The book of Revelation is a daunting undertaking to read and especially to preach. The baggage associated with it, perhaps even more in the United States since the rise of dispensationalism, makes even the most grounded and biblically informed believers afraid of trying to wade into the depths of this capstone contribution to the canon.
Thomas Schreiner’s little book on Revelation is a great way to wrap your mind around this book’s main themes in a sane and balanced way. Schreiner is a highly respected New Testament scholar at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His corpus is wide ranging, as he has tackled various theological topics, refuted the New Perspective on Paul, and most prolifically commented on massive portions of the New Testament, including Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude, and most recently Revelation.
This book’s main strength is the way it helps readers get their bearings for the whole book of Revelation. One challenge for understanding Revelation is the sheer scope of the book combined with the volume of debates among commentators and well-known Bible interpreters. Studying Revelation quickly overwhelms us with the number of details about the text and knowing about and understanding various debates about competing interpretations.
Schreiner pays good attention to themes and bigger structures, which helps readers get a better perspective on what is happening in the whole book. He focuses on instances where the same phrases or images appear repeatedly throughout the book at important points. This approach helps give a clearer understanding that Revelation has multiple structural cues. The payoff is to show that several suggestions for the structure of the book are complementary to one another. We might confuse things greatly if we stack too many outlines on top of one another. One of my professors gave so many outlines for the book of Hebrews that I no longer had any idea how to structure the book at all. Schreiner does much better at helping to see how multiple layers of structure can fit together.
Schreiner’s chapters address some of the important recurring themes in Revelation. This book will not give an exhaustive explanation of Revelation, nor is that its aim. It does, however, help provide some clues as to important issues, passages, and indicators for which we should be looking as we read through and study this book. It familiarizes readers with bigger-picture issues, helping them navigate the main points of this book.
The chapter on the millennium shows the issues at stake regarding whether we should view Revelation 20 in postmillennial, premillennial, or amillennial fashion. Schreiner does not actually land very forcefully on one interpretation, as he seems to have some sympathy for both premillennial and amillennial interpretations. Some may find this lack of resolution frustrating. At the same time, we can gain a lot from Schreiner’s discussion as he fairly dispassionately explains the strengths and weaknesses concerning the exegetical points in each view. He suggests that amillennialism has the upper hand in cohering better with the overall shape of New Testament theology and even most things within Revelation, while premillennialism has less trouble explaining a few important details, particularly about the first resurrection, in Revelation 20. Although these issues are not insurmountable, Schreiner’s discussion is a good roadmap for whatever questions remain regarding the exegesis of this important passage.
One of Schreiner’s emphasized themes is the call for saints to endure through tribulation. He is clear that Christ provides grace to sustain us as we press ahead through an age of suffering toward the new creation. His emphasis on this theme did leave me with a few questions about how to fit this motif into interpreting the rest of Revelation. I agree that Revelation contains a clear concern for saints to endure through suffering. At the same time, I wonder if the emphasis is slightly uncalibrated.
While there is a need for endurance, even the opening verses of Revelation (1:1–20) stress the power of Christ in his kingship. The book aims to give comfort to believers who are suffering. The purpose, then, is to double down on encouragement for Christ’s people that their powerful king will sustain them through the hardest difficulties. Yes, this means that we need to endure. It is, however, more of a promise about why we will endure rather than an exhortation to do so. This is compatible with Schreiner’s points, but it seems worth emphasizing.
This theme ties into Schreiner’s take on rewards and final judgment, where I think he could likely tighten his presentation. For example, he writes, “John impresses on his hearers the need to conquer. They must hear this message and not close their ears to the words of the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit. Too often, the pastoral impetus for the book of Revelation is neglected. John wrote the book for pragmatic reasons so that believers would continue to persevere in the faith and to obey when they endure suffering, when they are tempted to compromise, when they face the pressures of everyday life” (60). Again, “The dead are judged by their works, and if the requisite works were done, their names are inscribed in the book of life (20:12–15). The necessity of good works to receive a final reward is confirmed in three other texts near the end of the book (21:8; 22:12, 15)” (100). These kinds of statements raise questions about exactly how to explain the point in greater detail.
