What Is the Focus of the Book of Revelation?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Revelation 6-14 in a lesson titled “They Overcame … by the Blood of the Lamb.” The lesson was preceded by this counsel given by President Boyd K. Packer, then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “If the language of the scriptures at first seems strange to you, keep reading. Soon you will come to recognize the beauty and power found on those pages” (“The Key to Spiritual Protection,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 27). The lesson was then introduced in the following paragraph. 

Imagine a woman “travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” Now imagine “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns” hovering over the woman, poised to “devour her child as soon as it was born” (Revelation 12:2-4). To understand these verses of John’s revelation, remember that these images represent the Church and kingdom of God and the peril they would face. For the Saints who experienced intense persecution in John’s day, victory over evil may not have seemed likely. This victory can also be hard to foresee in a day like ours, when the adversary is at “war with the saints” and has “power … over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (Revelation 13:7). But the end of John’s revelation gloriously shows that good will prevail over evil. Babylon will fall. And the Saints will come “out of great tribulation” with robes of white—not because their robes were never stained but because the Saints will “have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

The principle for this discussion is found in Revelation 6-11 “John saw many events of earth’s history, especially those of the latter days.” Many people have difficulty understanding the figures discussed, so you should not feel alone if you struggle. The book of Revelation is one single revelation, and the message of the book is “God wins, and Satan loses.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith had questions about the images in the book of Revelation, and he shared most of the answers with others. Doctrine and Covenant 77 is a complete section with questions about images in the book of Revelation and the answers given by the Holy Ghost.

The Prophet Joseph Smith learned to understand the book of Revelation. In a conference of the Church on April 8, 1843, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The book of Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written.” (History of the Church, 5:342.)

Besides Doctrine and Covenants 77, which answers questions about images in the book of Revelation, the Prophet Joseph Smith gave us other information that helps us to understand this book of scripture. From this information, we learn that other prophets saw much of the history that is contained in the book of Revelation. He translated the Book of Mormon and the books of Abraham and Moses, which are published in the Doctrine and Covenants. From these translated scriptures we have the stories of Nephi, the brother of Jared, Moses, and Enoch, who all had similar experiences to that of John the Revelator. We learn from Nephi that only John was foreordained to write the history (1 Nephi 14:25-26).

In the chapters studied this week, I read about a book with seven seals. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that this book and its seals represent the story of the earth’s “temporal existence,” with each seal representing a thousand years (see Doctrine and Covenants 77:6-7). The first four seals are summarized in John’s vision in only eight verses (Revelation 6:1-8). The next three verses describe the fifth seal (verses 9-11).

The events of the last two seals are covered in most of the rest of the book of Revelation. This means that the main focus of John’s vision is our days and the future. Why was John so focused on the latter days and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?