The Book of Revelation

Silence in heaven is often a symbol for the presence of God. Oddly enough, so are smoke, lightning, and thunder.

Where I grew up in Oregon, a big siren went off every day at noon, and it went off to summon the volunteer firefighters when there was a fire. In Illinois, big sirens went off to warn of tornadoes. Here in Albuquerque, we have professional firefighters and no tornadoes, so the only sirens I hear are on emergency vehicles - police for danger and EMTs for rescue. In the OT, trumpets also have two functions: they can be a sign of God's presence or an alarm. Here in Revelation, the sound of trumpets brings trouble, trouble, trouble. The first four angels blow their trumpets, but it's unclear whether the terrible results are counted among the three troubles; see 8:13 and 9:12. There's plenty of trouble to go around, as the readers well understood in their time of persecution.

Revelation 9:1-12; Ezekiel 9:4-6; Joel 2:1-8 (06/17/25)

Once on vacation I went to a church service in which the preacher was delivering the last of six consecutive sermons on Revelation. The only thing he said that I agreed with was, "Now, you may not agree with everything I've said, but it's not worth breaking communion over." I thought that was brilliant, not only as a commentary on our understanding of Revelation, but also as practical advice for getting along with our fellow Christians.

Abaddon/Apollyon may (or may not) represent Satan; both words mean, roughly, "destroyer." The star could have been expelled from heaven, since he has "fallen," or he might be on a mission, since he's "given a key," and may be Satan. Or not, since in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 Satan is called "the devil" and "Satan," and he looks like a dragon, not a star. The locusts might represent past armies invading Judea, or Parthians invading Rome, or generalized torment. This is the first trouble. Or maybe the results of trumpets 1 through 5 are the first trouble. I hope you've noticed that we 21st-century people don't always understand the details in Revelation, in spite of what you've seen on YouTube (or read in Sunday School, or heard from the pulpit, for that matter). It's not worth breaking communion over.

Revelation 9:13-10:7; Psalm 135:15-18; Daniel 8:26-27 (06/18/25)

The 6th angel blows a trumpet to usher in the 2nd trouble, but then there appears to be an interlude with some other angels. The 7th trumpet is foreshadowed in 10:7, even we haven't finished the 2nd trouble. The "mighty angel" of 10:1 doesn't seem to be one of the seven with trumpets. The main take-away from this passage is that there's going to be an epic battle with many casualties, but God's people are onlookers, not participants.

Notice that part of the vision is "sealed." This is a standard convention of apocalyptic writing. In the case of Daniel, the idea is that Daniel had a vision, which was sealed to be revealed later as a "prophecy." In fact it was anonymously written later as encouragement to people being persecuted and attributed to Daniel because he was a bygone prophet.* It appears to me that the message of the seven thunders in Revelation is only sealed because that's what apocalyptic does, and not because there's anything to be revealed later.

However, I could be wrong. Revelation, like all apocalyptic, is very confusing. This appears to be intentional - you don't want your oppressors to understand your message to your fellow-sufferers, particularly because the message is that they should hang in there, because God's going to do some righteous smiting of the oppressors (10:5-7).

* Standard scholarly interpretation of apocalyptic writing. I buy it, but if you don't, it's not worth breaking communion over.

Revelation 10:8-11:14; Daniel 7:25 (06/19/25)

Various folks have come up with various explanations for the "time, times, and half a time" of Daniel 7:25*; however, three and a half years appears to be a standard symbol for a period of persecution, no matter what its actual duration. Both Luke 4:25 and James 5:17 refer to the three-and-a-half year drought imposed by God on King Ahab at the request of Elijah (1 Kings 17-18). Presumably the pagans trampling the holy city for the three and a half years are the Romans. The same period of time is reflected in the 42 months of Revelation 11:2 and the 1,260 days of Revelation 11:3, lest readers miss the point.

