The Book of Revelation
Introduction. For far too many people, the book of Revelation has become an exciting book where those with a good imagination can run wild through its visions and revelations. Because most of the visions in Revelation have no inspired guidance to find their meaning, some feel free to add a meaning that makes sense to them or best fits their circumstances. They don’t realize the danger of this.
We need to remember that sometimes God wants us to have enough information to give us comfort, fear or excitement regarding the future, but not enough to see it clearly. If this is God’s will, then we must be content to know what He wants us to know and patiently wait until He reveals it more fully. This manifests our trust in God.
A clear example of this is the gospel of Jesus Christ as it was prophesied in the Old Testament. Many of those prophecies were vague and incomplete. There was no way to understand them without adding something. But God did not want them to do that. The NT Scriptures are “the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.” It is “the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God” and “has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:26-27). Through the prophets, God revealed only what He wanted known. Prophecies were intentionally left vague because God wanted it to remain hidden. All things are done in His time and purpose. Until Jesus came, there was no way to interpret these figurative prophecies.
This is exactly what occurred when God sent Nebuchadnezzar a dream. God gave him enough information to intrigue him, but without the interpretation, it was impossible to understand. He knew if he told his magicians, they would make up a convincing interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar did not want what they imagined, he wanted the true meaning. If God had not revealed to Daniel both the dream and its true interpretation, it would never be known.
If we can understand these two things, we are prepared to speak scripturally about the book of Revelation. It is evident when reading the book that there are many visions and few explanations. God clearly did not want us to know everything about them. They deal with things as they exist in heaven and their interventions on earth. Jesus revealed to John exactly what He wanted us to know. If He did not give clear descriptions, we must trust Him and leave it for Him to reveal to us later. Those who are tempted to add their own ideas are no better than Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians. They too would take his vision and make of it what they would.
God made the book of Revelation “tamper proof” by sealing it so we would not be tempted. Visions that have no explanation must be left as they are. Our imaginations will only lead us to doom and anguish. We are sternly warned not to bring our own thoughts into the book.
After John witnessed the visions and wrote the book, he warned against this with solemn testimony. This testimony is universal, given to all who hear or read the book. No one is exempt from the warning and the fixed consequences will come to all who ignore them! Anyone using his own imagination will be adding something that is not in the book. John warned that if anyone adds any of his own thoughts, God will add to him all the fearful and terrible plagues it contains. Any explanation that cannot be verified in the Scriptures must of necessity be an addition and forbidden.
Every vision has a boundary of truth. John testified that anyone who removes these boundaries will suffer and be punished for it. There is no exception. Anyone who removes the limitations of a vision will suffer three terrible consequences. First, his name and the blessings it brings will be removed from the Book of Life. Second, he will never enter the holy city and third all the wonderful things written in the book will be lost to him for all eternity. It is better to wait than to be condemned.
As God warned Israel that He expected them to respect His privacy, so also does He demand it in Revelation. If He has revealed it clearly, then it has been given into our possession and it belongs to us forever. But if God has not chosen to reveal it fully, then it must remain a secret and we must respect that God’s secrets belong to Him. We dare not seek to go further. They belong to God and He has not yet given them into our possession.
When Revelation is approached with caution, accepting all these limitations, God is glorified and we are in submission. If God had wanted us to know everything about these future revelations, He would have told us. Since He did not, we must respect His silence. If we add anything to what He has revealed, we will be punished with the plagues. If we remove anything He has revealed, we will be punished with our names being removed from the book of life. We must never forget: “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:15). What a terrible end for those who add their own thoughts to the book of Revelation.
When we compare this to a similar warning God gave to Adam and Eve, the danger is fixed. When God said, “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die.” He meant it! When they ignored the warning, they died! (Gen. 2:15-17). How shall we escape if we do what He warned us not to do? God cannot lie and He never exaggerates. This is the steep price one must pay to seek an understanding of things that are still hidden and therefore inexplicable.
In Jeremiah God gave a similar warning about these things. Those who “presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, shall die.” Paul added a similar warning: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” (Col. 2:18-19). So many will be cheated out of their reward by listening to those who “intrude into those things which he has not seen.”
Think of the multitudes in previous generations who have been cheated because they added enough to Revelation to make them fit the circumstances of their day. When that generation died everything they had written was proven to be false. Why can’t people learn from this? There is a 100% failure rate for all previous generations! How can anyone succeed today? As Paul said, it takes someone who is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” to continue to do what is forbidden and which has always failed in the past.
One classic example that is often ignored (removed) are the words at the very beginning of the book. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants -- things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 1:1-3) Then, at the very the end it is repeated: “the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 22: 6). These words must be removed for the visions in Revelation to be applied for today. The book was written to the seven churches of Asia, not to any of the churches in America. It was written to them about things that would shortly take place, not to things those living 2000 years later would experience!
By removing the words “shortly come to pass” we immediately incur the guilt and the punishment of all the plagues written in the book. It is amazing that those who read and understand the book miss this. There will always be things in any generation that resemble what is revealed in these visions. But the reasons is simple: “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done.” (Eccl 1:9). There will always be wars, stronger nations destroying weaker ones, and a need for God to punish those who persecute His saints. But Revelation was not written for today no matter how many things resemble what is written in the book.
Conclusion. Even in our dealings with friends and relatives this is true. We don’t want others to know our future plans so we use vague descriptions. We want them to respect our privacy and not pry. This is all that God is demanding of us. We must respect His privacy and not intrude into things we have not seen. For all eternity the secret things belong to God. Revelation has many secrets.
