K. J. Soze. Revelation Explained. Soze, 2022.

Revelation Explained is the promised sequel to The Message for the Last Days. Indeed, the first chapter in the book is labeled 17. While it continues the first book’s observations on what the Bible says about the times surrounding the return of Jesus, it does deliver what its title promises—an analysis of the Bible’s Book of Revelation.

Over the years we have read a number of books on Revelation and End Times. This reviewer credits Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth with getting him to realize the God of the Bible is the God of history. In the past few years we have reviewed The Earth’s Last Empire, which follows in Lindsey’s footsteps and Nathaniel West’s The Second Coming of Christ. Though West wrote over 100 years ago, his book seemed to follow the Bible more literally. A friend recommended it to me as probably the best book on End Times prophecy. I tended to agree, but reading Revelation Explained may make me revise my thinking.

Unlike most other writers, Soze makes no speculations about Russia or Turkey or Iran or oil wells. She simply analyzes the Bible. Many have noted that the Book of Revelation quotes the Hebrew Bible more than any other New Testament book. Revelation Explained looks at most of those quoted passages and other parallel Scriptures in the Bible, especially Daniel and Jesus’s own predictions in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. She notes that Matthew 24 and Mark 13 describe the same teaching of Jesus, but Luke 21, while similar, was delivered at a different time, which is why it says more about Jerusalem and less about the actual end of the world.

I honestly had not heard that before, but if you read the three Gospel passages carefully, it appears she might be correct. Matthew 24:3 and Mark 13:3 both tell us that Jesus was on the Mount of Olives when he shared the prophecy in those chapters. It is often called the Olivet Discourse for that reason. Luke 21:5 suggests Jesus shared the teaching in that chapter while he was still in the Temple. Luke 21:37 appears to be an attempt to clarify the distinction. All three accounts could be from the same occasion, but it seems impossible to be dogmatic about that.

Without trying to debunk anyone else’s interpretation, Soze makes a case for the Second Coming, Resurrection of the Dead, and the Judgment to come pretty quickly together. She cites a number of verses in both Testaments that make it sound like the Resurrection of the Dead follows almost immediately after the Lord’s return and that is quickly followed by Judgment.

Similarly, she takes passages about the so-called Great Tribulation during the Last Days and makes a case that Christians will have to endure that. That is more typical of Christianity throughout history. Just today I heard on the radio about a Christian couple in Pakistan attacked and killed by a mob of five hundred. News reports tell us, for example, that governments in both Russia and China are trying to regulate the churches in those countries more strictly.

She notes especially that the word trouble or tribulation do not mean the same as wrath. That is true in the Greek and Hebrew as well. True believers are not subject to God’s wrath, but that is not the same as having trouble or trials or tribulations. See, for example, John 16:33.

She observes that most people in most places in the history of the world have rituals to supposedly help them in whatever afterlife they believe there is. The problem is that if these become works-oriented rather than faith-oriented (a theme of her first book), these lead to deceptions about what happens to the soul, and eventually to the idea that people can become gods.

Her interpretation of the significance of the number 666 is simple and uncomplicated as well. The number which appears in Revelation 13:18 (LEB) is described as “the number of man” or “man’s number” or “a human number”—more accurate translations than “the number of a man.” In other words, it stands for mankind in general.¹ She notes that it is two thirds of 1,000, and the prophet Zechariah 13:8-9 states that in the last days’ tribulation a third of the people will remain loyal to the Lord.

Of course, once we start talking about such things as rituals and symbolic numbers, then we come into the question of the so-called Antichrist and his companion the False Prophet. Both represent the primal sin of the devil (see Isaiah 14:13-14) and Adam and Eve (see Genesis 3:5): that desire to take God’s place. In other words, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…” (Romans 1:25 NIV).

So it appears that there will be three reactions to this assertion of someone else claiming to be God or like God: (1) They will go along with it because they identify with the devil; (2) they will go along with it for self-preservation; or (3) they will reject it and become subject to harassment, persecution, intolerance, and even execution.

In the end, there will be a spiritual alignment from our earthly realm to God, or the devil. We will be like God [I John 3:2], or be like the devil [John 8:44]. There is no gray area, and there will be no lukewarm believers at the end of the age. All living people will come to the Valley of Decision at that time (Joel 3:14). (256)

The end of the age will be like the Days of Noah [Matthew 24:37-39]. The judgments mentioned in Genesis 6 are primarily about sin and active rebellion of mankind, not about fallen angels, famous figures or any other focus like implanted chips. Christ’s predictions in Matthew 24 speak of warnings for average people not to be led astray by false prophets. This is the core message of warning. (273)

Very basic! Yet so many people try to make things more complicated than they really are.

Soze provides many Scriptures. She often places verses side by side, even in charts, to illustrate that they are talking about the same subject. She uses many prophetic books of the Bible in doing this like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and the Letters to the Thessalonians, but especially Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation. To get a sense of this, take a look at the author’s web site which has a page on this.

The author helps the reader realize that while the study of End Times has some uncertainty to it, it is understandable. If we look at Revelation and the parallel passages it really is not tricky to get the general idea. The Bible tells us “to be prepared and look for the signs.” Another way of looking at those three responses above is this way: (1) Those who understand that the devil is behind things and like it that way; (2) those who do not understand either the spiritual reality or the signs; and (3) those who recognize the signs and await the Lord’s return.

There is a lot more to this thorough study. We recommend it. Even if readers do not agree with all the interpretations here, it should give us all things to think about and pray about.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

¹ Some Bible translations say, “It is the number of man” or an equivalent, others say “It is the number of a man” or something similar. When I was looking into this I had two copies of the same translation, the New King James Version. One phrased it the first way, the other the second way. Even the same translation shows variations in this!