FROM THE BOOK

Justin Hunter is a Christian minister who has spent fifty years devoted to missionary work in different parts of the world. He is fluent in several languages which has helped broaden and enrich his understanding of the Bible; the object of his tireless and dedicated study throughout the course of those years.

Written for the lay-reader, this book is the culmination of over fourteen years of research on the New Testament book of Revelation. 

It is his cherished hope that the insights and perspectives contained within the pages of this work will transcend sectarian differences on the subject and bring students of this final book of Biblical prophecy one step closer to a universal understanding of its important and joyous message.

For those that would like to know more about the author...read on...

SOME PERSONAL DETAILS

In college I fit the ABCs of the '60s; agnostic, brash, and combative. Folk music was in, Dylan was on the rise, hippies were making their appearance and pot was everywhere. So, what else would you expect? Obviously, I was far from being a Bible enthusiast.

As far as I was concerned, evolution was a fact of life and I thought I understood it pretty well. But, some arguments on evolution left me unsettled and I felt forced to go back to the drawing board and take a more serious look at it. Upon closer inspection, I realized I didn't find the “scientific proofs” for evolution compelling and I couldn’t believe the theory. Rejecting evolution led me to reason that there must be a Creator and, if so, this Creator probably left some instructions somewhere regarding the creation; a manual for the machine, as I thought of it back then.

So, I began examining different religious writings and finally came to the Bible which, in turn, led me to a biblical faith in God and then Jesus as the promised Messiah-King who would eventually to bring peace to the world. After baptism I served as a missionary in several countries and presently reside in the US. 

From the time I began studying the Bible in earnest, I was fascinated with the book of Revelation--didn’t understand much, but fascinated nonetheless. I always had it in the back of my mind to do a serious study of Revelation and every so often I would go back to it for a reread. In those days, I avoided commentaries on Revelation feeling that their influence might hinder me from forming an unbiased opinion.

And so the years passed, until about fifteen years ago when something in Revelation caught my attention; two different passages--6:11 and 7:3--had similar expressions and seemed to be related. That got me wondering whether the repetition of expressions might be observable throughout Revelation and serve as a clue to the relationship between other passages.

I was overcome by curiosity and began reading the book insatiably. Little by little I identified connections between other visions, until finally it became clear that all of them were part of a single story that could be arranged into a logical narrative. Eureka! The visions were meant to be arranged into a specific sequence of events. So, there I was, deciphering the script of the final drama of the last days--an Epic Drama--one that would really happen!

At first I would jot down points I had noticed. Then, to help myself visualize things more clearly, I placed the parallel passages side by side in tables and color-coded them for easy comparison (see examples in the Blog Post: THE BOOK IN GREATER DETAIL). It wasn’t easy, anyone that has worked with Tables in Word understands that (and don’t forget, at this point, I’m an old guy). As Red Smith said: "[Writing is easy] you simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed,” yeah...and the book comes out drop by drop. Anyway, in the end, those color-coded tables became the basis for the book's unique formatting.

After I came to the realization that a full blown narrative of the last days could be formed from the visions, I decided to write a book that focused on the drama. The biblical reasons behind the Revelation storyline would be the heart of the book. Then, I decided to write a small drama-like presentation to illustrate the narrative I was describing in the biblical portion. The novelesque story became Part 1 and the biblical exposition, Part 2.

At that point I began to read and research the vast literature on Revelation. Not that my central thesis requires knowledge of the literature on Revelation or scholarly support. Since the thesis, the Revelation story, is based solely on the text of Revelation, it stands or falls according to whether the text of Revelation supports it, nothing more.

Once I finally had all the pieces in place and could appreciate the storyline that emerged, it became clear just how much the (pretribulation) rapture doctrine distorts the Revelation narrative. Addressing the rapture was unavoidable because the doctrine is so widespread. This became Part 3. So, the book wound up with three very different sections; 1.) a short drama, 2.) a biblical exposition outlining the four acts of the drama and 3.) an in-depth look at the rapture doctrine.

I mention all this so the reader might know something about me as an author and how my personal endeavor to understand Revelation evolved into a book about An Epic Drama in Four Acts. The book is entirely the product of unsuspected discovery rather than a planned, or commissioned, exposition of long held views. I hope you read it and, more importantly, I hope you find it rewarding and that it leads you to a better understanding of the book of Revelation and the epic drama it tells.  

Justin