Horrifying beasts arising out of a chaotic sea. A ram and a goat butting heads. Horns and more horns, then a single horn. Seventy “sevens.” Kings of the north and kings of the south. What are we to make of it all in the book of Daniel?

Seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. Dragons and beasts emerging from the sea. War in heaven and on earth. A rider leading a heavenly army with a sword coming out of his mouth. A perfectly cubic New Jerusalem. What are we to make of it all in the book of Revelation?

Daniel and Revelation share many similarities. They both speak of the future using highly figurative language, lots of metaphors and similes that have symbolic meaning. These two books often strike readers today as strange and difficult to understand, but they were written to ancient audiences in languages and with imagery that were more familiar to them than to us. These books would not have struck their original audiences so strangely, and if we put some effort into exploring the meaning of these images, they will not be quite so bizarre to us either.

Daniel and Revelation are books that were written with an important message to their original audiences, a message that remains important for us today. That message as we will explain later is, “God wins!”

Both at the time of their writing and today, the people of God live in cultures that are antagonistic to faithful followers of God.

• Facebook
• Twitter

Both at the time of their writing and today, the people of God live in cultures that are antagonistic to faithful followers of God. Some cultures are more toxic than others, but it’s safe to say that every Christian experiences challenges to their faith. We will describe some of the great struggles the original audiences of Daniel and Revelation faced below, and we will show that a major purpose of these books is to provide comfort and hope for believers who face difficulties in this life. It may look like evil is in control, but the great hope of God’s people is that he will have the final victory. God will rescue his people from evildoers, from sin, and from death to live in the presence of their God.

While our attention often goes straight to the dramatic visions found in Daniel and Revelation, we don’t want to lose track of the non–visionary content of these books. Indeed, the first half of Daniel contains some of the most memorable stories found in the Old Testament, such as a den full of lions. In Revelation the book begins with letters to seven churches scattered around Asia Minor (now Turkey) when the book was written.

Before we jump into how to go about reading Daniel and Revelation, we should consider why we call them “apocalyptic” books in the first place. The term “apocalypse” actually comes from the Greek word that opens the book of Revelation and it just means “revelation” (which gives the book its name). The first verse announces that the words that follow are “the revelation (apocalypsis) from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1).

Since the book refers to itself as an apocalypse, the term caught on for both Revelation and other books like it—especially Daniel. That is why it is helpful to treat them together. Sections of other books do share similarities with this type of writing (for instance Isaiah 24–27; Ezekiel 1–3; Zechariah 9–14; Mark 13 and its parallels in other gospels), and what we learn here will be helpful for those sections of Scripture as well.

So let’s begin by thinking about the important principles to keep in mind when we are reading apocalyptic literature. Then we will take a closer look at Daniel and Revelation.