MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 6, 2024 – A few years ago, I met a guy who’d all but memorized the book of Revelation. Every time I saw him, he would immediately start quoting verses, such as those pertaining to the mark of the beast or the four horses of the apocalypse and asking me if I thought what was in the verses was happening now. We had some interesting conversations, but it wasn’t until much later that I learned the guy wasn’t a Christian. I knew he wasn’t born again, but I’d just assumed he was a Christian, since he’d mentioned attending a church in New York City and he listened to Christian pastors and Christian music while driving. As it turns out, he told me he didn’t really believe in anything, he just found the book of Revelation fascinating.

Many people, Christian and otherwise, find Revelation fascinating. Some find it so fascinating they’re using it as a script. But for us, as born-again believers, the book of Revelation should be like every other book in the Bible – we’re meant to learn from it, not speculate over it, keeping in mind that speculating over scripture is a form of adding to it or taking away from it, which is a big no-no we’ve been warned against doing at the end of Revelation. If you want to know what something in scripture means, ask God, not Google.

I find it very telling that the more marginal the believer, the greater the focus on the dark side of the book’s prophecies. Because the book of Revelation definitely has two sides – a dark side and a light side, and those who are attracted to the dark are not surprisingly also drawn to the prophecies in the book depicting the dark.

The main message in the book of Revelation is not the ravaging of Earth and its people during the tribulation period or the rise of the anti-Christ or the installation of the beast system. No; those visions are not central to the book of Revelation and so they shouldn’t absorb us like they absorb the guy I mentioned above who’s not a Christian. The main message in Revelation is written in red font at the start of the book. Those words come directly from God through Jesus, and so deserve our utmost attention and focus.

That the book of Revelation begins with God’s words is also very telling. Certainly, the rest of the book is informative though highly symbolic in sections, as prophecy is wont to be. God’s words, on the other hand, are plain-spoken and don’t require any interpretation. They just require us to read them and pay close attention to what they’re saying.

If you, a born-again believer, haven’t read – I mean, really read – God’s words at the beginning of the book of Revelation, you should do so ASAP, because God’s talking to you in those words. The rest of the book is basically a lot of images shown to John that could be falsely applied to any number of scenarios, but God’s words are definitive and clear: They’re not meant to confuse or even fascinate; they’re meant to edify, comfort, and warn.

You’ll find yourself depicted somewhere in God’s red-letter words to his Church. One part of you might be in one city and another part of you might be in another, but if you’re born-again, you’re definitely being spoken to in one or more of the seven cities, and it’s worth your time to find out exactly which one(s). I hope and pray you don’t locate yourself in Laodicea, but if you do, consider it fair warning that it’s high time to shift your gaze away from the dark side of Revelation and focus on the light.