Evil remains the most disturbing and challenging problem in life.  The Book of Revelation faces the issue of evil head on.  It does so by the use of key symbols and images.  These have an initial reference to the situation in which the book was written.  Yet as symbols they point beyond their immediate context to the challenges faced by the church of Jesus Christ throughout the ages.  To quote from the prophet Jeremiah the images of Revelation are designed to give us the promise of “a future with hope” (Jer. 29:11 ).