Literal and Symbolic – A Quick Journey through Revelation (1)

This is part of the new book that I did not use (or most of it). I thought I might as well use it here as discard it altogether.

Trying to get one’s head around the mixture of symbols in the book of Revelation is not an easy matter. The symbols create a visual picture in the mind of the reader. The question is, when are the symbols literal and when are they not? Let us inquire further into this question.

When John beholds the glorified Jesus in chapter 1, he sees a real person; a Man who puts His hand on John (Rev. 1:17). Yet Christ’s right hand is said to hold seven stars in it, and Christ has a sword coming out of His mouth (Rev. 1:16). This sword is later depicted as the instrument with which He smites the nations (Rev. 19:15). What does this mean? Here we see a symbolic artifact (the sword) combined with a literal sight of a man. The sash of gold that He wears shows Him to be noble (Rev. 1:13). His white hair and flaming eyes (Rev. 1:14), not to mention His glowing bronze feet (Rev. 1:15) may tempt us to infer that He is ancient, wise, and penetrating in knowledge. On the other hand, it may be that the glorified Jesus really looks like that since no explanation of His appearance is given! It is instructive that straight after He tells John to write down “ the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this” He deciphers the meaning of the stars and the lampstands (Rev. 1:19-20). That appears to indicate the way the revealing will proceed: a vision of something strange followed by some explanatory remarks.

Of course, this is only partially true. When one reads the letters to the seven churches a number of things that we would love to know more details about are simply mentioned in passing. These include the “Nicolaitans” in the letters to Ephesus (Rev. 2:6), and Pergamos (Rev. 2:15); “the synagogue of Satan” that is spoken of in the address to Smyrna (Rev. 2:9) and Philadelphia (Rev. 3:9); and the identity of “Jezebel” in Thyatira (Rev. 2:20). I would like more information on the Book of Life in Revelation 3:5^[1], and I would like to know for sure if “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world” (Rev. 3:10) refers to the Tribulation, or a part of it, or to none of it.

Moving on from the letters to the seven churches we cannot with certainty identify the twenty-four elders before God’s throne (Rev. 4:4), although we can note how David organized twenty-four orders of priests in 1 Chronicles 24:4 and 25:9-3.^[2] Are they the same as the “watchers” spoken of by Daniel (Dan. 4:17)? Possibly. Who knows for sure? As they feature quite prominently in the narrative (Rev. 4:4, 10; 5:8, 14; 11:16; 19:4) there is every reason to think that the number twenty-four is literal.

The four horsemen of Revelation 6 were seen by John, but I doubt they will be seen by anyone else. The effect of their missions is the devastation of the earth, bringing disease, famine, natural calamities, and societal disarray. It is the effects of their work that will be seen by earth’s unfortunate inhabitants. In Revelation 6:13 we are told that all the stars fell. In Revelation 8:12 there are still stars there, which means Revelation 6:13 comes after Revelation 8:12.

I have commented on the 144,000 of Revelation 7 elsewhere, but amillennial interpreters believe that the number and the description of them provided by the inspired author are non-literal. On the other hand, they believe that the multitude that no one could number of all peoples is literal. The 144,000 Israelites in Revelation 7 stem from twelve tribes upon the earth which are clearly named (Rev. 7:1-8), and they are male virgins according to Revelation 14:4. Dispensationalist premillennialists rightly assert therefore that both groups ought to be understood literally, which means that they are not the same.^[3]

The infernal horsemen of the sixth trumpet (Rev. 9:16-19) are numbered. Why point out their number if they are unreal? Didn’t Elisha and his servant see supernatural horses of fire and chariots of fire on the hills around them (cf. 2 Ki. 6:17)? They were there! These actual sightings should not be swept aside by the magical term “apocalyptic.”^[4]

In chapter 12 we are told forthrightly that the seven-headed dragon is “the Devil and Satan” (Rev. 12:9). The dragon pursues a “woman clothed with the sun with a crown of twelve stars on her head and the moon under her feet (Rev. 12:1). Who is this woman? Well, one more detail may help. She was pregnant (Rev. 12:4), and her child “was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” (Rev. 12:5. Cf. Psa. 2:8-9; Rev. 19:15). The child can be none other than Christ, who is “the root of David” (Rev. 5:5; cf. 22:6) – an Israelite. The identity of the child is further corroborated when John tells us “And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.” (Rev. 12:5b).

This cannot be the Church, for the Church is not yet married to Christ (see Rev. 19:6, 9). Ergo, the Church cannot be pictured as a pregnant woman! Neither did the Church bring forth Christ. Christ brought forth the Church through His resurrection. As Revelation is chock-full of OT allusions has John inserted one here related to the woman? The answer is yes:

Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” – Genesis 37:9-10 (my emphasis).

Jacob’s rebuke of Joseph shows that he understood the dream as a reference to him, to Rachel (Joseph’s mother – Gen. 35:24), and Joseph’s eleven brothers. It doesn’t take a genius to add Joseph to the eleven stars to make the twelves tribes of Israel, with Jacob being portrayed as the sun and Rachel as the moon. The reason for the female imagery is because of the birth of the Man-Child (Rev. 12:4-5). Beale believes that the woman represents the entirety of the saints from before and after the first advent.^[5] This is extraordinary for someone who has made his name searching out and identifying OT allusions in the NT. Beale’s Covenant Theology prevents him from separating Israel from the Church. Revelation 12 is silent about the spirituality of the woman; that is simply not important. To my mind at least, any interpretation of Revelation 12:1 which ends up making her other than Israel is a circumlocution.

[1] Being in this “Book of Life” gains one access to the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:27), whereas not having your name in the Book of Life exposes one to wrath (Rev. 20:15). Yet there is a threat that some of the names written in the Book will be removed (Rev. 3:5; 22:19). When Paul refers to it in Phil. 4:13 he does not mention this threat, probably because it is not a threat to those in the Church (Rom. 8:28-39). This may be because Revelation speaks of those in the Tribulation after the removal of the Church, and that Tribulation saints must “endure” (e.g., by not receiving the mark of the beast). If they don’t endure their names are blotted out of the Lamb’s Book. (See here my remarks on “Hebrews as a Tribulation Letter” above). This way of presenting things might not be comfortable to think about, but I think it at least has the benefit of being textually honest. I am just trying to comprehend what the text says and make sense of it without resorting to twisting John’s words.

[2] “Most of the apocalyptic symbolism used by John in Revelation finds its root in the Old Testament, which often provides the interpretive key necessary to understand the imagery.” – H. Hall Harris, “A Theology of John’s Writings,” 173 n. 11. I would word this sentence slightly differently, but the main point is well made.

[3] Buist M. Fanning, Revelation, 265-267.

[4] In my opinion, Christians in the West especially do not take the supernatural realm seriously enough.

[5] G. K. Beale, Revelation 625-627.