MetaEschatology

Revelation: The Big Picture

2007-09-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-03-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-02-04T21:23:00.001-08:00

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

2007-02-04T20:59:00.001-08:00

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

2007-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-28T00:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-21T16:11:00.001-08:00

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

2007-01-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-19T00:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

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

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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

2007-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

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.

The First Four Trumpets of Revelation

2007-01-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

⁶ Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. ⁹ A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

¹³ 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!”

The trumpets that follow the seals in Revelation show the judgment on unbelievers because of their hardened hearts. These judgments show God’s sovereignty and glory over the affairs of humanity and the world. The judgments primary purpose is not to cause repentance among the “earth dwellers,” although that will happen to a small extent, but punish because of the people’s irreversible hardened and unrepentant hearts. Revelation 8:3-5 serves as a link from the seals, particularly the prayer in Revelation 6:10, to the punishment of the world in the trumpets. The trumpets start a new cycle of judgments, with six trumpets that lead up the seventh trumpet of final judgment. In this way, the trumpets recapitulate what the seals portrayed.

Verse 7 is patterned after the Exodus plague of hail and fire in Egypt. The language is very similar: “There was hail and fire flashing…” (Exodus 9:24); “hail and fire” (Revelation 8:7). In Exodus 9 and Revelation 8 the hail is sent against three parts of earth: land/earth, field/grass, and trees. The first trumpet is different from Exodus in that only a third of all the land and trees are harmed. The punishment is limited, but it is applied across the world. In Revelation the fire does the damage, while in Exodus it is the hail that struck down. The blood mixed with the hail and fire reminds us of the plague of blood in the Nile.

If we recall Revelation 1:1, the visions “signify” or show what is to take place. Signify in this sense means to show by signs, symbols, which figuratively represent the reality of what is and will happen. Because of this symbolic nature of the images, the first trumpet may indicate famines. In Exodus the famine caused by the hail and fire was not total. The wheat was spared (Exodus 9:32). Ezekiel 5 also tells of a famine that is divided into thirds. Fire in Ezekiel 5 is a metaphor for famine.

Verses 8-9 show the second trumpet. It continues the theme of the first trumpet. A great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. The mountain can be a metaphor for a kingdom. Revelation 14:1, 19:9, and 21:10 illustrate this. Fire in Revelation is symbolic of judgment. This symbolizes the judgment of an evil kingdom. We see the symbolism elsewhere in Revelation 18:20-21. There a mighty stone was thrown into the sea and that stone is identified as Babylon. Jeremiah 51:25 says it is against Babylon and describes it as a “destroying mountain.” God will make Babylon a “burnt mountain.” Thus the burning mountain is not a volcano, nuclear missile, asteroid, or meteorite. It refers to a wicked kingdom, which is identified as “Babylon” in Revelation, the “great city.” Babylon sets the world order in the evil world. The disasters in Revelation have the backdrop of Old Testament imagery, which contain figurative descriptions.

The judgment is inflicted on the sea. Only a third of the see is harmed, showing again the limited nature of the judgment. The sea turning to blood once again looks back to the plagues of Egypt with the Nile turning to blood. Once again this refers to famine conditions, where a third of the sea life was destroyed. Sea faring commerce is harmed too. This anticipates the complete destruction of Babylon, which is the source of maritime business.

Verses 10-11, the third trumpet continues the famine judgment with bitter, undrinkable water. Again, this alludes to Exodus 7:20-25. There is a a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch. Previously in Revelation, stars represented angelic beings. These angels act as representatives of kingdoms and people of the world. First represents judgment. Also, the plague on the waters in Egypt can be thought of as a judgment on heavenly beings, such as the gods of Egypt, which includes the Nile god. The star also can represent the angel of Babylon, as seen in Isaiah 14:12-15. In that passage, the king and nation of Babylon is judged because Babylon’s guardian angel, “Day Star, son of Dawn,” has fallen from heaven. The earthly power of Babylon is behind these passages in Revelation 8:8, and 10.

The star is called wormwood. Wormwood is bitter herb. Wormwood in water becomes poisonous when consumed over a long period of time. Jeremiah 9:15 and 23:15 is an Old Testament passage to which Revelation alludes. There the false prophets pollute the nation of Israel with false gods, so God pollutes the waters of Israel with wormwood. Babylon of Revelation is great city that pollutes the world with its lures and pleasures and God judges the world as a result by polluting the waters and springs of the earth.

Verse 12, the forth trumpet afflicts the sun, moon, and stars. This is not a full and final judgment because only a third of the sun, moon, and stars are affected. But this judgment anticipates the final judgment. This judgment is alludes to Exodus 10:21, where God caused darkness in Egypt. This Exodus judgment of darkness was an apologetic against the sun god of Ra, of which Pharaoh was viewed as an incarnation. This judgment therefore can be viewed as a punishment of idolaters (in both revelation and Exodus). In fact, early Jewish tradition viewed the plague of darkness as having symbolic significance. They viewed the darkness as a punishment on the Egyptians for their idolatry.

Also, the sun, moon, and stars are Old Testament symbols for Israel. Joseph dreamed where the sun, moon, and stars bowed to him, which stood for his family. Further, the imagery of the sun, moon, and stars has a New Covenant aspect to them where stars represent angels and Christ. The dragon in Revelation 12 sweeps away a third of the stars, which could refer to Satan’s deception of the angels and the “earth dwellers.” This judgment then is directed at the idolaters inside and outside the church.

Background of the Trumpets in Revelation

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Before examining the trumpet section in Revelation, I will examine some of the biblical tapestry behind the images of the trumpets. The trumpet section alludes to the imagery of other trumpets in scripture, and the plagues of Exodus when God was bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. The first five trumpets strongly allude to particular plagues in Exodus. The table below shows the similarity between the trumpet judgments and the Exodus plagues.

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

The correspondence of the trumpets with the plagues is not exact, as are all the other allusions in Revelation to the Old Testament. However, the allusions are strong enough that they provide a backdrop that can give us insight in the trumpet judgments of Revelation.

The purpose of the Exodus plagues was to glorify God’s majesty and power through Pharaoh’s hardened heart. This was accomplished by God’s judgments, which hardened Pharaoh’s resolve to refuse to let Israel go. Over and over the plagues showed how Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods were impotent against the power and majesty of Yahweh. This included the sun god, Ra, whom Yahweh showed was ineffectual when Moses stretch out his hand and God brought darkness on the land for three days. Further, the plagues were primarily judgments against the hardened heart of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Only in the secondary case were the plagues meant to be a warning to bring about repentance to the nonbeliever. There were a few Egyptians who repented and joined Israel, but the vast majority did not repent.

The Exodus plagues are a type for the trumpets. There are differences between the plagues and the trumpets. The plagues were localized to Egypt, but with a few exceptions, applied everywhere to Egypt. The trumpets, in contrast, are worldwide, not restricted to a particular province. However, the first five trumpet judgment, while world wide, are restricted to a third of the earth, sea, or whatever its effects are applied to, while the plagues applied to the whole of Egypt (except where the Israelites lived).

Trumpets are found elsewhere in the Bible. In the New Testament (Matthew 24:30-31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) trumpets indicate the end-time coming of Christ. In Exodus, trumpets indicate refers to judgment. In Revelation, judgments reflect the Kingly power of Christ that came from his resurrection, ascension and coronation in heaven. Trumpets also announce alarms for battle (Judges 7:16-22; Jeremiah 4:5-21; 42:14; 51:27; Ezekiel 7:14; Hosea 8:1; Joel 2:1; Zephaniah 1:16).

The prime example of seven trumpets in the Old Testament is the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6). With Jericho, seven priests carried seven trumpets, while other priests carried the Ark of the Covenant. For six days the priests blew the trumpets to Harold the impending doom of Jericho and the victor of Israel. In Revelation there are seven angels dressed in priestly robes (see the description of the angels in Revelation 15:5-6). Priests represent God’s authority, along with the ark (which is seen in Revelation 8:3-5, and identified in Revelation 11:19).

The Old Testament background, particularly where Revelation draws must of the allusions to Exodus and Joshua, we see two major points for the trumpets. The first is that the purpose of the trumpets in Revelation is judgment on the unbelievers (“the earth dwellers”). Trumpets primarily are not for warning and calling to repentance, although that does happen, but not on a large scale. Secondly, the first six trumpets in Revelation chapters 8 through 9 are punishments that are preliminary to the final judgment. This has the same thrust as the trumpets at Jericho.

The placement of the trumpets in Revelation after the chapter 7 military census of the 144,000 provides the imagery of God’s army going to war, but it’s not the typical way people think that wars are won. The war is won through the suffering and even the martyrdom of the saints. The saints pray that God will judge the enemies of Christ and God fights for them. The trumpet section of Revelation recapitulates the seals of chapters 6 and 7. The seals focused on the trials the believers must pass through. The trumpets, in contrast, emphasize the answer to prayer for judgment on the unbelievers inside and outside the church.

Transition, The Golden Censer

2007-01-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. ³ And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, ⁴ and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:2-5, ESV)

We are in the second of four visions John records in Revelation. The first vision started in chapter 1, followed by the letters to the seven churches. The second vision is recorded in chapters 4 and 5, followed by Christ being given the scroll with the seven seals. In Revelation 8:1 the seventh seal was broken and now we move on to the seven trumpets. The seven trumpets, along with the seven seals, are part of the "aftermath" of the vision in chapters 4 and 5. After the seven trumpets will come seven histories, followed by the seven bowls, which will conclude this vision sequence.

