1.The Revelation of Jesus Christ

The last book of the Bible announces its own subject in its very first words: it is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ." And the word "revelation" means an unveiling, an uncovering, a drawing back of the curtain. So we must be clear from the outset about what is being unveiled: it is, above all else, Christ Himself — the risen, glorified, and reigning Lord, shown to us here in His full majesty and in His certain, coming triumph. The book was written by the apostle John, who was at the time an old man in exile on the rocky island of Patmos, banished there for his faithfulness to the gospel; and he wrote it to seven real congregations in Asia Minor, small churches living under real pressure and the shadow of persecution. Its purpose is threefold, and worth holding in mind all the way through: to reveal Christ in His glory, to comfort and strengthen believers who are suffering, and to assure them of the certain and final victory of God. And, fittingly, it opens with a blessing pronounced upon everyone who reads it and hears it — the only book in all the Bible that begins that way.

2.How to Read Revelation

Before we go a step further, a word must be said about what kind of book this is, for much confusion has come from misunderstanding it. Revelation belongs to a style of writing called "apocalyptic" — it is full of vivid and dramatic symbols, strange visions, meaningful numbers, and striking images, the great majority of which are drawn straight from the Old Testament. It was never written in the manner of a newspaper report or a history textbook, and it was never meant to be read woodenly and literally at every single point. Its symbols are the language it uses to convey deep spiritual realities. And so the right way to read it is to look for its message — not to treat it as a coded calendar of dates to be cracked. Now, precisely because the book is symbolic, and because so much of it concerns the future, sincere and godly Christians have long understood the details of it in genuinely different ways; and we will look honestly at those different approaches in the very next reading. But this much can be said now: read rightly, Revelation is not a book meant to frighten or bewilder the faithful. It is a book meant to comfort them and to make them strong.

3.The Vision of the Glorified Christ

The book truly begins with a vision that sets the tone for everything that follows. John, alone on Patmos, hears a great voice behind him, and turns to look — and there he sees the glorified Christ, walking in the midst of seven golden lampstands, which are the seven churches. The sight is utterly overwhelming: His face shining like the sun in full strength, His eyes like a flame of fire, His voice like the sound of many rushing waters, and seven stars held in His right hand. And John, though he had once leaned on Jesus' breast at the supper, now falls down at His feet as though dead. But then the Lord lays His right hand upon him and speaks the words that steady the whole book: "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." This is the risen Christ in His glory — the very same Jesus who was crucified, now reigning in unapproachable majesty, and holding in His own hand the keys of death itself. Whatever else Revelation may go on to unveil, it begins here, with the living and reigning Lord.

4.A Book for Suffering Saints

It is worth remembering that Revelation was first written to churches that were facing real hardship and the threat of persecution — and that ever since, it has spoken with peculiar power to the people of God in their afflictions. Its great message to those first readers, and to us, is not in fact a detailed timetable of future events; it is a mighty and steadying assurance. Christ reigns now. He holds all of history, and death itself, in His nail-scarred hands. Evil, however loud and however cruel, will not be given the last word. God will surely judge every wrong that has ever been done, and He will vindicate His suffering people. And Christ will return in open triumph. For believers who are under pressure — whether in the first century or in our own day — this is not dry doctrine; it is bread for the hungry soul. Revelation takes the weary, downcast eyes of the suffering church and lifts them up, away from their present trials, to the throne of God and to the certain and coming victory of the Lamb.

5.The Center Is a Person

So as we set out on this walk through Revelation, let us fix one thing firmly in place before all the rest. This book is not, first of all, about beasts, or seals, or bowls of wrath, or a thousand years, or even the end of the world. It is about Jesus Christ — the Lamb who was slain and now lives forevermore, the Lord who reigns over all, the King who is surely coming again. The many details along the way have been read in different ways by godly and faithful people down the centuries, and we will learn to hold those details with real humility. But the center of the book is clear and sure, and this we hold with unshakable confidence: Christ is on the throne. So do not approach the book of Revelation with dread, or with feverish and sensational speculation, but rather with worship. Read it in order to see Christ in His glory, to be comforted in the midst of your own trials, and to be assured, once and for all, that the long story of human history ends not in meaningless chaos but in the triumph of the Lamb and the making-new of all things. From its first word to its last, the closing book of the Bible is the unveiling of Jesus Christ — and He is worthy.

