After making your way through most of the gallery, you notice an art expert who is taking a group on a tour around the gallery, and you decide to tag along. He stops at all the paintings you have just looked at, but he sees things in the painting that you missed. Turns out, the “background” in these paintings is not just a random background like it may be in a photo taken with your smart phone. The artist has taken time to choose what to put in the background and, as the expert explains, it all has meaning. He talks about the painter—where he lived at the time, what the political circumstances were, why he chose certain subjects, and what it was that he was seeking to communicate through the images he used. Suddenly, you find that the painting makes sense. It’s not just a “nice picture”—but a story, a message. It has meaning.

As you mull this revelation over, you begin to feel a bit defensive about what you are learning. Why do you need to have an expert with a degree in art history to explain a painting to you? Is it true that you can’t appreciate or understand a painting unless you find an expert to explain it to you? It sounds like a lot of highbrow intellectualism, and it’s ruining your appreciation of art! You walk away and enter the gift shop that is always just before the exit. You browse for a while and see lots of books—not highbrow, overly intellectual books, but easy to read and highly informative books about many of the artists featured in the gallery. Suddenly, you realize that you don’t need to find an art expert every time you want to understand a painting. Instead, you can become more educated about the artists and their art by studying a bit. You buy a few books, take them home, and read them. You feel like your understanding has been expanded. Now you not only see the skill of the artists, but you understand the messages they were seeking to communicate. You had been looking at art through the lens of your own culture, history, ideas, and experiences, and you had missed the point. Now you are able to see art from the perspective of the painter, and you see the artist’s original intention. It’s a real “aha” moment.

This is how many people react to the Book of Revelation. They read it and process it through their own culture and experiences (including Hollywood movies, poorly made Christian movies, and a lack of knowledge of ancient history). If an expert who has been studying Revelation in-depth for many years comes along and explains the history, culture, background, meaning, and fulfillment of the prophecies in Revelation, many people’s first reaction is to dismiss it as theological intellectualism. “You mean I now have to find an expert to explain Revelation to me? The Holy Spirit isn’t enough?” they say.

But the truth is, once we “see” something, we can never “unsee” it. Once someone has explained, for example, the history of Emperor Nero, how his own subjects called him “that great beast,” and how he had statues to himself set up at the entrance to the market places in Asia Minor and insisted that no one be allowed to buy or sell without first offering worship to his statue—we can’t forget that. Every time we read Revelation 13, that knowledge now comes flooding back, and no matter how much we want to believe the latest internet video about who the Beast of Revelation is, it no longer convinces us because our gullibility has been ruined. No, we don’t have to find an expert. We can “study to show yourself approved” (2 Tim. 2:15) and become experts ourselves. The more we do this, the more we will have a hunger to dig and research and experience continual “aha” moments as the original intention of the Book of Revelation becomes clear.

Dr. Jonathan Welton is like the art expert in my illustration. He has studied Revelation and the historical background that it was written in for many years, in great depth, and from a wide range of perspectives. As you read this book, he will open your eyes to see things “in the background” that you have never seen before, and he will explain their meaning. It will create a hunger within you to do some of your own digging and research and become competent at reading the language of symbols. That’s what Revelation is—it’s an apocalypse. In today’s Western culture, we think that word means a catastrophe or a dystopian future or the end of the world. What the word actually means is “an unveiling” or “a revealing,” and it describes a particular genre of prophetic writing (which was very popular in Jewish and Christian circles from 100 BC–100 AD) in which prophecy is delivered in the language of symbols. The Book of Revelation is basically a series of symbolic pictures, and the symbols have real-world meanings. It’s an art gallery of paintings that tell a story of the end of one covenant and the beginning of a new and better covenant.

Browse through these symbolic paintings. Take time to look deeply into the background, and let your eyes be opened, your mind expanded, and your faith soar. Many thanks to Dr. Jonathan Welton for being our guide through this incredible gallery.

Let’s imagine that we were standing together in front of the painting of Napoleon, but you had never heard of Napoleon. Suddenly you step extremely close to the painting. Pointing at one tiny blotch of color, you ask, “What is this patch of color? What does it mean? What does it represent?”

In response, I gently pull on your arm, guiding you back to the place where you can properly see the whole painting. “No,” I say. “To understand the painting, you first need to step back, not forward. You must learn who Napoleon was, what wars were being fought, where they were fighting, and why.”

Like this painting, the Book of Revelation is a beautiful tapestry of images and symbols. In order to understand it, we first need to step back and look at the entire piece of art. We need to look at the big picture. Yet often people do exactly the opposite. Like you did in our imaginary scenario, they move too close to the painting and point at tiny patches of color, demanding isolated interpretations of those particles.