Verse 1 of chapter 8 is the formal conclusion of the seals. Verse 2 starts the trumpets, however, there is an interesting interruption of the trumpets. G.K. Beale in The Book of Revelation notes this as a structural interlocking of the last seal with the trumpets. In a way, verses 3-5 are an interlocking bridge from the seals to the trumpets.

Who the seven angels are we don’t know. There are seven well-known archangels of Jewish apocalyptic literature. The definite article translated as “the” in the ESV would seem to indicate that. Trivia question, who are they? Enoch 20:1-7 and 40:9 says: Uriel (presides over clamor and terror), Raphael (presides over the spirits of men), Raguel (who inflicts punishments), Michael (presides over human virtual and commands nations), Sarakiel (presides over naughty children), Gabriel (presides over all that is powerful), Phenuel (presides over repentance and those who inherit eternal life). Whether John actually sees these angels as stated in the Jewish apocalypses, or this is even an allusion to them, I can’t say. Another interesting possibility for the angels is that these are associated with the seven churches. However, there is probably more affinity of angels being used by God for judgment and that seems to be the use here (see Exodus 12:23; Psalm 78:47-48).

The interruption of the trumpets in Revelation 8:3-5 is to pick up and conclude the description of the final judgment in Revelation 6:12-17 and 8:1. The reason this fits with the final judgment are the close parallels it has with Revelation 6:12 (earthquakes), 11:19; 16:18; and the context of Revelation 8:2-5 and 15:2-4, all of which are final judgments.

Another angel came to the alter. This alter is the same alter where the souls of the slain saints are under. We can infer this with the prayers added to the incense in the censer and the prayers of the slain souls under the alter in Revelation 5:8 and 6:9. Here we can see the prayers of all the saints means that the slain souls stands for more than just the saints that were literally murdered. The angel is unspecified. It could be “The Angel of the Presence” in Isaiah 63:9. It could also be Christ as in Revelation 10:1 and 14:14. This angel carried carries a golden censer (like one pictured on the upper left).

The smoke of the incense rises before God indicates that the prayers of Revelation 6:10 is now being formally presented to God. The angel is representing the saints as he presents the prayers. The angels were also representatives to the churches in Revelation 1:20 and following. The angels are acting according to God’s will and desires. Thus the angels are carrying out God’s prior decision, which is consistent with the saints make their appeal directly to God in Revelation 6:10. The “much incense” rose before God is a metaphor that God accepted the prayers.

Incense in both the Old Testament and New Testament is always associated with sacrifices. Incense was added to the offering to make it pleasing to God. Thus associated with the saints’ prayer is the idea that the saints sacrificially gave their lives in remaining faithful to Christ. Revelation 7 tells us how the saints were able to remain faithful; God sealed them, so they were under God’s sovereign protection and had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 5 indicates, by God’s judgment, the acknowledgment and acceptance of the prayers. The angel throws the censer to the earth, which is followed by, “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” As mentioned, this fits with other end time judgments, indicating this is the last judgment.

Revelation 7 -- Interlude and the Seventh Seal

2007-01-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

¹ After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ² Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, ³ saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” ⁴ And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

...

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:1-4, 9-12, ESV)

In the previous post we saw the final judgment. Keep in mind the question of the last verse in chapter 6: “for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” This chapter will answer that question. In order to answer that question, chapter 7 takes us back to history prior to the unleashing of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (the first four seals). Some might object that this makes Revelation chaotic in its portrayal of history. But we need to remember that that God sees everything in the universe in the “eternal now”. The ordering of the images in the vision need not reflect a strict temporal ordering, but rather may reflect other logical orderings or sequences. Thus when Revelation 7:1 says, “After this…”, it refers to the next part of the vision, but that vision does not necessarily imply the next sequence in time after what was shown in the previous vision. We will need to look for clues when, temporally speaking, this vision segment takes place.

This segment is not a seal being broken; rather it is an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. An interlude usually provides an explanation for further elaboration of the events immediately preceding or surrounding it. There are four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. The imagery of the four corners is that the angels are surveying the entire earth. The function of these angels is to hold back the four winds. If we recall that the four horsemen of Revelation 6:1-8 has its Old Testament background in Zechariah 6:1-8, then we would also note that the four groups of horses in Zechariah are identified as the four winds of heaven (Zechariah 6:5). This means this interlude takes us back to prior to the first seal being broken. Remember, this interlude is a parenthesis that is going to provide further explanation of the previous events in chapter 6.

The purpose of these four angels is identified by a fifth angel that is ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of God. The servants of God are to be sealed before the earth is harmed. The seal will protect God’s servants during the persecutions and trials they will need to endure. What exactly is the nature of this seal? Ezekiel 9 provides the best background for divine sealing. In Ezekiel, God commands an angel to mark genuine believers and instructs another angel to slay the unfaithful Israelites. The mark on the believers will prevent them from suffering harm from the coming wrath of God, which will be inflicted by the Babylonians on the unfaithful Israelites. Ezekiel 9 speaks of a physical protection. The seal provides protection to the saints in Revelation is evident from Revelation 9:4, where the demonic powers are told not to harm those who have the seal of God on their foreheads. However, Revelation does not concern itself so much with physical protection of the saints, but rather with the spiritual protection. This spiritual protection is the protection of the believer’s faith and salvation from various sufferings and persecutions that they will have inflicted upon them.

The sealing enables the believers to respond in faith to the trials that come their way. These trails then become the very vehicles by which their faith is strengthened. From the first four seals (the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) we see that believers and unbelievers suffer similar physical afflictions. The trails purify the believer’s faith, however, those same trials harden the unbelievers against God. The seal is closely related to the salvation of the saints. Revelation 14:1-4 tells about the saints that are sealed have the names of Christ and the Father written upon their heads. The Lamb has purchased all of these who bear the names on their forehead.

The seals also indicate that God owns the servants of God. It was a common practice in the ancient world to mark slaves to indicate who owned them. This seal, therefore, is a seal given to all believers. In this, we can infer that the 144,000 in the next few verses (4-8) also refers to the “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”

This sealing probably occurred before the foundation of the world. It probably refers to the divine decree to seal all those who believe all throughout the inter-advent age. This decree will be fulfilled when each person believes in Christ.

The seal is God’s sign of sovereign authority over the believers. It indicates God’s protection over them. The seal empowers the believers to remain loyal to Christ and to persevere in their faith. While the believer may face loss of their physical life, the seal protects them from loosing their spiritual life. The seal grants them eternal life. The seal also protects the believers from the final Day of Judgment. The Lamb of God has endured the wrath of God so that the true believers will persevere and overcome and be able to stand before God at the last day.

While John does not explicitly say this, the seal may be best identified with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guarantees spiritual protection. This is seen in 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13, and 4:30).

The seal is applied to 144,000. Since we have seen symbolic numbers before, it is very likely this too is symbolic. What does this number represent? There are a number of ways to look at it, but the one I think that fits with the context of Revelation is noting that 144,000 is equal to 12 times 12 times 1000. Where have we seen two 12’s before? We saw that with the 24 elders before the throne. We noted that it represents 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles, representing both the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. The same thing is going on with the 144,000. It includes the idea of 12 tribes, 12 apostles, times 1000 (a large number). It is numbered off with 12,000 coming from each tribe of Israel – however this is not a usual order of tribes found in the Old Testament. Judah is listed first, and that is understandable given Christ comes from the Tribe of Judah and is the priestly king. The other tribes are not listed in the usual way, in that some tribes are replaced with other tribes in the listing.

The listing of the tribes is done in the fashion of a census in the Old Testament. The purpose of a census was to prepare for war. Here God’s people are prepared for war. It is an ironic war in which victory is achieved through the apparent defeat by tribulation and death, in which the army overcomes, just as Christ achieved victory through his death on the cross.

Right after the census John sees an untold number, myriads upon myriads of people that cannot be numbered, who wear white robes and bear palm branches in their hands, a sign of victory. These countless people answer the question at the end of chapter 6, who can stand before the throne at the last day? These are the ones, who come out of the great tribulation, whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and thereby have been made white and pure. By implication, all of these people have been sealed with the seal of God. The seal has been applied to their foreheads. Chapter 7 closes with the refrain:

¹⁵ “Therefore they are before the throne of God,and serve him day and night in his temple;and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;the sun shall not strike them,nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,and he will guide them to springs of living water,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15-17, ESV)

The seventh seal is broken in Revelation 8:1. Often this is thought to be an empty seal, in which the trumpets form the contents of the seal. However, this is really not the case. In Jewish literature there was the concept of a "pimeval silence" at the end of history in which all the people die and just prior to the final judgment. There is also the response, or anticipated response to the judgment where “all the earth” stand in silent awe. There is an aspect of this silence over the judgment of God in Romans 3:19: “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (ESV). So the seventh seal follows the sixth in that it is the response of silence to the final judgment of God.

The Fifth and Sixth Seals

2007-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. ¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

¹² When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, ¹³ and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. ¹⁴ The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave [5] and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:9-17, ESV)

The previous post looked at the first four broken seals in Revelation 6. We now will look at the next two seals. Albrecht Dürer illustrates these two seal being broken in the woodcut illustration above (from Pasquale Iannetti Art Gallery). Click on either the link or the picture to see the full size image.

