The book of Revelation has long puzzled Bible scholars and laymen alike. Many pastors and teachers point to its apocalyptic language and actually warn faithful Christians away from this overarching prophecy that affirms God’s final victory.
Others get lost in the myriad of symbols, somehow failing to realize that the symbols themselves are usually interpreted or explained—either in close proximity within Revelation itself or in other passages that John references and alludes to throughout the book. Finally, scoffers love to treat Revelation as a punching bag for their scorn. They assert that no one can possibly understand the details of its extensive prophecies—and therefore claim it is a waste of time to even try.
We reject those naysaying attitudes. There are mysteries of God that cannot be fathomed or understood by man. As Moses acknowledged, “the secret things belong to the LORD our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29). Yet Moses also affirmed, “but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever…”
With that assurance of enlightenment, let’s pause and reflect on what we can (and therefore must) know from Revelation.
Accept the Plain Sense
Lamb & Lion Ministries has always adhered to the “plain-sense” meaning of Bible prophecy. As Dr. David Reagan says:
A very important key to understanding the Book of Revelation is to accept the plain-sense meaning of each passage. Even if you don’t understand it, the best rule of thumb is to just accept the plain-sense meaning. My Golden Rule of Interpretation that I use throughout the Bible from beginning to end, whether it’s prophecy or not, is this: “If the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense, lest you end up with nonsense.”
He continues:
Because I realize that prophetic interpretation contains symbols, I don’t like to use the term “literal interpretation.” I prefer the term “plain sense interpretation.” Yes, there are symbols, but symbols have meaning. And when symbols are used, I look for the meaning of them. Again, if the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense, lest you end up with nonsense!
Remember, God doesn’t write in riddles to purposefully confuse us. He knows how to communicate. Normally, He says what He means, and He means what He says. Try always to accept the plain-sense meaning. If you don’t understand it, don’t worry about it. Put aside what is confusing and hang on to what you do understand. Don’t give in to the temptation to spiritualize a passage to death or allegorize it. It is a serious thing to play loose with God’s Word. The spiritualization of Scripture is actually a blasphemous act. The reason is that when you start spiritualizing God’s Word, you start playing god, for you can make the Scriptures mean whatever you want, rather than what God intended. (Wrath and Glory, page 31-32)
Dr. Reagan’s warning is spot on. I once challenged a gifted pastor over his “reinterpretation” of God’s Word. Although he was faithful to proclaim the Gospel and point people to Jesus Christ in every sermon, his Amillennial perspective caused him to play fast and loose with Bible prophecy. Specifically, every time he read aloud an Old Testament passage regarding God’s prophetic promises to Israel, he would substitute the word “Church” for “Israel.” Doing so completely changed the subject of God’s promises and undermined the ironclad promises God uttered to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Whether we are studying Revelation from a 30,000-foot level or diving into every detail, we must adhere to the plain-sense meaning of what God chose to reveal through Jesus to His bondservants—you and me.
If You Believe, You Will Understand
So, how do we bridge the gap from believing to understanding? One key is to engage in what we call a dirty five-letter word: S-T-U-D-Y.
There is simply no substitute—and no shortcut—for studying the Word of God. Whether following the “scarlet thread” that ties the Old Testament to the New and points to Jesus Christ, hiding the Word in our heart, or allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds as we seek to understand specific passages, faithful, careful, intentional, and persistent study is required.
Too many people have a dartboard mentality about their own Bible study. They think that by opening the Book at random, God will bring a single verse to their attention. While God does indeed bring specific verses to mind from time to time, haphazard verse skimming is no substitute for careful study. But even study will be of little use unless it is grounded in unwavering faith. In other words, you have to believe before you will gain understanding.
Again, Dr. Reagan writes:
The best commentary I have ever read on the Book of Revelation is one called The Revelation Record by Dr. Henry Morris (founder of the Institute for Creation Research). Right at the very beginning, he makes a statement that made me want to shout “Hallelujah!” He says, “The Book of Revelation is not hard to understand. It’s just hard to believe. If you will believe it, you will understand it.” What a profound insight! And it’s so true. Don’t forget it. (Wrath and Glory, page 32)
With that in mind, and trusting that the Lord wants us to understand, we can unpack one feature of Revelation that often confuses some readers.
A God’s-Eye View Perspective on Time
The concept of time is difficult to understand fully. How many Christians can really comprehend the meaning of “eternity”? Can we truly fathom the idea that God exists outside of time?
Time, as we know it, proceeds linearly, much as a timeline represents visually. I’ve come to realize that while we are constrained to plod along that timeline, with limited ability to recollect backward and no ability to peer ahead, God is not on the timeline. Like a pilot flying at 36,000 feet can look down on a highway and see many miles in both directions, God can see far beyond our time horizons.
Just imagine that you are traveling along a road from point A to point B. Beyond the limits of your rearview mirror, you have no idea what is taking place several miles behind you. And depending on the terrain and visibility, you cannot possibly know what lies around the next bend in the road. But a pilot flying far above your head can see the traffic jam that awaits you several miles ahead.
God’s perspective is infinitely greater than ours or any airborne pilot’s. He can see the very beginning of our timeline from the moment He said, “Let there be light.” He also sees the end when the First Heaven and the First Earth have passed away. And He can see everything in between with equal clarity.