The two olive trees and two lampstands are from Zechariah 4, where they stand for Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua (see Zechariah 3), who led the effort to get the temple and the city of Jerusalem running again after the Exile. Here they may stand for Peter and Paul, who were martyred in Rome, a.k.a Sodom (Revelation 11:7-8), although I don't normally associate Peter and Paul with the description in vss. 4-6. Maybe this is saying, "Remember Joshua and Zerubbabel? Remember Moses? Peter and Paul are in the same league, and even though they have been martyred, God's going to restore them to life." We really have to spend a lot of time studying the Old Testament if we want to have a prayer of understanding Revelation.

The end of the second trouble is marked in 11:14.

* Particularly when they are trying to calculate the exact date of the end of the world.

Revelation 11:15-19; Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 2:1-12 (06/20/25)

Someone asked me recently how many Bible verses I have memorized, and I said I'm not good at memorizing, so probably none. However, I have memorized a lot of musical phrases that come straight from the Bible, although I rarely know the book (let alone the chapter or verse) that they come from until I see them in a reading. If you don't recognize Revelation 11:15b, I have to wonder where you've been every Christmas for your entire life.

You probably already know that all of the lyrics of "Messiah" come straight from the King James Version, and that the Hebrew messiah = the Greek christos = the English Anointed One. And of course we know that "the son of man" is a New Testament term for Jesus. In Revelation and Daniel, the Christ/son of man will rule the nations as king forever, and in our psalm, the Messiah will rule the nations as his own possession. The lyrics in Revelation come straight from the Old Testament.

The 7th trumpet sounds to usher in the kingdom of God and the Day of Judgment, which will be a day of wrath, as in the psalm. Notice that all the dead will be judged, and some will be rewarded.

Revelation 12:1-17 (06/23/25)

Revelation is redundant and also repeats itself, and we see that here in two closely related visions. In the first vision, the pregnant woman represents Israel as the mother of the Messiah, the child who is whisked off to heaven while she escapes the dragon and is hidden in the wilderness. We can tell the woman represents Israel because she has the 12 stars in her crown - the 12 tribes, get it? In the second vision, the archangel Michael and angelic troops attack the dragon, who is identified as the devil or Satan in vs. 9 (one of the few times a symbol is clearly explained). The woman escapes the dragon and is hidden in the wilderness again. She is hidden for 1,260 days in the first vision (vs. 6) and for a time, two times, and half a time in the second vision (vs. 14), both of which represent a period of persecution, 3 1/2 years.

By the way, Lucifer is not Satan and doesn't appear in Revelation. The only place "Lucifer" occurs is in Isaiah 14:12, where it is a sneering description for the king of Babylon; Lucifer means "bright star" or "morning star." And notice in Revelation 12:10 that Satan is called an "accuser." It's only fairly late in the Bible that "Satan" becomes a proper name. Mostly it's a job description that means "tempter" or "accuser," as for example when Jesus calls Peter "Satan."

Remember how I'm always telling you that the original manuscripts didn't have chapter and verse numbers, and you should read at least two translations and ten verses before and after what you think you're interested in? The last bit of vs. 12:17 in the ESV is a separate verse 12:18 in the Good New Translation, and it's part of 13:1 in the Bible in Basic English. The King James Version has "I stood," not "he stood." All of these readings are represented in several translations - because manuscripts vary. Is it important to the visions? No. Should we be aware that translators sometimes have to decide which manuscript they're going to follow, but really it's no big deal? Probably. Get a Bible with footnotes.

Revelation 13:1-10; Daniel 7:1-12 (06/24/25)

The dragon (Satan) delegates his power to the beast (Rome). The 7 heads symbolize both a succession of emperors and the 7 hills of Rome. The weird beast coming out of the sea reminds us of Daniel, who also saw weirds beasts coming out of the sea. Daniel's vision was about Babylon, which held the Jews captive and was eventually overcome through the actions of God (Daniel 5). The mortal head wound may be a reference to Nero, who seems to have died of a cut throat; he was going to commit suicide but couldn't go through with it, so he had a companion do it.