The pattern is changed in the fifth seal from the previous four. No longer do the living creatures that surround the throne say come. Neither is the focus on earth, but our attention is drawn back into heaven. Underneath the alter are the souls of those who had been slain. These appear to be believers from the New Testament and beyond, because they were slain for the witness they bore, and the implication is their witness was their faithfulness to Christ, who is the faithful witness in chapter 1. In fact, this seal carries on what was developed in the first three chapters of Revelation. These souls are the ones who overcame in chapters 2-3, and are given white robes. These souls can in fact stand for all Christians who remained faithful and overcame and enter into heaven. “Slain” in this sense is a metaphor to stand for all saints who suffer for the sake of their faith. This suffering primarily refers to believers who conquer temptations, sin, and the pressure to compromise and suffer as a result but are faithful to the end (“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Revelation 2:26-29, ESV). Furthermore, all who have united themselves with Christ become identified with the suffering Lamb that was slain; the slain Lamb becomes the symbol that identifies them and they are identified as being slain.

The slain souls are underneath the alter. The words “slain” and “alter” identify a sacrificial nature of the soul’s suffering. There are at least a couple of different kinds of alters. This alter seems to refer to the golden alter of incense which was near the holy of holies. Revelation 8:3-5; 9:13 identifies this as the golden alter. The sacrificial blood of the Day of Atonement was poured out on this alter. Incense was burned on this alter. The slain are underneath the alter. This is because the alter in the Temple is viewed as the throne of God. The saints being under the alter means they are under the protection of God even though they were slain because of persecution. But, the persecution and death come as a result of the first four seals, which is ultimately under God’s responsibility. For the saints, God sends persecution to test and to purify the faith of the believers. Those who persevere to the end sacrifice themselves on the heavenly alter, in a similar fashion as Christ sacrificed himself on the cross.

The saints cry out, “how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” This is not a cry for personal revenge, but they call for God to uphold his character. They prefix their cry with, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true.” God is asked to demonstrate his sovereignty, his holiness, and the standard of truth by fulfilling his promises to punish the wicked. The phrase, “those who dwell on the earth” is used to describe unbelievers (see Revelation 3:10 and 6:17). The cry of the saints to, “avenge our blood” is not a cry for personal revenge, but that God would demonstrate to the whole world they are right and the evildoers are wrong. This is demonstrated in heavenly court where God overturns the wrong verdict of the earthly courts when God judges the ones who persecuted the ones where were slain.

God answers their request in two ways. First God gives the saints white robes. The white robes do not represent glorified bodies. The saints will get that at the final resurrection on Christ’s return. The white robes represent purity from their faith in Christ, which results in perseverance and their faith being purified in tribulation. The saints did not earn their white robes from their faithfulness. Rather, the white robes are the result of the not-guilty verdict of God through the death of his Son on the cross. In this, God is also announcing that the guilty verdict rendered by the “earth dwellers” is overturned. The robe then is an assurance to the saints that God will openly declare the earth dwellers as guilty and punish them for persecuting the saints.

The second way that God answers their cry is that he tells them “to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete….” Implicitly, God is saying that the judgment will come. The time is not ready yet, God has determined the number of saints to be added to the number under the alter. The final judgment will begin when all that God has decreed to suffer will finally fulfill their destiny. The word “killed” in verse 11 is to be taken figuratively to all believers who persevere. There is an irony to the overcomers. The ones who overcome are ironically the ones, in the view of the earth dwellers, to have been defeated, just as Christ appeared to be defeated on the cross. Instead, the defeat of the saints is tuned into victory in which they overcome in heaven. God’s implicit promise to judge gives the basis for the saints to rest. They rest on the assurance of God’s promise.

The fifth seal, as with seals one through four, occur throughout the inter-advent age. Ever since Christ’s first advent, believers have been suffering for Christ even to the point of martyrdom. These five seals go throughout history from Christ’s first advent to his second in parallel. Christ’s gospel and kingdom will advance. As a result, suffering and persecution arises from the gospel. Believers suffer, persevere, and overcome in heaven and receive their white robes. All of this occurs throughout the age between the two advents.The answer to the slain ones’ cry from under the alter comes in verses 12-17. Most people, when they initially come to this passage, see this as the final judgment. Only some kinds of “futurist dispensational” commentators don’t see this as the final judgment. But the final judgment is clear from the standard Old Testament imagery for the description of the dissolution of the universe.

One of the clearest Old Testament parallels is Isaiah 34:4, which Revelation 6:13-14a closely resembles:

Isaiah 34:4		Revelation 6:13-14a

All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.		and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

The heavens are split like a scroll is split and the two halves are rolled up. Taken with other Old Testament passages this appears to be the final, universal judgment. This can be seen in Isaiah 24. The language may be metaphoric, but the intent of the passage is the last judgment for the following reasons:

(1) The words, “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” implies a legal pronouncement. The similarities to Revelation 20:11-15 are very striking and point to the same event. In both places the skies vanished like a scroll or fled away.

(2) The sixth seal answers the cry of the slain ones under the alter in the fifth seal. This makes sense that it’s the final judgment where the saints are vindicated.

(3) The words of Revelation 6:17 parallels with the other final judgment scenes in Revelation.

(4) The language of this section shows totality of the judgment. All the stars fall (verses a third in Revelation 8:12, or one or a few stars falling from heaven to earth in 8:10; 9:1, and 12:4).

The language is universal. It is not limited to a region, such as the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, nor to some activity to a then future Israel in the “tribulation”. This is the final judgment.

But wait – we’re only at chapter 6 of the book of Revelation and we’re at the final judgment! What is going on? How can that be? The answer is answering the question of how we are to view the structure of the book. Is Revelation a continual temporal sequence of events in future history? That is one possibility. Another possibility is that God is giving John several cyclic snapshots of history. Each of these snapshots presents a particular view or emphasis of the history between the advents of Christ. The technical name for these cyclic snapshots is recapitulation. I personally think that recapitulation best fits the literary structure of Revelation. The recapitulation view has been the dominant view of Revelation throughout church history until rather recently.

The reaction of the “earth dwellers” to the final judgment is extreme, showing how desperate their situation is. Of the ways to die, being buried alive is not one of the ways I’d choose for my exit. It is a terrible way to die – but that is more endurable to the earth dwellers than the wrath of the Lamb. That is an image, the wrath of the Lamb. We usually think of lambs being gentle and meek, the contrast with this image is very different.

The contrast of the earth dwellers, who cannot stand before God, is very different for the slain ones, the elders, and others in heaven who wear the white robes. They stand before God in purity and righteousness that they won from the Lamb who was slain on their behalf.

Revelation 6 -- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

2007-01-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

¹ Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

³ When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:1-8, ESV)

We are in the second vision of Revelation. The first vision started in Revelation chapter 1 with the heavenly vision of Christ. After the vision of Christ the messages were delivered to the seven churches, which represent all the churches throughout the inter-advent age. The second vision began in Revelation chapter 4. John is taken to the great throne room of heaven with the four creatures and the twenty-four elders worshiping God. The one who sits on the throne holds a scroll sealed with seven seals. Christ is the only one worthy to take the scroll. He takes the scroll and breaks the seven seals of the scroll. The first four seals bring out four horsemen. This passage has been the subject of literature and art for centuries. At the upper left is Albrecht Durer’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This is a woodcut image made by Durer around 1498. It is the most famous of his sixteen images he made of the Apocalypse.

There are four houses: A white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. Associated with the horses are conquering (white), war (red), famine (black), and death (pale). This passage alludes to several other scriptures. One is from Zechariah 6:1-8, another is Zechariah 1:8-15. In these passages, there are four groups of horses of different color that God sends to patrol the earth and punish the nations that are oppressing God’s people. God raises those nations to discipline his people, but when those nations inflict more punishment on Israel than they should have, God then punishes them because of his great love for Israel. The horses in Revelation and in Zechariah are very similar in color, with the most notable exception in the descriptions being that Zechariah has groups of horses (with Zechariah 6 having the horses pulling chariots), while Revelation has four individual horses, each with a different color.

This connection between Revelation 6:1-8 and Zechariah 1 and 6 seem to indicate God’s ongoing discipline of his people and simultaneous punishment of non-believers who persecute his people. Four judgments are also stated in Ezekiel 14:12-23. These judgments are caused by nations being unfaithful to God. The purpose of God’s retribution is to punish the nations for their sin but also to purify God’s remnant people by testing their faith. In Revelation we can see analogous application of judgments. Persevering believers will be purified. However, those who demonstrate their disloyalty to Christ by compromising with idolatry will be judged in these tribulations. Ezekiel also refers back to Leviticus 26:18-28. In Leviticus, God says he will bless Israel if it repents of idolatry. God issues warning judgments which will cause the true Israelites to repent and draw near to God, while the apostates will be punished and draw away from God.

God may have been drawing on John’s background in scripture and using these Old Testament passages as a backdrop to the four horsemen. The four horsemen of Revelation 6, as well as the rest of chapter 6, also have a strong allusion to the Olivet Discourse Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 13:7-9, 24-25; Matthew 24:6-8; Luke 21:9-12, 25-26). The Olivet Discourse is where Jesus gave his discussion about the future. It was prompted by the disciples earlier when they were leaving the Temple commented how huge and impressive it was. Jesus took the disciples down the Kidron Valley and up on the Mount of Olives. There Jesus told them the temple would be destroyed, talked about various things that would happen throughout time prior to his coming again, and talked about the end of the age. As each horse is examined, along with the other seals, we’ll look at the discourse.

