The following material is based on the books:
1. Carl B. Gibbs Principles of Biblical Interpretation
2. Understanding the Bible (published by ICI)
3. Geoff Bennett The Bible: Dig a Little Deeper
4. Henry A. Virkler Hermeneutics: Principles and Process of Biblical Interpretation
5. Gordon D. Fee, Douglas Stuart How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
6. Gordon D. Fee New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors
7. George Eldon Ladd A Theology of the New Testament

Interpretation of Prophesies

A prophesy is an announcement of God's will made by a prophet. Sometimes prophets predicted future events. Sometimes they pronounced God's will related to the present time. They explained God's will, often exposing people in their sines and encouraging to repent. They also announced God's judgment if the people would not repent. So, there are two kinds of prophesies - those that are related to the future and those related to the present..

There are prophesies not only in the books of prophets, but also in other books of the Bible.

Some prophesies were interpreted in the Bible. Then we need just to find this interpretation in order to see how the prophesy was fulfilled.

Some prophesies have a time interval between events that the prophets did not realize. For example, in Luke 4:18-19, Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2. The whole prophesy is Isaiah 61:1-3. However, Jesus stopped in the middle of verse 2 and then said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The first half of Isaiah's prophesy was fulfilled in Christ's first coming. The second half will be fulfilled in His second coming. However, Isaiah did not know about the time interval between the two parts of this prophesy. He saw them as one event.

Some prophesies are typological. They are being fulfilled two times: in the time of the Old Testament and in the time of the New Testament. For example, in Hosea 11:1, it is said, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." On the one hand, this verse was about Israel's exodus from Egypt in the time of Moses. On the other hand, Matthew 2:15 quotes this verse referring to Jesus return from Egypt to Nazareth with Joseph and Mary after Herod's death. So, this verse was fulfilled two times.

Prophesies are often poetic and contain parallelism and figures of speech.

Principles of interpretation of prophesies:
1. Read the text of prophesy carefully and consider whether the words should be interpreted literally or metaphorically. If it is possible, try to understand the text literally. Otherwise, try to understand figure of speech used in the text.
2. Consider historical background. The knowledge of history at the time of when the prophesy was spoken is very important for understanding it. You can find this information in the same book, in other books written at about the same time, and in literature - Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, and Bible commentaries.
3. Pay attention on the context. Do not take a verse from its context.
4. Consider how the prophesy was described. Some prophesies are written in the past tense. This prophetic past tense stresses that the prophesy undoubtedly will be fulfilled.
5. Find out if the prophesy was fulfilled in Gospels or in the time of the early church.
6. Try to find interpretation of the prophesy given by Christ and apostles. Read the parallel texts.

Interpretation of Apocalyptic

There are apocalyptic books and chapters in both Old Testament and New Testament: the book of Revelation; Daniel, chapters 7-12; some chapters in Ezekiel, Zachariah, and Isaiah. There are apocalyptic passages in the Gospels: Matthew, chapter 24; Mark, chapter 13; Luke, chapter 21. Apocalyptic is the hardest biblical literature genre for interpretation. The fact that there are many variants of interpretation of Revelation and Daniel prove that. Besides biblical apocalyptic, there are some apocryphal and pseudo-epigraphical apocalyptic books. This genre was used in Jewish literature, but is not used now.

Apocalyptic literature is similar to biblical prophesies. Both describe the future. Both use metaphoric and symbolic language. However, there are differences:
1. Prophesies were first spoken and then written. Apocalyptic was usually written first.
2. Prophesies are usually short. Apocalyptic is longer.
3. Apocalyptic has a tendency to contain more symbols, especially, animals and living beings.
4. Apocalyptic emphasizes dualism (Christ and angels against Satan and Antichrist) more than prophesies.
5. Apocalyptic mainly comforts and encourages the righteous remnant. Prophesies often rebuke nominal believers.
6. Apocalyptic is mainly pessimistic toward human ability to change the present situation. Prophesies emphasize the importance of people's change.

The book of Revelation consists of three genres:
1. Apocalyptic
2. Prophesy
3. Epistle

The book of Revelation consists of four revelations:
1. Introduction (1:1-8)
2. The first revelation (1:9-3:22):
1) The ascended Christ (1:9-20)
2) Epistles to seven churches (2:1-3:22)
3. The second revelation (4:1-16:21):
1) The heavenly throne (4:1-11)
2) The seven seals (5:1-8:1)
3) The seven trumpets (8:2-9:21)
4) The angel with the open book (10:1-11)
5) Two witnesses (11:1-19)
6) The conflict between God and Satan (12:1-17)
7) Two beasts (13:1-18)
8) the Lambs and 144,00 redeemed people; preaching of three angels; reaping (14:1-20)
9) Seven bowls (15:1-16:21)
4. The third revelation (17:1-21:8):
1) The great Babylon (17:1-18:21)
2) God's final victory over the evil (19:1-21:8)
5. The fourth revelation - the New Jerusalem (21:9-22:5)
6. Epilogue (22:6-21)

The principles of interpretation of apocalyptic:
1. Define the source or the basis of the symbol. Is the symbol related to the Old Testament? Is it used somewhere else in Revelation? In the ancient mythology? In the modern culture? Is the symbol typical for Revelation? Is the symbol changeable in Revelation?
2. Define how the author used the symbol at this time. Does John use the symbol in its original meaning or not? Was the symbol changed and converted into a new symbol? Are there any inner keys that help to understand John's intention in using the symbol? Does John interpret the symbol himself? If so, use this interpretation for understanding other symbols. Is the symbol general or is related to something specific or some event?
3. Consider the vision as a whole. Take the vision as a whole and do not try to find all the details. The details are used either for dramatization or to supplement the whole picture to make it more clear. Do not try to make details allegories.