Revelation: The Big Picture

Many people find the book of Revelation to be confusing. One way to take away confusion is to look at the big picture of Revelation. Read or listen to Revelation in one sitting, start to finish. It takes about an hour to listen to the entire book. One good place to listen online or download audio files is AudioTreasure.

Listen Online	MP3 Download
Streaming KJV	Zipped MP3 KJV
Streaming World English Bible (WEB)	Zipped MP3 Chapters 1-11 (WEB), Zipped MP3 Chapters 12-22 (WEB)

What is the Big Picture? Reading Revelation reveals at least the following scheme:

(1) There is a heavenly vision of Christ.
(2) A letter to seven churches with particular exhortations to those churches.
(3) Lots of trouble, but God is active in preserving the saints. The saints may loose their lives, but they are ultimately protected.
(4) Final judgement.
(5) Final victory of Christ and his people.

Most everyone can see that general flow no matter how one approaches Revelation. Of course we can see more detail than that, just seeing a very big layout helps in starting to understand Revelation.

Another thing to notice is Revelation is full of images. In some passages the images are identified; in other passages the images are not explicitly identified. Revelation is written in symbolic form. Revelation gathers images from the Old Testament -- but modifies them, has numerous allusions to the New Testament, pulls images from Hebrew, Greek, and Roman culture -- but again modifies these.

Question: Is John reporting the symbols just as he is seeing them? Or is John looking into the future, seeing things that he has no idea of they are and describes them as best as he can? For instance, did John see in the future wave after wave of Apache attack helicopters, and since he did not know what they were, he described them as locusts?

The answer, I think, is that John is reporting the symbols just as he sees them. Locusts are actually locusts, not helicopters. Many symbols cannot be pictured as a literal thing. For instance:

(Revelation 11:8 NASB) And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

Literally there is no city that is Egypt, Sodom, and where Christ was crucified. The symbol description gives a picture of this city. The Israelites, before the Exodus, were in bondage in Egypt. Egypt is a place of bondage. In the Old Testament, Sodom was a city of great evil. Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified, was the center of false religion. This word image paints a picture of where the dead bodies of the two witnesses (another symbol) will lay. The place is evil, enslaves its residents, and practices false religion.

Numbers show up. Numbers have symbolic importance. Seven indicates universality or completeness. The seven churches are literal seven churches in Revelation, but the number seven indicates the universality of the message to all the churches throughout the ages. Twelve is associated with the twelve apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, twenty-four can indicate the entire span of history from Israel through the church. Look for sentence structures of threes, often indicating attributes of the Triune God.

Let the images percolate in you mind as you read them. Sometimes one symbol can refer to several related things. Revelation is a book for ruminating, playing the images over and over in your mind.

Revelation: To Be Continued...

Part 1 of the Revelation class finished at the end of February. The class will pick up again in September, 2007. I will be adding notes as time permits before that date.

Right now I am working on some business opportunities that is taking a lot of my time. Once I am done, I will get back into publishing Revelation notes.

Class Discussion: Revelation 8

The class discussion this morning was excellent! Even the first time attenders brought up great discussion. We covered the sixth trumpet. The class is slower than the pace of this blog, which is fine. It allows us to more thoroughly explore the topic and to understand the reasoning process of working with the rich images of Revelation. The class is doing very well in observing and understanding the interpretive issues in these passages.

One question for future exploration is how does Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, fit with the book of Revelation. That will be an upcoming topic. Another question raised earlier is how does the temple fit with the book of Revelation. That will be covered when we look at Revelation 11 and the two witnesses.

Please feel free to ask any questions, either in class or on the blog.

Part 1 of the class is scheduled to end at the end of February. The class will pick up again in the Fall of this year. I will do a review of what was covered so far and then we will continue. If time permits, we will also examine other issues, such as Heaven and the New Earth. There is an excellent resource on this topic, Randy Alcorn's Heaven.

Revelation Sources

Where am I getting my information for the book of Revelation? There are a variety of sources. The first is Dr. Charles Hill of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He is pictured on the left. He has an MP3 series on the Book of Revelation that I found to be very helpful. I corresponded with him a few years ago asking for advice on commentaries of the book of Revelation that he found helpful. He mentioned several, including what has become my favorite commentary on Revelation, The New Internation Greek Testament Commentary, The Book of Revelation, by G. K. Beale. This 1245 page book gives lots of technical and literary background of the book of Revelation. It is the most detailed commentary on Revelation I have found. Between Dr. Hill and G. K. Beal's book, I get 90% of my information. Both Charles Hill and G. K. Beal take an "Idealistic" view of Revelation, where Revelation is providing visions of history throughout the church era from Christ's first advent to Christ's second coming. The series of seals, trumpets, bowls, etc., are seen as recaptulating views of the same period from Christ's first advent to the final judgment, the same period of time in which the tribulation and the millennium occur. The insight of recapitualation along with the simultaneous occurances of the tribulation and the millennium was a major "aha" in my study of Revelation, along with understanding that John actually sees what he reports in his visions (for instance, he sees locusts when he writes about locusts, not Apache helicopters that he could only describe as locusts), and the figurative rich imagery, including the numbers, that allude to the Old Testament passages. Suddenly Revelation made a lot of sense.

