101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation Quotes

“Those who are rich in the things of this world need to remember that all they possess come from the Creator. He owns it all. This is a relevant reminder in our day as well:”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“The bottom line is this: Don’t be afraid of or intimidated by Revelation. God wants you to understand and apply the truth of this book to your life.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“whatever is not thus explained is to be taken as literal.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“Step two of properly interpreting a symbol in Revelation is to recognize that all the symbols in the book are explained either in Revelation itself or in other parts of the Bible.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“Symbols are valuable tools of communication. Symbols communicate truth concisely, and they communicate it graphically. In Revelation 11 the apostle John could have spent a great deal of time describing the spiritual and moral conditions of Jerusalem. Instead, he called the city “Sodom and Egypt.” Quickly and vividly he communicated a volume of truth that remains graphically fixed in our minds. Symbols and figures of speech, then, represent something literal. It is the task of the interpreter to investigate this figurative language to discover what literal truth is there.11 There’s a clear example of this at the very outset of Revelation as Jesus stands in the middle of seven golden lampstands holding seven stars in His right hand (1:13,16). At the end of the chapter, Jesus identifies the seven lampstands as the seven churches of Asia and the seven stars as seven angels (1:20). Jesus Himself is providing us with a key to unlock the meaning of symbols in Revelation—that is, when we see a symbol in prophecy, we are to look for the literal referent, or the literal person, place, or event that the symbol represents.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“The proper method of interpreting the symbols in Revelation involves two steps. The first is to remember that when symbols are employed, they refer to something that is literal. Symbols are not just symbols of nothing. They aren’t meaningless. They aren’t just symbols of symbols. They refer to something that is literal. Paul Benware notes, Symbols are valuable tools of communication. Symbols communicate truth concisely, and they communicate it graphically. In Revelation 11 the apostle John could have spent a great deal of time describing the spiritual and moral conditions of Jerusalem. Instead, he called the city “Sodom and Egypt.” Quickly and vividly he communicated a volume of truth that remains graphically fixed in our minds. Symbols and figures of speech, then, represent something literal. It is the task of the interpreter to investigate this figurative language to discover what literal truth is there.11”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“While it is certainly true that Revelation looks ahead and reveals the future, it also looks back and brings together all the threads running through the first 65 books of the Bible.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“I believe the futurist approach is far superior to the other views. It is the only view that consistently follows the principles of interpreting Scripture literally.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“Futurists interpret Revelation 4–22 as describing real people and events yet to appear on the world scene.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“Idealism is not a reliable guide to the meaning of Revelation.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“The idealist view has no interpretive anchor that helps hold Revelation together. This view is extremely reader-centered and not tied to the original meaning of the text.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“The book of Revelation is filled with symbols, yet these symbols refer to things that are literal. They have literal referents (see, for example, the explanation that appears in Revelation 1:20).”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“One final reason to study Revelation is that it’s the only book of the Bible that contains a special blessing for those who read it and keep the things written in it (Revelation 1:3).”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“Revelation has a great deal to say about angels and demons. In fact, it talks about angels more than any other Bible book.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation

“In the 404 verses in Revelation, there are about 278 allusions to the Old Testament.”
― Mark Hitchcock, 101 Answers to Questions About the Book of Revelation