Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches

Written by James M. Hamilton Jr Reviewed By Joe Tyrpak

Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches is Hamilton's first book-length publication since his 600-page God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010). In God's Glory Hamilton devoted ten pages (pp. 541-51) to an examination of the biblical theology of Revelation, focusing on Revelation's chiastic structure (p. 544) and demonstrating how John's consummate prophecy rearticulates biblical patterns such as the exodus, the conquest, and the return from exile (pp. 546-48). There he also anticipates this forthcoming work on Revelation (p. 542). Not surprisingly then, Hamilton's full-length commentary on Revelation consistently highlights his understanding of the dominant pattern in Scripture: God's glory in salvation through judgment (e.g., pp. 35, 196, 228, 389).

Appropriate to the Preaching the Word series, Revelation compiles sermons that Hamilton originally preached in 2005 to Baptist Church of the Redeemer in Houston and then preached again in greater detail in 2009-2010 to Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville (p. 15). So in keeping with their original intent-Sunday sermons preached to a conservative Southern Baptist congregation-Hamilton's writing style is consistently preachy and poetic, and his theological perspective is unremittingly evangelical and conservative: he preaches the deity of Christ (pp. 15, 76, 138, 157, 354, 359), the penal substitutionary atonement (p. 36), the exclusivity of faith in Christ as opposed to inclusivism or universalism (p. 262), the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture (pp. 15, 31, 39), and the need for personal conversion (e.g., pp. 25, 26, 27, 37, 51, 59, 77, 98). But in contrast to many evangelical approaches to Revelation, Hamilton's tone is quietly sober and generally hopeful, not sensational and pessimistic. Hamilton is premillennial (pp. 368, 432), but despite his dispensational background at Dallas Theological Seminary (p. 169), his position on the rapture is historic premillennial (p. 116). His understanding of Revelation's imagery is usually typological rather than literal.

Each of Hamilton's 37 chapters reads like a stand-alone expository sermon: he opens with a sermon introduction followed by briefly articulating the primary human need that the passage is addressing. Then after setting the passage in the context of the book, Hamilton unpacks the main points in the exact order of the passage, interweaving practical application throughout, and finishes with a succinct summary and conclusion.

Hamilton understands the book of Revelation to have three major divisions: chapters 1-3, 4-16, and 17-22 (p. 19). He teaches that these three sections fit within an overall chiastic structure (pp. 164-66, 280). According to his view, the chiastic center of the book is the glorious announcement in 11:15 (p. 164).

Hamilton's commentary is helpful in several ways. First, his interpretive conclusions are generally convincing. His chiastic structure explains the placement of 11:15 as well as the complementary accounts of the church (Rev 2-3; 21-22), the divine throne room (Rev 4-5; 19-20) and the 144,000 (Rev 7; 14). His historic premillennial viewpoint also makes sense of the numerous, complementary, and varied references to time periods throughout the book (see his tables on pp. 369-72). Further, Hamilton's hermeneutic consistently understands the apocalyptic imagery to refer back to OT prophecy. Hence, in his view, Revelation evidences how John's mind was deeply saturated in the OT, not how the Beloved Disciple was grasping for familiar metaphors in an attempt to literally describe futuristic phenomena (i.e., as if the only way John could describe modern military helicopters was in terms of “huge locust with stingers”).

A second strength is the exemplary quality of Hamilton's messages. This commentary is full of great sermon material. Several of Hamilton's sermon introductions and illustrations are riveting. These include George Washington's decisive clarity in dealing with a traitor (p. 93),Jim Boice's trust in God's sovereignty as he lost the battle to cancer (p. 160), James Joyce's horrifying depiction of hell (p. 279), the tragic choice of Natasha Rostov (p. 345), the protection and worth of the gold at Fort Knox (p. 391), and a warning sign at the edge of the Grand Canyon (p. 414). Every illustration throughout the commentary is thematically catalogued in a special “Index of Sermon Illustrations” (pp. 453-57). Hamilton also makes pointed, varied applications throughout his sermons. His most consistent applications include admonitions that Christians soak themselves in the Scriptures (pp. 32, 34, 39, 70, 146, 183, 190, 261, 267, 274, 320, 332, 386, 403, 407, 409, 417, 419) and that seemingly insignificant churches take heart in the great blessings that are theirs in Christ (e.g., pp. 21-23, 56, 78, 114, 131, 141, 159, 191).

Third, Hamilton's expositions include gems for meditation. Christians that read Hamilton's commentary on Revelation will find numerous paragraphs that cause them to pause, contemplate, examine themselves, pray, and worship. Believers would be wise to compile the most significant of these concepts for their own repeated, disciplined-even daily-“reality checks.” In addition to its benefits for every Christian, pastors in particular will find several concepts that provide the foundation for whole sermons or whole series of sermons. Some of the little windows that invite further exploration and elaboration include how the four living creatures reflect God's glory (p. 148), the four OT allusions wrapped up in the imagery of Rev 11:4-6 (pp. 237-38), the marriage motif throughout Scripture (pp. 350-51), the connection that Hamilton draws between Rev21 and 1 Cor3:21-23 (pp. 387-88), the tree of life imagery throughout Scripture (p. 403), and the Bible's most fearful command (pp. 413-14).

While the book overwhelmingly succeeds in its mission-to provide pastors with a compelling example of how to preach through Revelation-it nevertheless has a few weaknesses as a commentary: some frustrating typographic features, some lean explanations, and relatively limited interaction. Regarding the commentary's formatting, the book would better serve its readers if it employed footnotes rather than frustrating endnotes, if it had bolder headings, and if it included marginal verse notations for speedy reference (especially since Hamilton always follows the text in sequential order). Further, although some of Hamilton's expositions of OT allusions are glorious (e.g., Rev 1:12-16 [pp. 45-46]; 11:3-6 [pp. 237-29]; 12:1-2 [pp. 246-47]), many others provide little more than a cross-reference with a line or two of explanation (e.g., Zech 12:10 in Rev 1:7 [p. 38]; Ps 2:6-7 in Rev 2:26-27 [p. 101]; Is 22:22 in Rev 3:7 [p. 113]). Such limited explanations leave the reader unaware of the original context and of the sublime beauty of Revelation's climactic allusion. Finally, Hamilton's commentary evidences little interaction with varying interpretations and other secondary literature. Instead, he frequently provides only a brief rationale for his own interpretation, and when he does interact with other commentators, he relies almost exclusively on Bauckham, Beale, and Osborne.

However, although one might have wished that Hamilton had considered more interpretational options, his volume would then lose its preaching force. One might want Hamilton to interact with more commentaries, but then his comments might lose much of their impassioned, prophetic power. While a more technical, academic commentary on Revelation must have its place in the preacher's library, so should a sober, warm, evangelistic, direct, unencumbered commentary on Revelation. That is what Hamilton delivers. Revelation is profoundly inspiring and spiritually convicting from its first chapter. It is highly applicable and accessible because, rather than expending much effort in sorting through all of the interpretational options and all of the secondary literature before finally proving why he takes his position, Hamilton chooses to jump to the interpretational “bottom line” and invest most of his effort showing his hearers how the final 22 chapters of God's Word relate to them.


Joe Tyrpak

Joe Tyrpak
Tri-County Bible Church
Madison, Ohio, USA

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