As Christ breaks each of the seals, one of the four living creatures thunders out, “Come!” The first horse is a white horse. This is an enigmatic symbol where respected scholars debate with vast disagreement. We’ll look at the other horses first, because the meaning of these is more obvious.

The second horse is red. The rider was granted to take peace away from the earth. He carries a great sword. Clearly this horse and rider bring war to the world. When we look at the Olivet Discourse, Christ says, “when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.” From the discourse we see this is an activity that occurs throughout the age before Christ returns.

The third horse is black. The rider has a pair of scales. This horseman is indicative of famine. The scales were used to ration food during times of famine. A voice from the center of the four creatures speaks. The only one mentioned that sits in the center is God, and thus implies that God is even the ruler of famines. The voice says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” A denarius was a day’s wage for most people. A quart of wheat is not much for a family. While we use barely today in soups and in other things, barely was a much lower grade of grain, used chiefly to feed cattle. The prices for these items have been inflated from eight to sixteen times their normal price. Commentators speculate about the meaning of, “do not harm the oil and wine.” It is possible that not all items will be hit hard in a famine, that some things will be available. Others see this as luxury items and that the rich will find ways to enjoy their lives even during times of famine.

When we look at the Olivet Discourse, Christ says, “…there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.” In other words, famines will reoccur throughout the inter-advent age.

The forth horse is pale. The Greek word is “chloros”. Our words “chlorine” “chloroform” come from this word. It is a pale yellow-green, sickly color. The riders are called “Death” and “Hades”. In Revelation chapter 1, we see that Christ has the keys to death and hades. They are given authority to kill a quarter of the people. It is not a full judgment, but a partial one. They inflict a four-fold pestilence on the earth. Four-fold pestilence is symbolic of a full judgment that is seen in the Old Testament – but is not complete given that it is a quarter of humanity affected. Again, from the Olivet Discourse, these judgments occur throughout the church age until the coming of Christ.

As I indicated, there is much debate about the first horse. Commentators, well-respected commentators will identify that horseman as Christ to anti-Christ! You can’t get further poles apart than that!

For those who think the first horseman is Christ, they see it is a white horse. White in the Bible is almost always good. Further, the rider is wearing a crown and Christ wears a crown. Finally the rider conquers; conquering in the Bible is usually a good thing, such as conquering evil. Those who think the rider is the anti-Christ see that Jesus forewarned about imposters coming with the appearance of the Messiah, “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.” (Mark 13:6, ESV). There is another view, that the rider is not Christ, but the rider is a good rider (because the symbolism of white and crown). Jesus says, “the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.” This rider is seen to represent the gospel going forth to all nations, conquering Satan. As the gospel goes forth, opposition to the gospel will arise in the form of the other horsemen. Personally, I see this last option, the gospel going forth conquering the nations, as the reality behind the symbolism of the white horse of the first seal.

Are these four seals and horsemen sequential occurrences in history? Reading the imagery in Zechariah, those horsemen are going about the earth concurrently. The Olivet Discourse also indicates these events occur concurrently. Each of these things will happen at various times at different places on the earth.

In the next post we’ll examine more of the seals of Revelation.

Revelation 4 and 5

2006-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 begins the second vision. The vision of chapters 4 and 5 sets the foundation for all that follows up through chapter 16. Here is what is contained in the second vision:

Chapter 5 – The Lamb is given a scroll with seven seals.
Chapter 6 – The seals with their judgments are broken.
Chapter 8 – The Angels blow trumpets that will unleash judgments.
Chapter 12 – There are seven symbolic histories.
Chapter 15 – The angels pour our seven bowls of God’s wrath.

This is the scene of the Heavenly Throne Room.

Revelation 4:1 starts with, “after this,” which indicates John is seeing another vision after seeing the first vision of the seven churches. John sees an open door to Heaven. This was promised to the church in Philadelphia, an open door to Heaven that cannot be shut. The first voice he hears is like a sounding trumpet; this is Christ’s voice. He says, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” John says, “Immediately I was in the Spirit,” indicating John is seeing another vision. He sees a throne in Heaven with one sitting on the throne:

(Revelation 4:2-6 NASB) Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. {3} And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. {4} And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. {5} And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; {6} and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. …

Jewels are used to describe the one who sits on the throne. Jasper is thought to be a diamond or something like a diamond. It is brilliant, dazzling, and represents God’s glory. Sardis is green and represents the rainbow. This means God’s judgments will be tempered with mercy, in remembrance of the Noahic Covenant. It also indicates that the recreation has started. Just as the rainbow with Noah indicated the start of the recreation of the world after the flood, so it indicates now that the new creation has begun.

There are 24 elders and four living creatures. This is a marvelous scene of worship. Many of the churches were under persecution. They must have been comforted in what John saw, that there is a throne in heaven. There is one who is seated upon it, who made all things and rules all things. God rules over all events.

There are many things that are mysterious and awesome. While many things are mysterious, there are allusions to the Old Testament prophets.

Isaiah 6: Isaiah’s call as a prophet:

(Isaiah 6:1-4 NASB) “In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. {2} Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. {3} And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." {4} And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”

This passage in Revelation chapter 4 inspired Reginald Heber, an Anglican Minister, to write “Holy, Holy Holy” in 1826:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the
darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Another allusion is:

(Ezekiel 1:4-11 NASB) And as I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. {5} And within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. {6} Each of them had four faces and four wings. {7} And their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf's hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. {8} Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, {9} their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. {10} As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man, all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. {11} Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies.

(Ezekiel 10:1-14 NASB) Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them. {2} And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he entered in my sight. {3} Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. {4} Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD. {5} Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks. {6} And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, "Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim," he entered and stood beside a wheel. {7} Then the cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out. {8} And the cherubim appeared to have the form of a man's hand under their wings. {9} Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish stone. {10} And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. {11} When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. {12} And their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. {13} The wheels were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. {14} And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Most striking is the description of the four living creatures. In Revelation one is like a man, one like an ox, one like a lion, one like an eagle. In Ezekiel, the four living creatures have four faces, each face being one of the faces of the creatures. Also, the throne in Ezekiel has wheels. The temple had been destroyed, the presence of God moves, so the wheels are appropriate. The vision in Ezekiel seems to be centered on the earthly Temple, but in Revelation this is the heavenly temple or throne room.

There is something like a sea of glass at Mount Sinai:

(Exodus 24:9-10 NASB) Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, {10} and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

The sea of glass could be the laver of Solomon's Temple, and/or also represent the "congealed" Red Sea when Israel crossed. A stormy sea was thought to represent evil, and a peaceful sea is God's dominion over the evil sea (as Christ had dominion over the storm in the Sea of Galilee).

Who are the elders? Why 24? The elders could be angels, humans, or represent humans. These could be angels that represent human, representing the twelve tribes (the Old Testament church) and the twelve apostles (the New Testament church). So the elders seem to represent the entire redeemed of humanity from the Old Testament through the New Testament age and beyond.

In the Old Testament there is a Divine council

(Jeremiah 23:16-18 NASB) Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD. {17} "They keep saying to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You will have peace"'; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.' {18} "But who has stood in the council of the LORD, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?

(1 Kings 22:19-22 NASB) And Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. {20} "And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said this while another said that. {21} "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.' {22} "And the LORD said to him, 'How?' And he said, 'I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' Then He said, 'You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.'

(Job 1:6 NASB) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

The 24 are wearing crowns, white clothing, and sitting on thrones. All three of these things were promised to those who conquered in Revelation chapter 3.

Does this mean the church is raptured? No. The twenty-four elders is a symbolic number representing the council, the rulership, of the redeemed – not the entire redeemed itself.

What about the four living creatures? There is a correspondence with the seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6 who cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and a correspondence with Ezekiel chapter 10 to the cherubim. These are probably the same beings. On top of the Ark of the Covenant, above the mercy seat, where the cherubim. The Old Testament temple was to represent the heavenly scene.

Why four? There are the four corners of the earth, the four winds. The faces represent the whole order of animate creation.

Lion – the wild beasts.
Calf or ox – the domesticated beasts.
Eagle – the birds.
Man – Man, who is given dominion of the earth.

An aside -- there is a tradition the four Gospels, Ireanaus:
John Eagle
Matthew Man
Luke Ox
Mark Lion

What do the elders and living creatures. They sing 24-hours Holy, Holy, holy. The elders fall in worship and cast their crowns, indicating their kingship and how they owe everything to Christ.

This brings to mind another worship song by Pauline M. Mills (1963):

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy
Thou art worthy, O Lord
To receive glory, glory and honor
Glory and honor and power
For Thou hast created, hast all things created
Thou hast created all things
And for Thy pleasure they are created
Thou artworthy, O Lord

Chapter 5.

John is seeing something in heaven that did not happen before. The scroll is given to the Lamb. The Lamb is a new identity for Christ in what he accomplished on the cross.

Some translations use “book”, others use “scroll”. The Greek word is biblion, which means writing. Some scholars say this is a codex, which is the precursor to the modern style of book. It turns out that the Christian community was the one who popularized the codex in the first century. Whether it is a codex (book) or a scroll will effect how this scene is played out in some of the minor details. If it is a scroll, the contents of the scroll cannot be read until all the seals are broken. If it is a codex, seals could be arranged in a way so that parts of the book are opened, as the seals are broken. However, with a scroll, the seals can have summary information on the contents of the scroll. Breaking a seal would reveal the summary information. It was not unusual for summary information to be placed on seals of legal Roman documents. In fact, if this is a scroll, which most commentators seem to think it is, there are two types of Roman legal documents that bear striking resemblance to this depiction in Revelation 5.

