I have been a student of the Bible for almost 60 years and found, as most people have, that the most difficult book of the Bible to understand is the book of Revelation.
Unfortunately, many who have tried to explain the book have simply used their imagination. They usually assume the whole book is about the future. So, when they interpret its images, they look not to the first century when Revelation was written to interpret it, but to their own time.
For example, Revelation 9:7-11 describes fantastical locusts. Modern writers suggest these are helicopters armed with missiles. But if we look at the 90s A.D. when Revelation was written, we see that they represent mounted Parthian archers attacking the eastern fringe of the Roman Empire.
Scholars tell us a great deal about what the writer of Revelation was communicating through his symbols and images, but their books aren’t very readable except by other scholars. That’s why I decided to write a commentary on Revelation, based on scholarly findings but written for the non-scholar. The Message of the Book of Revelation was published in 1995, picked up by the Little Rock Scripture Study Program, and sold over 80,000 copies. It reveals the book of Revelation to be a message of hope and encouragement to its original readers, and to us as well.
I plan to present a study of the book of Revelation, based on my commentary, on six Thursday nights at 5:30 p.m. beginning this Thursday, February 15, in the parish hall of St. James Episcopal Church, corner of Columbia and Highland here in Magnolia. The public is invited. A simple soup supper will be served free of charge.
The Rev. Chuck Chapman, Vicar
St. James Episcopal Church, Magnolia