God’s church needed to be guided, for it was a time when Rome wanted to get rid of it. That caused the body of Christ to be fearful and confused, even to the point of it questioning and pleading for God’s protection. On top of that, there was the threat of internal disruption, what with inerrant doctrines and worldly practices having entered the church.

God saw the need for correction and to give hope and encouragement to His struggling people. He decided to provide His guidance through a continuity of revelations of the current time and future. As they came to pass, these revelations would bring understanding to the things that were taking place and to the things that were to come. And therein lies the purpose for the book of Revelation. The book’s purpose is to show Christianity the things that are and the things that shortly must take place (Rev 1: 1).

(Incidentally, the word “shortly” or in other translations “soon,” has to be viewed from God’s perspective.  For with God, a thousand years is like one day (2 Peter 3: 8). Also keep in mind that what’s shown to John in vision is not meant to be taken literally, as in, say a photograph. That’s because Rev. 1: 1 goes on to say that the scenes were signified by Jesus. In other words, while the scenes and events are literal, God chose to express or represent them in symbolic or figurative language. John too sometimes added his own symbols when he couldn’t come up with an adequate, descriptive human word for what he saw. That’s why he sometimes used the words “like” and “as.”)

Revelation’s purpose is God’s plan for the early church and for the generations of Christianity that would follow; a plan that shows Jesus’ involvement in the affairs of His people; showing that He is present with them and working on their behalf until the end of the age. It is a plan to instill awareness of unfolding events; a plan designed to keep the Christian in a state of preparedness. It reinforces that which is necessary for salvation, and ultimately is a reminder that God is still in control.