Understanding Revelation, by Robert Cook

Understanding Revelation is a self-published verse-by-verse commentary on this much misunderstood book of the Bible. Cook makes heavy use of history to interpret these prophecies, and in so doing, brings to light many details that may be helpful, especially to less-studied readers.

For example, in his discussion of Rev. 2:17, in which Jesus promises to give faithful believers "a white stone," how many readers are familiar with the ancient custom of giving an individual on trial a white stone if they have been acquitted and a black stone if they have been condemned? And, during his discussion of Rev. 3:20, how many readers are familiar with the ancient practice of pulverizing the resin of the myrrh bush to bring out the fragrances for creating anointing oil for the temple, which becomes a powerful illustration of the persecution of the saints for Christ’s name so that He might be glorified?

The author, however, has no formal training in biblical exegesis, and while there are valuable insights in this book, this lack of training shows. Correlations are often made based on apparent similarities, whether to other scriptural passages or to events in history, without a systematic examination. And while the author promises to back up all of his interpretation with scripture and history, in places, he seems to rely more in history than scripture.

His lack of exegetical training also tends to make strange doctrinal bedfellows, resulting in a doctrinal jumbalaya with, in many cases, competing foundational assumptions. 

There is no doubt about the author’s sincere desire to prepare the Body of Christ for the challenges that are ahead, however, and in this goal, I sincerely hope he succeeds. The author believes that the Church will enter the 70th Week and must be spiritually prepared to glorify the name of Christ even during the greatest trial and persecution.

On the back cover, however, he makes a bold statement. "You will find no false doctrines in this book."  That’s a hefty promise. Not even the world’s greatest theologians would dare make such a claim. While the author has since retracted that statement, acknowledging that he has revised some of his passages, the very fact that he would make this statement shows a dangerous presumption of complete knowledge. The author also hints at divine revelation in the book’s pages and claims to have seen the Shekinah glory of God. Such claims, especially combined with the acknowledgement that he has made revisions, raise red flags for me — if not of arrogance, then of naivite that comes from exuberance, combined with lack of experience.

This aside, there is a lot of interesting historical information in this book that sheds light on challenging passages. You may not agree with the author’s interpretations, but there are insights here that will stop and give you pause. Even if you do not accept all of his interpretations, you may find yourself intrigued or challenged by some of them. I, for one, had not considered the potential connection between Satan offering Jesus the kingdoms of the world — a power Satan had to give — to Satan’s indwelling of the Antichrist, who is given authority over the earth for three and one-half years.

That said, this is not a book for beginners. Although the goal of this book is to help newcomers to the Book of Revelation understand its pages, there is mix of good exegesis and bad exegesis, sound interpretations and unsound interpretations. And with all of the author’s interpretations put out as a definitive commentary, without clear and accurate distinctions between what is the author’s personal interpretation and what is scriptural fact, it would be impossible beginners to tell which is which.

Undertaking a commentary on Revelation takes a strong exegetical background, and the author often tackles subjects about which he is only partially informed. For the reader, it takes some skill to wade through the wide variety of doctrinal beliefs and distill them down. There are some interesting tidbits worth finding, but at 400 pages, readers should be ready to wade through lots of other pages on the way. There are also certain challenges resulting from poor or incomplete copyediting, including citations that are not properly formatted so they are difficult to distinguish from the rest of the text, which can also create challenges when reading.