Jon Paulien, author of multiple books on Revelation and other topics, has packed the book of Revelation into a daily devotional book—a unique contribution. The author covers John’s entire Apocalypse. As typical for daily devotional books, one page is reserved for one calendar day. In this case, a respective daily devotional consists first of the Bible text, second, an explanation, and third, a personal prayer. Normally, the daily Bible text(s) contain sections with boldface type. On these bolded words, the author focuses his attention and interpretation. Since Revelation contains about 400 verses, it is quite suitable to be used for a 366-day calendar year devotional (including February 29). It happens that sometimes the author lingers a biblical text uses it more than once, while, other times, he decides to take a passage from Revelation instead of dealing with a single verse. An appendix covers references used in the daily readings. The daily prayers are short, to the point, open, and honest. One can identify with them.
From one day to the next, the daily readings are quite different in style. Some contain illustrations, real-life stories, or poems that are appealing and practical spiritual messages but hardly interpret the respective biblical text. On other days, the author provides short, exegetical insights into the biblical text. These are very valuable for those who long for more than a superficial acquaintance with Revelation. A third category contains elements of both—exegesis and practical application. The author has to be lauded for a judicious mixture of approaches when moving from one day to another. In this way, the messages do not become too technical or too simple and may satisfy various audiences. Also, the book does not become quickly outdated and can be used in one calendar or another.
When it comes to theological insights, some readers would differ here and there from what the author has presented, but overall, this great book can help people fall in love again with the book of Revelation and the Lord of this book.
