Dialogues on Revelation with John the Apostle presents an imagined dialogue between the author and John the apostle, who just received a revelation from the Lord Jesus. Is it possible to know what John might have answered to some of our questions about the book of Revelation? It is possible since we have John’s Gospel, three of his epistles, and the Old and New Testaments. Would we receive the answers from John that we hope for or expect? Would we want more answers or different answers? I don’t doubt that this will be the case, for, as the apostle Paul exclaims, “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11.33).
Yann Opsitch addresses how the book of Revelation can help us view things from the perspective of eternity and of heaven. The heavenly perspective shown to John is one full of expectation and hope. However, the earthly perspective is often one of pain and struggle. John himself was exiled on Patmos and wrote to the churches in Asia who were undergoing difficulties both internal and external. He writes that he is their “partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” and who “was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1.9).
The book contains 21 chapters, including “Fear Not,” “The Son of Man,” “A Door to Heaven,” “The Great Tribulation,” “The Mark of the Beast,” “Armageddon,” and “The Water of Life.”