6.Taking It to Heart

1.One Book, Several Readings

More than almost any other book in the whole Bible, Revelation has been read and understood in genuinely different ways by sincere, godly, Bible-believing Christians. This is not a scandal, and it need not trouble or unsettle us in the least. Because the book is written throughout in symbols, and because so much of what it describes reaches out toward the future, faithful and careful interpreters have differed among themselves on just how its visions relate to actual history — whether they were fulfilled long ago, or are being fulfilled steadily through the ages, or are yet to be fulfilled at the very end, or whether they picture timeless truths that hold good in every age at once. Over the long centuries of the church, these differences have settled into four main approaches to the book. And it is genuinely worth knowing all four of them — not so that we may quickly choose a side and then look down on everyone who differs, but so that we may read Revelation with real understanding, and so that we may learn to hold its many details with a fitting humility. Our seminary, for its part, does not bind you to any single one of these four.

2.The Preterist Approach: Fulfilled in the Past

The first approach is the preterist view, a word which comes from the Latin for "past." It holds that most of Revelation was already fulfilled in the early centuries of the church — that its visions describe events of John's own era and the period shortly after it, and especially the great tribulations of the first-century church, the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and God's judgment upon the persecuting power of Rome. On this reading, the book was written to encourage believers who were facing the fury of Roman persecution, assuring them that God would surely judge their oppressors, exactly as in due time He did. A well-known representative of this approach is J. Stuart Russell, whose lengthy work The Parousia argued the case in detail. The real strength of the preterist view is that it takes with full seriousness the plain fact that Revelation was a real letter, written to real first-century congregations, and that it must have carried a genuine and urgent meaning for those first readers in their own hour of need.

3.The Historicist Approach: The Sweep of History

The second approach is the historicist view. It holds that Revelation surveys the entire course of church history, from John's own day all the way down to the end of the world — that its unfolding seals, trumpets, and bowls set out, in an orderly sequence, the great events and successive eras of the whole church age. On this reading, a careful student may trace within the pages of Revelation the rise and fall of empires, and the long trials and the reformations of the church, running down through the many centuries. This was the common and favored view of a great many of the Protestant Reformers. A representative of it is Albert Barnes, whose widely used Notes on the Book of Revelation read the book along these lines. The strength of the historicist view is that it takes Revelation to be a genuine and sweeping unfolding of God's providential rule over the whole vast span of human and church history, and not merely over one small slice of it.

4.The Futurist Approach: Yet to Come

The third approach is the futurist view. It holds that a great deal of Revelation — and especially the long section from chapter four onward — describes events that are still future to us, clustered together around the return of Christ at the very end of the present age. On this reading, the great tribulation, the coming of the beast, the final climactic battles, and all the events that surround the second coming of Christ are matters that still lie ahead of us, yet to unfold in their appointed time. A representative of this approach is J. A. Seiss, whose Lectures on the Book of Revelation read the book in this way. The strength of the futurist view is that it takes with full seriousness the many passages in Revelation that so plainly and unmistakably point forward to the future return of Christ in glory and to the final consummation of all things at the close of the age.

5.The Idealist Approach: Timeless Truth

The fourth approach is the idealist, or symbolic, view. It holds that Revelation is not tied down to any one particular set of historical events at all, but rather portrays the timeless and ever-repeating conflict between God and evil, between Christ and all His enemies, that plays out afresh in every single age. On this reading, the beast is not one single ruler but the recurring face of godless power wherever it rears its head; Babylon is not one single city but the whole world in its proud rebellion against God; and the book's central message — that Christ and His church will indeed suffer for a time, but that God will most certainly triumph in the end — is found to be gloriously true in every generation without exception. A representative of this approach is William Milligan, whose work on Revelation read the book in this way. The strength of the idealist view is that it makes Revelation speak directly, personally, and powerfully to believers in every time and every place — very much including our own.

6.The Details with Humility, the Center with Confidence

So, then, which of these four approaches is the right one? The honest answer is that godly, learned, Christ-loving believers have held each one of the four, and that many wise readers combine them — reading Revelation as speaking meaningfully all at once to John's own day, and to the long sweep of history, and to the final future, and to the timeless struggle of every age. Our seminary does not require you to settle the matter and land firmly on one, and it most certainly does not make this question into a test of Christian fellowship. So read the approaches for yourself, weigh them prayerfully and carefully against the whole of Scripture, and then hold your own conclusions about the details with genuine humility — always remembering that sincere Christians who love the very same Lord and read the very same Bible disagree honestly here. But while we may hold the details loosely, we hold the center of the book firmly and without wavering, for on that center all four approaches fully agree: that Christ reigns now; that God is utterly sovereign over all of history; that His people may indeed suffer for a season, but that He will surely judge all evil at the last; that Christ will return in open triumph; and that God will make all things new. So do not ever allow disagreement over the details to rob you of the book's great and steadying comfort, nor to fracture your fellowship with other blood-bought believers. Read Revelation for its unshakable center — the reigning and returning Christ, and the certain victory of God — and let its details drive you, not toward division or feverish speculation, but toward worship, and hope, and faithful endurance.

