Revelation is one of my favorite books of the Bible. In fact, I often say that it should be the second book we take new disciples through after one of the Gospels. That might sound strange to those who have been taught to fear Revelation, avoid Revelation, or treat Revelation as a coded chart of end-time events. But I think Revelation is far too important to leave either to speculation or neglect.
I remember as a new believer reading the Gospel of Matthew and then excitedly telling the man discipling me that I had started reading “Revolution.” He laughed, of course, and corrected me. It was Revelation, not Revolution. Yet, in another sense, my mistake was not entirely wrong. Revelation does announce a kind of revolution—not the violent overthrow of earthly powers through the weapons of empire, but the unveiling of Jesus Christ as Lord, the Lamb who was slain, and the One before whom every tribe, nation, people, and language will one day worship.
The book has fascinated scholars since it was written, but it has also intimidated the church. For nearly two centuries, the early church offered little commentary on it. Perhaps they were afraid of getting it wrong. That fear is understandable. Throughout church history, many have gone sideways with Revelation, trying to decode its figurative language and apply it directly to contemporary events. I grew up in the era of Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth, when locusts became Apache helicopters, naval imagery became modern military strategy, and the beast was identified with Russia. Later, the Left Behind series captured the imagination of many evangelicals with a similar fascination for charts, timelines, and escape.
But after years of study, I have come to think about Revelation less eschatologically and more missiologically. That does not mean Revelation has no eschatological dimension. It certainly does. But I would suggest that the eschatological pieces are secondary to three larger concerns: who Jesus is, what our mission is, and what the church is called to be.
Revelation Is First About Jesus
First, Revelation is about Jesus Christ. The opening line tells us this explicitly: it is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is the only book in the Bible that makes that precise claim. This is Jesus’ revelation to John for the churches in Asia Minor. Therefore, before Revelation tells us anything about beasts, bowls, trumpets, seals, or final judgment, it tells us something about Jesus.
The first chapter describes him in spectacular terms. John sees the risen Christ and falls before him as though dead. Then Jesus reaches out to him and says, “Fear not. I am.” In Greek, mē phobou, egō eimi (Rev 1:17). Jesus is making an astonishing declaration. He is God, and because he is God, there is nothing to fear.
That matters deeply for our mission. As we go into the world sharing the gospel, Jesus places his hand on our shoulder, as he did with John, and says, “Fear not. I am.” Revelation is not meant to produce fear in the people of God. It is meant to anchor us in the reality that Christ knows us, walks among us, and sends us into the world with his presence.
Revelation Redirects Us to Mission
Second, Revelation is about our mission. It tells us what remains for us to do and where our focus should be. This is where Acts 1 becomes important. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples ask, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom?” In other words, they ask an eschatological question. Jesus responds by redirecting them: “It is not for you to know times or seasons. You will be my witnesses…to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8).
That response should shape our hermeneutic of Revelation. When the people of God become preoccupied with times and seasons, Jesus redirects us to witness. He shifts our attention away from speculation about the end and toward participation in the mission of God now.
When Revelation is read through an anthropocentric lens, we become obsessed with how it affects us. We focus on the seven bowls, seven seals, seven trumpets, Armageddon, suffering, escape, and survival. We read the newspaper with one hand and the Bible with the other, trying to make Revelation explain whatever is happening in the world today. But that kind of “newspaper hermeneutic” often says more about our anxieties than it does about God.
A missiological hermeneutic asks different questions. What is Revelation telling us about God? What is it telling us about Jesus? What is it telling us about our involvement in the mission of God?
Do Not Forget the Nations
That change in focus leads us to the throne. Revelation 4 and 5 draw our attention to the worship of God and the Lamb. In Revelation 5:9, the heavenly song declares that Jesus was slain and by his blood ransomed people for God “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” That is missiological language. The Lamb’s work is not tribal, national, or ethnocentric. It is cosmic in scope and particular in embrace. Jesus redeems people from every people group and gathers them before God.
This thread continues throughout the book. Revelation 7:9 gives us the picture of a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Revelation 10:11 tells John that he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings. Revelation 14:6 speaks of an eternal gospel proclaimed to those who dwell on earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. Revelation 15:4 declares that all nations will come and worship before God.
