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Worthy is the Lamb: Interpreting the Book of Revelation in Its Historical Background
A dynamic study on the book of Revelation, Worthy is the Lamb has become a classic text for serious Bible students everywhere.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1951
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August 24, 2020
[Note: This time through Worthy is the Lamb: Interpreting the Book of Revelation in Its Historical Background, I was reading it section by section in sequence with a weekly study session on the biblical book that I was teaching via ZOOM on a weekly basis. I first read this book in the 1970s when working on a paper for my Master of Divinity, and I still find it as useful as I did then.]
In Worthy is the Lamb, the late New Testament professor, Ray Summers, gives a consistent and meaningful interpretation of the apocalyptic book known as “Revelation.” His concern is, in his own words, “We are to determine the meaning of the book for those who first received it, the suffering Christians of Asia Minor, and the consequent meaning by application to conditions of our own day.” (Loc. 113) In so doing, Summers rejects the continuous-historical or postmillennial approach to interpretation which states that God will use human effort to usher in an age where Christ’s second coming would be appropriate: “Sparse comfort would come to them even if they knew that after a few thousand years of gospel preaching world affairs would be so good and human government so perfect that the efforts of the devil would be of no avail (postmillennialism).” (pp. 203-204) In the same way, Summers rejects the interpretation which insists that the majority of the events symbolized in Revelation are yet to come in our own day, the futurist or premillennial approach. “Sparse comfort would come to them even if they knew that several hundreds or thousands of years from then there would be a restoration of Jewish theocracy, a personal Antichrist, a bloody Armageddon and victory (premillennialism).” (p. 203). Rather, Summers argues that Revelation is apocalyptic literature, designed as all apocalyptic literature, “Written in days of adversity, this form of expression always set forth the present as a time of great persecution and suffering, but, in glorious contrast, the future as a time of deliverance and triumph.” (p. 5). He elaborates by noting that this deliverance and triumph comes about as a result of the overt intervention of God.
From the start, Summers reminds his readers that apocalyptic literature makes extensive use of cryptic symbols and figures of speech to express spiritual ideas. He observes the rationale for this as: “The writer was faced with the task of seeing the invisible, painting the unpaintable, and expressing the inexpressible.” (p. 20). Of course, part of the difficulty in parsing these symbols (even keeping in mind the needs of specific needs of the literature’s hearers/readers) is that interpretation of symbols is not precise. For example, I have read interpretations of Jewish gematria (symbolic meanings of numbers) which indicate the numeral “2” as symbolic of humanity (made male and female). Summers, too, observes how “2” represents companionship, but explains: “Two were far stronger and more effective than one. Thus the number “2” came to stand for strengthening, for confirmation, for redoubled courage and energy.” (p. 21)
For purposes of a review, I don’t intend to outline the entirety of Summers’ work, but I will present some quotations from his development of ideas in a controversial section of Revelation. For example, in chapter 9, there is a plague of locusts. Summers asks: “What is symbolized by these locusts from within the earth and led by one named “Destruction,” a name often associated with the devil?” (p. 158) [Reviewer’s note: He is talking about “Abaddon,” a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew participle for destroying (abad). Rather than see this as a future locust plague creating a global famine (as do most of the “futurists”), Summers builds upon the work of E. W. Hengstenberg and H. E. Dana. “It symbolizes the hellish rottenness, the internal decadence in the Roman Empire. One thing which brought about Rome's downfall was a series of corrupt rulers and leaders. Such a spirit of internal rottenness is pictured hare as coming from within the empire (out of the earth) to work toward her destruction. Such a condition injured Rome, but it could really do no hurt to God's persecuted Christians because they were not really a part of wicked Rome.” (p. 158)
Later in the volume, where Summers is considering John’s prophecies of the fall of Rome (symbolized by Babylon the Great Harlot), he emphasizes the appropriateness of God’s judgment on that locust swarm of rottenness: “The destruction pictured in the fall of Rome was great. But no greater than would have been the destruction wrought by godless nations and men and women allowed to proceed unchallenged and unhindered along the roads of cruelty, degeneracy, and persecution of the righteous people of God.” (p. 195) Such an interpretation would help hearers/readers both ancient and modern to understand that God’s judgment is not a desire to punish, but an intent to contain and extinguish the contamination whereby sin corrupts and sends people, communities, nations, and the world into an entropic cycle downwards into destruction.
