UNDERSTANDING REVELATION
We are all eager to sink our teeth into the final book of our Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The book is daunting and many who read it find it too difficult to understand. The imagery is confusing and even defies the imagination, the plots are vague, and the characters are open to interpretation and it’s hard to nail down a cohesive track. When I began my journey, I was entirely baffled, just as you might be right now. And to add to the confusion, there are “End-Time Prophets” who have their own agenda. They pick out parts that match their narrative and we are sent on a path that jumps around and we never really know what God is trying to say to us.
What I want you to embrace is that God wants to talk to us.
Jesus spoke in parables so that those who did not have a heart for God would not understand. Mark 4:12 so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” God speaks in his own kind of parable through all the books of prophecy. The language is consistent throughout all the prophets, and we can take the words of the old prophecies, see how they were fulfilled at that time, and apply them to the book of Revelation.
He very much wants us to search out these mysteries and he will plant pearls of wisdom and understanding in our path. Think of how a pearl is made. A grain of sand irritates the clam and the clam puts layer after layer of covering over it until it’s a precious jewel. If something is confusing (the grain of sand), he wants us to come to him in prayer for the answer. Knock and the door will be opened to you. If there is no answer in prayer, then we need to search it out in the Word. Often the answer is there, written centuries ago, just waiting for us to see it. When we search the Word not only do we find our answers, but we find other fundamental truths along with it. These are the foundational stones we need to set our temple of prayer and worship upon, so it doesn’t get washed away during the storms. Seek and you shall find (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9).
God has put in motion a message of salvation for mankind, through a covenant sealed in the blood of his son that will not be stopped. This is why we are here to understand the Revelation of Christ. God has put all authority to judge on Jesus and will put everything under His feet. Jesus is coming again to set up His kingdom on a new earth and we need to be ready to step into that reality. Again, God wants us to understand the kingdom. Jesus wants us to understand the kingdom. If we fail in this, we fall short of everything that’s been done for us to receive salvation.
Understand that prophecy defines prophecy.
Before the flood, the ways of God (the rules, the laws) were passed down through the sons of Seth from generation to generation. The rest of mankind was increasing in the knowledge of evil, there was great sin, and even the heavenly beings rebelled and corrupted humanity. They violently broke God’s law. God waited for mankind to turn and repent from their evil ways, but they wouldn’t turn. As a result, God needed to inflict his justice on the evil that corrupted His people. God is merciful and longsuffering, so He sends His prophets first to give the warnings of His coming judgement. The first book of prophecy we can look to is the book of Enoch. God takes Enoch up to heaven to show him the mysteries of the heavenly beings and explain how they sinned against God and mankind. God explains his judgement to Enoch. Judgement not only for that time, but through the end of the ages. He uses symbolism and imagery, weeks that are not weeks, days that are not days. Animals that represent nations and the character of specific leaders. The features of his messenger angels are represented with fire, iron, and bronze, the ways in which God moves is described with clouds, thunder, hail, and fire. Although the symbols seem confusing at the beginning, all throughout the Bible, God is consistent in his descriptions. Once the nuances of the descriptions are understood, they can be applied time and time again.
There is controversy over using the book of Enoch. Even though it was used by Jewish scholars, in the 400s it was removed from the “canon” by the popes of the new Roman church. I’m including it because it’s quoted by Jesus and Jude in the New Testament. Not only that, but there were many copies of it found in the dead sea caves, so it was very important to the Jews at the time to keep the manuscripts in circulation. Also, Enoch gives insight into the last judgement of angels which corresponds to the time we are living in right now. I have not included that prophecy here, take time to study it for yourself. An excellent interpretation of Enoch was written by Victor L. Hill (https://www.academia.edu/40592434/Enoch_Book_Victor_L_Hill_), and he also has commentary to expand on the concepts in Enoch. If you wish to read Enoch I highly recommend his interpretation. His conclusion in the book summarized my thoughts as well:
I started on this journey of discovery wanting to know, ‘Why had Jude 14 and 15 quoted from 1 Enoch 1:9?’ and ‘Out of all the New Testament why should this be the only exception in using an apocryphal quotation?’ Indeed, even the validity of the book of Jude was considered suspect by the early church fathers because of this quotation and it was nearly excluded from the canon of Scripture on that basis. On the other hand, was it Jude’s use of 1 Enoch that was responsible for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church including it in their canon of the Old Testament? The first question was my primary concern in wanting to look into the 1 Enoch’s text and origins.
In the text of 1 Enoch there are numerous allusions to various Old Testament Scriptures, which strongly suggests that the author or authors had a good knowledge of canonical texts, subsequently it could not have been written before the time of the Old Testament and this prevents it from being of pre-canonical origin. So it was definitely not the work of an antediluvian patriarch, although the writer had attempted to make it seem so albeit inconsistently. As a result of this the origin of the quotation must have been an independent source outside both 1 Enoch and Jude, and therefore it was most likely derived from a Jewish commentary (midrash) on the text of Genesis 6, cross-indexed with Old Testament scriptural support.
