Christology In Revelation

Some Christians might forget or have never heard that the word revelation left to itself simply means an unveiling of truth, not something that is inherently apocalyptic in nature.  The word being the name of the book of the Bible that seems mostly fixated on eschatological events probably became the basis of the mere assumption, and demonstrably false assumption at that, that the word revelation always pertains to end times prophecies when used in a theological context.  While the book of Revelation in part presents itself as a reaction to visions of eschatological calamities preceding the return of Christ, there is more to the book than just this, despite this being the more popular and controversial part of the book and its reputation.

From the letters to the seven churches with specific commendations or condemnations from Christ to the rider on a white horse who slaughters an army with a sword from his mouth, Revelation is a heavily Christological book.  The very first verse of chapter one directly states that the book is a "revelation of Jesus Christ," followed by a second verse that summarizes John's visions as "the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."  Revelation starts with an emphasis on the the general soteriological/metaphysical role of Jesus in Christianity and ends with his eschatological role in recreating the universe.  In light of this, Revelation is not totally irrelevant to even some of the things Christians whom the book makes uncomfortable might focus on.

That is not to say that the gospel, Christ's resurrection, or so on is the most foundational part of even Christianity itself, or that Revelation is necessary to understand them and many of their ramifications.  Though Christianity references Christ in its very name, the metaphysics and moral side of a particular kind of theism are plainly the parts on which all else in Christianity hinges, without which the gospel and the very figure of Christ are not even important and which the gospel is trivial by comparison to.  Inside or outside of the context of Christianity, it is by logical necessity impossible for Christology to be the thing on which all else hinges or the most important part of philosophy and theology [1].

It is objectively impossible for anything other than logical axioms--not scientific paradigms and laws of nature, God's very existence and moral nature, or human experiences and accomplishments--to be the uttermost foundation of all reality.  After all, if the concept of God or Christ was not logically possible, it would be incompatible with the logical axioms/truths that are true by necessity in spite of all else.  Thus, I do not in any way mean that Jesus or Yahweh ("the Father," as he is called) is epistemologically self-evident, capable of changing logical axioms, the heart of all philosophical truths, and so on.  All I mean is that the Bible, which does have a great deal of evidence in favor of its veracity, has Jesus call himself the way, the truth, and the life, and thus since Revelation is about an unveiling of Christ, the book is even more foundationally about the triumph of Jesus as a divine figure than it is about eschatological events.

While Revelation is clearly about far more than just Jesus and his ultimate victory over the devil (addressed in Revelation 20), as its most prolonged or ambiguous passages do not all strictly pertain to Christology by any means, the fact that Revelation 1 quickly affirms that the book is about the revealing of Christ helps the reader see the relevance of eschatology and the other components of Revelation to a Biblical analysis of Christ's nature.  Eschatology does not need to be set aside indefinitely as it is by some Christians out of apathy or intellectual fear, but there is no book of the Bible solely about eschatology.  Revelation being less central to the moralism and broad metaphysics of Christianity than certain other books does not make it unconnected to them.

[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-gospel.html