No orthodox Christian denies that good works are necessary as part of the Christian life. Schreiner’s rejection of antinomian premises is commendable in this respect. I have no disagreement with him that we need to pursue holiness throughout the life of faith. Nevertheless, his particular way of framing suggests (perhaps unintentionally) that works function more like a condition to attain approval or reward at the final judgment. The better way of explaining this necessity is Westminster Confession 16.2: “These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith” (emphasis added). Our works do not secure any blessings for us from God in this life or the next. They do, however, testify to the truth of our profession of faith, and they demonstrate the reality of faith in our hearts.
Christ has ultimately already weathered the final judgment for us, and we need not fear the last day. This truth alongside the magnitude of Christ’s kingship is the foundation of John’s pastoral burden in the book of Revelation. These blessings ground why we should pursue endurance as a right and needed application. But we endure because we have no reason to fear, not because we have some fear remaining about the last day. I imagine that Schreiner would affirm much of this with me, and I offer it merely as a clarifying reflection on what he wrote.
I recently began preaching through the book of Revelation, which at times has made me question my wisdom. At the same time, this biblical book has so far been greatly rewarding (at least to me) in setting sights on Christ in his power throughout this age of tribulation. Schreiner’s little introduction helped me get familiarized with some of the big picture and major themes in the book. Most of all, his book should encourage you to read or even to preach the book of Revelation. As S. M. Baugh says in his endorsement of this book, “The church has always needed the message of the book of Revelation, but it is as urgent now as ever before,” and Schreiner shines “especially in his presentation of the central truths of Revelation.”
©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.
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Harrison Perkins
Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a member of the of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, a Senior Research Fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, online instructor in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction. You can read more from him at Pastor Perks.
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From the Preface of the booklet (89 pages), “A Great and Terrible Love II: Heading into Armageddon On Apocalypse Field, Global Arena of Consciousness” :
“There are significant exegetical and expository deficiencies in the current Amillennial literature on the book of Revelation that weaken the comprehension – and thus the impact – of John’s Apocalypse on 21st century readers. If we don’t have sufficient – I won’t say full, as our understanding will continue to grow – comprehension of significant portions of visions and symbols in Revelation this will surely affect our being able to think and act intelligently on what the Lord is revealing to us in His final prophecy, very possibly regarding information crucial for the difficult days we are in, and those more difficult on their way.”
A good defense of the Amil view, with needed corrections
https://www.academia.edu/129604789/A_Great_and_Terrible_Love_II_Heading_into_Armageddon
Steve,
Can you give us some bullet points re your concerns about the “current Amillennial literature”? Are you distinguishing “current” from “historic”?
I read/skimmed the 1st 30 pages or so of your linked work and my first two thoughts are:
1) it seems almost like a premillennial approach to symbolic language, e.g., this symbol refers to “this specific thing” (and I’m the only guy who has seen it in the whole history of the church);
2) are you coming close to the etymological fallacy, e.g., by tying φαρμακεια to modern narcotics? You mention sorcery—have you read Mike Horton’s 2 vols (of 3) on this topic?
This aren’t criticisms exactly but initial questions. I get suspicious whenever someone says, “no one has ever seen this before.” Does that make sense?
Hello Scott, a brief reply to your question(s) – more shortly – as my schedule lightens this afternoon (I’m writing from Limassol, Cyprus).
Although not widely recognized in Reformed circles, the primary dangers of cannabis, and other very potent psychedelics / entheogens, are spiritual, not physical, and are the pharmakeia spoken of in Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 9:21; 18:23; 21:8; 22:15 all pertaining to sorcery – that is, rendering a person’s awareness to be open to the spirit world. I’ve written about it – most recently – in A Great and Terrible Love II: Heading into Armageddon, in-depth in the section, “A Satanic Masterpiece of Deception Wreaking Havoc around the world in 2025”.
