Introduction
The Book That Unveils the Future
Purpose of the Book of
Revelation
The last book of
the Bible has intrigued and fascinated multitudes of people throughout the
centuries. More commentaries have
surely been written and a greater variety of interpretations published about
this book than any other in the canon of Scripture.
The reason for
such absorbing interest is that we are time-bound creatures and, as the days
and years flow by, we want to know what future time will bring. Will we become rich or paupers? Will our home life be happy and
fruitful or full of strife and defeat?
Will we all be destroyed in a coming war, or will the future be one of
peace and prosperity?
And, even more
important, what happens when death comes?
Is death the end of everything, as the humanists insist, or is it only
the beginning of endless ages yet to come? If there is life after death, what will it be like, and what
should we do now to prepare for it?
What is the meaning and purpose of existence?
Speculations and
would-be answers to such questions have been great in number and nature, but
who is right? As far as the
immediate future is concerned, many competent and well-trained people actually
make a good living by predicting the future (weather forecasters, market
analysts and political pundits).
Such forecasts are based on sound scientific and statistical techniques
but are only partially successful and only on the very short-range basis.
In addition to
these, one of the most amazing phenomena of our so-called “age of science” is
the burgeoning of occultistic and pseudosupernaturalistic cults and practices,
much of their attraction being their supposed ability to predict or even to
control the future. The proliferation
of astrologers, seers, mediums and other latter-day “prophets” is one direct
result of widespread dissatisfaction with present circumstances and the wistful
desire of millions throughout the world to know the future. Feeling that “science” and “humanism”
have failed, people shift their faith to pseudoscience and superhumanism, still
desperately searching for meaningful answers for their future.
But these false
prophets are still less reliable.
To illustrate this fact, consider the predictions made by the nation’s
leading seers at the beginning of 1979, concerning the major events which would
occur in 1979. Each year the
nation’s most-read newspaper, the National Enquirer, publishes their current predictions at the
beginning of the year.
Significantly, however, they never publish their success ratios at the
end of the year!
One prediction
was partially fulfilled – namely, that “Ted Kennedy will make a bid for the
Presidency” (almost anyone could have guessed this), but the same prediction
also said that John Connally would be his running mate. Another said that Ted Kennedy would
announce his belief in reincarnation, and still another that Angie Dickinson
would tell all about her secret affair with John F. Kennedy.
The most
flagrantly unfulfilled prediction was that “inflation would be stopped dead in
its tracks,” along with others that scientists would announce amazing
discoveries that would cure cancer, tooth decay, heart disease, diabetes,
kidney disease, arthritis, the common cold and the aging process itself. Other notoriously unfulfilled prophecies
include the following:
President Carter injured in a
hang-gliding accident
Debbie Boone appearing in an X-rated movie
Fabulous oil discoveries in East Texas
Pope John Paul II announcing plans to
ordain women priests
An Eskimo girl elected as Miss World
Food prices dramatically slashed
A woman football referee in the NFL
Spiro Agnew wining an acting award
Ford Motor Company leaving America to
protest taxes
Ronald Reagan deserted by his wife
California coastline reshaped by a
fearfully devastating earthquake
Idi Amin assassinated
New planet discovered by the Venus probe
Jackie Onassis appointed ambassador to an
African nation
Walter Cronkite appointed a U.S. diplomat
in South Pacific
Genuine Holy Shroud found in Egypt
Muhammad Ali winning a seat in Congress
First human, a red-haired boy, cloned in
Kentucky
And on and
on. None of the psychics predicted
such major 1979 events as the Iranian crisis, the Russian troops in Cuba, the
tragic DC-10 crash in Chicago, the Nicaraguan revolution, the tragedies of the
Cambodian genocide and Vietnamese boat-people, or any of the other really
important events of 1979. A
similar record of failure resulted with the Enquirer’s 1980 prophecies. It is amazing that so many millions of people continue to
show any interest in such notoriously unreliable false prophets as these.
Even many
Christians are overly impressed by such seers, attributing their psychic
abilities to demonic powers. If
they were really supernaturally guided, however, even by demons, one would
think their predictions would have a better percentage of success.
The fact is that
neither angels nor demons are omniscient and therefore they know little more
about the future than human beings.
It is true that men and women can – through planning and working –
influence the future to some degree.
Also, through analyses and reasoning they could to some extent predict
the future. By virtue of their
greater powers and greater knowledge, plus their ability to share such
knowledge and abilities with other invisible spirits, it is no doubt true that
angels and demons can both foresee and influence the future more than could
human beings.
But only God is
omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.
Since He created time, He stands outside time and thus knows and
controls all events everywhere through all time. He may, on occasion, choose to share some of this knowledge
with His holy angels, or with chosen men.
To this extent – and only this extent – can we really know the future, which brings us to the purpose of the
Book of Revelation.
This capstone on
the wonderful structure of the written Word of God was written specifically to
provide knowledge of the future.
This is made clear in the very first verse:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John (Revelation 1:1).
What God desires us to know about
the future is written for us in this book. Its scope proceeds from the events of the immediate future
(that is, for those who would read the book first, the Christians of about A.D.
100) on through the return of Christ to the establishment of His eternal
kingdom in the new earth and new heavens which He would create.