The first document is a will. A Roman will had the following characteristics:
(1) The contents of the will were summarized on the back.
(2) A will had to be witnessed and sealed by seven witnesses.
(3) Only on the death of the testator could a will be unsealed and the legal promise of the inheritance executed.
(4) A trustworthy executor would put the will into effect.

The scroll in Revelation 5 is written on both sides (an opisthograph). This was not normal, scrolls were usually written on one side.

Others have seen this taken the form of another common Roman late first century legal document, a doubly sided contract or deed. Such a document would be written on the inner pages, which were then folded and sealed with seven seals. The contents would be written on the outside in summary or in full. The document was to be unsealed when the inner contents were to be executed.

What does the scroll contained? There are various suggestions:
(1) Leon Morris, book of human destiny.
(2) The little scroll that is handed to John later, that is sweet to eat but is later sour to the stomach.
(3) Plan of judgment or redemption, the rest of the prophecy that Revelation contains.
(4) The Lamb’s Book of Life. The scroll is given to the Lamb, who is the only one worthy to open it. The Lambs Book of Life is mentioned in Revelation 13:8; 21:27, and other times mentioned as just “The Book of Life”). The Lamb, whose book this is, has died. This brings the book into effect. The will tells what’s to be done with the Lamb’s inheritance.

Opening the seals would not represent what is written in the scroll. The judgments happen before the book is open, before the contents can be read.

The lion that is also the lamb. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah goes back to Genesis 49:

(Genesis 49:8-10 NASB) "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. {9} "Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? {10} "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

This depicts the power and royalty of Judah. Christ is the root of David:

(Isaiah 11:1-2 NASB) Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. {2} And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

(Isaiah 11:10 NASB) Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.

When Judah was carried off into captivity, the Davidic king was no longer. But God promises there will be a shoot that will grow off the stump. Christ is not just the branch of David, but also the root of David. Christ is the source of David.

John is told that the conquering lion is worthy, but John turns to see the conquered Lamb. When Christ takes the scroll, the 24 elders and living creatures fall down and worship. Note the harps and incense in the description, these indicate worship. The incense represents the prayers of the saints.

The song in Revelation 5:9-10 follows the Exodus theme.

This brings the initial vision of the second vision to a close. This vision sets the stage for Revelation 6-16.

Structure of Revelation

2006-12-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

There are many ways to outline Revelation. I will give one outline below. This outline is structured on the four visions of Revelation. Many commentators see sevenfold structures throughout Revelation, such as seven judgments. One (Beale) sees seven interlocking judgments, where the ending of one series of judgments introduces the beginning of the next series.

There are four major visions. These are introduced with the words that John is in the Spirit:

Vision 1: (Revelation 1:10 NASB) “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, …” The Son of Man is the object of this vision, Jesus appearing in glory.

Vision 2: (Revelation 4:2 NASB) “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.” The Lamb is taking his reign in heaven.

Vision 3: (Revelation 17:3 NASB) “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.” Judgment of the prostitute Babylon.

Vision 4: (Revelation 21:10 NASB) “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, …” The glory of the Bride of Christ.

In the first three visions there is an aftermath of the vision. In the fourth and final vision there is no aftermath.

There are four elements in each vision:

(1) A voice introduces the vision. The first two voices are from Christ, the second two are from angels.

(2) John refers to himself as being in the Spirit in each of these visions.

(3) There is some indication of what John is going to see. In vision 1 John is told to write what he sees and what will take place hereafter in a book. Vision 2 John is told Christ will show what must take place after this. Vision 3 John is told he will be shown the judgment of the great prostitute. Vision 4 John is told, “"Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

(4) John falls in worship in each of the visions (except in vision 2, where John does not mention himself, but mention the 24 elders fall and worship).

Outline:

Prologue	1:1-8
Vision 1	The Heavenly Vision (1:9-20).
	The Messages to the Seven Churches (2-3).
Vision 2	God's Throne Room (4-5).
	Opening of the seven seals (6:1-8:1).
		Seal 1: White Horse of Conquest.
		Seal 2: Red Horse of Slaughter.
		Seal 3: Black Horse of Famine.
		Seal 4: Pale Horse of Death.
		Seal 5: The Cry of the Martyrs.
		Seal 6: Cosmic Disturbances.
		Interlude: Protection for the Saints.
		The 144,000.
		The Great Multitude.
		Seal 7: Silence in Heaven.
	The Seven Trumpets (8:2-11:19)
		Trumpet 1: Hail and Fire.
		Trumpet 2: Blood.
		Trumpet 3: Bitter Water.
		Trumpet 4: Darkness.
		Trumpet 5: Locusts.
		Trumpet 6: Conquering Army.
		Interlude: The Witness of the Saints.
		The Little Scroll Given to John.
		Two Witnesses.
		Trumpet 7: God's Temple Opened.
	Seven Symbolic Histories (12:1-14:20)
		Introduction of the Characters.
		History 1: The Dragon.
		History 2: The Woman.
		History 3: The Sea Beast.
		History 4: The False Prophet (Earth Beast).
		History 5: The 144,000
		History 6: Three Angelic Proclaimers
		Interlude: Relief for the Saints.
		History 7: The Appearing of the Son of Man.
	The Seven Bowls (15:1-16:21)
		Bowl 1: Dry Land
		Bowl 2: Sea
		Bowl 3: Fresh Water
		Bowl 4: Sky
		Bowl 5: Darkness
		Bowl 6: Great River
		Interlude: Promise for the Church
		Bowl 7: Earth Utterly Shaken.
Vision 3	The Judgment of Babylon (17:1-19:10)
		Introduction of Characters
		Message 1: Destruction of Babylon.
		Message 2: Announcing Babylon's Fall.
		Message 3: Warning Saints to Come Out.
		Message 4: The Kings of the Earth.
		Message 5: The Merchants.
		Message 6: The Seafaring Men.
		Interlude: Promise for the Saints
		Message 7: Final Message of Destruction.
		Sevenfold Joy in Heaven.
	Christ Appearing in the Final Battle (19:11-21)
		Description of the White Horse.
		Angelic Message of Destruction.
		Promise for the Saints.
		Final Judgment of Beast and False Prophet.
	The Judgments (20:1-21:8)
		Angel with the Key to the Abyss.
		Preliminary Judgment.
		Promise for the Saints.
		Final Judgment of Opponents and Satan.

		Great White Throne.
		Divine Judgment.
		Promise for the Saints.
		Exhaustive Judgment.
Vision 4	The New Jerusalem (21:9-22:5)
Epilogue	22:6-21

In addition to this outline, there are thematic "reflective" structures, known as chiasms, where topics are introduced and then resolved in the opposite order of introduction. This is discussed in Poythress, The Returning King (pp. 64-65), and in detail in Beale, The Book of Revelation (pp. 130-132).

Rapture Messages to Loved Ones

2006-12-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

I enjoy reading the Riddleblog, in one of his latest entries, Kim Riddlebarger writes about a website that will send your mail (real snailmail) to loved ones after the Rapture. This website, as far as I can tell, is a serious website. The people running it give their word they will deliver your hard copy messages to loved ones left behind in the Rapture. How do they do this? After all, they too could be caught up in the Rapture. Well, they won't. They are atheists who don't believe that the Rapture will occur, but if, to their surprise, the Rapture does occur, they will deliver the messages you've given to them. They say there is no chance they'll become Christians, and they will live lifestyles quite apart from Christ -- that is unless the Rapture occurs, then they will opt for plan B, which is to become Christians, and also deliver the messages.

At first I laughed at this. A couple of enterprising computer atheist geeks, making some money and providing a service to some of the Christian community. Quite humorous. But, as I thought about this, the more troubled I became. How hard their hearts are, but also how this teaching of one segment of the Christian Evangelical community can be misleading.

What do you think about this? What do you think about the "Secret Rapture" of the church? There are other views, that there will not be a invisible rapture of the church seven years prior to Christ's Second Coming. This class will explore this in the up-coming weeks.

Message to the Seven Churches

2006-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

The vision of Christ John has in the first chapter of Revelation defines what the entire church needs to persevere. As Christ gives his exhortations to the individual churches, pay attention to the description of Christ at the start of each message to the church.

Each of the messages has a triad to it:
(1) There is a reminder of what the church is through God.
(2) Each church has problems.
(3) Each church is given promises that give hope and motivate them.

There is even a more detailed structure to the triad, which expands to seven elements. Not all seven churches will have all the details of the seven elements.
(1) The address to the angel of the church.
(2) Christ’s self description which is oriented to what the church needs.
(3) A commendation to the church where it is faithful at some point.
(4) A condemnation, or rebuke, or some point of infidelity noted about the church.
(5) A duty is given with a warning of judgment or an encouragement.
(6) An exhortation to discern the truth of the preceding message to the church.
(7) An exhortation and promise of a reward to the church if it is faithful.

The seven-fold pattern is not followed for all churches. Also the order will vary. A summary set of tables is shown below (this is broken into several tables because the blog format will not permit one continuous table).

