Making Sense of the Book of Revelation
Revelation is probably the most contentious book of the Bible, and certainly the one with the most varying interpretations made about it. All too often these derive from the theological presuppositions of the authors. Is there any way of approaching the text without bias? It seems to me that determining the structure of the book is critical to correctly understanding it: even a cursory reading reveals a clear pattern in that the narrator's viewpoint shifts repeatedly between the heavenly realms and the Earth. We can thus divide the text into sections accordingly, with the earthly sections as follows: 1 2:1-3:22 struggles of the seven churches 2 6:2-7:8 effects of opening the seals; sealing of believers 3 8:7-11:14 effects of the trumpets; scroll of prophecy; two witnesses 4 12:13-14:1 anger of the dragon; the two beasts; Mt Zion 5 16:2-18:24 effects of the plagues; woman on the beast; fall of Babylon 6 19:19-21 defeat of beast and false prophet 7 20:8-9 defeat of Satan 8