Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation, which is sometimes called Revelation to John, Apocalypse of John, or Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last book of the New Testament in the Bible.

Title 

The last book of the New Testament is usually called the Book of Revelation or simply Revelation. Some of the earliest manuscripts have the title of "The Revelation of John" (). Later manuscripts usually have the title of "The Revelation of the Theologian" (). This is why the Authorized King James Version calls Revelation the Revelation of Saint John the Divine (divine was a seventeenth century word for theologian.)

In Greek, the word apocalypse means revealing or unveiling.

Introduction 

Some people consider Revelation to be the most difficult book in the Bible.  Over the course of the book the author has two visions.  There are many different ways to interpret these visions, and there have been many arguments over which way is right.

Authorship

There is some disagreement over whether the John who wrote the letters of John, the John who wrote The Gospel of John, and the John who wrote the Book of Revelation are the same person. The person writing Revelation called himself "John". He also wrote that he was on Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea, when he saw his first vision.

Content

The book begins by introducing John as the author and has letters to seven churches of that day.  Some think that these churches also represent periods of history.  Various visions follow which are highly symbolic which allows many different interpretations. They have been understood by various groups to represent past and future events.  Some believe that many of these prophecies have already been fulfilled. Others think they will be fulfilled at the end of time. Others think they tell about the victory of Christ over all enemies, but do not refer to specific events.  Parts of the book seem to have used symbols and codes in order to hide their meaning from outsiders. This includes the mysterious "number of the beast" or 666. The book ends with a vision of the faithful souls in the next life rejoicing around the throne of God. 

Some of the things that Christians talk about come from the book of Revelation.  These include the Millennium which is a 1000 year period when Christ will rule the earth.  The Battle of Armageddon  tells about a final war between good and evil.  The word Armegeddon is sometimes used for any very huge war which ends the world.  Both of these events are thought to be literal and future by some, and figurative by others. Virtually all Christians agree that there will be a Second Coming of Christ.  This is found in many places in the Bible. Christians do not all agree on the details of how it will happen. Many verses in the Book of Revelation are about those details.

The book has been important to Christians in many places and times when they were suffering persecution.  At those times, the persecuted persons found parts of the book that could have been referring to them.  Since some verses refer to the afterlife, they have traditionally been used at funerals.

Related pages
 Apocalypse
 Eschatology
Number of the Beast
 Rapture
 The Grapes of Wrath

References 

Relevation
Christian eschatology