The attack by Satan on the Lord’s church might leave the impression that he is the ultimate victor in the battle between good and evil, and over God’s people. The many attacks through the centuries presents the false concept that he is stronger than God and God’s people as the church is trampled under the continuous persecutions that are designed to destroy and annihilate. He first used nationalistic Judaism against Christians in the first century and then racheted up his attack by using the persecuting Roman government and her rulers to beat down faithful followers of Christ.
The book of Revelation addresses the difficulties which confronted the church in the first century. The principles taught in this book concerning God’s care and protection for His people are yet relevant in the 21st century. The central theme of Revelation is that God will ultimately save and protect His church and will not allow Satan to destroy it. God encourages His people to be overcomers in their struggles against the wiles of the devil and promises great rewards for them with the ultimate reward revealed in chapters twenty-one and twenty-two, that reward being heaven itself where all persecutions and tribulations will be forgotten in the presence and splendor of God Himself.
As you read this book you will experience the emotions of those Christians in the first century who, by their faithful lives, paved the way for us and showed us how to live victoriously in the 21st century. You will feel with them as they plead for God to vindicate them and hear God’s response to His people. You will marvel at the response of all creation to God’s victory over the earth and sea beast and the great harlot. You will shout with them: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6b).
A quotation from the Forward in Jim McGuiggan’s Commentary on Revelation says it well:
“Revelation has one grand thrust. Comfort in the knowledge of ultimate triumph! It has an historical setting and deals with historical events. It is Rome against the Church–it is Satan against Jesus! The principles involved in the book–the principles of good and evil–are timeless. Truth will triumph whether in the first centuries or in these. Evil will wage an unceasing war with truth. The record of the victory of the Church of God over Rome stands for all time as a token of its deathlessness! Of the supremacy of its Lord; the truth of its doctrines; the strength of its hope and the reality of its joys.”