Section	Ephesus	Smyrna	Pergamum
Christ's Description	Authority Presence	Giving life	Warrior against sin
Commendation	Doctrinal zeal	Spiritually rich	Holding fast
Condemnation	Lost first love	none	False teaching, immorality
Duty	Repent	Suffer for Christ	Repent
Promise	Tree of Life	Freedom from death	Spiritual significance

Section	Thyatira	Sardis	Philadelpha
Christ's Description	Searching heart	Source of Spirit	Opening door
Commendation	Love, service	A few faithful saints	Keeping the word
Condemnation	False teaching, immorality (Jezebel)	Spiritually dead	Little strength
Duty	Repudiate Jezebel	Awake	Continue
Promise	Rule over nations	White robe (honor)	Secure dwelling

Section	Laodicea
Christ's Description	True witness
Commendation	none
Condemnation	Worthless
Duty	Admit need; receive from Christ
Promise	Fellowship

Let’s look at the letter to the church in Ephesus in detail:

(Revelation 2:1-7 NASB) "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: {2} 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; {3} and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. {4} 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. {5} 'Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent. {6} 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. {7} 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.'

The self description of Christ is: “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands.” Notice how this comes from the vision in chapter 1. This is both a sign of authority and Christ’s presence in the churches. Christ holds the angels (stars) of the churches in his hand and walks among the churches (the lampstands). Christ is present in the eternal and temporal church.

Christ’s commendation of the Ephesians is: “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.” These are people who have greatly endured. They have a real zeal for good doctrine.

Christ’s condemnation: “… that you have left your first love.” That is a stunning condemnation! How did the church grow cold? The Apostle Paul started the church in Ephesus, probably in the mid 50’s. Timothy was at Ephesus, according to First Letter to Timothy. Timothy was there in the late 60’s. Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila where in Ephesus during the 60’s. While there is some debate when Revelation was written, I go along with many scholars that think Revelation was written around 95/96 AD. From the late 60’s to 95, let’s say the slide went from 70 to 95 AD, that’s 25 years – basically a generation. A lot can happen in 25 years or more. What was once a great church was now a dying church. A church that dwells on the great things it did years ago is a dying church. A church, or a family, cannot rest on the faith of a previous generation.

The correction: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first.” The problem is that they have lost their first love. They are persevering, but we do not hear about their love. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 says: “constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NASB). Our labor, our works, comes from faith, love, and hope in Christ. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that without love we are nothing. The description of Christ also helps in Ephesus’ situation. They need to dwell on Christ’s presence, bask in his love for them, and renew their faith and love for Christ. Works and perseverance will come from faith and love, the type of works that is built of precious stone.

Christ exhorts the church: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This echoes out of the Synoptic Gospels when Jesus told parables. This is a warning that comes out of Isaiah 6:9-10. It is a warning of judgment and the promise of blessing that is conditioned on repentance. Christ used this as the reason why he spoke in parables. Parables were given as a judgment to blind and deafen the majority of Israel and to have a positive effect on only the remnant. Those whom God has called are that remnant that will listen and head the message.

The promise is: “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.”

This gives a taste on reading through the section of the letters to the seven churches.

The Sevens

2006-12-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

Various numbers make their appearance in Revelation, chapter 1. Seven is the most visible explicit number, but there are other implicit numbers. Three shows up in verses 5 and 6 for the Trinity, and elsewhere in chapter 1 there are "trinity" kinds of of descriptions where things are described in triplets.

The first number seven in Revelation is used for the seven churches the book is sent to. These are seven historical churches. They are listed in order that a messenger would travel to the seven churches to read the book. The NASA photo on the left (click to enlarge) shows the location of the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). You can see path is an "inverted V."

The seven churches were not the only churches in Asia Minor. The language of Revelation 1 seems to be to more than the seven specific churches. Drawing upon biblical knowledge, seven is a number used in the Old Testament to indicate fullness, completeness. We will see that in Revelation 1 shortly with the seven Spirits of God. Because of that, seven appears to be not only a literal number of seven historical churches, but also stands as a figurative number speaking of all the churches.

Three shows up as a description of God:

"... from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." (Revelation 1: 4b-5a)

In this three-fold description, we see:

(1) (The Father) Him who is and who was and who is to come,
(2) (The Holy Spirit) The seven Spirits,
(3) (The Son) Jesus Christ.

These describe the Triune God: the Father, Holy Spirit, and the Son. The Father further has a triple description: who is, who was, and who is to come. This is very remeniscent of the I AM WHO I AM that God gave to Moses at the burning bush (see Exodus 3:14). This is a clear reference to Yahweh. This speaks of God who transcends time.

What are we to make of the seven Spirits? Is the Holy Spirit divided into seven parts? Clearly not. Seven refers to the completeness of the Holy Spirit, the complete work of the Holy Spirit. Seven in reference to the Holy Spirit is completely figurative, at least there is nothing we can safely identify in the literal sense for seven with the Holy Spirit.

For Jesus Christ, we see he is the basis of our grace and peace. Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth -- this is present tense. Christ is currently ruling. Christ is also the faithful witness, and John implies that because Christ was the faithful witness, we are too. We can see we will be faithful witnesses also from other passages because we are in union with Christ. Christ is the first born, meaning we will following in his path. We follow in His sufferings with our tribulation that occurs now, along with Christ's reign. This fits in the "already-but-not-yet" mentioned in a pervious post. Thus it is important to note that Christ's death and resurrection secures not only our salvation, our forgiveness of sins, but it causes us to be faithful witnesses too, to persevere and endure. We are a kingdom of priests, ruling with Christ, directly accessing God. This is great news, a great promise, a great blessing.

John sees in his first vision seven golden lampstands. One golden lampstand has seven branches, each containting an oil lamp. A lampstand is pictured on the left. The lampstand vision also alludes to Zechariah 4:2-10, where the single lampstand in Zechariah symbolizes the temple, which stands for faithful Israel, which lives not by might or power, but by the Holy Spirit.

In Zechariah, one lampstand represented God's chosen people, Israel. What are we to make out of seven lampstands in Revelation 1? Verse 20 says the lampstands stand for the seven churches. Given that the seven refers to the completeness or fullness of a thing, we can reasonably conclude that the universal church is the true Israel, that the true Israel is no longer limited to a nation, but it emcompases all peoples.

In Christ's right hand he holds seven stars. We are told the stars angels of the seven churches. In chapters 2 and 3, messages are given to the angels of the seven churches. They are held responsible for the seven churches. What are we to make of this. It is possible that the seven stars can be:

(1) heavenly beings,

(2) heavenly beling who represent the churches,

(3) human leaders or representatives of the churches (understanding one of the meanings of angel to be messenger, heavenly or human),

(4) personification of the prevailing spirit or character of the church,

(5) the eternal personification of the church.

It would not be out of character for John to use a personification for the churches. John does that in his second epistle where John personifies the church as the woman and her children. It could be that the stars are the eternal aspect of the church. Our church has a temperal, earthly aspect to it. But it also has an eternal aspect. What our church does now has eternal consequences and will carry on into eternity.

First Interprative Principles of Revelation

2006-12-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John... (Revelation 1:1 NASB)

The word Revelation comes from the Greek word, "apokalupsis", which means disclosure or revelation. We get our word apocalypse from it. There was a genre of apocalyptic literature at the time of Revelation, but the book of Revelation does not quite fit in the genre. While it does have remarkable symbols of history, it does not fit the genre in other ways. For instance, John, the author of Revelation, does not use a pseudonym. He uses his real name. Neither is Revelation history rewritten as prophecy. So the word "revelation" itself does not appear to be a term to indicate its following the tradition of other apocalyptic works.

Revelation makes allusions to many other biblical passages, particularly Old Testament passages. Over and over allusions are made to Daniel. In Revelation 1,there are allusions to Daniel chapter 2, chapter 7, 10, and other chapters. This can give us a clue to the framework in understanding Revelation.

The first verse of Revelation introducing the book follows a pattern found in Daniel, chapter 2 where Daniel is introducing an interpretation of a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him. He demanded his wise men to tell him his dream and give the interpretation of the dream. God revealed to Daniel the dream and the interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar's dream was a symbolic dream of the future. Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar that God "has made known" the dream and that it "will take place in the latter days." Revelation has the corresponding elements in the opening, saying the God is going "to show" his bond-servants and that it "must take place shortly."

The word "show" in Revelation 1:1 comes from the Greek word, "semaino," which means to signify -- with the implication that communication will be shown in symbolic signs. The vision in Daniel 2 is highly symbolic; it pictures a statue that represents the Babylonian empire and future empires. We can expect that Revelation will be symbolic in its imagery.

What Daniel says will take place in the latter days, Revelation says must take place shortly. The Greek that is translated indicates that time that "is shortly taking place" also has the meaning the time has begun; that this is the beginning of time while will continue into its fullness to its consummation. The distant time of Daniel's era is referring to John's era. This age began with Jesus' advent, especially his death, resurrection, and ascension. We will see the pattern of the "already-and-not-yet" end-times of the period we live in. We are already in the era of "peace and grace" (v. 4 and 5) accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus is already the ruler of the kings of the earth (v. 5). All believers make up a kingdom of priests (v. 6), implying we have direct access with God and that we even rule with God. But is not-yet because even though we are in the kingdom where Christ rules, there is tribulation and we're called to endurance, the perseverance that will take us through to the consummation when Christ returns (v. 9).

In summary, some initial principles in understanding Revelation include:

(1) Read and learn the Old Testament passages that Revelation refers too.

(2) Understand that Revelation is communicating through symbolism, symbolic images, numbers, and other language which refer to the reality behind the symbols.

