Epistles And The Gospels: The Book Of Revelation

The book of revelation is the final book in the new testament of the Christian bible. The book is also referred to as The Apocalypse, which means unveiling or revelation. Although there are other small parts of apocalyptic passages in Epistles and the Gospels, the book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic document in the bible, especially in the New Testament. It is believed that the author of the book was John the Apostle, although several debates have been raised in respect to this argument. The author sets the book into several literary genres, which include the prophetic, the apocalyptic, and the epistolary. The widely used imagery and other styles by the author have led to many different interpretations by different individuals. Some

They referred to the book as an account of the church through history. The idealist, also known as symbolic interpretations, considers Revelation as the symbol of the struggle between good and evil and also the spiritual path. The symbols have different meanings and may refer to different people such as Emperor Nero or events in that time. These interpretations also became symbols for other larger realities associated with human experience. For example, the ‘beast’ symbolized the Emperor, Nero, while he symbolized the lack of control Christians lack in their lives under dictators who use their powers in destructive ways. The idealists view Revelation as basically a symbolic description of the first century church. The book is also viewed as an acknowledgement from the early church about how God takes care of His people. It gives hope to the oppressed and promises the destruction of all those who take the act of God in the

The beast is usually likened to the empire of Rome or a tyrant Emperor. The preterist view was more popular in the 17th and 18th century, a time when more knowledge about the history of the early church together with apocalyptic writings of the church came to light.
The book of Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia in the form of epistles. The author, (John), writes what is revealed to him in form of dreams and visions and sends it to the seven churches. The book can also be described as a prophetic book as it contains certain prophecies by the author, and it also uses the word more than any other book in the New Testament. The author draws some of his references from the Old Testament especially from Daniel, Psalms, Ezekiel and Isaiah. It is however hard to determine the exact versions used as references since the references are allusions. The conservative understanding about revelation was that the book was authored to comfort harassed Christians who underwent persecution under a dictatorial Roman Empire. Currently, these beliefs have been abandoned and the emperor, Domitian is not viewed as a tyrant. It is also no longer believed that Christians were persecuted during his reign. The Book of Revelation is currently viewed as authored as a result of conflicts between Christians in the Asian community as whether to interact or withdraw from the non-Christians, who had a larger community. Withdrawal