That repeated emphasis should not be missed. The bowls, trumpets, seals, and beasts add color and drama to Revelation, but they must not distract us from the repeated refrain: do not forget the nations.
The grand narrative of Revelation is not an eschatological timeline. It is a missiologically theocentric prophecy assuring a persecuted church that God’s mission to unite all ethnic groups at the throne will be successfully completed. That is the hope of Revelation. The mission of God will not fail.
Ephesus and the Loss of First Love
The question, then, is what role the church plays in that mission. This brings us to the seven churches, particularly Ephesus.
Ephesus is one of the most important cities in the New Testament. I have argued elsewhere that a significant portion of the New Testament is connected to Ephesus. It was a center of early Christian movement, theological formation, leadership development, and cultural engagement. So when Jesus addresses Ephesus first among the seven churches, we should pay close attention.
Jesus commends the Ephesian church for two things. First, they sustained correct doctrine. They tested false apostles and rejected them. They endured patiently. They resisted emerging forms of false teaching. Paul had warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 that wolves would arise from among them, and that warning came true. Yet the faithful in Ephesus held the line.
Second, they sustained moral integrity. Jesus commends them for hating the works of the Nicolaitans. While the historical details are debated, the Nicolaitans appear to have been associated with practices that exploited women and accommodated sexual immorality. In a city shaped by symposia culture and the exploitation of courtesans, the Ephesian church rejected such practices and elevated the dignity of women. Jesus commended them for that.
But then comes the surprising word: “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
Orthodoxy Without Mission Is Not Enough
We often interpret this as though the Ephesian church had lost its emotional affection for Jesus. But Jesus has just commended them for doctrinal fidelity and moral integrity. These are not the actions of people indifferent to Christ. They were doing good things. They were doing right things. But they had lost the main thing.
I would suggest that the love they abandoned was their missional witness. They had lost their passion to go to the nations, tribes, languages, kings, and rulers with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were orthodox, moral, and structurally sound—but missionless.
That is why Jesus warns them that if they do not repent, he will remove their lampstand. The removal of the lampstand is not the loss of salvation. It is the loss of witness. The church remains structurally present, perhaps even doctrinally precise, but its light no longer shines in society.
That should sober us. A church can be correct and still fail. A church can defend truth and still lose its first love. A church can preserve morality and still abandon mission.
Good Things Must Not Replace the Main Thing
Reverend Judy, a friend who serves among the poor in Kibera, once said something I have never forgotten. We were involved in good work—clean water, medical clinics, education, and poverty alleviation. These were necessary and faithful works. But she warned us: “It would be a terrible tragedy to help those living in deplorable conditions escape poverty, only to see them miss the streets of gold.”
That is hard to hear, but it is true. Good things must never replace the main thing. The church must care for the poor, pursue justice, heal the sick, educate children, and confront systems of oppression. But we must never lose sight of the eternal gospel going to every people everywhere.
Revelation 21:4 promises that God will one day wipe away every tear, and death will be no more. Until then, death still reigns. Our daughter Michaela once reflected that perhaps the tears God wipes away are connected to our recognition of those with whom we did not share Christ. That is sobering. It should cause us to ask whether we have lost our first love.
Marching Orders for Engagement
If Revelation has an end script, it is this: it is not a chart of our escape. It is the marching orders for our engagement.
The question Revelation places before us is not whether we can decode the end. The question is whether we will demonstrate our love for Christ by joining God in his mission to see every tribe, nation, language, and people worship him.
To read Revelation missiologically is to recover its central vision: Jesus is Lord, the Lamb has ransomed the nations, the church is called to faithful witness, and the mission of God will be completed. Therefore, we must have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Do not forget the nations. Do not lose the witness. Do not abandon the first love.
Join Us for a Study of Revelation
Revelation paints a clear picture of Jesus. In this 10 week study, we’ll discover what it means to be a disciple of Jesus living in challenging times. We’ll see the mission of Jesus’ disciples along with the gospel they proclaimed. And, we’ll dive deeply into the meaning that is so often puzzling to the modern reader.
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