Revelation communicates symbolically, and it provides the reader with many of the most important interpretations of its images.
Passages in scripture often provide the reader with interpretive clues, and how a verse applies passages from the Hebrew Bible is beneficial for understanding an author’s theological perspective. This is especially so in the book of Revelation, which uses the Old Testament more frequently than any other New Testament book.
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In its entirety, Revelation is addressed to seven very real churches located in the Roman province of Asia in the first century.
From start to finish, the book of Revelation is addressed to the “seven churches of Asia,” and these congregations do not fade from the picture in the later sections of the book. While it may include a larger audience, Revelation is first and foremost a message for the seven assemblies, and the significance of its visions cannot be understood apart from them.
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Four different times in Revelation, John found himself “in the Spirit” and transported to a new location where he received another vision.
In the fourth chapter of Revelation, John “came to be in the spirit, where he was summoned to heaven to see a vision about the “throne,” the “sealed scroll,” and the “slain Lamb.” Previously, in his first vision, he came to be “in the spirit” and saw a vision of “one like a son of man” standing among the “seven golden lampstands,” that is, the “seven churches of Asia.”
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Are Revelation’s visions presented in chronological sequence? If so, how do we explain the many parallel descriptions that link them?
Are Revelation’s visions presented in chronological sequence as they unfold? If we assume that to be the case, things quickly become untenable as key events are repeated in multiple visions. For example, the sixth seal culminated in the final day of wrath accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, yet the “day of the Lord” and the judgment of the wicked occur also when the seventh trumpet sounds.
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Insights into Bible Prophecy 