Book Review: The Heart of Revelation by J. Scott Darvall

I recently heard Greg Beale say that people in the church want Revelation preached while pastors want to avoid preaching it. The book of Revelation has been a great deal of confusion and controversy over the years especially here in America. If you have a collection of commentaries by John Calvin, you will notice there is not one for Revelation because he thought it was too weird.

J. Scott Darvall, in his book, The Heart of Revelation, said there are two responses from Christians regarding Revelation. The first response is we avoid it. We avoid it like we would avoid Leviticus in our Bible reading plan. When sermons are preached on Revelation, people will tune out. No one wants to a buy a new commentary on Revelation.

The second response to Revelation is becoming obsessed with it. Think about it. We have more movies and fiction books on Revelation than any other Biblical writing. We become obsess over who the Antichrist is, what is the Mark of the Beast, and who are the 144,000. How many of you have seen preachers using charts to calculate the return of Christ. I personally have seen prophecy books sold at Wal-Mart right next to Fifty Shades of Grey.

What Darvall does in this book is not give another one of those books which we guess what we think God showed the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos. He communicates that Revelation is all about God. It is all about how God will bring into fruition His eternal plan that He had since the beginning of time.

Darvall does not specifically tell you what end time philosophy he believes, but one would assume from reading this book, he is not dispensational. As I said, he does not stress any of those end time beliefs but points to the beauty of the book which is the worship of God, the end of evil, and Jesus reigning forever and ever.

I loved this book. I think book will help those who are scared of Revelation. Those who wish to read Revelation should have this book by their side. I would definitely use this book in my studies of Revelation.

Thanks Baker Books for letting me review this book.