Seeing God in the Story of Earth’s Final Days

Revelation tells the story of Earth’s final days. It chronicles the culmination of human history. The climax of civilization. The end of all things as we know it. In the Bible’s last book, we are carried to an apocalyptic intersection where crisis, chaos, and calamity all meet in a global head-on collision. It is a tale of depravity, devils, and destruction. It is the future foretold, and history written far ahead of its fulfillment.

But beyond all its prophecies and the unveiling of foretold events, Revelation is, more than anything, a book about God. He is the main character amid a cast that includes world leaders, miracle-working missionaries, martyrs, false prophets, apocalyptic horsemen, demonic armies and holy angels, the antichrist, the false prophet, and even the devil himself. From the pages of Scripture’s closing words, it is Jesus Christ who emerges to take center stage. He is the book’s central theme and its principal character. Its preeminent figure. And this is a primary reason Revelation was revealed and written. The angel who delivered this vision was right when he declared, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). If you study Revelation and miss this central theme, you will walk away knowing the future but failing to know the very God who fulfills the prophecies contained within.

Inherent in its very name, Revelation appropriately begins with the revealing of Jesus Christ himself, and continues doing the same through his evaluation of the churches (chapters 2–3), the heaven where he is worshiped (chapters 4–5), the judgments he will unleash upon the planet (chapters 6–18), the climactic return he will execute from heaven (chapter 19), the kingdom over which he will reign for 1,000 years (chapter 20), and the eternal city he himself has been preparing since he left Earth 2,000 years ago (chapters 21–22).

And without a doubt, when the dust of Revelation finally settles, what you will behold is the Lamb, standing in triumph, reigning in sovereignty, and dwelling in unspeakable glory.

A.W. Tozer wrote, “The most important thing about you is what comes to your mind when you think of God.”

The book of Revelation will cause you to think much about God. As you hike through Revelation, you will naturally find yourself caught up in the universe of his divine attributes. The constellation of his character will surround you, challenging your thoughts while simultaneously drawing your heart into a deeper and more intimate relationship with him.

And if that is your goal, open your Bible and dive in.