A few days ago, I finished Revelation for the Rest of Us by Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett. Here’s what I think is perhaps their most important point:
Our point is that good readers of Revelation will read it more like The Lord of the Rings than Paul’s letter to the Romans. We should let the bowls empty out and the trumpets blast; we should visualize the fall of Babylon and the woman of Revelation zooming and leaping and spinning and twirling—if you want to read this book well. The writer John used his imagination to see what he saw, and it takes an imagination to engage his. Too many readings of Revelation are flat-footed and literal. . . . ‘Turning poetry into prose, however, destroys its power.’ And sadly, that is what has happened time and time again in interpreting the book. [1]
If you’ve been puzzled or troubled by the final book of the Bible, I would highly recommend this book. One note: if you want to avoid politics, skip chapter 21.
[1] Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett, Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective, 2023), Kindle, 29.