(3) We live in the "Already-and-Not-Yet" period Revelation is talking about. We are living in the latter days. What Revelation talks about has begun, but it is not complete, it has not reached its consummation. That is yet to come.

Decoding Revelation

2006-12-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I had a secret decoder ring for the book of Revelation. I place the text of Revelation into the ring, press a button, and the proper interpretation in a flash. I could even come up with the marketing -- Be the first in your church to get the secret Revelation Decoding Ring and be a master in understanding the arcane knowledge of the secrets of Revelation. You too can confidently use words words like eschatology, know the ins and outs of amillennialism, postmillennialism, premillennialism, panmillennialism and whatever isms you want, know who the Beast is and the secret ways to hide from and defeat his henchmen. Quick, mail in seven seals from the Spiritual Crispies Cereal box and get your decoder ring.

In the next few entries over the next few days I'll write some follow up notes from the class presentation. Feel free to comment here or on the other posts anything you want about the topic or about the class. I covered a lot of material for Revelation chapter 1. How did it go? Are there any questions? Was it clear, or did I make things muddy?

Listening to Revelation

2006-12-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have found that one of the ways I can understand and meditate on Scripture is to listen to it being read. There is an audio Bible website where you can listen to books of the Bible on-line or download MP3 files. Audio Treasure is one place that I frequent for listening to the Bible. You can listen to Revelation from Audio Treasure here (you can advance the chapter by clicking forward on your MP3 player). You can download MP3 files from Audio treasure here.

Questions

2006-12-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

Over the series of classes on Revelation, we can explore any questions we have about the book of Revelation or about eschatology (end-times) in general. Here are some questions:

(1) Why do some people believe that the temple must be rebuilt? This question will be explored during the January 14th class, which covers Revelation 11, where some people think that a literal temple must exist during the tribulation and prior to Christ's second coming.

(2) What are the various views of the millennium? Which view is best supported by Revelation? This topic will be discussed sometime in the future classes.

What other questions do you all have?

Class Textbook Online

2006-12-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

The class textbook, Revelation: The Returning King, can be found online here. This is from Poythress' website. It is very generous of Dr. Poythress to do this. Thanks, Jared, for finding this for us.

Class 1 Notes

2006-12-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

For those reading the blog that attended the class, you all discussed well. Here are some follow-up notes.

The four views of Revelation

(1) Past -- sometimes referred as Preterist. This views that virtual all the end times prophecies took place around 70 AD at the fall of Jerusalem. There are two versions of this view, the Full Preterist, and the Moderate or Partial Preterist. The Full Preterist says that even Christ's second coming occurred at 70 AD. The Moderate or Partial Preterist says that many of the end times prophecies took place at 70 AD, but Christ did not return. That is a future event. Famous Partial Preterists include: R.C. Sproul Senior, and Hank Hanegraaff (the Bible Answer Man).

(2) Historicism -- This views that Revelation has been largely fulfilled during the course of history after Christ's ascension. Various events, such as the Islamic invasion of Middle East in 900 and later in Europe are viewed as actual fulfillment of particular sections of Revelation.

(3) Futurist -- This views that the bulk of Revelation has yet to be fulfilled. This is the most popular view in American Christian culture at the moment, and is exemplified by Hal Lindsay in the Late Great Planet Earth and Tim LaHaye in the Left Behind series.

(4) Idealist -- This is the "all the above" view. This view says that Revelation tells of things that will happen throughout the age between Christ's ascension and his second coming. There are some things that Revelation speaks to that happened during the lives of the original audience of Revelation, things that happened throughout the centuries, and things yet to occur. The tribulation, for instance, happened in the early church with the persecution of the Roman Emperors, during upheavals, such as the Islamic invasion, or during the Reformation struggle against a corrupt church. These tribulation events even occur today in many parts of the world, in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere where state law prohibits people from converting to Christianity. Further, all these tribulations may point to a time of great tribulation just before Christ's return.

Authorship and Date

Revelation identifies the author as John. Given that John as the last surviving apostle and well known, it would appear he would need no other qualification for identification. Further, the early church fathers identify the apostle John as the author of Revelation.

The date of Revelation could be in the 60's or around 90-96 AD. I prefer 96 AD for the following reasons:

(1) Early church fathers put a date of Revelation during the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian. Domitian died in 96AD.

(2) Emperor worship. The book of Revelation indicates there was emperor worship. There were three emperors who insisted on worship during their lifetimes: Caligula (37-41 AD), Nero (54-68 AD), and Domitian (81-96 AD).

(3) The state of decline of the seven churches in Asia Minor. They were strong, robust churches in the 50's and it would take time for the churches to decline. Ephesus, a strong church in the 50's and 60's was in decline. The city of Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 or 61 AD would take some time to rebuild before it could take pride over its riches.

(4) The allusions to the New Testament. Revelation is steeped in references to the New Testament. This would call for a later date than the 60's Revelation.

Are there any questions or comments?

What's with the name Earl?

2006-12-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

If you came to this blog from the Revelation class at East Cobb Presbyterian Church, you might be surprised that I'm using the name Earl here instead of ... . You've reached the right place. I prefer the Internet name Earl because I like to keep my real name off the Internet. This comes from sometime ago when I went through an episode of identity theft. At first the police and federal investigators thought it might be due to my Internet presence, which was very public at the time. While later investigators identified the probable source of my identity theft to an inside job at a credit card company, and caught and prosecuted the particular perpetrator, I have decided to take a low Internet profile since then. So, while you know me as … at church, my presence on the Internet is Earl Flask.

The Seven Churches in Revelation

2006-12-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

The Book of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. This is the approximate location of the seven churches overlaid on top of a NASA satellite photograph. Click on the image to see it at full size.

Intrepreting Revelation

2006-12-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to various courses at Covenant Seminary. One of the courses, Hebrews to Revelation, provides a quick overview of Revelation that I find particularly hits the mark on getting what I think is the literal sense of Revelation. I am going to walk though a example of a passage in Revelation that Dr. Daniel Doriani gives in his class. You can read his lecture notes here, or listen to it here.

The passage is Revelation 9:1-9 (ESV):

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.

What are we to make of this passage? There are 4 basic approaches to reading Revelation:

(1) Preterism -- The passage occurred in sometime immediately after the book of Revelation was written.

(2) Futurism -- The passage occurs sometime in the future, particularly during the last 7 years during the great tribulation just before Christ's second coming. Many of the futurists (certainly not all) say the locusts are helicopters, with tailguns that are the stingers.

(3) Historicism -- The passage occurred sometime in the past history of the church. One group of historicists says this happened in during the Muslim invasion of Europe.

(4) Idealist -- The idealist says all of these are true.

Being the agreeable type of guy I am, I like position 4. I don't have to limit my options, and I don't have to particularly disagree with anyone. This is good for a whimpy guy like me. But, there is more to the idealist position that just being wishy-washy. If we look at the symbols used in this passage, we can see the intent of this passage.

One of the first things to note is that no one takes this passage fully literally. First of all a star falls from the sky to earth. A literal star that we see in the sky is larger than the earth. If a star was heading towards the earth, the earth would be fully destroyed.

The first symbol in this passage is a falling star. There are several passages which speak of a falling star:

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground,you who laid the nations low! (Isaiah 14:12, ESV)

¹⁸ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18-20 ESV)

We see in these passages that a star falling from heaven is Satan. So, it is possible to see that the star in the Revelation passage is a symbol for Satan falling.

Next, the star is given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. In the Bible the bottemless pit is hell. The New Testament supplies further information. The bottomless pit is the place in hell reserved for the demons. You can see this in Luke 8:31 where the demons begged Jesus not to be sent to the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit also shows up in Revelation 9:11, 20:1-3, and 17:18. Satan is cast to the bottomless pit.

From the bottomless pit there is smoke. Earlier in the Bible we see smoke coming from Sodom and Gomorrah. It also rose from Mt. Sinai. We can see that in Sodom and Gomorrah that the smoke resulted from God's judgement on that city. What about Mt. Sinai? There was an element of God's judgement there to. Only Moses could go upon that mountain. Anyone else who touched that moutain, even an animal, was to be stoned because God is holy and the people we not holy. The people could not apporach the mountian because, if they did, they would be judged. Therefore, smoke and darkness are symbols of God's judgement.

Locusts come out of the smoke and darkness. Locusts were part of the ten plagues in Exodus. They were agents of God's judgement in Egypt. Locusts are also found in Joel. They were associated with the punishment of for the evil the people committed.

The locusts were given power like the power of scorpions. In the Bible there is not much said about scorpions. It is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. For now, let's move on. The locusts were told not to harm the grass, trees, plants. Further, they were not to harm those who had the seal of God on their foreheads. There are several passages that refer to seals, either directly or indirectly. Ephesians 1 says:

¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14, ESV)

We are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who will guarantee our redemption. Passover in Exodus, while not exactly a seal, it had a mark placed on houses which protected the inhabitants. Cross references in many study Bibles point to Ezekiel 8-9. The Temple was defiled with idolatry and God brought judgement on the people, including the leaders. Those who lamented over the detestable things were given a mark on their foreheads and were protected. This provides understanding for Revelation 9:4. The people of God are protected from the judgement to come.

The locusts do not kill. For five months they torture people. Five months is not found elsewhere in the Bible, but locusts live for 5 months. Thus the maximum amount of punishment is the lifespan of the locusts. People will not die, but they will long for death. This punishment comes from the pit of hell, from Satan who brings misery on his own. God will spare his own people from this.