Summers rejects attempts to literalize the symbols because, if successful in literalizing, one would miss the opportunity for what I believe is the most important assertion in this volume: “The same assurance is given to Christians in every age. Find the greatest enemy of Christ (whether corrupt religion, godless government, social anarchy, or any other), put it in the place of emperor worship, and see its eventual failure as the living Christ, the redeeming Lamb, marches to victory over chaotic world conditions–Worthy Is the Lamb.” (p. 208). And, perhaps, it is best to end there with his eponymous reference to the ultimate decisive triumph of God.
To those who are not predisposed to other interpretations, Worthy is the Lamb is one of the easiest books to read on the subject that I can recommend. I do not rate it five stars because it isn’t as comprehensive as some commentaries such as Mitchell G. Reddish’s Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Revelation which uses the same interpretive principles as Summers or George Eldon Ladd’s A Commentary on the Revelation of John from a modified futurist perspective. Summers doesn’t dwell on the Greek text as overtly as R. H. Charles’ two-volume International Critical Commentary: Revelation or G. B. Caird’s A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, but if you’re only going to need a great overview of the Book of Revelation, Summers comes highly recommended.
In Worthy is the Lamb, the late New Testament professor, Ray Summers, gives a consistent and meaningful interpretation of the apocalyptic book known as “Revelation.” His concern is, in his own words, “We are to determine the meaning of the book for those who first received it, the suffering Christians of Asia Minor, and the consequent meaning by application to conditions of our own day.” (Loc. 113) In so doing, Summers rejects the continuous-historical or postmillennial approach to interpretation which states that God will use human effort to usher in an age where Christ’s second coming would be appropriate: “Sparse comfort would come to them even if they knew that after a few thousand years of gospel preaching world affairs would be so good and human government so perfect that the efforts of the devil would be of no avail (postmillennialism).” (pp. 203-204) In the same way, Summers rejects the interpretation which insists that the majority of the events symbolized in Revelation are yet to come in our own day, the futurist or premillennial approach. “Sparse comfort would come to them even if they knew that several hundreds or thousands of years from then there would be a restoration of Jewish theocracy, a personal Antichrist, a bloody Armageddon and victory (premillennialism).” (p. 203). Rather, Summers argues that Revelation is apocalyptic literature, designed as all apocalyptic literature, “Written in days of adversity, this form of expression always set forth the present as a time of great persecution and suffering, but, in glorious contrast, the future as a time of deliverance and triumph.” (p. 5). He elaborates by noting that this deliverance and triumph comes about as a result of the overt intervention of God.