"Michael" means, "Who is like God?" People whose names are not in the book of life prostrate themselves before the dragon and the beast and ask, "Who is like the beast?" We aren't surprised that the beast is allowed to blaspheme for 42 months - 3 1/2 years - the standard symbol for a time of persecution. The great theme of Revelation is restated in 13:9-10: "The saints might very well be taken captive or killed, but they must hang in there with God!"

Revelation 13:11-18; Matthew 7:15-20, 24:24-25 (06/25/25)

The second beast is later identified in Revelation 19:20 as a false prophet, but there doesn't seem to be any agreement about which particular false prophet it might represent. It isn't anyone born after the second century C.E., unless this is just a general warning against believing any false prophet, and that could be the case. That would certainly be in line with Jesus' warning against false prophets. The dragon, the beast, and the second beast may form a caricature of the Trinity, or they may just represent three enemies, because biblical writers (like every teacher in the world) like the number three. Since the doctrine of the Trinity was barely getting started at the time Revelation was written, I incline toward the latter idea, but what do I know?

Here's a word for you: gematria.* Gematria assigns numerical values to letters, e.g., A = 1, B= 2, C = 3. It isn't especially concerned with the number of letters in a word, but rather the sum. For example, The "number of Abe" would be 8, that is, 1 + 2 + 5.

The beast is probably either the emperor Nero returned to life (there was a rumor of that going around) or the emperor Domitian, although neither identification is certain, and other ancient figures have been suggested. The number "666" could symbolize either emperor, because the sums of the numerical value of the letters in their names is the same. 6-6-6 happens to be the number of letters in my first, maiden, and last names; however, the numerical values of the letters do not add up to 666. The writer expected that the readers would know for sure whom he referred to (vs. 17), which tells us that no person who lived after, say, the second century can possibly be the Beast, no matter what you see on the Internet. Anyone who chooses a modern candidate or a candidate based on the number of letters is misinformed.

And while we're on the subject, the Antichrist is not the Beast identified by the number 666. There is no antichrist in Revelation, and in fact there is no Capital-A-Antichrist anywhere in the Bible. Anyone who is against Christ is an antichrist, and the word only appears in 1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3 and 2 John 1:7. Any identification of any one person as The Antichrist, let alone any modern person, is also misinformed; do not be deceived. There are probably a lot of modern antichrists; don't be deceived by them, either.

* You can say it however you like, with confidence that some authority will be saying it the same way.

Revelation 14:1-20 (06/26/25)

Just as the people of the beast are marked with his number, the people of God are marked with the name of the Lamb and his Father. Angels bring everybody in for the day of judgment.

Sadly, there's much controversy about who will make up the 144,000. Essentially everyone who accepts the number thinks that "thee and me" will definitely be in, and everyone else will have to take their chances. Nevertheless, 144,000 symbolizes the entire people of God; it's not a limit. If you take the 144,000 literally, then you're pretty much required to take literally the statement that they'll all be male virgins. Good thing we learned before that 144 = 12x12, and 12 = tribes of Israel = a symbol for all the people of God. Babylon is a symbol for Rome, not any modern city or state.

So what important figure do you associate with a sickle? Probably Death, a.k.a. the Grim Reaper, and I think we're seeing the origin of that idea in today's reading. (Never mind that in our mental picture, the Grim Reader is depicted as a skeleton carrying a scythe, and not an angel carrying a sickle, and never mind Greek may not even distinguish between a scythe and a sickle - it's the thought that counts.)

There are two thoughts about vs. 14. Some translation have "one like the Son of Man," which clearly shows that they think it's Jesus, because that distinction is reasonably clear in the Gospels. Other translations have "one like a son of man," which means "like a mortal person," and might be Jesus, or might not. For what it's worth, the Greek doesn't have "the" here, and the passage refers to Jesus as "the Lamb" four times right before the "son of man" puts in his appearance.

