Book excerpt: The symbolism of Revelation has puzzled readers for centuries. Every generation falls prey to extreme views of interpretation. Even worse, they minimize the importance of John’s Apocalypse by not teaching or preaching from it. Yet Revelation is a profound work of New Testament theology and warrants a close study. John expects and prepares believers to follow the Lamb through suffering and possible martyrdom. The problem is centered on what the symbols mean. Are they literal? Are they symbolic? Do the images refer to events and people in the first century, or to the last days of planet earth? Moreover, how is the book structured? Is it one vision, four visions, or more? Are the visions linear or recapped? Lions, Locusts, and the Lamb: Interpreting Key Images in the Book of Revelation demonstrates a way to unlock John’s structure and unravel his symbols. The key is to follow a logical step-by-step interpretive approach that accents the historical, cultural, intertextual, extratextual, and particularly intratextual allusions and connections. The result is a book that delivers the basic meaning of three hundred images and categorizes them into an accessible guide for teachers, preachers, and readers of Revelation.