Christians- how do you interpret the Book of Revelation?

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Kate, the book of Revelation is a difficult book to interpret, BUT

by using the OT book of Daniel the meaning can become much clearer.

Many have considered the book of Revelation to be a sealed book and unable to be understood. However, the word Revelation comes from the Greek name Apokalypsis, which means a disclosure, a revelation or manifestation and to be revealed. So we find that the book of Revelation is not only an open book but its contents are definitely intended to be revealed and understood by us if we take a little time to study it. It is in fact a revealing of Jesus Christ Himself.

Here are two web sites that may help you with your studies.

http://www.danielbibleprophecy.org/

http://www.revelationbibleprophecy.org/

I have found these pages to be very helpfull in my studies.

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1. with audience in mind (the first century church... he did not write this for people 2000 years in the future... that's just silly to think that)

2. with understanding of old testament expressions (mostly taken from the prophetic books) and proper hermeneutic methods basing the parallelisms of Revelation to the book of Ezekiel (because again, the audience is the first century people who were fluent in old testament expressions)

3. aside from hermeneutics and culture... also read historical context and witness accounts. The ancient Romans were very good in this

You cannot "interpret it based on your own understanding. There are many biblical keys that require a highly advanced level of study to understand.

This book is not applicable to our time and day and is not relevant to much of Christianity. It's best not to deal with it, unless you are a professional and know the Greek and Aramaic texts and how to translate it.

The first three chapters are straightforward for the most part. After that, except for the stuff that plainly and obviously refers to the future (like the lake of fire and heaven), to me it makes more sense thinking about it in the context of severe persecution that was happening to Christians at the time.