Strong material concerning key passages such as the 144,000, the beasts, and the millennium. Some other sections are less thoughtful.

I took a risk in buying this book. Because of the proliferation of dispensationalism in recent decades, I all but completely quit reading books about Revelation since I have never been able to reconcile dispensationalism with what I read in Scripture and found their arguments to be lacking. Though I found William Hendrickson's "More Than Conquerors" incredibly helpful and insightful there were a few statements he made that seemed to me to be convenient oversimplifications. Dennis Johnson does a great job of pulling from numerous sources like G.K. Beale, William Hendrickson, Richard Bauckham and many others to compile their superb insights, but doesn't overlook the oversimplifications I found in Hendrickson's work. Dennis' book is laid out in a smart fashion and is written in laymen's language. He explains every point he makes, mentioning alternatives and discussing what their strengths and weaknesses are. Perhaps the wisest decision Johnson makes is a refusal to even mention his position on that all too controversial subject (the Millennium) until the very end of the book in which he presents all positions, documenting their strengths and their challenges. His insights and those he has gleaned from other solid scholars make what I think may be an impenetrable case for the right understanding of the Revelation. This one is not going to be a "quick" read but I nevertheless believe everyone would benefit from owning a copy and giving their attention to it. As Johnson points out, the Revelation was never given as a secret for only the special initiates to understand. It was given as an Unveiling, a disclosure, to a first century church who's membership was largely illiterate, who couldn't read it for themselves and could only listen as one church person/leader read it aloud. Yet, they were expected to understand it with that hearing....without secret manuscript codes, without reference Bibles and flipping back and forth to compare references, without lexicons and dictionaries, without fancy Bible software. And, so can we understand it the same way they did.

I read a number of commentaries on the book of Revelation from many perspectives. This by far was the most illuminating and convincing. Thanks to Nathan Lewis for the referral.

Very clear presentation of the amil idealistic end times view.

Interesting commentary on the book of Revelation from a idealism point of view, which I did not know even existed. More study is needed on my part on eschatology. The book as a whole was informative, I would suggest it, but not phenomenal.

This one took me a while to finish, but in the end I was very impressed with Johnson's interpretations on Revelation. He follows the Idealist or Recapitulation interpretation to the book. It wasn't a lite read, but it wasn't a critical commentary either: somewhere in between. The reader needs to be familiar with the text of Revelation before reading Johnson, as he doesnt paste the text in his commentary as he goes along, so you are expected to know the verses he is talking about by the heading and comments he gives. His best chapters I thought were on Revelation 11, 19, and 20. These are all difficult chapters which is perhaps why I thought he did best on them specifically. Every once in a while he will take a position on a difficult text that I disagree with, but he is good about giving the various views typically. He tries not to give away what he is at the beginning: preterist, futurist, continuous historical, or idealist. And one of the things I appreciate about his take on interpreting the book is that he keeps in mind the original audience and how they would have received it for the first time. They would have "heard" it read to them in the church. Thus, elaborate interpretations that involve the technical recounting of bizarre number sequences and ever so subtle repetitions throughout the book are suspect, for how would the original readers have picked up on these things auditorilly if we cannot pick up on them visually by and large? If you want to study Revelation, read a more introductory book and then get ahold of Johnson. I think you will be glad you did.

Probably one of the best commentaries on Revelation in several years. Well-written and easy to read. In a sense, he has distilled Beale's magisterial work on Revelation into a very readable work. Yet, Johnson maintains his own independence and conclusions but no library on Revelation is complete without Beale.

Very accessible commentary on Revelation that helps the modern reader to understand how the text is meant to be read, applied and enjoyed.

An excellent commentary that is a good resource on both an academic and a layman level. If you are reading through the book of Revelation as part of your own devotional Bible reading, this book will be an excellent resource to you. Easy-to-read, great insights. Recommended.

I'm still not ready to commit to a particular eschatological view, but this book is like a surprise visit from a dear friend. I had no idea that a commentary on Revelation (and a very readable one, at that) could so edify me. This reads more like a story, one that sweeps up the reader in the full spectrum of Biblical theology. If you want a crash course not only in Revelation, but the Old Testament, read this book!

On a side note, there desperately needs to be another view represented on the eschatological stage besides premillennialism. No offense intended, but most people in my part of the country are aware of no other view besides the tired arguments of "pre-trib," "mid-trib"...

An outstanding commentary on Revelation, and one of my favorite commentaries of all time in general.

A-mil perspective of Revelation. Good popular level reading. Good exegesis.