There are other many good sources of information on the book of Revelation. Dr. Dan Doriani (left) gives a good rapid overview of Revelation in his Covenant Seminary course, Hebrews to Revelation (in MP3 with lecture notes).

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger (The White Horse Inn, Christ Reformed Church) has a great blog, The Riddleblog, in which he has a sermon series on Revelation and discusses eschatology.

There are many other excellent books and resources on Revelation. I'll mention some more in the future.

Revelation 12: The Woman

¹And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. ⁴ His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. ⁵ She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, ⁶ and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:1-6, ESV)

Chapter 12 of Revelation marks a major division in the book. This section reexamines (recapitulates) the previous history and looks at it seeing the underlying deeper conflict that was developed in Revelation 1-11. Chapter 12 is divided into four sections, an introduction of the woman (12:1-2), the dragon’s war with the woman and her offspring (12:3-9), an interpretation of the vision (12:10-12), and the continued conflict of the dragon with the woman and her offspring (12:13-17).

Chapter 12 is the beginning of a larger segment in Revelation, from 12:1 through 15:4. If we trace the phrases, “And I saw” and “Behold,” we see there are seven sections or signs:

1. The conflict of the dragon with the woman and her offspring. (Revelation 12)
2. The persecution from the sea beast. (Revelation 13:1-10)
3. Persecution from the earth beast. (Revelation 13:11-18)
4. The Lamb and the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion. (Revelation 14:1-5)
5. The gospel proclaimed and the judgment from the three angels. (Revelation 14:6-13)
6. The Son of Man’s harvest of the earth. (Revelation 14:14-20)
7. The saint’s victory over the sea beast. (Revelation 15:2-4)

This section of Revelation 12-15:4 is also part of a bigger section, Revelation 12-20, which forms a chiasm. A chiasm is a structure that introduces topics or items in an order ABC … CBA so that the first thing that comes up is also the last, the second thing is the second to last, etc. So, we see: (1) the dragon, (2) the sea beast, (3) the earth beast (false prophet), (4) the whore of Babylon, followed by their demise is reverse order.

One of the themes of this section of Revelation is Satan is bound by the rule of God. He and his minions can only persecute within the prescribed time limits God sets for them. Satan attacks the saints because he is furious over Christ’s victorious death and resurrection and that his period is limited. Another theme is that Christians should not compromise with the world because they are battling Satan himself. A further theme is that Satan’s time is limited and short, and Satan is already defeated. Satan can do damage, but he cannot prevail against God’s people. Christians have God’s mighty power behind them and thus will be able to withstand attacks from Satan.

A theme throughout literature, ancient and modern, is the story of an evil usurper who is going to be conquered by a yet unborn prince. The usurper knows the prophecy and attempts to defeat his doom by killing the prince at his birth. The prince is mysteriously snatched away from danger until he matures enough to meet and defeat the usurper.

One of the most famous versions of this story is the story of the Greek and Roman god Apollo. The goddess Leto was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis when the dragon Python attacked Leto, because Python knew that her offspring was destined to kill him. Leto was carried away to a safe island by winds generated by Zeus. The god Poseidon hid the island under water so that Python could not find Leto and kill her or her offspring. Four days after Apollo was born, he found Python and killed him.

The story in Revelation 12 parallels the story of Apollo, but the story in Revelation comes via an Old Testament background. We can view the ancient mythological stories as echoes from Satan corrupting the original true stories. The whole mythological system of Rome and Greece are corruptions produced by Satan, including the Roman emperor’s claims to deity. In this way, Revelation gives a true perspective of the ancient pagan myths.

