Prophecy expert and author Jeff Kinley believes the Book of Revelation is unique and important as it's the "last book of the Bible" and the final word God gave to "His church." Kinley, whose latest book "God's Grand Finale: Wrath, Grace, and Glory in Earth’s Last Days" explores this topic, believes the end times themes in Revelation are "very critical" and can offer important insight on the Lord.
"It does tell us about the end of time, the whole Tribulation period, heaven ... the second coming, the Antichrist, many different things," he said. "But, interestingly enough, most Christians don't realize that the Book of Revelation actually reveals who God is to us." Kinley also broke down what he said is the biggest error people make when discussing Revelation: embracing the belief the prophetic text was never meant to be understood.
"The biggest misconception about Revelation is the fact that no one can understand it," he said. "If you think about it, the word 'revelation' means 'to reveal,' so it doesn't make sense that God would write a book, name it the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and then embed it into some undecipherable code that nobody can understand." Kinley continued, "I think it can be understood if you just read it in its plain sense."
The author said some Christians back away from such a reading though due to the apocalyptic language and symbols, finding themselves confused by the First Century language and simply tuning out. Kinley pointed back to prophecies in the Old Testament to make an important parallel to how he believes Christians should view eschatological Scriptures in the New Testament.