There are many mainstream evangelical books on Revelation, and they’re pretty much the same.
This is a good thing. It shows that a literal interpretation of the Bible leads to solid conclusions. The only differences are in readability, and a few very small prophetic viewpoints.
Lindsey’s book is extremely readable. (Like Late, Great Planet Earth)
He often has insights and uses illustrations I haven’t seen elsewhere, making this book worthwhile, even for someone who’s read many books on the subject.
I have one misgiving. And it’s common to most mainstream Christian books. Lindsey insists on bringing the “Triune Godhead” dogma into his commentary where the text doesn’t warrant it.
In fact, the entire book of Revelation doesn’t warrant it.
I’ll give two examples.
1. Revelation 1:1-4 speak of God, Jesus, and the seven spirits. Somehow, by tortured logic, he gets a “Triune Godhead” out of that. This, in spite of Revelation 1:1 specifically saying God gave Jesus the revelation, clearly showing they are two separate, UNequal Persons.. (Lindsey dodges that)
2. Revelation 21:22 says the temple is the Lord God Almighty AND the Lamb. Again, showing that God Almighty and Jesus are two DIFFERENT Persons. And Holy Spirit isn’t even mentioned there. (Nor is Holy Spirit mentioned in John 1:1-18 or in ANY of the epistolic salutations)
Yet, by pretzel logic, Lindsey describes those vss as portraying a “trinity” and a “Godhead”.
First off…”Godhead” just means “deity”. Compare Romans 1:20 in the KJV with the NASB.
This may be a dated reference, but the Trinity dogma is like the classic episode of MASH, “Tuttle”, in which Hawkeye and Trapper invent a “Captain Tuttle”. They sell it so well that Col. Blake, Hot Lips etc., all believe Tuttle is real without ever having seen him.
And without ever having seen a single verse describing Yahweh as a co-equal, co-eternal Triune Godhead, most Christians accept the dogma as truth because that's what they've been told. Yet, everything written about the dogma assumes facts not in evidence, including Lindsey’s comments throughout this book.
Yahweh is God Almighty, Jesus is His Son, and Holy Spirit is just what the phrase means, “Sacred Breath/Wind” or the power of God.
This point deserves to be made because the Trinity has been an obstacle to Christianity since the 4th century, when it was cooked up by pretentious theologians in a cauldron of Platonism.
Otherwise, this is a fine commentary on Revelation.
Ps...one interesting factoid in this book: the first case of Roman emperor worship was in 29BC when the citizens of Pergamum made a statue of Caesar.
Worth noting when just weeks ago false prophets made a golden idol of a politician and prayed over it...