Throughout these pages we are reminded that God is sovereign and He always comes to the aid of His people. The triune God will have complete victory over all His enemies of every era. The main focus of John’s writing is the soon-coming judgment on Jerusalem and Satan’s being ultimately cast into the eternal punishment of hell. However, Rome’s fall and that of all of God’s enemies should be seen as being just as certain as Jerusalem’s and Satan’s doom.

Blessed Is He Who Reads: A Primer on the Book of Revelation by Larry Ball

When I received my review copy, I was struck with the cover illustration of a book being opened. Many Christians consider Revelation a book closed to being understood. Thus it is often little studied, or if examined, the result is an emphasis on the symbolic rather than an understanding of the meaning of the beast, harlot and dragon, etc., in the context of John’s writing.

The cover illustration aptly portrays the author’s thesis that Revelation can be understood, with the Lord’s help, by applying interpretive principles. Throughout this primer Pastor Ball reminds the reader to keep in mind these very helpful principles. As John writes in Revelation 1:3, the reader should expect to be blessed by reading this last book of God’s word.

John is writing for the people of his day. He writes to encourage them by reminding them that God will soon defeat their chief earthly enemy, the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. They could also be assured that Satan and Rome would also be defeated in God’s time.

Readers today can also be encouraged in expectation of God’s victorious work in history. Yet readers should not interpret the majority of the book’s events as yet to happen. Revelation has time limitations to John’s era. The author reminds readers that John writes that the events will occur soon. We must take God at His word and not try to redefine “soon.” John was referencing events that surround the imminent downfall of Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70. God was going to call the Jewish religious leaders to account by means of civil war within Jerusalem and ultimate defeat by the Romans.

Secondly, the author reminds the reader that John uses metaphors to describe reality. The dragon with seven heads does not have to be interpreted literally by Bible-believers. Rather than trying to find something in our culture to equate with this dragon or with other metaphors that John uses, the author shows the reader how to look behind them to what the metaphors point to.

To do this he employs a third key interpretive principle. He stresses our need to interpret scripture with scripture. Pastor Ball turns our attention repeatedly to Old Testament passages that provide great help in understanding the language used in Revelation.

Members of the seven churches to whom John wrote were very knowledgeable of the Old Testament and could see the continuity of words and phrases used by the prophets in John’s use of similar language. The author points us to passages in Isaiah, Daniel and Zechariah to interpret much-discussed aspects of Revelation such as God coming in the clouds, the four horsemen and their riders, and Babylon. In using this interpretive methodology our minds stay grounded in God’s word rather than traveling down errant side trails that provide no conclusive help for understanding John’s writing.

The author never loses sight of these important principles as he takes us through Revelation. He does not cover every verse. This is a primer, not a commentary. It provides excellent grounding for the reader to stand on as he explores Revelation in further study.

Throughout these pages we are reminded that God is sovereign and He always comes to the aid of His people. The triune God will have complete victory over all His enemies of every era. The main focus of John’s writing is the soon-coming judgment on Jerusalem and Satan’s being ultimately cast into the eternal punishment of hell. However, Rome’s fall and that of all of God’s enemies should be seen as being just as certain as Jerusalem’s and Satan’s doom.

Satan’s defeat was accomplished through Christ’s death on the cross but will be fulfilled in its most full sense on the day of Christ’s return. Revelation 20 is the one chapter that steps out of first century fulfillment and remains yet to be realized in the future.

This very readable primer grew out of the author’s study and preaching through this last book of the Bible over a time period of almost two years. He has a gift for writing with clarity for the man in the pew. His writing is personable, biblically-based and Christ-centered. He believes Revelation is a book written to encourage God’s people who live in a fallen world in the midst of persecution or the threat thereof.

As I read the twelve chapters, I reflected that this book could be used as a study in a Sunday School class or a small group Bible study group. Participants will be blessed thinking through John’s message in Revelation as well as being reminded that the interpretative principles employed by the author, can also be used elsewhere in their study of Scripture.

I profited from my going through Revelation again by means of this volume. I am thankful that Pastor Ball took the time to pen the fruits and efforts of his study.

Byron Snapp is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Associate Pastor of Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church in Hampton, Virginia.