As one who would like to explain this painting, I ask that we start by standing back and taking in the painting at once, as a whole. Then I will tell you about the artist who painted it, why He painted it, and the historical context that surrounded this painter and influenced the way He created His painting. We need to understand these points surrounding the painting before we step closer to examine the details. If we don’t do this first, our interpretation of it will be slanted by personal preference. Instead, we want our interpretation to be shaped by an understanding of what the artist intended. We are most likely to get this right if we look at the big picture first. Step one in getting the big picture in view is becoming familiar with the four main ways that people interpret Revelation.

To understand this, let’s imagine four art experts standing in front of our large old painting called the Book of Revelation, and each expert has been trained by one of these four schools of thought. A passerby joins the group of experts and begins to ask the four important questions in hopes of understanding the painting.

He begins with the first question: “When was this painting created?”

The preterist responds first. “It was likely painted during the reign of Nero, based on the prophecy about seven kings listed in Revelation 17. It was painted regarding the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, and as a prophecy of that event, it was written in advance of that event.”

Then the idealist, futurist, and historicist chime in together. “It doesn’t really matter when it was painted,” they say, “because the content is prophetic. It is probably about distant events and mysterious symbols.

The novice then introduces his second question, “How was the painting painted?” he asks. “What medium did the artist use?”

Once again, the preterist quickly speaks, saying, “Revelation was painted in the same manner as the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, which all describe the first destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. John chose this style because it would have clearly shown his audience that it was about the forthcoming second destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.”

The other three nodded in mild agreement, and then voice their differences. “We do agree that Revelation is full of Old Testament symbolism and imagery, yet we definitely do not agree that John painted it this way because of the AD 70 destruction.”

The idealist adds, “John chose these symbols to point to the ongoing spiritual cosmic struggle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light, in which light ultimately wins.”

“I’d say, instead, that he cloaked all of church history in mysterious symbolism centuries before it would unfold as it has and continues to unfold,” the historicist says.

Finally, the futurist adds his point of view. “I agree that there are symbols and Old Testament references, but I believe that it will all make sense someday in the future when these events begin.”

“All this is very interesting,” the novice says. “But, why did the artist paint this painting?”

This time, the historicist chimes in first. “John was compelled to paint all of human history into one work of art. He painted it in advance of all the major coming events, centuries ahead of time. This has always been the nature of prophecy.”

The futurist shook his head, saying, “I believe John was transported in a vision to the distant future, and when he returned from his vision, he painted all that he witnessed about the time of the end of human history.”

After quietly thinking for a few moments, the idealist says, “I disagree with you both. John was a very mystical man. We see this from his strange Gospel account, which is so very different from the other three. I believe John wanted to show the cosmic struggle and the victory of Jesus in grand splendor.”

At last, the preterist speaks. “I keep telling you guys, the early church was surviving under brutal persecution, and in that context, John said his painting was understandable (Rev. 13:18) and a blessing (Rev. 1:3; 22:7) to those who saw it. If his painting was about the distant future or served as an overlay of church history, how would this encourage them? I believe the Christians in the first century knew exactly what John’s painting meant.”

“OK. I can see the four of you don’t agree on much,” says the novice, chuckling. “Perhaps you can give me an answer to my final question: Where was the painting painted? What location does it reference?”

“The painting,” says the idealist, “represents the heavenlies and is painted with all the spiritual pictures and components expected of a story about the battle between light and darkness.”

“I disagree,” says the futurist. “The location referred to in the painting is the planet earth in the future.”

The historicist then adds his perspective. “The location isn’t so important, considering that this has been unfolding and will continue to unfold over time. Although the city with seven hills is probably Rome, (Rev. 17:9) and Babylon the Harlot is probably the Roman Catholic Church.”

The preterist answers last, saying, “The numbers, dimensions, measurements, and specifics that are recorded in the painting all made perfect sense to first-century Christians. There was very little mystery to the imagery that John used to convey his message to his intended audience. Only as the dust of church history has settled has this painting become more mysterious.”

The other three stare in disbelief at the preterist, who always seemed to be proposing the most unusual ideas. Our bystander novice smiles and thanks his expert friends. “Clearly,” he says, “there are four different ways to look at this painting. Now I will have to decide which one I like the best.”

This imaginary dialogue gives us a basic understanding of each of these viewpoints. In the next chapter, we will examine the answers to the bystander’s four important questions more closely. These questions are the key to helping us see the big picture of Revelation.