From the start, Summers reminds his readers that apocalyptic literature makes extensive use of cryptic symbols and figures of speech to express spiritual ideas. He observes the rationale for this as: “The writer was faced with the task of seeing the invisible, painting the unpaintable, and expressing the inexpressible.” (p. 20). Of course, part of the difficulty in parsing these symbols (even keeping in mind the needs of specific needs of the literature’s hearers/readers) is that interpretation of symbols is not precise. For example, I have read interpretations of Jewish gematria (symbolic meanings of numbers) which indicate the numeral “2” as symbolic of humanity (made male and female). Summers, too, observes how “2” represents companionship, but explains: “Two were far stronger and more effective than one. Thus the number “2” came to stand for strengthening, for confirmation, for redoubled courage and energy.” (p. 21)
For purposes of a review, I don’t intend to outline the entirety of Summers’ work, but I will present some quotations from his development of ideas in a controversial section of Revelation. For example, in chapter 9, there is a plague of locusts. Summers asks: “What is symbolized by these locusts from within the earth and led by one named “Destruction,” a name often associated with the devil?” (p. 158) [Reviewer’s note: He is talking about “Abaddon,” a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew participle for destroying (abad). Rather than see this as a future locust plague creating a global famine (as do most of the “futurists”), Summers builds upon the work of E. W. Hengstenberg and H. E. Dana. “It symbolizes the hellish rottenness, the internal decadence in the Roman Empire. One thing which brought about Rome's downfall was a series of corrupt rulers and leaders. Such a spirit of internal rottenness is pictured hare as coming from within the empire (out of the earth) to work toward her destruction. Such a condition injured Rome, but it could really do no hurt to God's persecuted Christians because they were not really a part of wicked Rome.” (p. 158)
Later in the volume, where Summers is considering John’s prophecies of the fall of Rome (symbolized by Babylon the Great Harlot), he emphasizes the appropriateness of God’s judgment on that locust swarm of rottenness: “The destruction pictured in the fall of Rome was great. But no greater than would have been the destruction wrought by godless nations and men and women allowed to proceed unchallenged and unhindered along the roads of cruelty, degeneracy, and persecution of the righteous people of God.” (p. 195) Such an interpretation would help hearers/readers both ancient and modern to understand that God’s judgment is not a desire to punish, but an intent to contain and extinguish the contamination whereby sin corrupts and sends people, communities, nations, and the world into an entropic cycle downwards into destruction.
Summers rejects attempts to literalize the symbols because, if successful in literalizing, one would miss the opportunity for what I believe is the most important assertion in this volume: “The same assurance is given to Christians in every age. Find the greatest enemy of Christ (whether corrupt religion, godless government, social anarchy, or any other), put it in the place of emperor worship, and see its eventual failure as the living Christ, the redeeming Lamb, marches to victory over chaotic world conditions–Worthy Is the Lamb.” (p. 208). And, perhaps, it is best to end there with his eponymous reference to the ultimate decisive triumph of God.
To those who are not predisposed to other interpretations, Worthy is the Lamb is one of the easiest books to read on the subject that I can recommend. I do not rate it five stars because it isn’t as comprehensive as some commentaries such as Mitchell G. Reddish’s Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Revelation which uses the same interpretive principles as Summers or George Eldon Ladd’s A Commentary on the Revelation of John from a modified futurist perspective. Summers doesn’t dwell on the Greek text as overtly as R. H. Charles’ two-volume International Critical Commentary: Revelation or G. B. Caird’s A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, but if you’re only going to need a great overview of the Book of Revelation, Summers comes highly recommended.
October 20, 2013
A contextual examination of the book of Revelation.
While in many contexts the author's premise would be uncontroversial, among Evangelicals enamored with dispensational premillennialism, it would be game-changing: if one cannot make sense of one's interpretation of Revelation in terms of John's original audience of first century Christians of Asia Minor, one has not made good and proper sense of the text.
This focus informs the rest of the work. As with Pieters, most of the book is consumed with introduction, surveying the field of both the text itself and its recent history of interpretation. The author makes his robust case for a contextual understanding in terms of the struggle against the oppressor embodied in Rome, her Empire, and Emperor. He then goes through Revelation section by section, explaining the text in context.
As with Pieters, Metzger, Wright, et al, this is not a thorough commentary with in-depth examinations of texts with cross-references; it is more of a survey, although the author does well at explaining most of the images in terms of the survey. If one is reading the authors listed above as well, much of what is said here will seem redundant, but there is still value in its consideration.
While in many contexts the author's premise would be uncontroversial, among Evangelicals enamored with dispensational premillennialism, it would be game-changing: if one cannot make sense of one's interpretation of Revelation in terms of John's original audience of first century Christians of Asia Minor, one has not made good and proper sense of the text.
This focus informs the rest of the work. As with Pieters, most of the book is consumed with introduction, surveying the field of both the text itself and its recent history of interpretation. The author makes his robust case for a contextual understanding in terms of the struggle against the oppressor embodied in Rome, her Empire, and Emperor. He then goes through Revelation section by section, explaining the text in context.