This kind of analysis is called "idealist exegesis." It looks at the symbols, sees who Scripture uses it elsewhere, using the principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture. It then notes that these ideals hold in every generation. Idealists aren't the only ones who attempt to do this. Furturists, Preterists, Historicists all attempt to do this. But the idealist asks after this analysis: does this hold for right after the book of Revelation was written, say 90-95 AD? Yes it does. Does it hold for the year 900 AD? Yes. For 1500? Yes again. It holds for all generations and is helpful for all in each generation. Revelation 1:3 (ESV) says:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

There is a nearness of Revelation for each generation. The idealist approach, I think, holds the best interprative model for reading Revelation.

Revelation, Date and Authorship

2006-12-03T00:02:00.000-08:00

Virtually all the early sources identify the apostle John as the author of Revelation. These include Justin, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, and Hippolytus.¹ There is no overwhelming evidence when Revelation was written. The guesses are either before 70 AD or 90-96 AD. There are four areas that point to 90-96 AD:

(1) The early Church Fathers,
(2) The condition of the church,
(3) Emporer worship,
(4) Citations and allusions to the New Testament.

Early Church Fathers
The early church fathers provide some important information. Irenæus is the most important in considering the date of Revelation; he was a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of John the Apostle. Irenæus' statements via Eusebius points to John’s exile to Patmos, the time John saw the Apocalypse, to be during the reign of Domitian (81 – 96 AD).

2. Irenæus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the so-called Apocalypse of John, speaks as follows concerning him:

3. “If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3.18.2-3, also statement 3 is found exactly the same in 5.8.6).

Beale writes the following:

A few commentators have suggested that "it was seen" should be translated "he [John] was seen." so that the phrase does not mean that the Apocalypse was written during Domitian's time but only that John was seen during Domitian's time. But "the Apocalypse" is the closest antecedent, and the Latin translation of Irenæus supports this understanding of the clause. The majority of the patristic writers and subsequent commentators up to the present understand Irenaeus's words as referring to the time when the Apocalypse"was seen."²

It should also be noted that Irenæus does not identify Nero as the "beast" (666) -- or even entertain the possibility. He rejects that any Roman emperor was the beast. This is remarkable because Nero was well known as a persecuting tyrant, even during the time of Irenæus.

R.C. Sproul, in his book, The Last Days According to Jesus, page 144, cites Gentry about an incident in John’s life when he had to chase a young apostate who had previously been under his care. This happened after John returned from exile to Patmos. Sproul, Gentry, and others say such a rigorous adventure would be highly unlikely for John to do in his nineties.

We’ll look at the account from the Christian Classics Etherial Library, Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History (3.18.1-18).

1. At that time the apostle and evangelist John, the one whom Jesus loved, was still living in Asia, and governing the churches of that region, having returned after the death of Domitian from his exile on the island.

...

5. Clement likewise in his book entitled What Rich Man can be saved? indicates the time, and subjoins a narrative which is most attractive to those that enjoy hearing what is beautiful and profitable. Take and read the account which runs as follows:

6. “Listen to a tale, which is not a mere tale, but a narrative concerning John the apostle, which has been handed down and treasured up in memory. For when, after the tyrant’s death, he returned from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus, he went away upon their invitation to the neighboring territories of the Gentiles, to appoint bishops in some places, in other places to set in order whole churches, elsewhere to choose to the ministry some one of those that were pointed out by the Spirit.

7. When he had come to one of the cities not far away (the name of which is given by some), and had consoled the brethren in other matters, he finally turned to the bishop that had been appointed, and seeing a youth of powerful physique, of pleasing appearance, and of ardent temperament, he said, ‘This one I commit to thee in all earnestness in the presence of the Church and with Christ as witness.’ And when the bishop had accepted the charge and had promised all, he repeated the same injunction with an appeal to the same witnesses, and then departed for Ephesus.

... [the youth had fallen into a band of criminals, and was corrupted by them. He became their leader. John heard about this.]

14. But the Apostle rent his clothes, and beating his head with great lamentation, he said, ‘A fine guard I left for a brother’s soul! But let a horse be brought me, and let some one show me the way.’ He rode away from the church just as he was, and coming to the place, he was taken prisoner by the robbers’ outpost.

15. He, however, neither fled nor made entreaty, but cried out, ‘For this did I come; lead me to your captain.’

16. The latter, meanwhile, was waiting, armed as he was. But when he recognized John approaching, he turned in shame to flee.

17. But John, forgetting his age, pursued him with all his might, crying out, ‘Why, my son, dost thou flee from me, thine own father, unarmed, aged? Pity me, my son; fear not; thou hast still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for thee. If need be, I will willingly endure thy death as the Lord suffered death for us. For thee will I give up my life. Stand, believe; Christ hath sent me.’

18. And he, when he heard, first stopped and looked down; then he threw away his arms, and then trembled and wept bitterly. And when the old man approached, he embraced him, making confession with lamentations as he was able, baptizing himself a second time with tears, and concealing only his right hand.

The narration does not describe the how the chase went. The assumption is that John could not have done any kind of horse chase in his nineties. But Irenæus seems to pinpoint the time of the John’s vision to be during Domitian. Since Irenæus was a lot closer to the events, and got his information from people such as Polycarp, who was a disciple of John, our doubts about John’s ability to ride a horse at such an advanced age must be tempered with such an early tradition that puts Johns vision during the time of Domitian.

Emperor Worship
The book of Revelation indicates there was emporer worship. There were three emporers who insisted on worship during their lifetimes: Caligula (37-41 AD), Nero (54-68 AD), and Domitian (81-96 AD).

The Condition of the Churches
Dr. Daniel Doriani of Convenant Seminary notes:

"... the church has to be old enough or mature enough to have the problems that are described. The church at Ephesus, by the time Revelation is written, has stagnated and lost its first love. The church at Ephesus was planted by Paul and also visited by Peter, Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila repeatedly in the 50s and 60s. It takes a little time, at least a few decades, to go from being the centerpiece of Christianity in the region of Asian Minor with all these apostolic visits to having the problem of coldness. You could also look at the church at Laodicea, which is chastised for pride over its riches. Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 60 or 61, and it would take some time to rebuild and achieve economic stability, let alone wealth."³

References to the New Testament
Dr. Dan Doriani tells us:

"most of the New Testament has to have been written by the time the book of Revelation is written, because Revelation is steeped in the New Testament. ... Revelation shows itself to be grounded throughout in the words of Christ, the words of the Apostle Paul, and the teaching of the apostolic body. Revelation draws on all of the Scriptures to see how this crisis in the life of the church, this time of challenge from Domitian, shall be met."⁴

Footnotes:

1 The New Testament Introduction (1970, InterVarsity Press) Donald Gutherie,p 934.

2 The Book of Revelation, a Commentary on the Greek Text (1999, Eerdmans), by G. K. Beale, pages 19, 20.

3 © Summer 2006, Daniel Doriani & Covenant Theological Seminary, http://www.covenantseminary.edu/worldwide/en/NT250/NT250_T_21.html

4 ibid.

Revelation, The Returning King

2006-12-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

These notes are for the Revelation Class being taught at East Cobb Presbyterian Church.

Textbook: The Returning King, Vern S. Poythress (2000, P&R Publishing). The book can be bought at Amazon, P&R Publishing, Christian Books, among other places. This is a small but useful introduction to the book of Revelation. The class will use this book as a resource guide with other books and sources.

The class is oriented for all who are interested in Revelation. Advanced students and beginners alike are welcome. This is a discussion-oriented class, but introverts as well as extroverts are welcome. I will try to make each class stand on its own, so I hope to accommodate both the regular occasional attendees. While you will find that I teach from a particular viewpoint, all views are welcome in the class.

The class will also be open to on-line discussion via:

http://metaeschatology.blogspot.com

This is an experiment. You can log in anonymously to post comments and questions, or create a Blog Spot user and log in to post comments and questions. I don't know how useful this will be in teaching the class.

Class Syllabus:

Dec 3 – Introduction, authorship, date, exploring how to interpret Revelation.
Dec 10 – No class, a joint Adult Fellowship panel discussion.
Dec 17 – Revelation 1:1-20, A Heavenly Vision
Dec 24 – Revelation 2:1-3:22, The Messages to the Seven Churches
Dec 31 – Revelation 4:1-5:14, God’s Throne Room
Jan 7 – Revelation 6:1-8:1, Opening the Seven Seals
Jan 14 – Revelation 8:2-11:19, The Seven Trumpets
Jan 21 – Revelation 12:1-14:20, Seven Symbolic Histories
Jan 28 – Revelation 15:1-16:21, The Seven Bowls
Feb 4 – Revelation 17:1-19:10, Babylon the Prostitute
Feb 11 – Revelation 19:11-21, The Appearing of Christ and the Final Battle
Feb 18 – Revelation 20:1-21:8, The Judgments
Feb 25 – Revelation 21:9-22:5, The New Jerusalem
Revelation 22:6-21, Closing Exhortations

Millennial Charts

2006-08-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is a draft for an upcoming class I will teach. These are charts of various views of the Millennium. I will be happy to take comments and corrections.

New Testament Eschatological Ages

2006-08-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is a draft of notes for a future class.

This diagram is taken from The Future and the Bible, Antoney Hoekema, p. 20.