Interpreting Revelation: Understanding Genre

Interpreting Revelation Rightly

One of the reasons many struggle to understand the book of Revelation is simply a lack of understanding regarding how to approach the genre of the book. God has inspired his word to work within the human genres of literature which it was written. This means we must read Revelation not on our terms, but on the terms of the genres of literature utilized. What makes Revelation unique is a combination of three genres of literature:

 Genres of Revelation: Epistle, Prophecy, and Apocalypse. 

Revelation is a Letter. 

This may come as a big surprise to many, but, Revelation was written and meant to be read as a letter. In a casual reading, one notices that it has the familiar characteristics of a letter: (Verses 1:4-6, 9-11; 22:8-9). All of the New Testament Epistles were written to specific communities of faith, enduring specific problems, and looking for specific answers and outcomes. Revelation is no different. The apostle John wrote his letter to the 7 churches of Asia Minor. If we are going to understand the rest of the book, we need to understand the historical and cultural setting of the recipients of this letter. 

Revelation is a Prophecy

John states in 1:3 “3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”. This is important, Revelation is meant to be a blessing to the church.  It is also important to notice that the church is supposed to “keep” what is written. When we think of the word “Prophecy” we often think of forecasting future events. While that is indeed a part of prophecy, it's not the full understanding of its scope. Prophecy is speaking from God's perspective about the past, present, or future. Much of prophecy is actually God speaking to his people about their past and present realities. Revelation is a divine disclosure of God's perspective to his people. 

Revelation as an Apocalypse 

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word for “revelation” is apocalypse. For modern hearers, this word may summon thoughts of waste lands, zombies, or cataclysmic, world-ending events. However, this concept would have been foreign to the original readers. understanding of the word apocalypse. In Greek, apocalypse means “to unveil or reveal what is hidden”. An apocalypse is when someone experiences a revealing of truth that was once hidden. Commonly, apocalyptic writings in the first century were highly symbolic works written with the intention to reveal God’s activity within history to save his oppressed people. Revelation seeks to reveal Jesus as the victor of human history.

Looking for more on understanding apocalyptic literature? Check out this Bible project video. 

Bringing it all together: 

When we come to Revelation we should seek to understand the original context into which it was written. We should ask the question “How would the original readers have engaged with this text? How would they have understood it?” Only then, can we then ask what it might mean to us.

If you are looking to learn more about Revelation, join us for our Discovery class. Learn more here.

Welcome Support Staff: Sarah Phaneuf

God is growing Emmaus Ministries. After many requests for a 2nd year to our Bible school, we created two new ways for students to continue studying with Emmaus. Alumni can now apply as a second-year student or as support staff for our Bible school. The support staff role is designed to allow students to continue studying all 66 books and use the gifts and talents of our alumni to serve different aspects of the ministry. This year we are honored to announce three new support staff: Jen Welch, Sarah Phaneuf, and Jennine Van Sickle. 

Sarah was a graduate in 2022. Join us in welcoming her by reading about her journey to continue at Emmaus.

Sarah Phaneuf

“About halfway through my student year at Emmaus, I started feeling a tug to not leave. I chalked it up to knowing the next semester was going to look different with a newborn, and I thought I wanted to be able to stay fully engaged. But after finding my new groove, the tug didn’t go away - it grew stronger and stronger.

For me, Emmaus sparked a love for God’s Word that I never had before. Before my student year, I didn’t believe I could understand the Bible. I didn’t believe I would ever be able to read it in its entirety. And I didn’t believe it related to me very much. However, studying at Emmaus gave me the confidence to engage and apply the Word, not only in the classroom community, but in the silence of my own home.

I am living proof of Emmaus’ mission of “Know your Bible, Change your Life.” When I was thinking about what I would do after graduation, I couldn’t see an option that didn’t involve helping others experience God and His Word the way I got to this past year. Towards the end of the school year, students are tasked with teaching a book of the Bible and to pick an audience/setting they may teach to in the future. I desperately wanted to avoid an Emmaus style teaching because I didn’t want to accept that I MIGHT ever join the teaching staff. However, it was in preparing that lecture that I truly felt God gently calling me to join the teaching staff. So here I am! I am very much looking forward to humbly walking beside each new student on their Emmaus journey and continuously learning through teaching.”

Thank you for helping us celebrate and welcome our new staff. If you would like to learn more about our School of Biblical Studies, click here.

Welcome Support Staff: Jen Welch

God is growing Emmaus Ministries. After many requests for a 2nd year to our Bible school, this fall we created two new ways for students to continue studying with Emmaus. Alumni can now apply as a second-year student OR as support staff for our Bible school. The support staff role is designed to allow students to continue studying all 66 books and use the gifts and talents of our alumni to serve different aspects of the ministry.

Jen was a graduate last year. Join us in welcoming her by reading about her journey to continue at Emmaus.

