Exploring the Apocalypse and the Future

PREFACE

This book has been written reluctantly. Despite a life-long interest in Revelation, I resisted for many years all suggestions that I should put my thoughts into writing. For this reluctance there was a good reason. I have always been acutely conscious of the heavy responsibility that rests on one who presumes to expound the Scriptures. There is an ever-present danger that meanings will be attached to God's Word that God did not intend. The more difficult the portion of Scripture expounded, the greater the danger — and Revelation is, by common consent, an exceptionally difficult book. Frankly, the very thought that I could lead brethren in the wrong direction frightened me. Indeed it still does.

More recently, however, another thought has asserted itself. Clearly there is an urgent need for something to fill the void in our understanding of latter-day prophecy. If it is wrong to produce interpretations which could mislead, it may also be wrong to withhold interpretations which could help brethren to an understanding of the difficult days that lie ahead. This thought was put to me by a number of people, and ultimately prevailed. And so, after many years of prayerful study and much self-imposed restraint, this book appears.