Revelation Everyday Bible Commentary by Charles C. Ryrie
Ask a group of college freshmen to name one thing they'd like to ask God. I guarantee among the variety of responses you'll gather, questions such as "When is Jesus coming back?""When will the world end and suffering be over?" and "Can you explain the book of Revelation to me?" will be frequent. When asking my freshmen this question, I've even received the response of just "Revelation"...and I chuckle because we both know that isn't even a question, just a statement. It makes sense in this culture we live in why the women I work with on campus have so many questions about the end times. With news and media becoming every more dramatic and urgent, it can seem like the world is ending every day. Things feel chaotic and messy, and they desperately are seeking answers to these big life questions. And as I am being asked these questions with increasing frequency, I thought it would be productive to take time this summer to study Revelation in more depth than I have in the past. So when Moody Publishers began releasing books from the Everyday Bible Commentary Series this summer, I picked up a copy of the commentary on Revelation and let the learning begin! I was first attracted to this commentary because of its length. At a brief 175 pages, I knew that the content would likely be more of a helpful survey of Revelation than an intense, in-depth, more traditional commentary. And with so many thoughts, ideas, and opinions circling around the theology, symbolism, and views of Revelation, I certainly wanted something simple and not overwhelming. Charles C. Ryrie does a great job of offering a relatively general overview of each section, chapter, and passage of Revelation. And while general, the content was still extremely helpful and insightful. Overall, the author does a great job of clarifying between things the Word actually says and things that Christians throughout time and history have had different opinions on. While he has pre-tribulation, dispensationalist, and premillenialist views on Revelation, I felt he overall put effort into explaining different view points of different schools of thought. For the most part I felt he didn't over-interpret the symbolism in the book or attempt to assign undue and unsupported specific meaning to verses (because we've all heard statements such as "so-and-so is the AntiChrist" or "this location is actually in my backyard" or "the bowl of wrath will be poured out this Tuesday" etc.). This commentary did a great job of pulling the reader away from trying to over interpret events and symbols and towards focusing on the glory of God and victory of Christ. The emphasis on God's attributes causes the reader to worship the Lord and to be in awe of His greatness! Although he does stay generally unbiased throughout the commentary, I would always caution anyone reading a commentary to make sure they are focusing on the Word of God as the ultimate source of truth. Without this focus, we run the risk of elevating the words of man above the words of God. There were several instances where the author provided content or insight about a passage that I just didn't see when I looked at the Word itself. The way he interpreted a few passages just didn't always seem to line up with what I was reading in that passage in the Bible. So while his expertise was certainly helpful, it is critical to remember this book as a resource and not a flawless interpretation. My rating? 4/5 Overall, this commentary was easy to understand and read! It offered great information into different views and opinions on Revelation while overall remaining fairly unbiased to the author's own views (although not completely). It helped give me a great, basic understanding of the events in Revelation without going so in depth as to be overwhelming. I would definitely recommend it as a starting place for learning more about this last book of the Bible! *I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest, unbiased review!* |
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