In that section I mention Horton’s work:
Michael Horton, M. (2024). Shaman and Sage: The Roots of “Spiritual but Not Religious” in Antiquity (Vol. 1). (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024), has this brief note in the Introduction to this work,
“Often associated with shamanistic rituals were entheogens: drugs prepared for ‘generating the divine within.’ ”
Horton’s is a work showing the phenomena of (in his words) “spiritual but not religious”, i.e., ‘not Christian’, up through the ages, and he is aware of the entheogens place in this.
I would agree, Horton’s work is but a detailed historical work, and not of great interest to me. His follow-up work appears to be much the same. I approach the topic differently – more experientially, and accessible. I take no royalties on my books, to keep the price low.
What you say does indeed make sense – I’ll reply more fully shortly. ~Steve
Steve,
Your experiential approach to the interpretation of texts could be criticized as subjective, which was a problem the Reformation tried to address by focusing on the intent of the human author as determined by the language used in the text, the original context, and as understood in light of the broader context of Scripture.
Your thesis is that traditional Amillennialism is defective. To make your case you must do more than criticize it for failing to connect the text of the Revelation to modern narcotics.
How is this approach fundamentally different from that of those premillennial Dispensationalists who criticize Amillennialism for failing to connect the text of the Revelation to black helicopters etc?
I’m glad that you looked at Mike’s work. It’s important and provides some broader historical context. I thought that it might offer some support for at least one aspect of your thesis, i.e., the connection between φαρμακεια and sorcery.
Scott, 1st, your questions DO make sense.
2nd, I am somewhat incapacitated due to end-of-life illnesses: cancer, CAD, and other comorbidities, and have been relieved of my pastorate, that being filled in by visiting pastors and elders. I’ll try to be succinct in my answers (also, I’ve given away my entire already-thinned-out library [48 boxes] to pastors and churches who will give them good homes – so I can’t go to my usual resources), but I’ll do my best.
3rd, Historic amillennialism I would associate with Wm. Milligan of the 1800s, although he was an almost 100% idealist, whereas G.K. Beale of our day calls himself a modified or eclectic idealist, and he would be current, along with Wm. Hendriksen (early current), Dennis E. Johnson, Max Doner, Stephen Smalley, Simon J. Kistemaker, et al.
4th, The corpus of current amil literature seems to be frozen-in-place after Beale, that is, it’s not going anywhere beyond what already is. I spoke of “exegetical and expository deficiencies” – these revolve around the understanding of one word, farmakeia, pharmakeia, and one historic event seen in retrospect, and the spiritual aspects of that event. In NT (& OT) Greek, pharmakeia means sorcery or witchcraft, and NOT modern narcotics. In secular Greek it can mean, medicine, poison, or magic potion.
5th, you said, “it seems almost like a premillennial approach to symbolic language, e.g., this symbol refers to “this specific thing” (and I’m the only guy who has seen it in the whole history of the church)”.
That’s interesting, so let’s look at Scripture, notably Revelation 9:1-4 (NKJV) :
“Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
Those 7 sentences tell a big story. Who or what is the star fallen from heaven? What does the great dense smoke arising from the pit signify? What about the sun and air being darkened by the smoke? What or who are the locusts? Why can those locusts only hurt those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads? The general amil interpretation correctly exposits that these are demons let loose from the abyss, which darken the hearts and minds of the unregenerate causing them great torment.
That is correct, but too vague. Remember, this is the first of three woes. Of this woe Dennis E. Johnson says, “Though limited in duration and severity, this outbreak of demonic activity among the unbelieving carries the expression of God’s wrath in the course of history to a new level, a first woe.” (Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb, p 149)
Johnson is not the first to place this woe “in the course of history”.
Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary: Revelation
Rev. 9:12
“The three woes succeed one another in increasing intensity: the first woe follows the sounding of the fifth trumpet. It relates the release of demonic forces that are empowered to harm but not to kill for a specified duration. The second woe occurs when the sixth trumpet is blown. It reports that four angels are released to kill a third of the human race by fire, smoke, and sulfur. The calamities that occur are designed to bring the human race to repentance and faith in God; they call the people to change their sinful ways by turning back to God. THESE TWO WOES ALSO INSTRUCT THE SAINTS TO OBSERVE THE SIGNS OF THE TIME, FOR THE END IS IMMINENT. The third woe introduces God’s judgment of the dead (11:15b-19), p 292” [emphasis added]
6th, Scott, this is just to show what current amil thought consists of.