Revelation 15:1-8; Deuteronomy 31:30-32:4; 1 Kings 8:10-11; 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (06/27/25)

Angels bring seven more plagues, exhausting the anger of God, although the plagues aren't described until Ch. 16.

God's glory is often hidden in smoke, as we see in Revelation 15:7-8, 1 Kings 8:10-11, and 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, for example. Songs of praise also go way back, as we see in Deuteronomy and Chronicles. It's not clear to me who in this passage of Revelation is singing the song to remind the faithful about God's works - the angels, the 144,000 (see Revelation 14:3), or both.

By the way, I forgot yesterday to draw your attention to another call for the saints to endure, even if they die, in Revelation 14:12. All of the visions and battles and smoke and songs and angels and plagues are window dressing for the basic message: Have faith and endurance, you who are being persecuted, until God steps in and saves you!

Revelation 16:1-21 (06/30/25)

The angels release plagues that fall on the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and all the people who have the mark of the beast. The plagues remind us of the plagues God inflicted on the Egyptians - especially the rivers and springs of blood, frogs, and hail. The writer is reminding his readers that God saved his people from the Egyptians, and now God will save them from the Romans!

Revelation 17:1-18; Hosea 4:14, 9:1; Micah 1:7 (07/01/25)

Prostitution is a standard symbol for idolatry in the Old Testament, although in the OT it's usually Israel who is accused of whoring after false gods, and not foreign nations. In Revelation, both the beast and the prostitute who rides it are the Roman empire. Or maybe the woman is Rome (see vs. 18) and the beast is the Roman emperor. Notice in vs. 2 that "the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality" with her. I presume that this is a reference to the Roman practice of requiring their vassal states to worship the emperor and assorted family members and friends, as represented by statues. The 10 crowns or horns are 10 vassal kings, as explained in vs. 12, although the angel predicts in vs. 16 that they are going to revolt, in accordance with the will of God (vss. 16-17).

So why is the woman called Babylon? I suspect there are two reasons. First, Babylon had taken the Jews captive and was defeated through the agency of God, so it's a good example when your goal is to tell readers to stay faithful until God sorts things out. Second, Rome had a reputation for dealing with insurrection with extreme prejudice, so it probably wasn't safe for either the writer or the reader to say, "Hey, guess what! God's gonna overthrow Rome!" The main thing to remember is that the beast and the prostitute represent the Roman empire, not any modern nation or person.

Revelation 18:1-8; Isaiah 14:3-15 (07/02/25)

I say again that Revelation is redundant and also repeats itself. The fall of Babylon (Rome) is announced, and the reason is given again as her sexual immorality (idolatry) with the kings of the earth (vassal states). Remember that God rescued the Jews from captivity in Babylon.* Revelation hearkens back to that rescue and assures the early Christians that God will also rescue them from their current oppressors. Both the new Babylon (Rome) and the king of the original Babylon think they are immune to destruction (Revelation 18:7, Isaiah 13:13-14), but they have fallen anyway (Revelation 18:2, Isaiah 13:12). The new Babylon is inhabited by demons and unclean animals; the original Babylon is covered with unclean maggots. God's people are pulled out of the fray (Revelation 18:4, Isaiah 14:3).

Lucifer is not Satan and doesn't appear in Revelation. The only place "Lucifer" occurs is in the Latin translation of Isaiah 14:12 (and a few other translations, especially older ones that follow the Latin), where it is a sneering description for the king of Babylon that means "bright star" or "morning star" in Hebrew. "Lucifer" is Latin for "light bearer," so it's a pretty decent rendering if you speak Latin. Then other translations picked it up and capitalized it as a name. Then common culture - not to mention Milton - picked it up and made it the name of Satan. Noooo! It was the king of Babylon! It says so right there in Isaiah 14:4!

