The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Revelation Panel: The Importance of Reading Revelation – Part 2

Reading and Understanding Revelation

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Over the next few weeks we will continue to share with you the opinions of 13 Bible prophecy experts concerning various questions related to the book of Revelation. You will find these interviews fascinating and very informative. The interviews were conducted at a national Bible prophecy conference that was held in the Dallas, Texas area.

The first question is related to the fact that most Christians have never even read the book of Revelation. So, the question for the remaining experts on our panel continues to be:

#1. Why is it important to read the book of Revelation?

Jack Kinsella, The Omega Letter
Because God wrote it! People should read Revelation because it’s part of the Bible. You can’t take part of a thought and expect to get the entire importance from just half that thought.

The book of the Revelation deals with what amounts to the most important period in human history. This is the period when all of God’s plans come together. They come to fruition in one place. This is the place where the Lord judges a Christ rejecting world. This is the place where the Lord keeps His promise for the national redemption of Israel. The way that He does this is such a marvelous story, giving us details about the things that we need to know before the Rapture, for I believe the Rapture takes place before we go into the Tribulation period.

Ken Humphries, Treasured Truth Today Ministries
My feeling about reading Revelation is that the first three verses will just absolutely draw you to read it. The very first verse reminds you that Jesus Christ is the very central person in prophecy, and therefore because of that in itself you would want to read it.

The next couple of verses opens up to us where God gives a clear purpose for prophecy. He begins to open things up and tell us about the nearness of prophecy and about the sureness of prophecy. He comes to another point where He gives us a comforting promise of prophecy, that wonderful promise if you read and heed this word there’s a blessing that will come to you. Eventually He gives us this certain performance of prophecy, if I could put it like that.

The time is at hand and that gives you an urgency and a desire to say, “I need to know more about this. If Jesus is speaking, then I need to be listening to what He is saying.”

Ed Hindson, World Prophetic Ministry
Reading the book of Revelation is like reading the end of any good book. You don’t want to start in the front of the book and never get to the end of the story. Or, as Paul Harvey used to often say, “Get to the rest of the story.” And, the rest of the story is the Jesus who died for our sins and rose from the dead is coming again. So, the question is, “Is He coming for you?” And, the answer to that is in the book of Revelation.

Gary Fisher, Lion of Judah Ministries
There could be many reasons. I level my response to two.

Firstly, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness.” That would include the book of Revelation.

Secondly, then there is also the issue about Revelation 1:3 where it says read and heed. So, Revelation is a book that instructs us in righteousness. It gives us an incentive to seek righteousness. Without it there’s not this urgency that Jesus is coming, and you’ve got to be ready to meet Him.

Terry James, Rapture Ready
We are commanded in the Bible to study, to show ourselves approved by God, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Since Revelation is part of the Bible, we are of course commanded to read Revelation.

Plus, the book of Revelation itself is said to be a blessing to those who read it and keep the things that are written therein. There is another reason for studying the book of Revelation.

Revelation is also given as a word of comfort. Prophecy in general and Revelation in particular is given as a word of comfort for the believer, just as in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 where it says that we are to be comforted by the knowledge that we are not appointed to wrath.

Finally, Revelation tells us that Jesus is coming again in power and glory. So, those are some very good reasons to study Revelation.

Tom McCall, Tom McCall Ministries
The book of Revelation is not something to be afraid of. In fact, it’s the one book where the Lord says you get a blessing from reading it. So, why would people be afraid of getting a blessing from the Lord? I think they feel that way because they think Revelation is hard to understand or people have scared them away from it. I’ve had many people tell me, “I’m just too afraid to look at the book of Revelation.” That’s a misunderstanding. I think it is a satanic blindness that has come over people. It’s a book that spells the doom and the end of Satan, so he certainly doesn’t want people to read the book of Revelation.

Don McGee, Crown and Sickle Ministries
Revelation is part of the Bible. Just being part of the Bible implies an inherent need to read it. If you look at the first chapter and the very first verse, you’ll see that God gave Jesus Revelation to us to show us some things. Because of those things, we need to be very much aware of what He said there.

Nathan Jones, Lamb & Lion Ministries
It’s vital to read Revelation for three very important reasons. For one, Christ wins, good wins, so we win. We win! That’s a wonderful thing to know. Two, Satan loses, and in that way evil loses and all the misery in the world is then gone. And three, Revelation tells us what our eternal future is. We know through Revelation what our destiny is, and that’s that Christ wins, evil loses, and we spend forever with Jesus. So, I can’t think of a better book in the Bible to read than the book of Revelation.

In the next part of this series on reading and understanding Revelation, the members of our panel of Bible prophecy experts will answer, “What are the keys to understanding the book?”

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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