Lions Locusts and the Lamb: Interpreting Key Images in the Book of Revelation

The symbolism of Revelation has puzzled readers for centuries. Every generation falls prey to extreme views of interpretation. Even worse they minimize the importance of Johns Apocalypse by not teaching or preaching from it. Yet Revelation is a profound work of New Testament theology and warrants a close study. John expects and prepares believers to follow the Lamb through suffering and possible martyrdom. The problem is centered on what the symbols mean. Are they literal? Are they symbolic? Do the images refer to events and people in the first century or to the last days of planet earth? Moreover how is the book structured? Is it one vision four visions or more? Are the visions linear or recapped? Lions Locusts and the Lamb: Interpreting Key Images in the Book of Revelation demonstrates a way to unlock Johns structure and unravel his symbols. The key is to follow a logical step-by-step interpretive approach that accents the historical cultural intertextual extratextual and particularly intratextual allusions and connections. The result is a book that delivers the basic meaning of three hundred images and categorizes them into an accessible guide for teachers preachers and readers of Revelation. Kuykendall provides an excellent guide to the significant features characters themes phrases and images in Johns Apocalypse with precision reliability and exegetical sensitivity. What makes Lions Locusts and the Lamb unique and helpful is the way it covers a broad range of material in a concise manner that enables the reader to see the depth of theology and the interconnectedness of Revelations images. The format allows one to have a comprehensive ready reference on virtually every character theme and symbol. This book takes the complexities of Revelation and arranges them into clear understandable and immensely rich components. This book is incredibly well researched and draws on the insights of the best scholarship on Revelation. It is an invaluable guide and resource to understand the tapestry of symbols and theology for anyone studying Revelation. Lion Locusts and the Lamb will become required reading for my students when I teach Revelation at my university or in any church. --Alan S. Bandy Rowena R. Strickland Associate Professor of NT & Greek Oklahoma Baptist University Michael Kuykendall is professor of New Testament studies at Gateway Seminary and teaches on Gateways Pacific Northwest campus in Vancouver Washington. He is coauthor of Impact Preaching: A Case for the One-Point Expository Sermon and has published articles in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Baptist History & Heritage Journal Bible Review Journal Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and Lexham Bible Dictionary.