1. I'm sorry, I should have added, "to begin with."
2. Yes, when I'm reading on a subject, I usually line up a few books to read.
3. Yes, Macarthur is one of my favorites, so definitely I'll get around to him.
I notice his The Time Is Near, something like that. I plan to get that one too.
4. The reason why I wanted to start to with Osborne is because of a certain freshness (2002), his own working with the Greek and his use of Beale and Aune.
5. But I'm planning to go through a few of them.
I must admit that I'm really slow on Walvoord.
I came across the Puritan Hope, but I'll defer for now.
FTR, John of Japan, I had not read your post, when I posted mine, mentioning Rev. 1:19 as one of the keys to understanding the book of the Revelation.
Just so no one thinks I answered as I did, because of your post, which I actually did not read until a few minutes ago.
Let me here second Things to Come, by J. Dwight Pentecost.
While Dr. Pentecost is fully dispensational and a pre-tribulation, pre-millenial rapture believer, himself, he does fairly, I think, present some other positions.
I definitely would recommend for anyone to read this book, if at all possible.
And I'll second reading and studying the book of Daniel and Matthew 24 and 25, as well.
Everyone keeps mentioning Daniel and Matt 24-25. DONT FORGET LUKE 21. Matthew does not give Jesus' answer to the first question, "When shall these things be..."
Luke gives Jesus' explanation concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. If you do not read Luke, you are missing part of the story. Of course, IMHO, that is one of the reasons why so many people get the whole future thing wrong to start with, not looking at the whole story. That and Israel, but that's on another thread...
I don't think you should avoid the whole book b/c of the symbolism used.
Why not preach on the letters to the 7 churches?
That is certainly relevant.
Why not preach about the first few paragraphs that talk about how the revelation is OF CHRIST (the Son of Man).
Maybe preach about the very last two paragraphs.
If you don't know the symbolism, then stay away from it.
My advice: don't let what you don't know prevent you from excercising what you do know.
Oh, and by the way, the beast coming out of the sea is Prince Charles of Wales:laugh: