Ranko Stefanovic is an associate professor of New Testament at Andrews University. His commentary on the Book of Revelation is the first serious attempt to exegete the text of the book from an Adventist perspective since the publication of the SDA Bible Commentary in 1957. Volumes 6 and 7 of the Daniel and Revelation Committee Series (published by the Biblical Research Institute) deal exegetically with several chapters of the book of Revelation, but Stefanovic has undertaken to exegete the text of the whole book. In this respect his commentary is a milestone in the history of Adventist biblical scholarship.

As is common to many scholarly commentaries, the lengthy introduction (50 pages) deals with such topics as authorship, place and date of writings, the purpose of the book, methods of interpretation as well as guidelines for interpreting the book. The introduction also has a section on the symbolic nature of the book and deals quite extensively with the literary arrangement of Revelation.

Apart from the prologue (1:1-8) and the epilogue (22:6-21) sections, Stefanovic divides the book into three parts: The messages to the seven churches (1:9-3:22); the opening of the sealed scroll (4:1-11:19), and the content of the seven-sealed scroll (12:1-22:5). As can be seen from this outline, the seven-sealed scroll plays a major role in Stefanovic’s understanding of the book. He compares it with the OT book of the covenant that was stored next to the ark of the covenant (Deut 31:24-26) and says, “Only a portion of the sealed scroll was revealed to John in Revelation 10 in the symbolic form of the little scroll. John now [in chaps. 12-22] passes on to the churches the contents of the sealed scroll that were disclosed to him” (p. 367).

The organization of the commentary follows the major thematic sections of the book. Each section has an introductory chapter dealing with general matters important for the interpretation of that particular passage. The analysis of each section begins with the author’s own translation of the Greek text followed by notes, including scholarly discussions, on key words and phrases. The verse-by-verse exposition of each chapter is rounded out by a concluding “retrospect” section which summarizes the findings and explains the relationship each chapter has to what follows.

Adventist and non-Adventist readers will greatly benefit from the exegetical insights this commentary provides on the text of Revelation. However, many Adventist readers will be disappointed by some of the conclusions Stefanovic reaches in his interpretation, and by the fact that some traditional Adventist interpretations are missing. For example, like S. Bacchiocchi, Stefanovic (p. 93) believes that the “Lord’s day” in 1:10 is the eschatological day of the Lord rather than the Sabbath day as Seventh-day Adventists, based on Ellen White’s statement in Acts of the Apostles, page 581, have traditionally held. In the interpretation of the 1260 days and 42 months Stefanovic follows H. LaRondelle and applies this prophetic time period of 1260 years to the persecution of God’s people during the Middle Ages without “being dogmatic about precise date-fixings in church history” (p. 338). Readers, therefore, will not find the traditional Adventist dates 538 A.D. or 1798 A.D. in the book. Neither will they find a clear statement that the sea beast in 13:1 is the papacy, though there are several references to the “political-religious”or “Medieval ecclesiastical power” (pp. 407, 411, 412) which can only refer to the papacy. Yet, he does say that “applying the seventh head of the sea beast to the Medieval ecclesiastical power alone is inadequate” (p. 412). Hence he applies it also to the “Protestant orthodoxy in the Western world during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, characterized by religious intolerance” (ibid.). The land beast, however, is clearly identified as the United States (p. 423), with the caveat that “the full disclosure of the meaning of the land monster still awaits us” (p. 424). At times, Seventh-day Adventist views are introduced with phrases like “some suggest” (p. 132), “some understand” (p. 143), or “Seventh-day Adventist Christians have seen” (p. 331) which makes one wonder whether the author himself believes what follows or whether he is simply reporting the Adventist position.

Nevertheless, despite some interpretative weaknesses, Stefanovic’s volume fills a long standing need for a good exegetical Seventh-day Adventist commentary on Revelation. It will remain the standard Seventh-day Adventist work on Revelation for many years to come, and will be a help to all who are serious in their endeavor to understand the book of Revelation. For Seventh-day Adventists such an understanding is important, because “when the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience. They will be given such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart” (TM 114).