Verse 1-2: A great sign appeared in heaven. This follows upon the end of chapter 11, where heaven was opened up. John sees “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The stars, sun, and moon allude back to Genesis 37:9 to Joseph’s dream. The stars, moon, and sun symbolized Joseph’s family, and the twelve tribes of Israel. The woman with the moon, sun, and twelve stars has come to represent the Old Testament Israel. That the twelve tribes are represented as stars, many old Jewish commentators interpreted as speaking of the tribes being indestructible, their eternality before God, just as the twelve zodiac constellations are eternal and indestructible. Given that the seven stars in Revelation 1 represent the eternal angelic representatives of the church, so the twelve stars could represent twelve angels of the twelve tribes of Israel. The stars form a crown, which brings to mind other references of crowns in Revelation (Revelation 2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10; 14:14). The images show Christ’s kingship is shared with God’s saints, and the reward of those throughout the ages that remain steadfast and overcome. The imagery of the sun and moon also speaks in ancient Jewish literature of the woman’s purity and faithfulness, which cannot be destroyed during her wandering in the wilderness in the last days (seen in v. 6, 13-17). Images of the restored Israel are seen in Isaiah 60:19-20, Isaiah 61:10, and Isaiah 62:3, 5. There are similarities in these passages to Revelation 12, but as with most Old Testament allusions, they are suggestive and not exact. The woman’s appearance may also suggest a priestly character, because of the resemblance to Exodus 28 and 39.

The woman was crying out in the agony of birth pangs probably represents the Old Testament Israel in travail, waiting in anticipation of the birth of the messiah. Roman Catholic commentators often argue that the woman represents Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is an allusion to Mary that is readily seen, but it is not the primary thought in this passage, because the woman is persecuted, flees into the wilderness, remains in the wilderness for the time prophesized in Daniel for the duration of Israel’s persecution, and has other children, who are steadfast Christians.

The woman is being persecuted, evident from the Greek word, “basanizo,” which means torment, is used in describing the woman’s condition (see other NT uses of the word). This word is used nowhere else in the Bible or in extra biblical literature to describe a woman’s pains of childbirth. The word usually indicates torture by persecution.

The passage of the suffering woman does not have Christ’s suffering primarily in mind. Jesus compares the grief of his disciples over his coming death in John 16:19-22 to that of the sorrow of a woman at childbirth. Both John 16:19-22 and Revelation 12:2 allude to prophesies in Isaiah 26 and 66 where a woman in labor and in great pain gives birth to a new Israel, an Israel released from foreign captivity that is given salvation. Jesus represents the true Israel and the disciples represent the mother, the covenant community, and “brings” Jesus into the world and present Jesus to the world. In the remainder of chapter 12, the woman gives birth to others, not only Christ, but also followers of Christ. In this way the woman represents the entire believing community of the Old Testament, New Testament, and the church age.

Isaiah 51:2-3, 9-11 also provides a very strong backdrop to this section of Revelation. Sarah is described as giving birth in pain, of God comforting her in the wilderness, and piercing the dragon. John being steeped in the Old Testament, seeing the vision he must have seen the connection between the two.

Revelation 11: The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

¹⁹ Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. (Revelation 11:15-19, ESV)

This section of Revelation tells of the end of the world kingdoms and the church's reward in very eschatological terms.

Verse 15: loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” The loud voices are not specifically identified. It could be the heavenly multitude of the saints (Revelation 7:9; 19:1, 6). God now takes the rule of the world from those he permitted before, the earth dwellers and Satan. This is the end of history, just as the seventh seal and seventh bowl are another look at the end of history. It shows that the Father and the Son will now rule forever. This the consummation of the Old Testament prophesies of the messianic kingdom. The phrase “Lord and of his Christ” indicates that Christ is ruling but in subjection to his Father. This is indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. In 1 Corinthians, Christ will rule, probably during his redemptive phase, where everything is put under Christ’s feet. Then, at the end of history, the end of the redemptive phase, Christ puts everything in subjection to his Father.

The Old Testament allusion is Daniel 7. In Daniel’s vision, the Son of Man is handed over the authority of all the defeated kingdoms, and he reigns forever and ever.

Verses 16-17: In response to the declaration of God’s victory and rule, the 24 elders fall down and worship God. There is an interesting variation in the three-fold name used for God. In Revelation 1:4, 8 and 4:8, God is referred to as the God of the past (who was), the present (who is), and the future (who is to come). This threefold divine name is used to describe the God who is sovereign over all of history. Associated with this threefold discretion is the phrase, “The Lord God Almighty,” which reinforces the idea of God’s sovereignty. In verse 17, the last of the threefold name, “who is to come,” is replaced with “for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” This means that “who is to come” does not just speak of God ruling in the future, but it specifically refers to God’s defeating all of his enemies and establishing his eternal kingdom.

Some people suggest that the consummation of God’s reign occurred in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple be the Romans under Christ’s direction. But this kind of consummation is equivalent to the kind of sovereignty God exhibited when Assyrians and Babylonians took Israel captive in the Old Testament. Verse 18 shows how universal God’s rule is, referring to the nations, a time of judging and rewarding, and destroying the destroyers of the earth.

Some suggest that Revelation 11:15-19 alludes to Psalm 2, and that Psalm 2 refers to Christ’s death and resurrection and hence this is not the final judgment. However, the language of verses 15-19 contains unmistakable consummative images indicating this is the end of history when God assumes his final rule and authority.

Verse 18: The elders continue their praise. They recount how the nations raged, but God’s wrath put an end of that. The unbelieving dead are judged, indicating this is the end of history. The elders praise God for rewarding his servants, for seeing God’s servants vindicated and hence God’s righteous and sovereign rule vindicating God. The servants are identified as prophets and saints. Prophets ties into the role of the two witnesses, the church, and identifies God’s servants as God’s prophetic witnesses of the previous section of Revelation.

Verse 19: The chapter closes with more imagery of the final judgment, “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” This is the language of the last act of judgment. This comes from the inner temple in heaven. The Ark of the Covenant is seen in the temple. This again ties the allusion to the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6, where the Ark of the Covenant followed the trumpet blowers. The Ark of the Covenant speaks to God’s presence at the start of the eternal kingdom. It is not a literal Ark as Revelation 21:3, 22 shows. The temple speaks metaphorically of God’s presence with his people, which is an intense, consummative presence.

One interesting thing to note – this is the establishment of the eternal kingdom, but there is no mention of the millennium. There is a millennium spoken once, later in Revelation. The millennium is not present as various “premillennialists” advocate, a period of time between Christ’s return and the establishment of the final, eternal kingdom. What will be argued in later posts is the millennium is actually the period of time from Christ’s first advent until his second coming. The end of Revelation 11 provides evidence for this view of the millennium.

Revelation: Trumpets and the Plagues

During class discussion today, various people made excellent comments about Revelation. It was observed that the trumpets in Revelation 8 have a strong tie to the plagues in Exodus. While the trumpets do not match completely, there is strong resemblance as seen in this table:

Trumpet	Exodus Plague
1. (8:7) Hail, fire, blood	Exodus 9:22-25 Hail, fire
2. (8:8-9) Sea turned to blood	Exodus 7:20-25 Nile turned to blood
3. (8:10-11) Rivers made bitter
4. (8:12) 1/3 light darkened	Exodus 10:21-23 Darkness
5. (9:1-11) Demon locusts	Exodus 10:12-15 Locusts

It was noted that probably the plagues in Exodus were scary things for the Israelites. If they had no information about it, or even protection from them, the plagues would seem that the world was out of control. But Moses, knowing that the plagues were God's means to extract the Israelites out of Egypt, the plagues were a sign of God's work in securing his people. In much the same way, the trumpets point to God's hand in extracting his people out of the corrupt and fallen world. There is a real hope that Revelation teaches for those who belong to God even in the midst of trial and trouble. These very difficulties point to God preparing his people for their exodus into God's presence.

Another observed that there is a sadness associated with the trumpets of Revelation. The church will bear the message of God to the "earth dwellers," many of whom will be hardened and will not repent and turn to God. While all of God's sealed ones who have not yet placed their faith in Christ will repent, those who were not sealed before the foundation of the world will reject Christ and will refuse to repent. This sadness will show up in various places in Revelation. John eating the scroll that is sweet in the mouth and bitter in the stomach indicates the sadness of the message that John must proclaim. The two witnesses, who are the lampstands -- which is the church -- wear sackcloth, indicating the sad message of woe to the world that refuses to repent.

One of the difficult things for many to do in going through Revelation is to jump into a paradigm shift in how understand the visions. Popular teaching on Revelation says the trumpets depict future events in a certain "literalistic" way. I put literalistic in quotations because this is not a literal reading of Revelation. John saw the images just as he describes them. The images where not objects of some future war in which the only way that John could describe them was using terms of the first century culture and society. John actually saw what he described -- and these are symbols. These symbols are full of Old Testament and New Testament meaning. So when John writes that a great mountain, burning with fire, is thrown into the sea, John sees a great mountain that is burning. Mountains have rich imagery in the Old Testament -- often mountains are used to describe kingdoms, and something on fire is being judged. If we step back and look at what kingdoms and empire have been judged, we can name many: Rome, Hitler's Germany, even the Soviet Union. There are many more empires to name. But what is interesting is recalling how the Soviet Union seemed to invincible and how it persecuted the church, yet it crumbled in moments in the timescale of history.

The trumpets, the seals, the bowls of Revelation reflect parallel history that is a snapshot of God's activity from Christ's first advent to his second coming. This is not some future history reserved for a seven year period just before Christ's second coming. They describe what has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen until Christ returns. As we see all of this unfold, we can know that because we are sealed, we are protected from spiritual harm, that we will indeed persevere and be the ones who overcome and will wear a white robe before the Lamb that was slain.

Revelation 11: The Two Witnesses

¹ Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, ² but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. ³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ⁶ They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. ⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, ⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, ¹⁰ and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. ¹³ And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

Chapter 11 starts with John given a measuring rod and is told to measure the temple. Many futurists base their view of the temple will be rebuilt on this passage. They think that there must be a literal temple, and since there is no temple in Jerusalem right now, it must be rebuilt sometime in the future, many saying it will occur during a final seven year tribulation period just before Christ’s second coming. Interestingly enough, another group also thinks this refers to a literal temple – the temple in Jerusalem before its destruction in 70 AD.

However, given the figurative nature of the other symbols in Revelation, this too should be considered figurative. A future actual temple would imply reinstituting the sacrificial system. Sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ’s death on the cross, and instituting it would be an abomination. This passage of measuring the temple is best understood against the background of Ezekiel 40-48. The Ezekiel passage was written when the first temple was destroyed and the Israelites were in captivity. The temple is measured and is huge – so much so that it cannot be understood as how the next temple is to be rebuilt, but this is a figurative eschatological temple. The Ezekiel temple was beginning to be fulfilled in an unexpected way with Christ’s death and resurrection. This is because Christ’s death and resurrection are the dramatic turn in redemptive history. Christ’s work is the key to understand the Old Testament expectations. The temple of Revelation 11:1-2 is the church patterned after Christ on the cross, who is the true temple. Like Christ, the church will suffer and appear to be defeated. However, God protects his people through all the trials. God is present and protects his people and guarantees them ultimate victory. Therefore this views Christians throughout the entire church age, not just the beginning of the Christian age or at the end just prior to Christ’s return.

John measuring the temple refers to God’s protection of the temple and those who belong in it. This is inner part of the temple, where God dwells. Jesus refers to his resurrection body as the true temple (see John 2:19-22). Since Christians are joined in union with Christ, they too are part of the temple. Since this is right at the alter, Christians not only view and worship Christ, but they also act as priests. Christians act as priest not only as being direct intermediaries to God, but also sacrifice themselves on the alter of the Gospel. The outer court seems to also refer to Christians who will be persecuted for their faith and identification with Christ.

The period of 42 months (1,260 days = 3.5 years x 12-30 day months) is a figurative number, just as the other numbers in Revelation. This refers to the tribulation period prophesized in Daniel 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11-12. The period of “a time, times, and half a time” (3 ½ years) was understood in Jewish writings in various ways: the period of the Jewish Babylonian captivity or the period Israel must wait before its final redemption. This is also the period of Elijah’s judgment on Israel, which Revelation 11:6 refers to. 42 months also refers to the 42-year wandering of Israel in the wilderness. Its usage here in 11:3 and in 12:5-6 indicates this is a period of time through all the life of the church between the two advents of Christ. It is a period of protection for the church (John measures the inner temple) and a period of trial (the outer court is trampled by the nations).

Revelation 11:4-12 amplifies the ministry of the two witnesses. The two witnesses are identified as the two lampstands – which in Revelation 1 is identified as churches. The number two has a significant meaning. Two is the number of witnesses required in trials (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Hence the number two should not be thought of as a portion of the seven churches in Revelation 1, but shows the witness nature of all the churches. The witnesses are dressed in sackcloth, showing the mourning of the judgment nature of their message and hoping for repentance. The olive tress with the lampstands in this particular part of Revelation alludes to Zechariah 4. The olive trees provide oil for the lampstands, which represent the temple and the people of God. In the vision in Zechariah, God promises his presence to the people and that they will be able to finish rebuilding the temple. Also the duration of the witnesses’ ministry corresponds to the time of Jesus earthly ministry.

Verse 5 – The purpose of measuring the temple is shown here. No one can ultimately harm the two witnesses because the invisible temple of God protects them. Those who attempt to harm them will be judged. Those who reject the message of the two witnesses will suffer spiritual death.

Verse 6 is rich with allusions to Moses and Elijah. In fact, the witnesses’ ministry bears a resemblance to the plagues of Moses, the judgment from Elijah, and the previous 6 trumpets. This means the churches will bear similar witness, calling people to forgiveness, but also calling people to discomfort and misery for their unbelief and persecution.

Verses 7-10 – “And when they have finished their testimony…” shows this period of the church is complete. This is at the end of history. It looks like there will be a severe trial for the church at the end of the church age. This section alludes to Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, the final kingdom on earth will persecute and defeat God’s people. Afterward the persecutors will be judged and God’s people will inherit the kingdom of the world. Revelation sees the fulfillment of Daniel with the persecution of the church at the end of history. Daniel mentions a beast, which is an evil king and kingdom that persecute God’s people. The best in Revelation 11:7 refers to a period just before the end of history when persecuting authorities will persecute the church. They will “kill” the church. This is not a complete obliteration of the church, but the churches’ power, authority, and presence will appear to be gone. The church (the witnesses) will be treated with great indignity – the bodies are left without being buried, which is a huge indignity.