Jen Welch

“As my last semester of Emmaus was coming to an end, I felt unsure of what was next, but had a clear desire to stay connected to the ministry. The year had been so rich growing in understanding the Bible, experiencing intentional community, and having Holy Spirit encounters — the season just felt unfinished.

As I prayed for direction, the opportunity to apply for Support Staff was presented and my heart started to leap. I remember sitting in class thinking: “this ministry has impacted me so greatly, I’d love to pour back into it somehow.”

Over the summer, I went back and studied some of the books that really stood out to me and I stumbled on Deuteronomy 30:15-16: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” I felt the Holy Spirit remind me that every choice I make to obey Him and walk in His ways, will produce Life. I know being a part of Emmaus has brought that kind of life to me and that it will continue to.

So, it’s an honor to say I’ll be on Support Staff this year helping develop students through discipleship, leading the community in Worship, and communicating stories & ministry through social media. I’m more excited than ever to see what God is going to do, because of what I’ve already seen Him do and how I know Him to be so faithful.”

Thank you for helping us celebrate and welcome our new staff. If you would like to learn more about our School of Biblical Studies, click here.

Welcome Support Staff: Jeninne Van Sickle

God is growing Emmaus Ministries. After many requests for a 2nd year to our Bible school, this fall we created two new ways for students to continue studying with Emmaus. Emmaus Alumni can now apply as a second-year student OR as support staff for our Bible school. The support staff role is designed to allow students to continue studying all 66 books and use the gifts and talents of our alumni to serve different aspects of the ministry. This year we are honored to announce three new support staff: Jen Welch, Sarah Phaenuef, and Jennine Van Sickle.

Jeninne was a graduate last year. Join us in welcoming her by reading about her journey to continue at Emmaus.

Jeninne Van Sickle

“After being out of school for 30 years, I went to Emmaus hoping that I’d be able to keep up and finish the school year. My history of being a student wasn’t a strong one, but I knew the Lord was calling me to study the Scriptures at this school. To my surprise, I found myself excited for class each and every day. The staff truly had a heart to help me be the best student I could be. The Scripture was coming to life and stepping on my toes all at the same time in the best ways. As the year went on, I found myself looking at the calendar and thinking “I don’t want this to end.” From the beginning of the year, it was clear how well the staff loved each other and worked well together with a common goal and mission. At the end of the year, we were presented with the option of applying for a 2nd-year support staff role. I wish I could say I felt the same strong calling as I did the first year, but I did not.

However, it was a very easy decision for me. I know there is so much for me to learn. Any
opportunity to sit under the teachings of the staff and work alongside them was honestly a “no brainer.” I was extremely excited to find out that there was an opening for hospitality, which is where I had worked in the past. That made it an even easier decision.

Being able to serve alongside the most amazing staff, listen to the lectures again and dive deep again into the Word sounds so exciting, and making breakfast for the incoming students feels like a faithful use of my time and talents. I am so honored to be transformed by the word of the Lord. I wasn’t sure I’d even finish my first year and now I find myself looking forward to year TWO at Emmaus.”

Thank you for helping us celebrate and welcome our new staff. If you would like to learn more about our School of Biblical Studies, click here.

Hosea's marriage showcases God's commitment to His covenant

I will make you my wife forever,

showing you righteousness and justice,

unfailing love and compassion.

I will be faithful to you and make you mine,

and you will finally know me as the Lord.

Hosea 2:19-20

These verses sound like something you would hear in wedding vows. They conjure images of a bride, in all white, glowing with happiness, a smile on her face and a tear in her eye. Her groom, facing her, awestruck by her beauty and his fortune that she chose him. Everyone in attendance is filled with happiness and hope for this couple's future.

But, that's not the image for the prophet Hosea. These words are indicative of wedding language, but the reality is they appear in his book when Gomer's infidelity has left him with 2 illegitimate children and eventually, the humiliation of buying back his own wife at the price of a slave. 

The images that come aren't of a wedding, but of a determined man bringing home a dirty, barefoot woman, clothed in rags and at the end of her rope. For her part, her return isn't motivated by love so much as it is the reality that she is out of options.

Sometimes, I think about the prophets as if they were cranky old men with long beards, holding scrolls, fingers wagging in judgment. But, Hosea reminds me that they were just humans, with hopes that were shattered and hearts that broke. Their experiences mirror God's experiences with his rebellious, stiff-necked, unfaithful people. He knows that his bride isn't standing before him glowing and white, she's dirty and wrung out. But, he wants her anyway. He uses words like unfailing love and compassion to describe his heart toward her.

That steadfastness, that relentless pursuit, that devotion, that's grace. We dress up the word grace in our minds, making it sound like a pretty, delicate, almost dainty thing. But, it's not. Grace doesn't find you on your wedding day, so much as it finds you when you're being dragged kicking and screaming because you've come to the end of yourself.