My book is a new interpretation of Revelation in which I view the visions from a different perspective than most other authors. I found a clue to interpret many of the visions from J. Massyngberde Ford in the Anchor Bible Series. Ford stated that many biblical scholars believe some visions came from the preaching of John the Baptist. Ford reviewed the evidence showing which visions came from John the Baptist. If true, then the early visions are the Baptist´s announcement that the Messiah has arrived and the Baptist´s warnings what would happen should his listeners not accept the Messiah and oppose him.

Some scholars claim that the earliest visions (Chapters four through eleven), were preached for about thirty years. A Christian disciple of John the Baptist revised and added more visions just before A.D. 66. Finally in A.D. 96, John the Evangelist added the letters to the churches and made the final redaction that we have today.

This caught my imagination. If many visions originated with John the Baptist warning the Judeans, then our perception of the historical events predicted by the visions would shift from modern times to a much earlier period.

All commentaries interpret Revelation from a futurist, preterist, spiritual, or allegorical viewpoint. In addition, they also view the visions from a premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial perspective. Plus the author´s own Christian faith influences what he thinks. This triple layer of conflicting viewpoints results in widespread disagreement on any concrete historical events that might have been predicted by the visions.

This frustrates the average reader, who then picks an interpretation that appeals to him based on what he sees happening today. The result is that futurist, premillennial interpretations are the most popular and the most widely read commentaries.
I show that Judea suffered a terrible tribulation through the four winds and three woes. I show that the four winds compare very well with historical events between the crucifixion of Christ and late A.D. 66, when Vespasian conquered all Judea except Jerusalem.

The Judeans trapped in Jerusalem suffered even more acutely during the first woe when their three-year civil war destroyed all the stored food in Jerusalem, stripping them of their sustenance, just like a plague of locusts would. Disaster came during the second woe when Titus reinforced the Roman army with local allies. In A.D. 70, this army brutally conquered the starving people. The soldiers demolished the Temple and most of Jerusalem.

The third woe destroys Judea as an independent nation when Bar Kochba leads the Judeans to total defeat and exile. I provide more information about Bar Kochba and the war of A.D. 131-5 than any other book interpreting Revelation.

All of this is so harsh on Judea that, before I discuss the third woe, I try to get the reader to view Jerusalem through the eyes of history. I then describe seven important historical events that occurred on Mount Moriah, including the restoration of Israel, as God promised through Old Testament prophets.

My book then describes how the Judeans who survived Jerusalem´s destruction (the second woe) rebuild their nation over the next sixty years. While they are rebuilding their nation, Christianity spreads. The unbelieving Judeans once again try eradicating Christianity. At the same time, they accept someone who, in his own name, claimed to be the Messiah.

Under his, Bar Kochba´s, leadership, the Judeans , with 400,000 fighting men, defeat two Roman legions, liberate Palestine, and establish a fully-independent Judean commonwealth.

Rome sends Septimus Severus to reconquer Judea. Severus destroys every fort and city that harbors Judean fighting men. Severus defeats the last remnant at Bethar. The dead are left to rot unburied, most survivors flee or are forcibly deported. Other peoples immigrate to occupy the land. A temple to Jupiter rises where the Israelite Temple once stood. Jerusalem is renamed “Aelia Capitolina” in honor of Hadrian and Jupiter. So total is this defeat that, even as late as 1856, only 10,500 Jews reside in all of Palestine (Harel, p. 147).

My book shows, in detail, (with long quotes from original sources) historical events that match Revelation 4 through 16, bringing the unbelieving Judeans into a condition where they no longer can frustrate the mission of the promised one. Judea then enters the “times of the Gentiles” until, as I outline in my book, the Jewish nation is restored.
Are we now approaching the end of the “times of the Gentiles?” I wonder if the Gentile nations will be any more accepting of Christ when Christ comes the second time as the unbelieving Judeans were when Christ came the first time.

My last chapter presents an overview of previous interpretations.

I review many interpretations and many cults and sects that have derived from various interpretations of Revelation. I start with Victorinus, Tyconius, and Saint Augustine. Augustine interpreted Revelation in his City of God. I go on to Joachim of Fiore and to Martin Luther, who wrote two interpretations of Revelation.

I continue with a review of 19th century interpretations: Adam Clarke, J. G. Wetstein, and Fr. Leo G. Haydock. I also describe 19th century millennial movements like the Mormons, the Millerites, the Seventh Day Adventists, and Jehovah´s Witnesses. I reviewed Babylon the Great has Fallen, an interpretation by Jehovah´s Witnesses.

I continue with 20th century interpretations by Catholic and non-Catholic authors: Robert Baldwin, William Barclay, Adela Collins, Billy Graham, Richard Jeske, Alan Johnson, Tim LeHaye, Hal Lindsey, H. M. Morris, Robert Mounce, Pheme Perkims, Patrick K. Sena, and Fr. John Tickle, to name a few. I finished researching my manuscript in the mid-eighties. I noticed that, from 1970 to the 1990´s, at least forty more commentaries have been published. This shows the average reader´s enormous interest in this subject. It also shows that, after so many conflicting interpretations, no one has come up with a believable idea of what might have been the original intent of Revelation.

I reviewed the interpretation of David Chilton and an interpretation of the signs contained in Fr. Stefano Gobbi´s book about locutions he claims to have received from the Mother of Jesus. I also comment on an Islamic interpretation and secular interpretations by D. H. Lawrence, Carl G. Jung, and Edgar Cayce.

I tried to present a scholarly and thorough overview of all these interpretations. Many references show my source materials. I make my observations in a fair-minded, unbiased fashion.

I am the only author that shows, in depth, that Revelation can be interpreted in view of first and second century events. I am the only author to describe the early war with Rome in A.D. 60 to 66 and the final war in A.D. 131 to 135.

I am the only author to outline the history of Israel and Judea before Christ and the demise of Judea after Christ. I am the only author to outline the history of the Church before, during, and after the Reformation. I am the only author to show how the Jewish people, after seemingly total destruction, came back to their ancestral homeland, and, unparalleled in history, resurrected their original language that was already a dead language during Christ´s time.

I am the only author to outline the growth of Islam to show that all the descendants of Abraham eventually came to worship the God Abraham worshipped. I am the only author who prepared an easy-to-read, sensible, and logical linking of Revelation to the preaching of John the Baptist.

Maurice A. Williams