As with Pieters, Metzger, Wright, et al, this is not a thorough commentary with in-depth examinations of texts with cross-references; it is more of a survey, although the author does well at explaining most of the images in terms of the survey. If one is reading the authors listed above as well, much of what is said here will seem redundant, but there is still value in its consideration.
March 28, 2019
I have been through two lengthy and intensive studies of Revelation and have read several other books. I made charts of the events described and tried to fit everything together. The one thing I truly understood from all of this study was what of my teachers reminded us: We win in the end.
One thing that had always confused me was the seeming disconnect between the letters to the churches in Asia Minor at the beginning and the rest of the book.
This book, first published nearly seventy years ago, opened my eyes to Revelation. The author explains various positions taken by Bible commentators about Revelation, then shares what he considers to be the strengths and weaknesses of each. The book is filled with footnotes and ends with an extensive bibliography.
The premise that I had missed in my previous study but that makes sense to me is that rest of the book had to have meaning to the Christians to whom it was written. People living under extreme persecution would be more interested in their own immediate situation than in the end of the world hundreds or thousands of years later. So the message had to relate to their current circumstances as well as having longer-term meaning.
Summers points out that we don't read parables and proverbs the same way we read historical or doctrinal books. Different books of the Bible are different literary forms and different purposes. Prophecy should be read looking both at history and future events. Several Old Testament prophets talked about events that were happening or were going to happen to God's people of that time, such as the Babylonian exile. Many of these prophets also talked about later events—the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, as well as the day of the Lord.
Revelation is a prophecy, and while it does have significant application to the end times, it also had significant application to the probable time that it was written, during the extreme persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire under Domitian.
Revelation is full of imagery and symbolism that shouldn't be taken literally. For example, numbers are highly symbolic: 7, 12, and 1000 are numbers that represent fullness, completeness, perfection. So when the "seven spirits of God" are mentioned, it does not mean that God literally has seven spirits; it means that His Spirit is full, perfect, complete. Seven divided into two is three and a half, a number that is incomplete, indefinite. So the seven and three and a half time periods mentioned in Revelation don't have to be taken as literal years but as time periods.
The author gave clear explanations of what various symbols could mean. He doesn't offer a definitive explanation for every single symbol—he doesn't believe that every detail relates to something specific (three and a half years means an indefinite time period, not a literal number of years).
I highlighted many long passages in this book, because it clarified so many things I didn't understand from my previous studies.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a clearer understanding of the book of Revelation.
I still came away with what I had learned in my earlier studies: We (God and His people) win in the end!
One thing that had always confused me was the seeming disconnect between the letters to the churches in Asia Minor at the beginning and the rest of the book.
This book, first published nearly seventy years ago, opened my eyes to Revelation. The author explains various positions taken by Bible commentators about Revelation, then shares what he considers to be the strengths and weaknesses of each. The book is filled with footnotes and ends with an extensive bibliography.
The premise that I had missed in my previous study but that makes sense to me is that rest of the book had to have meaning to the Christians to whom it was written. People living under extreme persecution would be more interested in their own immediate situation than in the end of the world hundreds or thousands of years later. So the message had to relate to their current circumstances as well as having longer-term meaning.
Summers points out that we don't read parables and proverbs the same way we read historical or doctrinal books. Different books of the Bible are different literary forms and different purposes. Prophecy should be read looking both at history and future events. Several Old Testament prophets talked about events that were happening or were going to happen to God's people of that time, such as the Babylonian exile. Many of these prophets also talked about later events—the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, as well as the day of the Lord.
Revelation is a prophecy, and while it does have significant application to the end times, it also had significant application to the probable time that it was written, during the extreme persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire under Domitian.