If this comes as something of a disappointment or anti-climax, I am sorry, but this is the only satisfactory answer possible considering all the evidence impartially. Unfortunately, like a detective story, the murderer does not always turn out to be the one you personally suspected, but the facts speak for themselves if you are willing to listen to them. What I am reminded of is the Nazi propaganda dictum: lie big, say it loud and say it often until the people believe it. Alas, there are too many charlatans out there masquerading as witnesses to the truth. Remember, truth and reality should be interchangeable, anything else has to be a lie, or at least a half lie, which is often the most dangerous kind. Consider this paraphrase:
‘Hasn’t God said to you that you can eat from any tree in the garden,’ said the serpent, to which Eve replied, ‘Any, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if you eat its fruit you will die.’ Then the serpent said, ‘You will not die, but you will be just like God knowing both good and evil.’ It was then that she understood that the fruit of this tree was desirable to be eaten.
This type of deception is all too familiar, so let us ‘be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves,’ in other words, be aware of their ways but do not copy them. Remember that when words tickle itching ears or flatter, beware, it probably contains bad fruit. Don’t be anybody’s fool.
Don’t ignore your gut feeling; even when your heart/emotion and head/intellect are swayed otherwise, this is the first warning sign that something is wrong. True faith is not the same as blind faith, accept nothing at face value. If you have been fooled in the past, make sure you are not fooled in the future; therefore it is important to now think differently.
Now, please put the book down and carefully think through all you have read.
Even if you find Enoch questionable to study, we can still look to the rest of the prophets in the Bible to guide our path. The law is the rod, and prophecy is the staff that leads the sheep (Psalm 23). You can still use the many other references here in this study to connect the verses of Revelation to history without using Enoch.
Where to start.
The book of Revelation is like a very large puzzle. If you are familiar with these, you know you don’t just dump out the box and start putting the puzzle together. You must examine the pieces, sort them out, find common colors and definitely find the corners and edges. To me, the first chapter of Revelation was like trying to put together the sky, which is one of the most difficult parts of the puzzle. There are so many symbols applied to Jesus in just that one chapter and each one has its own meaning. For example, there is an analogy of Jesus that he is “coming on the clouds.” I found that this was not literal and when I did an extensive study on “coming on the clouds” I gathered enough verses to fill two pages. I was very overwhelmed by this process. To add to that, each part of his clothing and his features signifies something about his character and his purpose. From the golden sash, the eyes, sword, and feet, those all mean something spiritual, and it requires digging word by word for the truth. In order to keep some momentum, I’ll start with the prophecy. At the time of this writing, I have not interpreted Chapters 1-3 except for the Laodicean Church. Hopefully by studying the prophecy, you will have enough of the puzzle laid out that you can better appreciate all the spiritual significance of our Savior.
The best way to start a puzzle is to find the corners. Many date the writing of Revelation around 90 AD, which is after the siege of Jerusalem. Revelation 1:19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. At the time of John’s writing of Revelation, the “have seen” of the prophecy was already taking place. This shows that it is a 2000 year prophecy, and not a 7-year tribulation prophecy. We must also heed the words of Jesus that says in Revelation 1:1 “must soon take place” and in verse 3 “for the time is near.” See also in chapter 22 “behold, I am coming soon” and “do not seal up the words…for the time is near.” We are not waiting for a “seven-year tribulation” to make its appearance and to finally fulfill the entire book of Revelation. I can show you an established set of sequential events in Revelation that started before AD 70 and continues to this very day. The spiritual fathers who believed in a historicist view of Revelation understood this and their process of interpretation of Revelation lasted well into the 19th century. There are dozens of men who established reliable timelines, and I will use their findings to start us out on chapters 4-10. With all that easily deciphered, it helps immensely and gives us plenty of information to decipher the rest of the book.
Some of the prophecy had taken place, and some was taking place at that time, and more was to come. This verse shows that the Day of the Lord, the siege of Jerusalem, could have already taken place, the angels had gathered the believers and sent them to the four corners of the earth (Matthew 24:31). Scholars start the first church age of the Ephesian Church to around 54 AD.
Many interpreters have designated the churches in chapters 2 and 3 as also pertaining to church ages. The consensus is as follows:
It is a spiritual blessing to consider ourselves in the 7th spiritual age, and to take to heart everything Jesus says to this church. Jesus says this church considers themselves devoted Christians, but Jesus will spew His lukewarm followers out of his mouth. This church is prosperous, but Jesus calls them “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” The spiritual process of “clothing yourselves with righteousness” is a study every follower of Christ should study in depth, because the current view is woefully inadequate. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (Revelation 22:14). Therefore, take heed of our Savior in Revelation 3:19 and “be zealous and repent.”
UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE
After a person finds the corners of the puzzle, it’s time to find all the edges and sort them to match them easily to the corners. I’d like to consider the language of prophecy the edges to a puzzle. Once the prophetic symbolism is understood it provides context for history to match up with. God has spoken through his prophets the same language since Enoch to the Revelation to John. If we can read a prophecy 2500 years ago and match up the literal events that happened when that prophecy was fulfilled, we can carry those same definitions and events to the prophecy given to John. I used a spreadsheet and went verse by verse to connect the verses of prophecy to the symbolism in order to establish a linear timeline of the fulfillment. Some verses took minutes to solve, and others took days and days, and many internet searches of old books of prophecy taken out of the Bible, and historical accounts of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. I have enough information to make it to the end of Revelation, but be assured, it is not a complete list. Feel free to do your own research and add your own findings. God will reveal hidden mysteries to anyone who asks. Personally finding the meaning attached to the symbolism makes prophecy come alive and gives glory to God!
Here are some common symbols, and if you feel led, get a concordance out and look these up so you can see why God speaks this way to His prophets.
Weather:
Sun, Moon, Stars: Leader, supporting leaders, spiritual leaders
Hail: Attacks of war, arrows, flaming arrows
Earthquake: Fall of a government, splitting of an empire
Darkness: spiritual darkness, oppression
Plants
Olive tree: person/group of people who have the word of God and anointing
Vineyard: the Jews
Fig: prosperity, used as a symbol for Israel
Animals
Beast: nations in power that are predatory
Horses: prosperous and wealthy, power with speed
Dragon: group of people that devours the godly, probably has an army
Serpent: a deceiver
Lion: roars and preys on other people, war-like
Time
Most of the instances of time are not literal in Revelation. Some are 10 days = 10 years, and hour is close to 40 years, 1260 days can mean 1260 years, and a time, times and half a time can mean 350 years. The mysteries of the times are known after the fulfillment to further validate the prophecy, but I don’t see it useful in predicting the prophecy.
Others
Mountain: a very large group of people with leaders at the top, groups of leaders below, larger group below that, etc.
Eyes: able to view mankind and judge them
Mouth/speak: the laws and decrees of the nation or entity
Woman: a way of thinking or ideology (wisdom is a woman, Israel is a virgin)
Harlot: a religion/spiritual mindset that says they are devoted to God but worship idols
Brimstone/sulfur: war with gunfire
City: many nations combined with the same ideology or allegiance
TIPS ON RESEARCH
I recommend using biblehub.com because there are dozens of bible versions available, and if you click the verse number you can get parallel verses which help the description. Once at the parallel page you can click on STR for Strong’s translation from the Greek. This sheds some insight into verses that may have been translated in a confusing way. Further clarifications can be made when you click on the blue Hebrew/Greek word, or the Strong’s Lexicon number also in blue. There, many more cross-reference verses pop up as well as descriptions, definitions, and similar verses. If you click on COM there are numerous commentaries available, which are necessary for wading through any Old Testament prophetic book. They describe the historical events that match up with the prophetic imagery that God provides. The three writers of commentary I gravitate to are Barnes (d 1870), Benson (d 1749) and Matthew Henry (d 1714). Another author is Mede (d 1638) but his work isn’t listed in the commentary, it’s in biblehub’s library. Go to the dropdown in the upper-right and look at all the books and sermons available there. I’ll be using quotes from these historians/scholars to bring light to the first section of Revelation. The problem is they are from before the 1800s, so we will need to use what we learned and apply it to the history we dig up ourselves. I’ve also used the TOP button, which is a topical reference. This is handy with things like olive trees, figs, hail, and darkness. These are concepts and the topical feature shows sermons on the subject, reference verses and all sorts of definitions as well.
You will see that I relied heavily on Wikipedia as my source as well. There is a vast amount of information listed and it's so easy to get to the summary of the historical accounts of what happened. Wikipedia is not generally accepted as a reliable source, so use it at your discretion. I found it very useful to connect the dots, but always allow the Bible to make the final interpretation. Also allow me grace to be wrong. If you have found a better connection, please use that. God will speak to you the truth.
Again, the basis of all my understanding is using previous verses of the Bible to interpret current verses. Some concepts I have only found 1 or 2 ways of confirming the verse against previous prophecy, or historical account. If there have been 3 or more that coincide, then I am very firm on that interpretation, and feel confident to use it as a benchmark, or as the outside puzzle piece, so to say. The verses I am not confident on I will mention as I go, and hopefully some further r can shed insight to a verse or historical account to fit the puzzle piece firmly into place. I am confident I have enough of the puzzle put together to show you where we are at, and how very soon the final coming of Christ is. We are soon approaching the judgement and need to have a desperate yearning to see those wavering in the balance to be snatched from the fire. All throughout the Bible when you see the fulfillment of time, the end of the age, then comes the resurrection of the dead, and the judgment is right on its heels, so the time to decide is over. We can read this and decide for ourselves if we are willing to go all-in, or just play church, hoping to be rescued by a false doctrine. I also recommend that you don’t just take my word for it. Spend time researching a handful of verses then you will see God’s provision, and that He is not wavering in his process of judgement. Historical events like the Inquisition, Reformation, the Council of Nicaea and the persecution from Rome will bring to light the struggle of the saints and give you courage to face any battle that may be in our future, both spiritual and physical.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.