Revelation is about the resurrected Christ, His church, and the world. More than any other prophetic book of the Bible, the prophecies of Revelation are presented in symbolic form; that is, pictures, rather than words, are used to convey the message. This is why this book is somewhat difficult to understand—the pictures have to be interpreted. These amazing, symbolic pictures, like the Parables, both reveal and conceal. Thus the book of the Revelation is not so clear that everyone can see the meaning and understand it immediately. But, as will be discovered, the pictures have an ascertainable meaning, a meaning which is based on the previous books of the Bible. It should be mentioned at the outset that some pictures have more than one meaning—that is, they are composite. Where this is so, all the meanings are valid and must be held together. Another remarkable fact must be stated: Unlike any other book of the Bible, Revelation, in an amazing way, sums up all that has gone before, in both Old and New Testaments. In other words, it sums up all the other books of the Bible! Revelation is, in truth, the final book of the Bible, and so every thread which runs through the Scriptures is not only picked up but tied into a final knot in this amazing book.
