Pastor Miles recently saw the movie Inception with his wife. As with other fantasy or science fiction movies, it was filled with confusing twists and turns, making it difficult to follow. However, if you understand the basic components of movie plots, you can still understand that there is a hero who desires to get or accomplish something and that s/he will be overcoming obstacles, learning lessons, changing, and sacrificing to accomplish his/her goal in the end.

Similarly, apocalyptic writing contains unfamiliar or confusing images (such as a creature with lion’s teeth, a horse’s body, and a scorpion’s tail). We may never really understand these images until they come to pass, but we can know for sure certain truths of the story: the Savior comes back to redeem his people, judge unrighteousness, and condemn Satan and his followers. Don’t get lost in the details of the book. Instead, know that the book of Revelation is the revealing of when Jesus comes back to win the final battle.

Genre: Apocalyptic Language (read it like fantasy).