7.Taking It to Heart

1.Letters from the Risen Christ

After the opening vision of the glorified Lord, the book of Revelation turns to a series of seven short letters — one addressed to each of the seven churches of Asia — and each of them is dictated by the risen Christ Himself. Then, when those letters are finished, the whole scene suddenly lifts up off the earth and into heaven, and we are given a breathtaking vision of the very throne of God, and of the Lamb who stands at its center. Taken together, these four chapters set two great scenes side by side before us: Christ moving among His churches here on earth, and God enthroned in unapproachable glory up in heaven — and, holding the two together, at the very center of it all, the Lamb who was slain. And so, before ever the visions of judgment and cosmic conflict begin to unfold, we are firmly anchored right here, in two settled truths: that Christ knows and walks among His churches, and that the Lamb holds all of history in His hands.

2.Christ Among the Lampstands

To each one of the seven churches, Christ speaks a direct and personal message, and the pattern that runs through them is striking to see. He opens each letter with one of the titles of His own glory; then He says, "I know your works"; He commends whatever is good and faithful in them; He corrects whatever has gone wrong; He warns or He encourages as each one needs; and He closes every letter with a shining promise made "to him who overcomes." And so He knows them each by name. He knows Ephesus, so busy and hard-working, and yet having quietly left its first love. He knows Smyrna, outwardly poor but inwardly rich, facing bitter persecution, and He tells it to be faithful even unto death. He knows Pergamos and Thyatira, faithful in much, yet tolerating dangerous compromise and false teaching in their midst. He knows Sardis, which has a name and a reputation for being alive, but is in truth nearly dead. He knows Philadelphia, small and weak in strength yet faithful, and He sets before it an open door that no one can shut. And He knows Laodicea, lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, miserably poor and blind while imagining itself rich and in need of nothing — and it is to that church that He speaks the tender and famous words, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." The living Christ walks among His churches still, and He knows each one of them through and through.

3.Churches for Every Age

Now these were seven real and particular congregations, living in real cities in the first century of the church. And yet their spiritual conditions are by no means locked away in the distant past. The love that has quietly grown cold; the faithful endurance that holds firm under fierce persecution; the creeping compromise that makes its peace with the world; the deadening lukewarmness that has lost its fire; the small and weak church that is nonetheless given an open door — every one of these conditions recurs, again and again, in every age, in every land, and in our own churches and in our own hearts today. And so we are meant to read these seven letters not as a piece of ancient history that no longer touches us, but as the living word of Christ spoken directly to us. Do we hear Him saying to us, "I know your works"? Have we, like Ephesus, quietly left our first love? Are we, like Smyrna, faithful under pressure — or have we grown, like Laodicea, lukewarm in our ease and comfort? For at the end of every single letter comes the same searching call: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." And to every one who overcomes, without exception, Christ holds out a glorious and unfailing promise.

4.The Throne of God

Then, in the fourth chapter, everything changes. A door is opened in heaven itself, and John is caught up in the Spirit to behold the very throne of God. And it is a scene of overwhelming and almost unbearable glory. There is One seated upon the throne, shining with the brilliance of jasper and of carnelian; a rainbow like a glowing emerald encircles it; out of the throne come flashes of lightning and peals of thunder; before it stretches a sea of glass, clear as crystal; and around it living creatures and elders fall down in ceaseless, tireless worship, crying out without end, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" and casting down their crowns and declaring, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things." And here is the point we must not miss: before we are shown a single beast, or a single seal, or a single outpoured judgment, we are first shown the throne. God reigns, in unshakable and undiminished glory, over the whole of everything. However fierce the storms that may rage down upon the earth, up in heaven all is filled with worship, and God is on the throne.