The three woes signify the ADDITION OF HISTORY along with the previous dynamic of recapitulation – the Lord’s judgments on His people’s persecutors, care of His church, the witness of His people – what we are seeing now is still recapitulation but HISTORY ALSO BEING REVEALED ALONG WITH IT.
7th, Unnoticed by many but glaringly present is an event IN HISTORY seen in the 1st woe. You said, “this seems almost like a premillennial approach to symbolic language” – No, it is history arising, for the 1st time, in the visions. And you said, it seems like I’m (Steve) “the only guy who has seen it in the whole history of the church”. No again, others have seen it, but not that many. And it comes down to the Lord having His man – His Poet – there when it happened. I refer to the event of the Woodstock / Haight Ashbury counterculture and the massive “recreational sorcery” event during that 1960’s period.
Why have so few seen it? The commentators and Christian scholars – what would they know of LSD, psilocybin, marijuana, peyote, etc – and the demonic realm that poured into the human sphere then. Those who lived clean lives – apart from those drugs – would be ignorant of those depths of evil. And please note, Scott, these are NOT “modern narcotics” – Biblical Greek will not sustain that etymological reading! Mike Horton’s phraseology hits the nail on the head: “Often associated with shamanistic rituals were ENTHEOGENS: drugs prepared for ‘GENERATING THE DIVINE WITHIN.’ ” Entheogen is a synonym for psychedelic. [emphasis added]
Woodstock was ground zero of the invasion that heralded the onslaught of the devil and his hordes into unregenerate humankind’s collective consciousness. At 84 now, I’m fairly close to my departure, but I’ve managed to create a corpus that will outlive me. That little booklet I mentioned early on here, that’s a good start, with A LOT of info on sorcery by one the LORD appointed to the task. He sees to it I don’t get big-headed by the furnaces He’s had me in; but He’s granted me the faith to cleave to His word and promises, His wretched Laureate, clothed with the robe of His righteousness.
The days of great judgment are upon the world, the U.S. in particular for now, global Babylon’s HQ. All one has to do is see what’s happening (the world over). The heatwaves of Rev 16:8-9, are not anomalies, but will get far worse.
Thanks for hearing me out, Scott. The rest of my stuff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steve-Rafalsky/author/B08R26PZ8P/allbooks?
Dear Steve,
May you know the comfort of the gospel and the presence of Christ as your approach glory!
Thank you Dr Perkins on your review of Schreiner’s commentary. When Schreiner writes:
“The dead are judged by their works, and if the requisite works were done, their names are inscribed in the book of life (20:12–15).”
This is evidence of his being influenced by John Piper and Dan Fuller, both of which threw the Confessions out of the window, and trying to reinvent the wheel, started preaching Double or Final Justification.
Also, do you know of any good books/commentaries that refute the idea of varying rewards in heaven? I read “More than Heaven” & found his (I think his name is Jefferson) exposition & re-translating of 1 Cor 2 (gold , wood hay, ), a bit verbose & far fetched,
See also the discussion of rewards here.
@RSC, your third link isn’t working? Is this correct: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9781683598206_the-heidelberg-catechism
Hi Jason,
Thanks for this. I can’t find a broken link. Can you check again?
Rev 20:12-15 does not suggest that names are written in the book of life on the basis of works at the final judgement. It suggests that the dead are judged by the books of works and thrown into the second death, and that the names found in the book of life belong to the living, that is, the saints. In this apocalyptic imagery, the book of Life is not a blank book being written as the books of works are read aloud. The Book of life is a finished work, written in Jesus’s blood.
One must know A priori, as Schreiner apparently does, that there is a final judgement on the basis of works to get anywhere near that loaded reading from Rev 20.