So, as we come to Revelation, we must realize that God is offering a preview of “the things which must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1). Even the word “soon” is problematic for some, because they rationalize from a temporal perspective that a 2,000-year delay strains the meaning of “soon.” But, as I like to say, when we’ve been gathered to the Lord for a billion, trillion years, will a mere 2,000 years seem that long? It’s all about perspective.
Watch the Time Frame
With that in mind, let’s seek to read Revelation from a biblical, or dare I say “godly,” perspective. Here again, Dr. Reagan offers wonderful insight:
Another key to understanding Revelation is to watch the time frame of what you are reading. This is probably the most ignored key to understanding the book. Yet, it is vitally important. Watching the time frame is important when reading any type of literature.
The Book of Revelation, in this regard, is no different from a novel. When you are reading a novel, you always have to be aware of the time frame of the passage that you are reading. Is it in the past, the present, or the future? For example, you might come across a flashback as you are reading a novel. Suddenly you are transported back in time to something that happened years ago. Then, you might be propelled right back to the present and read some events that are just occurring in the storyline of the book. The book might even contain a flash-forward. Flash-forwards are not as common in regular secular literature as they are in spiritual literature.
The Bible is full of flash-forwards because God knows what’s going to happen in the future and, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, He gives supernatural knowledge to His prophets concerning future events.
The flash-forward is a very common literary device in the Book of Revelation. Although the Book of Revelation is set up in chronological order in the sense that the major events it portrays occur one after another, nevertheless there are many places in the storyline where it flashes forward to events that are going to occur in the future. You must be very sensitive to this if you are going to understand what is going on in the book.
Let me give you some examples of passages in Revelation that contain flashbacks or flash-forwards. When you reach the end of Revelation 11, you are in the middle of the Tribulation. The Antichrist has just murdered the two great prophets of God who have been preaching repentance for three and a half years. As Revelation 12 begins, the action of the storyline halts with a flashback that is designed to tell the reader why the Antichrist is raging against God and His saints.
The first five verses of Revelation 12 tell the story in symbolic language of how Israel gave birth to the Messiah and how Satan tried to kill Him at birth. The point of this flashback is that Satan hates Israel with a special passion because the Jewish people were the ones through whom God provided the Messiah.
Verse 6 ends the flashback by resuming the storyline. It tells us that a remnant of the Jewish people will flee into the wilderness in the middle of the Tribulation to escape the wrath of the Antichrist. The rest of chapter 12 is in the present-tense time frame, describing events that occur in the middle of the Tribulation, such as Satan’s attempt to take the throne of God one last time, resulting in a war in Heaven.
Chapter 13 continues the present-tense time frame. It describes in detail some of the initial activities of the Antichrist and his false prophet after they come to power. While the Antichrist makes war on the saints and exerts his authority over all the world, his false prophet sets up a blasphemous religious system and a totalitarian society.
The present-tense action comes to a halt once again with the beginning of chapter 14. This time the action is interrupted by a flash-forward that is designed to comfort the reader by assuring him that despite all the terrible actions of the Antichrist and his false prophet, Jesus Christ will triumph. Verse 1 reads, “And I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” This is a flash-forward to the end of the Tribulation. The Lamb, Jesus Christ, has come. He is standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He is accompanied by a host of Jewish evangelists who were sealed by God at the beginning of the Tribulation.
The rest of chapter 14 is a flash-forward. It takes the form of a preview at the movies, telling us in abbreviated form what lies ahead. Verses 6 through 20 give us a panoramic overview of the rest of the events that are yet to take place in the final days of the Tribulation. For example, verse 8 tells us about the fall of “Babylon the great.” That fall does not take place in the present-tense time frame until chapter 18. (Wrath and Glory, pages 37–39)
Seeking Godly Understanding
Any parent who has tried to communicate complex ideas to a child knows that some truths cannot be fully understood until the child grows to maturity. Likewise, some prophetic mysteries cannot be understood until we grow in Christian maturity. And some take great study accompanied by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
But if we believe that God chose to communicate Bible prophecy to us because He wants us to have understanding, be reassured, and be emboldened to serve Him mightily in this dark world, then understanding will follow.
To the Jewish exiles in Babylon, God inspired Jeremiah to share a message of hope and encouragement. While they languished in a pagan land and longed to be in the Promised Land, God assured them that He had plans for their welfare and promised them a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). But He also urged them to seek Him, saying, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
God pulls back the veil on the end of time in the book of Revelation. Through a compelling narrative interspersed with flashbacks and flash-forwards, He reveals the culminating act of His plan for the ages.
Insight can best be gained by taking God at His Word and trusting Him—even when we do not understand. But understanding will increase as we study His Word, seek after Him and the wisdom He offers, and keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. To that end, Jesus offers a succinct promise of blessing to all who will come to Revelation ready to have their hearts enlightened: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).
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Resource
Dr. David Reagan presents a down-to-earth, easy-to-understand explanation of the book of Revelation in the third edition of his book, Wrath and Glory.
The post Why So Many Flashbacks and Flash Forwards in Revelation? :: By Tim Moore appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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