The city referred to as Sodom and Egypt refers to the entire ungodly world. Some take the city to be literally Jerusalem because it describes it as the place where Christ died. However, Revelation has been dealing with figurative symbols, and it is most likely using a figurative symbol here. This worldly city became also like Jerusalem, which crucified Christ. The world is unbelieving, and in their unbelief and hatred for Christ, the world killed Christ.

The three and one-half day period that the witnesses lay dead and unburied reminds of the period of time Christ was on earth. The reference is in days this time, which emphasizes the briefness of the period of apparent defeat, in contrast to the three and one half year period of the churches’ witness and judgment.

Verses 11-13. The witnesses are delivered. While this could be a resurrection from the dead, this appears instead to be God’s destroying the persecutors of the church and vindicating the church. There is great fear on the unbelievers. This is not a fear that brings about repentance. This is the fear that comes from their reversal of fortunes. The witnesses go up into a cloud. This again is using figurative symbols to show the church has God’s approval (which is confirmed with Christ’s voice from heaven).

The earthquake indicates the start of the last judgment. The “tenth of the city fell” and “Seven thousand people were killed” indicates that God is beginning to judge a significant portion of the ungodly earth dwellers. The rest of the ungodly recognize their immanent and acknowledge God as the true sovereign, not our of repentance, but out of seeing the shear power of God on display.

Verse 14 indicates that the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet has ended, the final trumpet will blast.

The picture of the Olive Tree is used under the terms granted by Fioana Alexander's Images.

Albrecht Dürer and Revelation

Most of the images that I put in the Revelation notes come from the wood cuts of Albrecht Dürer. Dürer lived from 1471 to 1528. He was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician and creator of many "old master prints," a means by which art was reproduced. I am using a famous sequence from Dürer's Apocalypse, much of which I get from the Connecticut College's website on Dürer's Apocalypse of St. John. I like these images over most of the modern "End Times art" because Dürer is not infected with the modern imagery of much of today's art, of interpreting Revelation with modern images substituted for the literal symbols in Revelation. Dürer uses the symbols directly in his woodcuts. The "outside of our culture" aspect of these woodcuts also causes me to think of the actual symbols themselves, not of some interpretation of the symbols, as I first look at the pictures. This in turn causes me to reflect on the purpose and meaning of the symbols, pulling not from 21st century motifs, but from Biblical motifs from the Old and New Testament. It has been helpful and refreshing to step back and rethink all the symbols of Revelation in this manner.

Revelation 10: The Little Scroll

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. ² He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, ³ and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴ And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” ⁵ And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, ⁷ but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹ And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Revelation 10, ESV)

We now come to the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets. Just as there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals, so there is a parenthetical interlude here. The interlude is not to be though of as something that happens historically between the sixth and seventh trumpets, but things that happen all during the church age between Christ’s first and second advents. The interlude provides further information on the church age. In this interlude, John is recommissioned as a prophet to the ungodly to prophecy their idolatry and wickedness and that their unfaithfulness will result in their doom. Further, in chapter 11 the vision of the persecution of the witnessing church shows the basis of the judgment of the persecutors.

Verse 1: John sees a mighty angel coming down from heaven. What is this angel? The angel is: (1) wrapped in a cloud, (2) has a rainbow over his head, (3) has a face like the sun, and (4) his legs are like pillars of fire. Looking at each of these descriptions:

Cloud. Only God comes in a cloud in the Old Testament, except for Christ in Daniel 7:13 where the Son of Man comes in the clouds to received authority from the Ancient of Days. The Daniel passage is referred to in the New Testament: Matthew 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; Acts 1:9; Revelation 1:7; 14:14-16. Each of these passages in the New Testament refers to Christ. The Son of Man is given the attributes of God indicating this Son of Man is Christ.

Rainbow. The rainbow on the head indicates a divine being. Ezekiel 1:26-28 describes God with a rainbow around him. This passage in Revelation provides a similar description.

Face like a Sun. This corresponds to the previous description of Christ in Revelation 1:16.

Legs are like pillars of fire. Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 1:15 speak of feet burnished bronze, while this passage speaks of legs like pillars of fire. The reason is to give the image of God in the wilderness with Israel where he appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

This image of Christ is of God’s presence in the wilderness with Israel. Here Christ is present to guide the faithful witnesses of the New Israel through the wilderness of the world. The rainbow is an expression of God’s faithfulness to carry out his promises. That this is Christ is also confirmed in verse 3 with a voice like a lion. Christ is appearing like the divine angel in the Old Testament to commission his prophet.