5.Worthy Is the Lamb

Then, in the fifth chapter, a scroll appears, resting in the right hand of the One seated on the throne — a scroll sealed shut with seven seals, the very scroll of history and of destiny itself. And a mighty angel calls out with a loud voice across all creation: who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one is found — not in heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth — who is worthy even to look upon it. And John, we are told, wept much, that no one was found worthy. But then one of the elders says to him, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll." And John turns to look for a Lion — and what he sees instead is a Lamb, standing at the very center of the throne, a Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter, "as though it had been slain." And this slain Lamb steps forward and takes the scroll out of the hand of God — and at once all of heaven erupts into thunderous worship: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" The one being found worthy to open and to unfold the whole scroll of history is none other than the Lamb who was slain — Christ crucified, and Christ risen. At the very center of the book of Revelation, and at the very center of history itself, there stands the slain and living Lamb.

6.The Lamb on the Throne

And so, before the book of Revelation ever shows us a single seal broken open or a single bowl of judgment poured out, it plants us firmly and deliberately right here — with Christ walking among His churches and knowing each one of them by name, and with the Lamb at the very center of heaven's throne, found worthy to unfold the whole of history. This is the solid foundation for everything else that is to follow. Whatever the coming visions of conflict and judgment may hold, we have already been shown, plainly and unforgettably, who it is that is truly in charge: God reigns in glory, and the Lamb who was slain holds the sealed scroll of history in His own hands. And so, when the storms do come — both in the pages of the book, and in the pages of our own lives — we remember the throne. The churches of Asia were small and hard-pressed, some of them faithful and some of them faltering; and yet Christ walked among them, and knew them by name, and held their whole future in His hands. And exactly so it is with us. So hear what the Spirit says to the churches; return to your first love; be faithful even unto death; overcome. And lift up your eyes to the throne, where the Lamb who was slain reigns, worthy, forever and ever. Whatever else may come, the Lamb is on the throne — and He is worthy.

7.Taking It to Heart

1.The Great Central Drama

From the sixth chapter all the way through to the nineteenth, the book of Revelation unfolds its great central drama — a vast and symbolic vision of God's judgments falling upon a rebellious world, of the fierce and unrelenting conflict between the people of God and the powers of evil, and, at the last, of the final and complete triumph of Christ. This is the portion of the book that is most crowded with vivid and often terrible imagery: seals broken open, trumpets sounded, bowls of wrath poured out, a great red dragon and monstrous beasts, a proud harlot city called Babylon, and, at the very end, a rider seated upon a white horse. It is also, as we have seen, the portion of the book that faithful Christians have interpreted in the most varied ways. But through the whole of it, beneath all the symbols, and however one chooses to read the finer details, one single message rings out clear and constant and unmistakable: God is sovereign over all; evil most surely will be judged; and His suffering people must, and by His grace will, endure faithfully to the very end.

2.The Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls

The Lamb begins to open the seven seals of the scroll, and as He does, a series of judgments goes forth upon the earth — conquest, and war, and famine, and death, and beneath the altar the crying out of the martyrs for justice, and great upheavals in the heavens. Then seven angels sound seven trumpets, and later still, seven bowls of the wrath of God are poured out upon the earth — three great series of judgments, each building and intensifying upon the last. These portray, in vivid symbol, the righteous judgments of God poured out upon a world that has set itself in rebellion against Him, and His just answer to the long, patient cry of His oppressed and suffering people. The judgments are severe, and they are meant to be severe; for sin is a deadly serious thing, and God in His holiness will not allow evil to go on forever and ever unpunished. And yet, even in the very midst of these judgments, God carefully seals and protects His own people, marking them as His; and still He calls the rebellious world to repent and turn to Him. God is not indifferent to the evil and injustice of this world. He sees it all, and He will surely judge it.

3.The Dragon and the Beast

At the very heart of this whole section stands the great conflict itself, laid bare. The twelfth chapter shows us a woman, and a male child who is caught up to God, and a great red dragon who stands ready to devour the child — but who fails, and is himself cast down and defeated. This dragon, we are plainly told, is Satan, "that serpent of old," now thrown down and, in his fury, making war upon the people of God. And the thirteenth chapter shows the dragon handing over his power to a beast — a symbol of oppressive and blasphemous world-power that demands worship for itself and makes war upon the saints — and then to a second beast, a false prophet who deceives the nations. We must read these figures as Scripture means them: not as any one particular ruler or nation to be picked out and named, but as the recurring face of proud, God-defying power wherever and whenever it arises. For here is the deep reality the vision uncovers: behind the visible persecution that God's people endure, there stands an unseen spiritual war — the dragon and his beasts arrayed against the Lamb and all who follow Him. In every age, the people of God face the settled hostility of a spiritual enemy who works through the proud powers of this world. And yet — let it never be forgotten — that dragon is already, at the cross, a defeated foe.