We need to remember that sometimes God wants us to have enough information to give us comfort, fear or excitement regarding the future, but not enough to see it clearly. If this is God’s will, then we must be content to know what He wants us to know and patiently wait until He reveals it more fully. This manifests our trust in God.
A clear example of this is the gospel of Jesus Christ as it was prophesied in the Old Testament. Many of those prophecies were vague and incomplete. There was no way to understand them without adding something. But God did not want them to do that. The NT Scriptures are “the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.” It is “the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God” and “has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:26-27). Through the prophets, God revealed only what He wanted known. Prophecies were intentionally left vague because God wanted it to remain hidden. All things are done in His time and purpose. Until Jesus came, there was no way to interpret these figurative prophecies.
This is exactly what occurred when God sent Nebuchadnezzar a dream. God gave him enough information to intrigue him, but without the interpretation, it was impossible to understand. He knew if he told his magicians, they would make up a convincing interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar did not want what they imagined, he wanted the true meaning. If God had not revealed to Daniel both the dream and its true interpretation, it would never be known.
If we can understand these two things, we are prepared to speak scripturally about the book of Revelation. It is evident when reading the book that there are many visions and few explanations. God clearly did not want us to know everything about them. They deal with things as they exist in heaven and their interventions on earth. Jesus revealed to John exactly what He wanted us to know. If He did not give clear descriptions, we must trust Him and leave it for Him to reveal to us later. Those who are tempted to add their own ideas are no better than Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians. They too would take his vision and make of it what they would.
God made the book of Revelation “tamper proof” by sealing it so we would not be tempted. Visions that have no explanation must be left as they are. Our imaginations will only lead us to doom and anguish. We are sternly warned not to bring our own thoughts into the book.
After John witnessed the visions and wrote the book, he warned against this with solemn testimony. This testimony is universal, given to all who hear or read the book. No one is exempt from the warning and the fixed consequences will come to all who ignore them! Anyone using his own imagination will be adding something that is not in the book. John warned that if anyone adds any of his own thoughts, God will add to him all the fearful and terrible plagues it contains. Any explanation that cannot be verified in the Scriptures must of necessity be an addition and forbidden.
- For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; (Rev. 22:18).
Every vision has a boundary of truth. John testified that anyone who removes these boundaries will suffer and be punished for it. There is no exception. Anyone who removes the limitations of a vision will suffer three terrible consequences. First, his name and the blessings it brings will be removed from the Book of Life. Second, he will never enter the holy city and third all the wonderful things written in the book will be lost to him for all eternity. It is better to wait than to be condemned.
- if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (22:19).
As God warned Israel that He expected them to respect His privacy, so also does He demand it in Revelation. If He has revealed it clearly, then it has been given into our possession and it belongs to us forever. But if God has not chosen to reveal it fully, then it must remain a secret and we must respect that God’s secrets belong to Him. We dare not seek to go further. They belong to God and He has not yet given them into our possession.
- The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, (Deut. 29:29)
When Revelation is approached with caution, accepting all these limitations, God is glorified and we are in submission. If God had wanted us to know everything about these future revelations, He would have told us. Since He did not, we must respect His silence. If we add anything to what He has revealed, we will be punished with the plagues. If we remove anything He has revealed, we will be punished with our names being removed from the book of life. We must never forget: “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:15). What a terrible end for those who add their own thoughts to the book of Revelation.
When we compare this to a similar warning God gave to Adam and Eve, the danger is fixed. When God said, “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die.” He meant it! When they ignored the warning, they died! (Gen. 2:15-17). How shall we escape if we do what He warned us not to do? God cannot lie and He never exaggerates. This is the steep price one must pay to seek an understanding of things that are still hidden and therefore inexplicable.
In Jeremiah God gave a similar warning about these things. Those who “presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, shall die.” Paul added a similar warning: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” (Col. 2:18-19). So many will be cheated out of their reward by listening to those who “intrude into those things which he has not seen.”
Think of the multitudes in previous generations who have been cheated because they added enough to Revelation to make them fit the circumstances of their day. When that generation died everything they had written was proven to be false. Why can’t people learn from this? There is a 100% failure rate for all previous generations! How can anyone succeed today? As Paul said, it takes someone who is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” to continue to do what is forbidden and which has always failed in the past.
One classic example that is often ignored (removed) are the words at the very beginning of the book. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants -- things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 1:1-3) Then, at the very the end it is repeated: “the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 22: 6). These words must be removed for the visions in Revelation to be applied for today. The book was written to the seven churches of Asia, not to any of the churches in America. It was written to them about things that would shortly take place, not to things those living 2000 years later would experience!
By removing the words “shortly come to pass” we immediately incur the guilt and the punishment of all the plagues written in the book. It is amazing that those who read and understand the book miss this. There will always be things in any generation that resemble what is revealed in these visions. But the reasons is simple: “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done.” (Eccl 1:9). There will always be wars, stronger nations destroying weaker ones, and a need for God to punish those who persecute His saints. But Revelation was not written for today no matter how many things resemble what is written in the book.
Conclusion. Even in our dealings with friends and relatives this is true. We don’t want others to know our future plans so we use vague descriptions. We want them to respect our privacy and not pry. This is all that God is demanding of us. We must respect His privacy and not intrude into things we have not seen. For all eternity the secret things belong to God. Revelation has many secrets.