I am happy to offer you this Practical Guide for Interpreting Apocalyptic Scriptures.  

The reason I'm offering this practical guide is I do not have adequate education to offer you a scholarly guide. If you search the internet for one you can probably find it, but I have a suspicion that this practical one that I'm offering you will serve you better.  

If you find one that you think is good and you would like to share it,  if you will contact me and give me the resource link I will link to it from this page.

1. Don't get lost.

2. Don't go crazy.

3. Don't get stuck.

4. Don't trust dreams.

5. Don't trust interpretations.

Don't get lost.

Mark Twain — ‘It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it's the parts that I do understand.’

We don't know if he really said this or not, but someone should have said it. I'm glad somebody said it, because I can use it here. It is super easy to get lost in your reading of the Scriptures when it comes to apocalyptic passages. My advice to you is don't get lost. Anchor yourselves in the first couple of books of the bible (old testament) and in the first few books of the new testament.

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Matthew,  Mark  & Luke
• John
• Acts

Now raise the anchor and set your sails. Begin by sailing through the new testament, and then sail through the old testament.  

• Before reading further tap here and make sure you've been found!

Now find a good place to land and get out of the boat onto the earth. Live what you've learned. You'll spend a lifetime doing this if you never learn anything else about apocalyptic passages. The Scriptures that are the most clear to you are also the most important to you. Your life will be far better served by living more than it will by learning more.

Don't go crazy.

Going crazy is something that can easily happen to someone that refuses to heed the first point which is don't get lost. If you never spend another moment trying to sort out apocalyptic Scriptures, you will be fine if you have followed point number one above. Losing your mind in apocalyptic Scriptures will add nothing to the quality of your life or those around you, so don't go crazy.

Don't get stuck.

You're probably soon going to come to an interpretation of an apocalyptic passage that will sound good to you, especially when the explanation comes from a trusted source.

If people are honest, everyone will tell you this when it comes to what they believe about an apocalyptic passage. They believe that it means thus because someone that they trust told them that's what it means. It is as simple as that.

That is the way that we learn almost everything. Someone that we believe that we can trust has told us, so we adopted and believe it ourselves.

I have done this, I admit it. I still do, I admit it ... 

But not nearly as much as I used to... Everything I see or hear raises questions in my mind and heart. I may not ask these questions out loud, but I will always ask them within my own heart and mind. I may never get an answer to the questions, and I'm okay with that. I don't know much, but I know Somebody! (He is the King of kings and Lord of lords and His name is Jesus.)

But I'm not stuck on it. New information and new understanding has the freedom in my mind to change my mind. My advice is that you would emulate that mindset as well. Don't get stuck.

Don't trust dreams.

... or visions.  

• A dream is something that one sees or hears is while they are asleep.
• A vision is something that someone sees or hears while they are awake.

Please don't misunderstand me here because I'm going to suggest something that may sound a bit unconventional. Please read the following carefully. Don't trust dreams or visions even when you read them in the Bible. I trust that what is in the Holy Scriptures is accurate, but unless you are told clearly the meaning of a vision or a dream, even one that is in the Bible, you cannot know its meaning with any certainty.  

When someone in the Scriptures had a dream or a vision, they had a dream or a vision. They saw something that was not there. Unless God supernaturally reveals the meaning, the meaning remains hidden. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. God does not choose to reveal everything and that is okay, since He is God. Agreed?

Read the experience of the apostle Paul.

Paul had received an abundance of revelations that came from Jesus Christ. Read how he describes one of his experiences that he related to the Corinthian church.

2 Cor. 12:1-7

[1] It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
[2] I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
[3] And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
[4] How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
[5] Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
[6] For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
[7] And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Don't trust interpretations.

... unless the interpretation is stated clearly in the Bible itself.

The way any man or woman interprets some apocalyptic passage...

• May be right
• May be wrong
• Could be new
• Could be old
• Might be largely accepted
• Might be largely rejected

It doesn't matter. You cannot absolutely trust them. So don't.

There you go there is your practical guide, you're welcome, now go for it!