Revelation is full of imagery and symbolism that shouldn't be taken literally. For example, numbers are highly symbolic: 7, 12, and 1000 are numbers that represent fullness, completeness, perfection. So when the "seven spirits of God" are mentioned, it does not mean that God literally has seven spirits; it means that His Spirit is full, perfect, complete. Seven divided into two is three and a half, a number that is incomplete, indefinite. So the seven and three and a half time periods mentioned in Revelation don't have to be taken as literal years but as time periods.
The author gave clear explanations of what various symbols could mean. He doesn't offer a definitive explanation for every single symbol—he doesn't believe that every detail relates to something specific (three and a half years means an indefinite time period, not a literal number of years).
I highlighted many long passages in this book, because it clarified so many things I didn't understand from my previous studies.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a clearer understanding of the book of Revelation.
I still came away with what I had learned in my earlier studies: We (God and His people) win in the end!
August 7, 2017
I'm certainly not smart enough to take a dogmatic stand regarding interpretation of Revelation. That being said, I have made it my focus to read differing views of eschatology so as to attempt to understand the different perspectives. Therefore, my rating of this book is solely based upon the clarity of the author's writing. The author presented his case in a clear and understandable format. If you'd like to gain a perspective that is outside of a premillennial or dispensationalist view, this book is a great resource. The author rejects premillennial dispensationalism yet he does refute several problems with that interpretation.
November 2, 2020
Very well thought-out and written commentary on Revelation. Very informative. Relatively easy-to-read, yet scholarly commentary on a very challenging apocalyptic book. Summers does a great job of focusing on the "big picture" - the context, apocalytic writing, and the big themes, and not getting lost in the minutiae, or proof-texting. Highly recommend, particularly if you are tired of all of the confusing writings out there on the book of Revelation.
November 19, 2022
The Best Commentary On Revelation I've Ever Read
Ray Summers gives the Revelation an honest treatment for what it is; God's message to people who were being made to suffer for their faith by the pagan emperor Domitian who claimed deity and insisted those he ruled should worship him. Unless we understand this we will misunderstand the message conveyed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Ray Summers gives the Revelation an honest treatment for what it is; God's message to people who were being made to suffer for their faith by the pagan emperor Domitian who claimed deity and insisted those he ruled should worship him. Unless we understand this we will misunderstand the message conveyed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
August 13, 2022
The book starts with different approaches on how to study revelation and then goes through the book. The book feels solid and grounded and gives different approaches but also focuses on how the first reader would interpret the book. Not so much detailed study but a more general that takes the main things.
January 31, 2025
A Great Read
Summers give a great symbolical treatment for the book of Revelation that keeps it in its historical context but at the same time gives comfort to first-century and modern-day believers.
Summers give a great symbolical treatment for the book of Revelation that keeps it in its historical context but at the same time gives comfort to first-century and modern-day believers.
July 18, 2022
Fácil de ler e bem objetivo
May 25, 2010
I'm re-reading this book again, since I was a young Christian the first time my wife and I read it together. We both had lots of questions about Revelations, since we grew up with mostly all bad (wrong) information about it for years and years. This book helps to clear up lots of the imagry, reasons why things were being written to the audience who was actually reading it, etc. While author Summers can be a little deep at times, he never loses you completely. Keep reading for anohter page or two, and things tend to click pretty good. Once you get through the "history" part (first 1/4) of book, it really gets cranked up! One of things I appreciate him doing, is taking the other arguments (viewpoints) and comparing them to his own. This gives you a fair chance to determine for yourself if he seems to be on to something or not. Great book for your Christain library.
June 16, 2010
This is an excellent look at Revelation by one of the nations top Greek scholars of the mid 20th century. The book is decidedly amillennial, but deals with the opposing views. It provides a much more plain sense reading of the text than the premillennial dispensationalists are giving, and a much more plausible interpretation than postmillennialism.
March 9, 2015
I read this book in college because It was required. Now, I'm reading because I choose to read it. Great classic work on the book of Revelation.
June 9, 2015
One of my favorite books on the book of Revelation. I am reading it again as I am preparing to publish a Kindle commentary on the Book of Revelation. Highly Recommended
August 4, 2016
An interesting moderate preterist perspective.
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