By the way, since we're on the subject of words, you know I'm all for a modern translation, but the WEB, or World English Bible, has "lumberjack" in Isaiah 14:8. Seriously? It's not wrong, really, but it certainly sounds anachronistic, since "lumberjack" was first used in Canada in 1831. Of course, maybe any English word is anachronistic for ancient Hebrew, so probably I should let it go.

* After sending them into captivity as punishment for prolonged apostasy!

Revelation 18:9-19:4 (07/03/25)

Babylon's (Rome's) fall is mourned by her lovers and those who profited from her gluttony, and it's cheered by a huge crowd in heaven. Remember that Rome didn't actually fall: apocalyptic isn't prophecy. It's a message to persecuted people that God will work things out. In this case, what God eventually worked out was that the emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian around 312 and issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared empire-wide tolerance for Christianity. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 381.

Revelation 19:5-10; Isaiah 54:4-6, 61:10, 62:1-5; Jeremiah 2:1-2 (07/04/25)

One difference between apocalyptic writing and prophecy is that apocalyptic is a tract for hard times, sent to persecuted people to encourage them to stay faithful, whereas prophecy is typically a threat of hard times, sent to unfaithful people to get them to repent. In Isaiah and Jeremiah (and Hosea, as we've seen before), the prophet promises that God will take back an unfaithful wife who repents: "you will forget the shame of your youth," the LORD "has called you as a wife forsaken," "you will not be called Forsaken anymore," "I remember the devotion of your youth." In Revelation, the bride is the Church, and there's no hint in in the joyous celebration that she has been unfaithful.

Revelation 19:11-21; Isaiah 11:1-5; Ezekiel 39:17-20 (07/07/25)

The warrior Christ leads the armies of heaven in a great and terrible battle. The beast and the false prophet are defeated. John reminds us that the prophet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be one of righteousness and faithfulness, and that his words, his speech - the double-edged sword or rod - would defeat the wicked. Then he turns to Ezekiel to show us a gruesome picture of the aftermath of the battle, when all the carrion birds gather. The message: Those who persecute you will get what they deserve! (Although remember that you personally may not live to see it.)

Revelation 20:1-15; Ezekiel 38:1-3, 21-23; Isaiah 4:3 (07/08/25)

The dragon (the devil, or Satan) is imprisoned. The millennium passes. Satan is released but thrown into the lake of fire. Everyone is judged on the basis of their works, which appear to be written in each person's own book (Revelation 20:12-13). A second book, the book of life, seems to contain a list of names. Those whose names are not written in the book of life (i.e., those not saved) are cast into the fire (20:15). Christians will not escape judgment, only condemnation.

The millennium is probably the most famous of the symbols we don't understand, and there is essentially no agreement about the relationship between the millennium and the second coming of Christ. Premillennialism holds that the second coming will be right before the millennium. Postmillennialism says it will be right after. Amillennialism says the 1000 years are a symbol, and the millennium is actually synchronous with the current age of the Church. Panmillennialism is the somewhat humorous, somewhat serious idea that it will all pan out in the end, and we should keep the faith and let God worry about the details.* All four of these positions arose well after the writing of Revelation.

Here's a comment from guest contributor the Reverend Clyde Stanfield on dispensationalism:

Around 1827, a man named John Wilson Darby decided that the Bible contains all of human history: past, present, and future. This is known as Bible prophecy, premillennial end-times, or dispensationalism. Darby's interpretive systems was as follows:

God deals with the world primarily through the Jewish people.

Since the Jewish people rejected Jesus, God created an interim institution, the Church.

God would complete God's work through Israel, not the Church. The Church would decline.

Eventually we will be removed - the Rapture.

God will then continue God's redemptive work through the nation of Israel.
This is very common theology today, but you can see that John Nelson Darby didn't think much of the Church.

