Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand

Overview

The book of Revelation can be confusing.

When you open its pages, you are surrounded by a world full of beasts, dragons, angels, demons, and even a slain lamb.  So how do you make sense of these images?  How do you handle this book full of difficult passages!  Moreover, how do you apply a book so shrouded in mystery to the everyday lives of followers of Jesus?  In this engaging book, nineteen different authors from around the world utilize their areas of expertise to explore general themes, difficult passages, and points of application in the book of Revelation.

Contributors include:

Excerpt

“When it comes to the study of the book of Revelation, the spectrum of adjectives can hardly be exhausted, for some find the book confusing, others find it elucidating. Some fear it, others revere it, and many don’t quite know what to make of it. Some read it daily, others read it yearly, and many only read it on leap years—or so they say. Regardless of where you find yourself right now, the intention of this volume is to bring balance to your study and perspective on the book of Revelation—so that in your life the message of John of Patmos may ring true.

The book of Revelation offers a challenge to its audience. Whether the hearers are the comfortable pew-sitters of Laodicea or the persecuted saints of Smyrna, the book of Revelation confronts each with the same message of transformation—some with the clarion call to repentance and others with the gentle whispers of perseverance. This same challenge is offered still today to John’s readers in the twenty-first century, but with all of the baggage that this book has accumulated over the past two-thousand years, oftentimes it is simply too much to bear, and we are tempted to set it aside for another traveler to carry on this sojourn. Yet we must fight this temptation and embrace the challenge of John written in the language of blessing in Rev. 1:3, ‘Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written it it…’ (NASB).” (pp. 14-15)

About the Editor

Editor, Shane Wood, is Professor of New Testament and Spiritual Formation at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.