through Christ’s death and resurrection and the subsequent gift of the Spirit, God had set the future in motion, to be consummated by yet another coming (Parousia) of Christ…They lived “between the times“ of the beginning and the consummation of the End. Already God had secured their…salvation; already they were the people of the future, living the life of the future in the present age…But they still awaited the glorious consummation of this salvation. Thus they lived in an essential tension between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet.’” ~ Gordon Fee

5 Interpretive Strategies

Five Interpretive Strategies for Revelation:

1. 1. Predictive (“Futurist”)

The “predictive” approach often focuses on decoding Revelation as an “end-times” handbook.

The first strategy is the predictive approach, which is widely popular today and prominent within the dispensational camp. Some early church leaders took a form of this approach as early as the second (Justin Martyr and Irenaeus) and third (Victorinus) centuries. This approach started taking its current shape within dispensationalism, driven namely by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century, the Scofield Reference Bible in the early 20th century, and more recently, Hal Lindsey, and then Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in the “Left Behind” series.

“Dispensationalism” is a movement derived from the biblical word “dispensation,” a term referring to “the administration of God’s earthly household” (KJV, 1 Cor. 9:17, Eph. 1:10; 3:2; Col. 1:25). Dispensationalists divide salvation history into historical eras in order to distinguish the different administrations of God’s involvement in the world.

The hallmark of “classical dispensationalism” has been its commitment to a literal interpretation of prophetic Scripture.

When this view is taken to its end, it has a very pessimistic view concerning history and the role we play in its culmination. Despite all our best efforts and attempts at converting or reforming the world, prior to the end, the antichrist will emerge and gain control of human affairs, the world will “go to hell,” and the only ending to this catastrophe is Jesus’ return.

One weakness of this view is how it avoids the reality of the “now/not yet” nature of the Kingdom of God (“inaugurated eschatology”).

It is important to note that there is a difference within dispensationalism that accounts for this within a somewhat recent development within this framework (developing within the 1980’s) called “progressive dispensationalism.” Though there is some overlap between “classical dispensationalism” and “progressive dispensationalism,” there are enough differences to distinguish the two from one another.

The key between “classical dispensationalism” and “progressive dispensationalism” is how revelation “progresses” through salvation history, adding more layered meanings to Old Testament ideas, images, and prophecies within the New Testament.

“Progressive dispensationalism” accounts for the “now/not yet” aspects of Revelation by acknowledging its historical fulfillment in the first century A.D., while finding the “not yet” aspects in the prophecies found within the book.

Progressive Dispensationalism still has a pessimistic view of the future, somewhat similar to the more traditional Dispensationalism. However, it takes more seriously the “now” aspect of the Kingdom of God than the more traditional Dispensationalist.

Five Interpretive Strategies for Revelation:

1. 1. Predictive (“Futurist”)
  2. Preterist (“In the past”)

The “preterist” approach focuses on understanding and decoding Revelation’s relevance to the past, especially the first century.

The preterist viewpoint wants to take seriously the historical interpretation of Revelation by relating it to its original author and audience.

The second strategy is the preterist approach, which is focused mostly on understanding and decoding Revelation’s relevance to the past, specifically the first century. This approach was shaped mainly by the historical-critical method of biblical studies. Its weakness lies in, when taken to its extreme, how “non-theological” the approach is, and that it primarily originated as a reaction to the futuristic readings of Revelation. I can appreciate the interest in how the first (and second) century readers of this text understood them and were shaped by them concerning the events of their day. I also can appreciate the hopeful perspective this view has on history, the role of the church in mission, and the desire for the transformation of the world “on earth as it is in heaven.” This interpretive strategy has value and has much to offer how we understand the book, but I believe it can be placed in a lower priority of hermeneutics since it has a tendency to strip the text of its theological teeth, and thus is removing the element of it being “God’s word,” not just to the first readers, but to the church throughout history up to the present.

The weakness of the “preterist” viewpoint is that it has a tendency to strip the Scriptures of their theological teeth, which can remove the element of it being “God’s word.”

Five Interpretive Strategies for Revelation:

1. 1. Predictive (“Futurist”)

Preterist

1. 1. Theopoetic

The theopoetic approach focuses on the book’s mythical and poetic language, emphasizing the language’s genre.

The last three approaches can be separate, but they each play a significant role in interpreting Revelation, and can be woven together in a three-strand cord of hermeneutics. The theopoetic approach focuses on the book’s mythical and poetic language, emphasizing the language’s genre. Eugene Peterson is a more recent and strong proponent of this approach, calling it a “theological poem” that “does not…call for deciphering” but “evokes wonder,” calling all decoding approaches “violations of the genre and language of Revelation.” This reminds me of one of Peterson’s provocative statements about Revelation in his book “Reversed Thunder,” where he states,

“I do not read the Revelation to get additional information about the life of faith in Christ…Everything in the Revelation can be found in the previous sixty-five books of the Bible…The truth of the gospel is already complete, revealed in Jesus Christ. There is nothing new to say on the subject. But there is a new way to say it. I read the Revelation not to get more information but to revive my imagination.” ~ Eugene Peterson

For this approach, Revelation is to evoke a prophetic and apocalyptic imagination, using poetic language to help us see with new eyes.

Five Interpretive Strategies for Revelation:

1. 1. Predictive (“Futurist”)

Preterist

1. 1. Theopoetic
  2. Theopolitical

The theopolitical approach focuses on “criticizing injustice, promoting transformation and justice, or both.”

The fourth approach can be called the theopolitical approach, but can be distinguished from the dispensational interpretation of political engagement. This hermeneutic correlates with Abraham Joshua Heschel’s approach to the writings of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Of them, he says, “Indeed, the sort of crimes, and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay, do not go beyond that which we regard as a normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice—cheating in business, exploitation of the poor—is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us, injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.” Revelation, corresponding to biblical prophecy as a whole, helps us see from another perspective, namely God’s perspective, what we would typically take for granted.

Five Interpretive Strategies for Revelation:

1. 1. Predictive (“Futurist”)

Preterist

1. 1. Theopoetic
  2. Theopolitical
  3. Pastoral-Prophetic

The pastoral-prophetic approach focuses on how Revelation is a document for Christian formation, calling the church to faithfulness “in the face of inevitable conflict with hostile powers.”

The fifth approach has the most appeal to me personally (while also acknowledging the value of other approaches, especially the trifold approach of the last three together), since it directly impacts my vocation and the role that Revelation has in fulfilling the church’s mission in the world. He calls this approach the pastoral-prophetic approach, which focuses on how Revelation is a document for Christian formation, calling the church to faithfulness “in the face of inevitable conflict with hostile powers.” Michael Gorman acknowledges that this approach is bound tightly with the previous two approaches, reading Revelation with a “timeless-but-always-timely” lens, rather than a too-narrowly-focused lens of preterists or futurists. Revelation is a “word to the church in the present” without ignoring the past or the future.

The Tension

Wrestling with the tension of the “now and not yet” as it relates to Jesus and the End.

“Any theology that does not live with a sense of the immediate return of Christ is a theology that takes the edge off of the urgency of faith. But any theology that does not cause us to live as though the world will be here for thousands of years is a theology that leads us into social irresponsibility.” ~ Tony Campolo