4.The Patience of the Saints

And then, right in the very thick of this fearful conflict, comes the book's great and tender call to the people of God. Twice it sounds out like a refrain: "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints," and again, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." The saints are called neither to take up the weapons of the world and fight as the world fights, nor to lose their nerve and give in and compromise, but rather simply to endure — to hold fast their faith, to keep the commandments of God, and to remain faithful to their Lord, even if it should cost them their very lives. And there is a special and precious word here for the martyrs: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." They are seen, earlier, crying out from beneath the altar, and later they are seen standing in victory, having come through great tribulation. Those who overcome the enemy do so, the vision tells us, "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." And this is the living word of God to every persecuted, pressed-down, or bone-weary believer in every age: endure; be faithful; hold fast. For the final victory belongs to the Lamb, and all those who suffer now together with Him will most certainly reign together with Him then.

5.The Fall of Babylon and the Triumph of Christ

As the section moves toward its great climax, two things happen. First, Babylon falls. Babylon is the book's grand symbol of proud, luxurious, God-defying world-power, decked in splendor and drunk with the blood of the saints — and she is shown first in all her arrogant glory, and then in her sudden and total collapse: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen!" All the proud and boasting power that had set itself against God and had trampled down His people comes crashing down in a single hour, and heaven rings with rejoicing over it. And then comes the triumph of Christ Himself. Heaven is opened, and behold, a white horse, and One seated upon it called Faithful and True; His eyes are like a flame of fire, His robe is dipped in blood, His name is called the Word of God, and the armies of heaven follow Him; and upon His robe and upon His thigh there is a name written for all to see: "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." The beast and the false prophet are seized and thrown down in utter defeat. The King has come at last in open triumph, and all the power of evil is overthrown before Him. The proud and cruel powers that had seemed for so long to be invincible fall in a moment — and Christ reigns, victorious over them all.

6.Endure — the Victory Is the Lamb's

And so this great central section of the book of Revelation, for all its terrors and all its storms, carries at its heart one steadying and unshakable message to the people of God: evil is real, and it will rage for a season — but God is sovereign over all, He will surely judge every wickedness, and Christ will triumph fully in the end. The dragon, and the beast, and Babylon may seem, for a little while, to hold the upper hand — persecuting the saints, ruling over the nations, mocking the living God. But their time is desperately short, their judgment is utterly certain, and their doom is already sealed. And the call to the people of God through the whole of it is not to sink into despair, nor to fight back with the world's own weapons, nor to make a quiet peace with evil, but simply to endure — to keep the faith, to hold fast to Christ, and to remain faithful even unto death, knowing all the while that the victory belongs, and has always belonged, to the Lamb. So if you are suffering for your faith today, or if you have grown weary in the long, hard struggle, then hear this and take it deep into your heart: you are not forgotten by God; your suffering is fully seen by Him; your faithful endurance is precious in His sight; and the outcome of it all is already certain and secure. "Here is the patience of the saints." The dragon is defeated; Babylon will surely fall; and Christ, the King of kings, is coming in triumph. So do not lose heart, and do not give in, and do not let go — only hold fast. For the Lamb who was slain is also the Lion who has conquered — and all those who endure with Him will share in His victory forever.

7.Taking It to Heart

1.The Last Things

We come now to the final three chapters of Revelation, and with them to the last things of all — the thousand years, the final judgment, and the new heaven and the new earth. Here the book of Revelation, and indeed the whole Bible along with it, arrives at its long-awaited consummation. And here, right at the opening of chapter twenty, we meet the one passage over which sincere and Bible-loving Christians have most famously and most persistently differed among themselves: the "millennium," the thousand-year reign. So we will do here exactly what our seminary always seeks to do with such matters — we will look honestly and fairly at the main views that faithful believers have held, and we will bind you to none of them. And then, having done so, we will come at last to the great and glorious consummation on which every one of the views fully agrees, and on which the whole of Scripture draws to its close: the making-new of all things, and the eternal dwelling of God Himself with His people.

