|
The Book of
Revelation is God’s masterpiece of literature. It is literally
filled with breathtaking revelations of the future, and every
one of them must be accepted as truth. Those prophesied events
will occur; our God has guaranteed that. His entire reputation
is on the line. He forbids us to add or extract a word because
this is a covenant – a contract – between Himself and His chosen
people. People that ignore the Book of Revelation are placing
themselves in peril. It’s just that serious. While the church is
the object of this book, the Father is careful to place His
nation of Israel at strategic points that are carefully set
apart from the church body. Our futures intermingle at some
moments but remain separate at other times so that the
distinctions are never lost.
There are five basic
truths about this book that make it a perfect finish to the
whole Bible – both Old and New Covenants. All sixty-five
previous books of the Bible fit the pattern of this final
testimony. God Himself planned the Bible and retained the
finished product all settled in Heaven before Genesis was
written. Our Father did not plan different books as He went
along by directing and thinking up episodes. It’s all a master
plan of our Creator from start to finish. That’s why the whole
Bible is complete with this final revelation. Remember, He said,
“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm
119:89).
The five principles
that you must follow to understand this great masterpiece are
simple. Any person that will follow these instructions will soon
be delighted with what they learn. First, this book is written
in chronological order – nothing is out of place unless you move
it. It starts with the Lord after His resurrection and
progresses until He and His Father are dwelling with the eternal
family in New Jerusalem. Do not try to move anything from its
location or interject some historical past in the order of the
book.
Second, study the
types and symbols that fill this book and let the same symbols
and types in the rest of the Bible interpret them for you. The
four beasts of Revelation chapter four are clearly described in
Ezekiel as living creatures or cherubim. They are great angelic
beings that defend holiness in the earth at Christ’s direction.
The number “seven” is used forty-four times in this one book,
but from Genesis 1:7 on, it is always the final amount of a
perfect event, idea, or even a person. The phrase, “seven
spirits,” represents the complete office, action, and person of
the Holy Spirit.
The whole Bible is
written to interpret itself, and every book is part of the
whole. In the first chapter of my book, The Masterpiece, I show
the unity of the Bible with the Book of Revelation as the model.
The Garden of Eden is first seen in Genesis and lastly revealed
perfectly restored in the Book of Revelation. All the judgments
are talked about throughout the whole book, but revealed in
final fulfillment in the Book of Revelation. Trying to
understand this revelation apart from the entire Bible is
destined to fail. Trying to deny the Book of Revelation and its
End Time development is a disaster.
Fourth, the Book of
Genesis must be accepted and believed exactly as it is written
if you are going to believe the Book of Revelation. Those two
books are the Alpha and Omega of the Bible. The Holy Ghost did
not make a mistake. Creation, as revealed in Genesis, is a
perfect rendering of God’s perfect created order. The Father’s
warning to Satan that the seed of woman would bruise his head
(to death) is perfectly fulfilled in the Book of Revelation.
God’s desire to walk with Adam and Eve in His garden finds a
beautiful ending and a perfect finish in the Book of Revelation.
Lastly, but of grave
importance, the Book of Revelation is an exact literal book to
be interpreted literally or not at all. Any effort to
spiritualize or make this book an allegory is evil and the work
of Satan. The Son of God makes the most undeniable statements to
establish the truth declared in these pages, “Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand”
(Revelation 1:3). To John He declared, “After this I looked,
and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice
which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which
said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter” (Revelation 4:1). Jesus and the book declared, “He
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). That is not
the language of an allegory neither is it a language you can
spiritualize while denying the literal meaning.
These five
principles are certainly planned facts that set this book apart
from every book in the Bible. Every Word of Scripture is
inerrant and true, but the Book of Revelation is the final book
and must be read, studied, and believed, or the Bible is not
complete in your life. The false doctrines that are sweeping the
world would find little acceptance in a church world that had
the Book of Revelation fully preached and believed. Doctrines
like the denial of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, the denial of the
Seven Years of Tribulation, or the thousand years of the reign
of Christ on the Earth are not as plain anywhere else in the
Bible as in this masterpiece of Biblical literature.
There is no question
that our Heavenly Father and His Son planned the Bible
perfectly. It is also clear that the Holy Spirit orchestrated it
from Genesis to Revelation. It is an infallible Book, and it is
complete in every detail. To live in the Bible is life, both
spiritual life now and eternal life hereafter. Jesus Christ is
both the living Word and the written Word revealed.
Joseph R. Chambers |
Listen to 