Verse 2: The angel has a little scroll, small enough to swallow. The scroll contains what will happen “about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (verse 11). This scroll refers to what will happen at least in Revelation 11-16. The scroll is also similar to the scroll in Revelation 5. The similarities are:
(1) Both scrolls are opened.
(2) Both scrolls are held by Christ.
(3) Christ is likened to a lion.
(4) Both are allusions to the scroll of Ezekiel 2.
(5) Both scrolls are related to the end-time prophecy of Daniel 12.
(6) Both scrolls concern the future of “peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Thus the meaning of the scroll in Revelation 5 is similar to the meaning of the scroll in Revelation 10. This contains God’s plan for redemption and judgment. This plan was set in motion by Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is worthy to take this scroll because he was the faithful witness and redeemed his people through his death and resurrection. This scroll would appear to cover history from Christ death until he returns. Christ, wearing the rainbow, has taken over the authority from the Father to execute the contents of the scroll.

With this open scroll, Christ sets his foot on the land and sea. Since his legs are pillars of fire, this indicates that Christ will be judging earth dwellers over the entire earth. This indicates Christ’s sovereignty even over the upcoming dragon in Revelation.

Verses 3 - 7 – Crying out with a loud voice like a lion. This has the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion in the Old Testament (see: Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8), once again giving evidence this angel is Christ – or a powerful representative bearing a strong resemblance to Christ.

When the called out, seven thunders came out. There is an allusion to Psalm 29 with its sevenfold thunders. Again, this seems to indicate Christ is speaking, as the thunders in Psalm 29 come from the Lord. Further, Psalm 29 seems to speak of judgment of the ungodly. The thunders contain a revelation that John understood and was going to write. The angel tells John not to write it down. The content of the thunders are sealed up, which means hidden. What are the thunders? We can only speculate. It could be another judgment cycle, like the seals or trumpets. Perhaps at this phase of the trumpets, just before the final judgment, the thunders might be a cycle of final judgment. Some speculate that this cycle was canceled because there is going to be no more delay in the coming of the final judgment. It could also be a recapitulation cycle that occurs in parallel with the seals and trumpets that conveys no further useful information. It could also be that God has reserved some things in history for only him to know and is showing that he is not revealing all that will occur.

The imagery of the angel bears an allusion to Daniel 12. This will become even clearer with the scroll. Daniel was presented with a scroll, which was sealed until the time of the end. Daniel does not understand the words and they are sealed. John hears the thunders and understands, but the words are sealed from everyone else.

Verses 8 – 10. John is given a scroll from the angel. It is referred to as the “little scroll (v. 9). Apparently there is not much distinction between a “scroll” and “little scroll” in which this is used. This opened scroll of Revelation 5, where the seven seals are opened, is the scroll John is commanded to eat. The scroll is sweet to the mouth, because God’s word is sweet and God’s love for his people is sweet. But the scroll is bitter in the stomach because it contains judgments against the earth dwellers. John is commissioned to prophecy to all peoples, nations, languages, and kings.

The Sixth Trumpet

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Verse 13: The sixth angel blows his trumpet. The voice from the four horns of the golden alter may be Christ’s voice, or an angel’s voice. The voice from the alter indicates a stronger involvement in the judgment, and also reflects answering the prayers of the saints beneath the alter. The four horns of the alter refers to the full power of God over the earth (four-corners of the earth, the whole earth, horns represent the animal strength).

Verse 14: “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” These angels had been bound, quite possibly during the sealing of the saints in Revelation 7:1-4. Quite possibly these are evil angels. They were held back at the river Euphrates. This alludes to an Old Testament prophecy about an army that will come to judge sinful Israel from the Euphrates (from the north). We can see this in Isaiah 5:26-29; 7:20; 8:7-8; 14:29-31 and a number of other Old Testament passages. The strongest allusion comes from Jeremiah 46. Jeremiah speaks of the judgment of Egypt. The army is “are more numerous than locusts;they are without number.” In John’s time the Roman fear of the invasion of Parthian was identified with army from the Euphrates.

Verses 15-16: These angels had been prepared for this time indicates God’s plan is set in motion. They are to kill a third of humanity. Strictly speaking, the number of the army is 200,000,000, but as with the other numbers in Revelation, this is very likely a symbolic number indicating an incalculable number of troops.

Verses 17-19: The description of the horses is similar to the locusts of the fifth trumpet. These are monstrous horses, emphasizing the fearful power of this army. The lethal nature of the horses and horsemen is their “fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.” Often fire and sulfur in the Old Testament refers to a fatal judgment. An allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah is made in this passage (Genesis 19:24, 28). Fire is also a metaphor for prophesying. We see this with the faithful witnesses in Revelation 11:5. The fire, smoke, and sulfur are called the three plagues in which a third of mankind dies. The death referred to here is all forms of physical death of the unrighteous, which also results in their spiritual death. The fire and sulfur also refer to the finality of the judgment, its eternal dimension. The death may also refer to more than just the physical death, it could include suffering which comes from the horses’ tails, which are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. The smoke brings darkness, which is spiritual blindness and deception. The power of the horses being in the mouth also reinforces the idea of a judgment by deception. The tail of the horses brings the association of serpents with the tails. He serpent is symbolic for Satan. It was the serpent in the Garden of Eden that deceived Eve.

