Interpreting Revelation

Dear Victorious,

I am reading the book of Revelation in the New Testament and am getting very frustrated. It's just plain confusing. The imagery is like reading something out of Harry Potter (or worse)! Seriously, animals with multiple heads, covered in eyeballs, with wings on all sides and that sort of thing. How on earth can we understand or interpret this kind of stuff? How can I get to what really matters in this book of the Bible?

Pedro C. - Gallup, NM

Dear Pedro,

For starters, you can stop focusing on the great imagery. Those images are representative of something much larger. For example, something covered in eyes might be illustrating the concept of all-knowing. There are good commentaries available that will help you understand the meaning of the imagery. But without them, you can still ask yourself what could be represented in such things. And when you try to answer that question, consider the context that Revelation is written in. It's the End Times, where the final battle between God and all things evil occurs. So the imagery is likely to represent some aspect of God and/or His judgment. Or it could represent some aspect of evil that is being (or about to be) judged.

Don't get caught up in this imagery either. If you can't understand it or can't imagine something that it could represent, just move on. Chalk it up to representing something that you can't (yet) understand. God will help you understand all that you need to understand. The book of Revelation is a book of judgment for those who are not in Christ Jesus. And it is a book of hope for those who are. If you understand that much, you're better off than most people!