"The Revelation of Jesus Christ." From its very first verse, the final book of the Bible presents us with a profound question: Is this a message from Jesus about the future, or is it an unveiling of Jesus Himself?

Revelation is certainly filled with deep mysteries and complex symbolism, but it is not meant to be ignored. It is a book of awe and urgency that every believer is called to read, hear, and heed.

Discover the blessing promised to those who embrace this prophecy as we venture through the book of Revelation with Steve Gallagher in this series of interviews from our archives.

Host: We want to begin a series with you, Steve, looking at the Book of Revelation. I know that this is a book for many of us that we just kind of sometimes look at and go, “Man, I'm not even sure I want to read this thing because it's so confusing and I just don't think I can understand this.” And so, I think it's going to be a good opportunity for you to share and talk about the amount of time that you've looked into this particular book of God's Word and share a little bit about why you spent so much time looking at it.

Steve: I felt the exact same way you just described. What's the point in even trying to understand this book? Because it's got so much symbolism. It’s got so many controversial things going on. It seems so confusing. Why even put the effort into it? But the Lord got it into me back in 1993 to study it and once I started getting into it, it just became an obsession practically. That year I spent about 1200 hours studying it through and looking at all the old-time writers and commentators.
       But about a year ago, that hunger began to rise up again inside me and I started getting into it again. I ended up taking a completely different look at it with newer commentators and I found myself once again obsessed with it. All I can say is I believe it's part of God's call on my life and the message that He wants to convey through me for the end times church. I think that is a crucial and important aspect of the Book of Revelation.

Host: Well, we're going to get into different aspects of Revelation as we go through this series, but as an overview, I want to ask you if you could narrow down just a couple of things that you would say stood out to you most about this book.

Steve: I guess the thing that really stood out to me about this book is that it's really a story. It's a historical narrative book, except it has been communicated through visions about the future. It doesn't seem to make any sense, but I'm telling you, that's what it is. It's a story. And it really goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when rebellion began to break forth amongst mankind.
       That spiritual conflict has been going on in the unseen realm for these past 6000 years and the Book of Revelation describes the culmination of that battle. So, if you could look behind the scenes to see what God is doing and what the enemy is doing and how it's affecting the unfolding of world events, this is what the story is all about.

Host: Well, Steve, as you have read through this story, have there been any real surprises to you?

Steve: Yeah, there definitely have. The biggest surprise I've encountered in the Book of Revelation is the prominent role that worship plays in the story. It really is amazing. Most people have the attitude that I had when I first read through it. It’s like, “Okay, hurry and get through this and let's get into the real juicy stuff.” That’s what I think the mentality people have and I understand that, but worship really plays a significant role in the book. For one thing, you will find that it occurs at critical junctures throughout the story. For example, when something is about to happen or God has just done something, the reaction in heaven is to fall down and worship God. It really shows how much the sovereignty of God plays a part in the unfolding story as a whole.

Host: The way you describe it almost completely shifts the focus from where we normally have it, which is, “Okay, what's going to happen with the one world government?” It shifts the focus completely instead to, “What is God doing?” Man. You got me excited to go read it again!
       Now I know that when you look at the Book of Revelation, of course we've all seen lots of movies, we hear a lot of people talk about what they think it means and there's a lot of controversy about different parts of the book. What's one of the first ones that you encountered as you looked at it?

Steve: There are various controversies that arise with different biblical scholars and their approaches to understanding the different symbolism that is going on. But I'll tell you right off the bat, the very first verse creates a controversy. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Is it a revelation about Jesus Christ Himself? Is that what it's saying? Or is it a revelation about future events that Jesus Christ shares with the reader? Which is it? And it's impossible to tell simply by the grammar. There's got to be something more to it. And I'll tell you the truth, the scholars are pretty much split down the middle over it.
       Some say it's a revelation about Jesus Christ and when you look at the book. I mean, for heaven's sake, almost the entire first chapter is about Jesus. Chapters 2 & 3 are a message from Jesus to His Church. Chapters 4 & 5 are all about Jesus receiving the scroll. Chapters 6 through 19 are all about the unfolding of events as God brings the Kingdom into His hands. Chapters 20 through 22 are a description of His eternal marriage to His bride. So, you can certainly see the argument that it's about Jesus Christ. Yet on the other hand, it is a revelation of the things which must soon take place. I'll just put it this way, the pulpit commentary said, “Christ is both the mystery and the revealer of it.” And that's good enough for me.

Host: Yeah. So, where's the controversy? It pretty much all ends up with Him doesn't it?

Steve: It does. Right where it should be.

Host: Steve, right at the beginning of Revelation 1, there is a promise in verse 3 and I want to ask you about. It reads, “Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is near.” Talk about that.

Steve: To do that verse any justice, you really have to take it in its historical context. Let me put it to you this way, no one had Bibles. There were a number of scrolls of Paul's letters and some other New Testament writings that were around, but at the most, they had maybe one per church. So, getting into the Word of the God meant that you had to go to church and as part of the service someone would actually read part of one of Paul's epistles. Or in this case, part of John's Revelation.
       So, there was a blessing to the man who would read it to the congregation and a blessing to those who heard what was read. And as part of that is also the actual living out the spirit of the message. But that blessing extends beyond the 1st century. It is a blessing that is extended to us as well. If we will study this and take it inside of us, there is a blessing that is urgently needed by end time believers and I'm not exaggerating it. We need the message of this book resonating within our inner being because with the things we are going to see in the days ahead and the things that we're going to experience and be forced to endure, we are going to be so glad that the Book of Revelation was made a part of our lives.