David Pawson on Revelation, Part 1: Why Read It?

This is the first in a series of summaries drawn from David Pawson's teaching on the book of Revelation, given in Kansas City in 2002 and available as a series of videos. I gave this one as a fifteen minute teaching in an evening meeting, and I am posting it here because the burden of it seems to me worth passing on.

A word about what this is. These articles are my summaries of Pawson's teaching, not his own words and not a transcript. Rather than trying to capture every point he made, I have tried to carry across his main pastoral message, which in this first session is essentially one thing: Revelation was written not to satisfy curiosity about prophecy but to produce hope, holiness, endurance, and faithfulness. The resources at the end will point you to Pawson himself.

"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (Revelation 1:3)

Two ways to avoid the point

Most Christians react to Revelation in one of two ways.

Some avoid it. It seems mysterious, confusing, and frightening, and there is enough else in the Bible to be getting on with.

Others become fascinated with it. Charts, timelines, newspaper headlines, and confident identifications of the beast.

Pawson observed that across church history people have either stayed well away from Revelation or become nearly obsessed with it. Neither response reflects God's purpose in giving the book. And there is a detail at the front of it that ought to settle the matter for anyone tempted to skip it. God attached something to this book that He attached to no other. He attached a blessing, and He attached it to those who read it, to those who hear it, and to those who keep what is written in it. That alone should persuade us that Revelation is not a book to avoid.

1. Revelation completes God's story

Without Revelation the Bible would end with the little letter of Jude, a warning about false teachers and a church being corrupted from within. That is a strange place to stop. Instead God concludes His Word with victory.

Revelation completes two great stories.

First, it completes history. Only God was present at creation, and only God knows how history ends. Human historians can record the past. God alone tells us both the beginning and the end.

Second, it completes the story of redemption. The Bible begins with creation and ends with a new creation. It begins in a garden and ends in a city. It begins with humanity losing fellowship with God and ends with God dwelling forever with His redeemed people.

Take Revelation away and the Bible feels unfinished, because it is.

2. It was written for ordinary believers

Sometimes people assume Revelation is a book for scholars. Pawson argued precisely the opposite.

Jesus gave this book to seven ordinary churches in Asia Minor. Many of the believers there were slaves. Most had little education. Yet Jesus expected them to understand it. Why? Because Revelation was written to strengthen believers facing persecution, not to generate endless theological debate.

Pawson used to tell the story of seminary students who asked a janitor what he made of Revelation. His answer was two words: "Jesus wins."

That does not explain every symbol. It does capture the central message, which is more than can be said for a good many longer answers.

3. It was written to prepare us

Pawson pointed to one verse as the key to the whole book.

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12)

That verse, he believed, explains why Revelation exists. Not to satisfy curiosity. To prepare Christians to remain faithful.

Two themes run through the book from end to end. Endure. Overcome. And notice that the goal is not simply surviving difficult days. Plenty of people survive. The goal is remaining faithful to Christ whatever the cost.

4. Hope for holy living

Why does God reveal the future at all?

Not so that we can predict dates. Not so that we can win arguments.

He reveals the future so that we will live differently today. Pawson summarized the practical purpose of Revelation in two words: hope and holiness. And he insisted on the order, because hope is what motivates holiness. People who genuinely believe that Christ is returning begin making decisions today in light of eternity.

Christians are people who live for tomorrow. The kingdom has already begun and has not yet been completed. We live today preparing for that future kingdom.

5. God is still on the throne

One of the great turning points of the book comes in chapters four and five. Before John is shown any judgment falling on the earth, he is first shown heaven.

Why that order? Because God wants His people to know something before they see anything else. Heaven is not in chaos. God is still reigning. His throne is unshaken. The sea before Him is perfectly calm.

The earth may appear entirely out of control. Heaven never is.

That perspective changes how a believer faces suffering, and it is given first on purpose.

6. A bigger vision of Jesus

Perhaps Pawson's greatest emphasis was this. Revelation is not mainly a book about beasts. It is a book about Christ. The title says so in the first line: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ."

In the Gospels we meet Jesus the Servant. In the Epistles we see Jesus our High Priest. In Revelation we meet Jesus the King and Judge.

John, who had leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper, now falls at His feet as one dead. Why? Because he is now seeing the glorified Christ. Eyes as a flame of fire. Feet like fine brass. The Judge of all the earth.

Studying Revelation gives us a fuller picture of Jesus than the Gospels alone can give.

So why study it

Not because we are fascinated by prophecy. Not because we enjoy solving mysteries.

We study Revelation because it calls us to remain faithful, to endure suffering, to overcome temptation, to live holy lives, and to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. It reminds us that history is moving toward God's appointed conclusion. Evil will not win. Satan's defeat is certain. Christ will reign forever.

The book opens with a blessing, and the blessing is not merely for those who read it. It is for those who hear it and take it to heart.

As Pawson liked to remind his listeners, the message of Revelation can be reduced to three words. Jesus Christ wins. And because He wins, those who remain faithful to Him will share His victory.

Resources

1. David Pawson's video series on the book of Revelation, presented in Kansas City in 2002. The series now indicates that it was updated in 2024 with clearer charts. This teaching is drawn from the first session, though it may have been taken from the 2002 version.
2. David Pawson's book Unlocking the Bible, some 1,343 pages, which offers a review not only of Revelation but of every book of the Bible.
3. Free resources and a library of Pawson's teaching are available at davidpawson.org, which is being phased out, and at the newer site davidpawson.co.uk.