Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
Sounds pretty straightforward doesn't it. I mean, for a fisher guy, how complicated could this authorial effort be? John is the Apostle of love. He uses the word love 53 times in his New Testament works, more than any other author of the Bible. What could he say in 22 chapters that might leave the world a tad scared? Plenty!
It's not that the Revelation is complicated linguistically, because his vocabulary isn't really difficult. It's not a long read. An average reader, me for instance, can read it in a little more than an hour. Really. It took me one hour and seven minutes. On several attempts.
Revelation is just different. One of the most important aspects to know about the letter, which Revelation is, a letter to seven churches, is that it is apocalyptic literature. The Apocalipse literally means "the catastrophic destruction of every single thing".
Apocalyptic literature is full of signs in the skies and on earth. It tells of dragons, beasts, monsters and ghosts. There are heavenly scenes as well as hellish ones. Numbers are used to count and to symbolize people, days, hours and years. Horns on seven headed monsters from the sea, may symbolize power or authority.
Revelation also introduces angels, a lot of angels. There are Serafim, angels on horses, with bows, holding back the wind from the four corners of the globe. They battle in heaven and on earth. One is so huge that he can put one foot on dry land and the other in the sea. That is a stretch.
So is it any wonder that the average Christian likes to read fast through the book just after Christmas each year as he or she finishes their yearly Bible reading schedule? What a way to end the year. Though 2020 merited a re-reading of the prophecy for sure!
One thing that maybe you didn't catch in your reading of Revelation. It is the only Bible book that both begins and ends with a blessing. You saw the first blessing quoted above. The last blessing is this, "Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll" (Revelation 22:7).
Revelation, read it and be blessed... And also a tad confused.
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