To understand the book of Revelation, one must understand the literary style John employs.
John makes use of CHIASTIC STRUCTURE, a common literary device of the ancient world... Babylonia, Israel, Greece, and Rome.
Chiasms are found frequently in the Old Testament.
When a passage is arranged as a chiasm, it is divided, with the first half being a mirror image of the second half.
In other words, as we progress forward in the first half and backward in the second half, we find words, phrases, symbols, and themes that have a close relationship to one another.
This is definitely the case in Revelation; as we move through the first half of the book, we find that it is divided into sections that have the same words and themes as are found in the analogous sections of the second half.
This is why Revelation is not meant to be read in a sequence of events, from beginning to end, but compare/contrast/repeat.
Tonight we will go through some of Revelation's most difficult passages.
When we understand the order in which the book should be read, we will have a much clearer understanding of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
