The book of Revelation is filled with images, wild beast, angels and so much more. But what is the Book of Revelation all about? The Book of Revelation is about Jesus. It paints a picture of how God will come out triumphant through the crisis. There are eight basic visions in the Book of Revelation and each one is followed by a heavenly vision. It is as if John is constantly having his attention shifted from the horizontal which represents earth to the vertical representing heaven.

In Revelation before John is shown the carnage, the bloodshed, and the difficulties that the people of God must experience. His attention is diverted upwards towards heaven where he sees God on His throne, and he is in charge of the universe and there is order in heaven.

Revelation begins with hope and it ends with hope. Revelation begins by showing John a vision of the glorified Christ, it ends with a vision of the earth made new. Each heavenly vision that John sees shows that God is in control.

The Book of Revelation is not written in chronological order and has some repetition. The 7 churches, 7 seals and 7 trumpets cover the same time period. It is structured in such a way that the second half is a mirror of the first half.

In Revelation 1:10-3:22 the church is militant but in Revelation 21:5-22:5 we see the church is triumphant. In Revelation 4:1-8:1 under the seven seals we see the work of salvation, however Revelation 19:1-21:4, God is involved in the judgment process and giving out rewards. This is repeated throughout the book.

In John’s visions it begins with John’s attention focused on heaven. Then it moves to a basic prophetic description (e.g. Seven Seals), followed by an interlude then it concludes with and end time events. The lesson we learn here is that God is in control, and before we go out to fight the enemy, we should first face the throne.

Each vision ends with an Eschatological culmination (end-time event). The message God wanted John and the rest of us to leave with is that He always wins. Truly God is in control, and He wants us to have hope that we may shine as the stars in the sky and know that His church will come forth triumphant through the crises.

--Strand, Kenneth A. “The Eight Basic Visions.” In Symposium on Revelation: Introductory and Exegetical Studies, Book 1, edited by Frank B. Holbrook. Vol. 6. Daniel and Revelation Committee Series. Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1992.