Revelation As Character Study
I am doing a sermon series right now that approaches the book of Revelation as a collection of character studies. I think this is an interpretive angle that would reduce confusion for lots of people. It works pretty simply: The first time a character is featured, a visual description is given. Later in the story, key fragments of those descriptions are repeated to associate an apparently new character with the one who has already appeared. This takes much of the mystery out of what is happening as the story unfolds. Also helpful is understanding that the center of the story is chapter 12, where all three of the main characters appear: Christ (royal child), Satan (dragon), and the Church (woman). If anyone would like to test the theory, the featured descriptions of the main characters appear as follows:
Christ: Revelation 1:9-19
Satan: Revelation 12:3-12
Church: Revelation 7:2-16