Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches by James M. Hamilton Jr.

Have you been frustrated to find a balanced commentary on the book of Revelation?  I find that commentaries on Revelation fall into two camps. One camp falls into academic commentary that often makes preachers hard to find practical applications for their church audience.  The other camp places too much emphasis on the end-time prophecy fulfillment.  It often tries to fit today’s events into the biblical text.

I find Hamilton ’s commentary readable by a lay person because it results from the sermons on Revelation he had the opportunity to preach twice, one at Baptist Church of the Redeemer in Houston, TX in 2005 and the other at Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, KY from April 2009 to April 2010.  As a result, the commentary maintains a simple structure: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. He employs a story to get the attention of the readers in his introduction.  Then, he gives the overview of the text before he proceeds in a detailed discussion in the body.  Finally, he concludes with the main point so that the readers can apply the teaching in their lives.

While readable, the commentary involves a serious scholarship.  It interprets the symbols in Revelation from the first century Christians’ context, for example, the meaning of the numbers “666” in Revelation 13:18 and the identities of the great prostitute and the beast in Revelation 17.  Some have associated the numbers “666” with Papacy or with the recent technology of RFID chips being implanted in human bodies. However, Hamilton Jr. carefully evaluated the numbers as non-literal symbol.  The numbers are well understood in the first century as Emperor Nero.  Apostle John refers Nero as a wicked tyrant who persecuted Christians and demanded them to worship him as a god. Concerning the great prostitute and the beast, the historical reading would point to Babylon (the prostitute) and Rome (the beast).  These two ancient superpowers are symbols John uses to describe the worldly powers who would entice Christians to forsake their true allegiance with God and to form an alliance with the world.

The whole commentary of Revelation can be summarized with whom we will give our allegiance.  In the context of the first century Christians, they had a choice whether to be faithful followers of Jesus or to participate in the imperial cult worshipping Roman emperor as God.  In our context, our faithfulness to God is also constantly tested by the allure of the world.  We are also not immune from worshipping modern idols such as money, power, and sex.  Hamilton refers this modern idolatry as misplaced allegiance.  Therefore, he repeatedly challenges us, Christians not to forsake our allegiance with God: “Live for the Lamb not for the beast and his cheap whore” (:331).  He also invites non-believers to come to trust in Jesus: “if you are an unbeliever, you are a fool if you do not repent and trust in Jesus” (:320).

I am grateful that Hamilton publishes his sermons as one of the most readable commentary on Revelation. It aims for simplicity for lay readers so that they can capture the main idea of the passages in Revelation.  That main idea is our true allegiance to Jesus. For this reason, I am giving Hamilton’s commentary on Revelation 5 stars.