III.

Literary Form

In communicating to his fellow Christians “what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter” (1:19), the author deliberately chose a literary vehicle that would tend to conceal his message from the enemies of the church. This vehicle was the apocalypse, a Jewish literary form characterized by an often elaborately symbolic interpretation and prediction of events (see Apocalyptic Writings). The apocalyptic symbols of Revelation are derived from prophetic books of the Old Testament and from the common Christian tradition. No doubt the earliest readers of the book understood its visions and imagery, but in the centuries since Revelation was written, the key to the original meaning of its symbolism was lost. Efforts to recover it have produced widely divergent systems of interpretation but no general recognition of any one system as nearest to the author's meaning. Apart from its religious message, Revelation continues to be valued today for its magnificent literary qualities and for its depiction of a historical crisis in Christianity.