Interpreting The Book Of Revelation

One of the most confusing things throughout my journey as a Christian has been the Book of Revelation. I often avoided any “interpretation” of the book and was very skeptical to attend any Bible study that was even remotely related to it. The reason isn’t because I didn’t believe the book was inspired scripture as any of the other books in scripture. The problem was the lack of clarity in the various interpretations that were given. It almost felt as if they were dependent on one’s ideology and bias. It seemed as if anyone could find a way to interpret the book to explain who the antichrist was or when the second coming would be.
I would be lying if I didn’t say that I approached this book with the same level of skepticism. Ironically enough

As indicated before this type of numerology is often used in this type of literature. Seven is meant to indicate the fullness of divinity. In this case it is meant to indicate God’s divine authority over His enemies. Rather than viewing these seven seals in a chronological order as if it’s referring to a future event, one must consider the numerology used and its purpose. The author is providing reassurance to the reader that God has ultimate divine authority and it is he who decides what ultimately happens to those who are against Him and his people. The people shouldn’t fear the authority in Rome or even the spiritual authority since they are led by the Spirit Himself and God is in complete control. Despite the hardships that the believers are enduring, they are reminded to contemplate on who has power over everything even death itself. As Tarazi clearly points out the fourth rider, death and Hades, will be overpowered by the first rider who represents Christ (Tarazi

While many interpretations have been said regarding this figure, it is clear that the number is symbolic just as the other numbers throughout the book. While the number 7 represents the divine fullness of God, the number 6 falls just short of that representing the fact that it mimics the divine being, but is actually fake. The goal of the beast is to delude the believers into worshiping it rather than the true divine being. If one is to use this in context it represents the Roman Empire in John’s time. The Roman Empire was causing such a great oppression for the Christians that the easy thing to do was to just give in and become a part of it rather than to accept their calling of martyrdom. Again this fake authority represents everything that is contrary to God and their faith in Him and it is quite dangerous if they give in. The temptation to give up and accept this authority must have been tremendous and it is especially evident by the author’s special care to the sign of the beast. It is quite clear that John’s message to the people is don’t be fooled by what some may believe to be a true authority since all will fall away in due time to the true authority of Christ which is proclaimed by His