Verses 20-21: Those who survived the trumpets do not repent. Plagues in the Bible do not primarily being about repentance. That does happen, but that happens to those sealed by God’s decree before the foundation of the earth. The earth dwellers do not repent. God gives these judgments to display his justice, giving every opportunity in warnings for the wicked to repent – but they do not repent. This also reveals the gracious nature of God to his people. It is God who causes people to ultimately repent through his sealing of the saints before the foundation of the world. The saints are not to be disheartened when they face antagonism through their faithful witness. This is all part of God’s plan, and God is a good God in which the faithful can rest with their full confidence.

The Woes

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:13, ESV)


The last three trumpets are different from the first four. They are introduced with “Then I looked, and I heard,” and an eagle flying overhead crying woe three times. The plagues become more severe. They are focused on the evil dwellers of the earth. They still allude to the plagues of Exodus. Creatures flying in the sky like this, literally in the Greek, “flying mid-heaven,” always connote judgment. The fifth and sixth trumpet do not speak of the final judgment, but the eagle flying overhead signals that the final judgment is on its way. The fifth and sixth trumpets bring torment with anticipates the final eternal torment of the unbelievers. The eagle is flying over its prey, the unbelieving earth dwellers. The eagle could be one of the four creatures before the throne of God in chapter 5.


¹ And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. ² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, ⁸ their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth; ⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

¹² The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. (Revelation 9:1-12, ESV)




Verse 1. The fifth angel sounds the trumpet. John sees “a star fallen from heaven to earth.” Notice he does not see the star fall; the star has already fallen. Is this a good or evil star? If we compare the language from Revelation 8:10, we that it is an angel that probably represents sinful people; which is in keeping with Isaiah 14. Jesus uses very similar words to describe Satan as a star falling from heaven (Luke 10:17-20). Whether this is Satan or one of his lieutenants, the angel represents sinful humanity. This angel’s role is to inflict misery on the earth dwellers because Christ has begun to judge him. The evil angel has a key to the shaft of the bottomless pit (or abyss). Christ, who owns the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), ultimately gave this key to him.

In the sixth trumpet, John sees that God and Christ have ultimate sovereignty over Satan’s domain. Satan and his demons cannot unleash anything from hell to the earth unless they given permission to do so from Christ, who reigns in heaven. God is working through all things to bring about his good for his people. In the time of persecution, trials, and tribulations, this should be a source of hope for Christians.

Verse 2: Smoke comes out of the pit and darkens the sun and moon. The previous trumpet darkened the sun and moon and this was an indication of judgment, as it is here. Other Old Testament allusions express judgment as a darkening of the sun (Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15, Isaiah 13:10). In the New Testament, especially with John’s Gospel and epistles, darkness is symbolic for spiritual blindness. The darkness is associated with a mournful condition that comes from suffering. Joel 2:10’s images are a metaphor for the Israelite suffering and weeping from being in exile.

Verse 3: The locusts come from the smoke. This alludes to the locust plague in Exodus. They are given power, either from God or from Christ.

Verses 4-5: The locusts in Exodus 10:15 destroyed the land and consumed the vegetation. The locusts in Revelation are not to destroy the vegetation; they are to only harm unbelievers, the ones who do not have the seal. The locusts are not to kill anyone. They are around for 5 months, the life cycle of a locust. This is a severe locust infestation, lasting the entire period of the locust life. Usually, locust plagues only come in intervals during the five-month period. The number five is not to be taken symbolically, as are the other numbers in Revelation. The affliction is compared to a scorpion’s sting. Again, this is a figurative description. The use of the word “torment” indicates this is a spiritual and psychological affliction. This torment may be brought about by these demon locusts create fear and despair in unbelievers as they reflect on their hopeless condition.

Verse 6: People desire death, but will not ultimately achieve it through suicide. This anticipates the eternal torment of hell. People will see their hopeless condition but cannot bring themselves to suicide.

Verses 7-10: This describes the frightening features of the locusts. They are not, with the possible exception of woman’s hair (which the antennae have an appearance of braided hair), to out of line with near east descriptions of locusts from the same time period or before. The mouth like lion’s teach may refer to their voracious appetite.

Verse 11: the names suggest of the angel of the bottomless pit of Abaddon (Destruction) or Apollyon (Destroyer) suggests this angel is a satanic figure.

...to be continued.