2.The Thousand Years, and the Views of It

The twentieth chapter speaks of Satan being bound for a thousand years, of the saints living and reigning together with Christ, and then of Satan's final loosing and defeat and the last judgment. Godly Christians have long understood this "thousand years" in genuinely different ways, and CTS sets out the main views fairly and binds you to none. The premillennial view holds that Christ returns before the thousand years, and then reigns upon the earth for a long age, before the final judgment; this view has ancient roots — the early church father Irenaeus held an early form of it, often called "historic premillennialism" — and a later and more detailed form of it arose in modern times, known as "dispensational premillennialism," represented for example by W. E. Blackstone's popular book Jesus Is Coming. The postmillennial view holds that, through the wide spread and triumph of the gospel, the world is increasingly won to Christ, ushering in a long age of gospel blessing (the "millennium"), after which Christ returns; this view is represented, for example, by David Brown's Christ's Second Coming. And the amillennial view holds that the "thousand years" is not a literal future period at all, but rather a symbolic picture of the present reign of Christ and His saints, in the whole age between His first and His second comings; this view is represented, for example, by Augustine in his City of God. Godly, Bible-believing, Christ-loving Christians have held, and do hold, each one of these.

3.Holding the Millennium with Humility

So which of these views of the millennium is the correct one? Here once again, exactly as with the four approaches to the book as a whole, we must hold the details with real humility. Each of these views has its godly and learned defenders; each one earnestly seeks to be faithful to the whole of Scripture; and each reads the genuinely difficult symbols of the twentieth chapter in the light of the rest of the Bible. And the plain fact remains that sincere believers who love the very same Lord and who honor the very same Scripture arrive, in good conscience, at different conclusions here. Our seminary does not require you to settle the matter and land firmly on one view, and it most emphatically does not make your particular view of the millennium into any kind of test of Christian fellowship. For what matters far, far more than the precise timing and nature of the thousand years is the great certainty on which every single one of the views is fully and joyfully agreed: that Christ will surely return; that He will judge the living and the dead; that Satan and all evil will be finally and forever defeated; and that God will make all things new. So weigh the views carefully for yourself against Scripture, hold your own conclusion with genuine humility, and do not ever allow this question to divide you from a brother or sister in Christ.

4.The Final Judgment

All of the views, whatever their differences, agree fully on what comes next: the final judgment of all. Satan is loosed for one last rebellion, and is then thrown down forever, defeated utterly. And then the great white throne appears, and the dead, both small and great, stand before God; the books are opened, and each one is judged according to his works; and at the last, death and Hades themselves are cast out, along with everyone whose name is not found written in the Book of Life. This is the sober and the certain end of all rebellion against God — a real judgment, and a real accounting, from which no one escapes. And yet, for those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life — names written there by His own free grace, and received through simple faith in Him — there is no condemnation at all in that day, but only the boundless glory that follows. The judgment is certain, and it is meant to drive us, humbly and gratefully, straight to Christ — for in Him alone are we safe when we stand before that throne.

5.All Things New

And then comes the glorious end of it all. John sees a new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And a great voice thunders from the throne: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." And the One on the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new." The city has no need of the sun or the moon, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. A pure river of the water of life flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and the tree of life stands there, bearing its fruit and healing the nations. And His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face. Every last sorrow of this whole fallen world is at last undone and wiped away, and God comes down to dwell with His people forever and ever. This is the end toward which the whole Bible has been steadily moving from its very first page — not destruction, but glorious renewal; not the mere ending of the world, but the making-new of all things, and God Himself come home to dwell with His people.

6.Come, Lord Jesus

And so the book of Revelation, and the whole Bible along with it, comes at last to its rest. We began this study with the unveiling of Jesus Christ, the glorified Lord walking among His churches; we saw the Lamb standing at the very center of heaven's throne, alone found worthy to open the scroll of all history; we walked together through the judgments and the great conflict, and we heard the mighty call to the saints to endure; and now we have come at last to the very end — the millennium, however we may understand it, the final judgment, and the new creation where God dwells with His people forever. And through the whole of it, one great truth has held perfectly steady: Christ reigns, and Christ will surely triumph. The details of the end — the timing of the thousand years, the precise sequence of the events — sincere Christians have read in different ways, and those we hold, always, with humility. But the center is utterly sure, and that we hold with overflowing joy: Christ will return; all evil will be judged and undone; and God will make all things new. So do not read the book of Revelation with dread, and do not waste your precious days in feverish speculation about dates and signs and the identity of beasts. Read it, and then go and live, in hope. Endure faithfully through all your trials, for the Lamb is on the throne. Long with all your heart for His appearing, for He is surely coming. And join your own heart to the final prayer of the whole Bible, which is the deep cry of the whole waiting church across all the ages: "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" The last book of the Bible ends not in fear at all, but in this: the certain and living hope of the returning Christ, the making-new of all things, and God forever at home with His people. And He is worthy.

7.Taking It to Heart