Revelation is not so hard, part 2

Any time we look at the structure of a Bible book, we have to first identify what that book is--in other words, what kind of book it is. Some of the Bible is narrative.  Some is argumentative (logical); some is revelatory, as in the prophets; some is worship; other parts of the Bible are "Wisdom literature"--a book that tells us how to live.  Finally, there is the kind of material that is composed of visions, things that the prophets saw, and which they try to tell us.  One of the most famous, and most difficult, is Ezekiel's vision of the throne of God, with its Cherubim and wheels, and so forth.  The book of Revelation is a series of connected visions--connected by one major purpose--to show us how God will defeat Satan and all evil, establish His Kingdom on earth, and eventually unite earth and heaven. These are the things that John saw. He's not making these things up.  God took him to the future and showed him.  How did that work? We don't know. We DO know that John saw lots of details that he could only describe as "it was like this;" for example, locusts that have the faces of lions and have scorpions' tails; unclean spirits like frogs.  A giant dragon. A star that falls to the earth.  A burning mountain.  Rivers of blood. The sun disappearing.
It's quite clear that this time in the future is unique.  Nothing like this has happened before, and it will not happen again.

However, this is not what makes Revelation appear difficult to understand.  What makes it seem tough to understand is that we feel compelled to explain things that haven't happened yet, and to speculate when we simply don't know. Since nobody will ever completely agree about these things until they happen, Revelation seems like a locked book, with entire cults built on "their" interpretation of it.
So the first thing to do is to see where Revelation starts, and then where it ends.
Revelation starts at the end of the first century.
It ends with the "new heavens and new earth" that God will establish.  That's where this is all headed. Lots of questions remain about what happens in between.
However, the structure of the book is really pretty transparent, so the next thing to do is find the major outline points.
Revelation centers around the opening of a seven sealed scroll, with the "opener" being the "Lamb of God" (one of John's names for Jesus). If you're a Bible marker, I'd suggest that you go through the book of Revelation and place a mark at each place where the Lamb opens a seal.  That will give you the basic structure.  There's lots more--but the seals, and what happens when He opens them,  are the superstructure of the book.  In the coming posts, I'll help you ferret out the rest of the structure, and see what's happening throughout the book.
Remember, a great deal of the mischief that's been done in the interpretation of this book has been done because the people who study it have attempted to do one of two things:

1. Impose their own views on the book, so that it says what they want it to say.  Usually, this imposition has taken the form of, "Who gets to go into heaven?" (Paradise), and the answer is always, "Only people who follow ME..." (or, MY church or cult). Recent history is rife with people deciding that their leader has "the special knowledge" that enables him to interpret Revelation, and lead only his followers to heaven. Sometimes this issues in a relatively harmless delusion, other times it results in a disaster where people die in some spectacular fashion, and sometimes it comes about that people are convinced of the day of Jesus' return, sell everything, go to a mountain and wait, and get terribly disappointed when God doesn't follow their directions.
2. Try to understand more than we can understand right now.  These things will become apparent when they happen, and when God wants us to understand them, and not before.  

Having said that, we can know quite a bit about Revelation by looking at some other passages, and comparing them with the structure of Revelation to see how everything fits.  We just have to be careful that we don't use our hammers to drive the square pegs of everything else in the Bible into the round holes of Revelation.

A final word to consider:

The purpose  of Revelation is to show you the things which must shortly come to pass, but the overriding purpose of all the Bible is to bring you into real contact with God.  God's greatest desire is for you to meet Him as your Friend and Lord.  The message of Revelation is that God controls the future.  You should be in that future, with Him forever. You can be.

The Book of Revelation: It's really not so hard

Revelation has been considered the most difficult book in the Bible for centuries, but it really is easy to read and understand, as far as its structure goes.  The hard part comes in the interpretation of "what's in the middle," from the Four Horsemen in Chapter 6 to the final battle of Armageddon in Chapter 19.
However, if you look at it in outline, it's really pretty simple.
Revelation is a series of connected visions, which begin where John was (about 95 AD), and end with a "New Heaven and a New Earth;" it's really a prophecy of how we get to the end, and what happens then.  The problems come with the chapters I mentioned, because everyone is determined to interpret them as if his own generation is the final one.  Maybe so, maybe not.  We certainly will see.
The structure of Revelation is pretty much as follows (I'm going easy on the details, and more to follow in the next post):
1. Alternating scenes between Earth and Heaven:

• down here, where (unfortunately) Satan and his demons have tremendous influence, and everything seems uncertain and confusing, whether in the churches (Rev. 2-3), or with the events taking place (4-18), or with the final battle (19)

And

• Heaven, where God rules without challenge, and everything is settled ahead of time.

When you think about it, and look at the plan God has for His world, it's unlikely that anyone could come up with a better plan to do the following:

1. Put an end to rebellion against God
2. Institute true worship.
3. Replace the rulers of "this world" with a Divine (I. E., God-Man) King
4. Make certain that nothing EVER disturbs the good things God has planned.

One of the things that Revelation emphasizes is worship. God is exceedingly interested in our connection to Him in all ways, but particularly in worship.  While mankind thinks almost nothing about worship, it really is the key to the Kingdom of God.  Merely considering the many worship scenes in the book of Revelation tells us that. Worship is probably one of the least considered things in our religious life, yet it comprises ALL of the religious life in heaven.  God is very interested in your worship, and in your connection to Him in that worship. I could multiply passages, but for right now, take a brief overview of Revelation yourself and see what I mean.

Chapter 1...

Chapter 4...

Chapter 5...

and so on.  Just look for the acts and attitudes of worship, and how important this is in the Divine scheme of things.  Then look into your heart, and examine yourself.  How important is worshipping God to YOU? It is the most important thing to God, and not just because He deserves it.  It's because YOU need it to maintain your connection to Him. 

Worship is not...reading your Bible, or a religious book (although God can certainly lead us to Himself that way);

Worship is not...prayer (prayer is when you ask God for something, or call on Him);

Worship is not...good deeds.

Worship is putting Him at the center of your heart, of your thoughts, and connecting--then doing what comes most naturally to you once that connection is fully made.  It's one of the most difficult things people do, because it's so unfamiliar.  You might spend the majority of your worship time just making the connection, and then allowing the experience of worship to fill your heart and life.  Look at what happened to John, in Revelation 1: "I was in the Spirit...I heard...I saw...I fell...I was touched." It's from that point you can truly enjoy His presence, and Him.