If there are dispensationalists among us, I'm not going to try to change your mind. You will make your own decision about that, but I will say that it doesn't square with a historical perspective. I'm totally Wesleyan here. What unites us as Christians is "Jesus Christ is Lord." All else is just out there to argue about.

* For international readers: This is a pun. "Pan-" is an English prefix meaning "all," so "panmillennialism" encompasses all of the others. "Pan out" is an American idiom meaning "conclude, especially in a successful way."

Revelation 21:1-14; Isaiah 65:17-19; Ezekiel 37:27 (07/09/25)

One thing that almost all of us get wrong is the direction we're going when we die. I don't mean, "Are we going 'up there' or 'down there'?" I mean, "Are we going 'up there,' or are we staying 'right here'?" I never noticed until St. John's former youth director Jarrod C. preached a sermon on it that we are not "going to heaven." Instead, heaven is coming to us. The original paradise was here on earth, and the restored paradise will also be here on earth. The new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth, and God will dwell in it with us; there can be no mistake here, because it's stated twice in Revelation (21:2, 21:10-11) and foretold by Isaiah and Ezekiel. Noted theologian N. T. Wright has addressed this in a YouTube video discussing the "rapture." He points out that the important verb there means, roughly, "go out to greet and accompany back inside," not "go out and be taken away."

Revelation 21:15-22:5; Isaiah 60:1-6 (07/10/25)

Sigh. Reading Revelation shouldn't mean checking your brain at the door. I was just confirming the length of a stadium (plural: stadia), and one website opines that just because the dimensions of the city have symbolic importance doesn't mean they can't be literal. Well, it kinda does mean that in this case. Remember that the new Jerusalem is coming here to earth? Twelve thousand stadia is about 1,400 miles (2,220 km), and space begins around 62 miles above the surface of the earth. A typical satellite orbital altitude is about 500 miles. Unless most of the inhabitants are going to be wearing space suits and fending off collisions, the dimensions are symbolic. Twelve is symbolic of the people of God. The walls are 144 (12 times 12) cubits "by the measure of a man." There's plenty of room for everybody in the city of God, and that's all it means.

Anyway, the new Jerusalem is beautiful and full of light. It will be a place of abundance and peace, attracting not only the traditional peoples of God, but other nations as well, as prophesied by Isaiah.

Revelation 22:6-21 (07/11/25)

In contrast to most apocalyptic, this "prophecy" should not be sealed, because the end is nigh. "These things must happen soon" (vs. 6). "The time is at hand" (vs. 10). "I come quickly" (vs. 12). "Yes, I come quickly" (vs. 20). John is writing for and about the Christians and events in the first and second centuries, not about some far-off future end time.

Or maybe he's writing for me, right now. In case we missed it before, everyone is rewarded on the basis of their deeds (vs. 12), and I'm pretty confident that my personal end time will come within the next 25 or 30 years, even if I'm lucky enough to live as long as my ancestors. So probably the message for me is to get my act together now, in real time.

Today, however, is the end time for our study of Revelation. I hope it gave you some things to think about, whether you agreed with them or not. I can assure you of this: just about no matter what you think about this confusing book, somebody, sometime, has agreed with you. Meantime, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

More of the Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation - Part 1

Opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the author, Regina Hunter, and may or may not be shared by the sponsors or the Bible-study participants. Thanks to the Holy Spirit for any useful ideas presented here, and thanks to all the readers for their support and enthusiasm. All errors are, of course, the sole responsibility of the author.

Our Sponsors:

St. John's United Methodist Church, "Transforming Lives Through Christ."
2626 Arizona NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110

St. John's Music Ministries now has a YouTube channel, bringing you free concerts and choral music. Check it out!

Traditional worship services are held Sundays at 8:15 and 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary. Casual worship services are held Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Family Life Center. Jazz Vespers are held monthly on the second Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. St. John's feels especially called to the worship of God and to the service of our neighbors through our music program.

This website is supported in part by the generosity of Mrs. J. Jordan.