Jeanie C. Crain http://crain.english.missouriwestern.edu

1. As Genesis describes beginnings, so does Revelation describe a consummation, an end.

2.  The theme of Revelation is a two-pronged call to persevere for the godly and "Come" to the rebellious.

3. Revelation,  like the entire canon of sixty-six books, describes God's continuing mercy in face of a relentless judgment.

4. Salvation is extended universally to humankind.

5. Revelation  is an apocalyptic literature describing a vision insufficiently captured in myth, symbol, and image.

6. Revelation is a Christian book written for Christians, but its poetry is epic.

7. Revelation was never intended to be read as an almanac  of historical events.

8. The entire sweep of history is under God's control, and God will in the End triumph over all ungodliness.

9. No power within history is capable of winning the final victory over evil

10.  Revelation must be understood imaginatively rather than with wooden literalism.

11.  No other literature contains the exalted praise and adoration of Christ that is found in Revelation. As apocalypse, Daniel is close to John's vision of End times; the Song of Solomon provides a sensual picture of the Beloved realized only abstractly in the Bride of Revelation; Hosea's life reveals itself as an embodiment of God's redeeming love active in the Alpha and Omega of Revelation.  The Gospel of John struggles with the paradoxes created by eternal and temporal worlds. Isaiah exalts God as the Creator of the entire universe, who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, and before whom all nations must bow; like John, he calls for human beings to "Wait" for the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God who will redeem His people. Jeremiah is confident judgment must come but believes the ominous time will be replaced by a new and more enduring relationship with God. The writer of Revelation identifies his Jesus with the merciful and just God of the Hebrews. John adores a Christ in complete equality with God the Creator.

12. Revelation is a mosaic of the Old Testament and cannot be understood except through its illumination.

13.  The best interpretation of Revelation is the one provided by Revelation itself.

15.  Reading and understanding Revelation is essential for Christians.

16. A vision and faith in the heavenly provides meaning for earthly realities.

17. In light of the transience of human life, the End is always near.

18. Apocalyptic vision embodies the triumphal movement from the painful existence of life to a glorious and blissful vindication.

19. The disclosures of Revelation must be interpreted in parallel correspondence with the whole scheme of Biblical truth.

20.  The End in Revelation is an ineffable, soul-thrilling  consummation, utterly indescribable, supernal sublimity.

21. John's New Jerusalem is a new Eden in which humankind is restored to full health, free from all pain, sorrow, and death.

22. God's full beneficence to humankind can be expressed only in transcendence of the historical order and in mastery of the chaotic energy of a subversive disorder.

23. Revelation celebrates a spiritual connection between God and his people's God-like holiness.

24. John reveals how God can be found in an intimate and deeply personal relationship in which the central questions of existence are asked and answered in the midst of a personal, spiritual journey.

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Last modified: October 27, 2005