An Introduction to Revelation: The One Vision

The book of Revelation is one of the most fascinating books ever written. For 2000 years, man has tried to interpret it with no real surety of their interpretation being correct. Joseph Smith said it was the plainest book to understand. What key did he know of that would make such a seemingly complex book so simple to understand? The answer is simply to understand ancient cosmic imagery.

Understanding Revelation

Revelation is much more than an eschatological writing of future tribulations to befall the world in a period of physical and political upheaval immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. With the aid of a new perspective, the mystery of that book vanishes. Johns vision was an attempt to reconcile the cultural and religious traditions of the Gentiles with that of the Jews, melding them into a new, common tradition for the Christian church that would allow it to appeal to both communities.
Multiple times John borrowed from older, pagan traditions. Revelation also holds similarities to the Joseph Smith papyri. Much of Revelation is a description of a planetary encounter to Earth and electrical phenomenon seen in Earths ancient skies, as is the story of the Exodus. The similarities between the Exodus and Revelation are far beyond coincidence.
John created an admixture of ancient cultural motifs and Christian beliefs that would give the ring of familiarity to doctrines of the early Christian church among any of his ‘gentile’ contemporaries - a calculated attempt to give Christianity the proper traditional underpinnings necessary to validate any religion, thus making it more acceptable to a much wider audience.
Given this alternative view, we can now see John’s vision with new eyes. Here is the answer to the riddle that is Revelation: The multitude of pagan gods became mythic characters and images in John’s vision—the strange beasts, creatures, kings, women and other icons—in a revised series of sacred dramas, each one calculated to show Christ’s place in those traditions.
Revelation is a key to the past, to prophecy, and to catastrophes. It is also a warning, and a call to repentance, using prophetic imagery from the past to describe horrible catastrophes in the future. This view of Revelation is the answer to many puzzling questions. Though each describes it in his own way, it is a common vision seen by all prophets. We call it The One Vision.
1. Understanding John's apocalypse and In need of a revelation
2. The book of revelations: a new perspective and the signs of the exodus
4. Revelation: Chapter 1
5. Revelation: Chapter 2