The Book of Revelation

[Denise]

Apocalypse Now: The Book of Revelation, Part 1

By Dr. Jeff Mirus

By a “remarkable coincidence”, I am taking up the Book of Revelation as the final topic in my series on the books of the Bible. The coincidence is that this book, also called The Apocalypse, is of course the last book written that is the revealed Word of God. Penned by St. John near the end of his life, it is the final piece of Divine Revelation, which closed with the death of this last of the apostles. As the name suggests, this revelation to St. John for the Church concerns itself with the consummation of all things, including the end of the world. It is therefore a prolonged exhortation to prepare for God’s judgment.

The book is written in the striking symbolic imagery of the apocalyptic genre, which we have already seen, for example, in the Book of Daniel. There is no reason to question the authorship: It was written by St. John, shortly before his death near the end of the first century, to convey revelations of the end times which he received in visions.

However, the Book of Revelation is so difficult to understand that it will do little good to attempt to summarize it in a single installment. Perhaps the most helpful thing the reader can do for personal study is to get a copy of The Navarre Bible’s volume on Revelation, which in the space of 125 pages provides the English text (RSV), the Latin text (New Vulgate) and a very intelligible same-page commentary throughout. There is also a 15-page introduction which orients you to the book as a whole. For the very affordable paperback edition, see:

United States: https://scepterpublishers.org/products/ ... revelation
Elsewhere: https://www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/na ... evelation/
The Biblical book is divided into two main parts: (1) The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (chapters 2-3); and (2) Eschatological Visions (that is, visions relating to the last things, death, judgment, and the destiny of mankind both personally and collectively) (chapters 4-22). The second part is far larger than the first. The Book opens with a greeting and an explanation of how John was commissioned by Christ to write the book (chapter 1) and closes with a final dialogue between Jesus and the Church, final warnings, and a farewell (final verses of chapter 22). In this essay I will consider Part 1.

The Letters to the Churches

The nature and purpose of the book is explained in the first chapter: It is a revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John for the Church. From the first, the tone is urgent: “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near” (1:3). John begins by giving glory to Christ and proclaiming the theme and the warning of the book: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen” (1:7). For all things will be consummated in Christ: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (1:8).

John explains that, in his exile on the island of Patmos, he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”, and had this vision which he was commissioned to write to the seven churches (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea). These are the churches in Asia of which John was the leader (the “elder” as he calls himself in his letters). The vision gives different messages to each of these churches, including some specific references that we do not fully understand (such as the warnings against the Nicolaitans and the false Jews of the Synagogue of Satan).

But given that particular historical applications of Christ’s messages to these Catholic communities are hard to determine, it is probably most fruitful to read them in a more symbolic light, understanding what is being praised and condemned in each community as representative of the different types of failings which characterize the various Catholic people in every age. Indeed, the number seven (seven churches) was in Jewish numerology a symbol of fullness or wholeness, so it is best to take each “letter” as applicable in various ways to the whole Church.

Each “letter” is addressed to the “angel” of that particular Church. This should be understood as a reference to the Divine protection afforded to each church and so to the church community which benefits from this care. Each also begins with a striking apocalyptic description of Christ and his words, which I will quote for each church. In addition, each ends with this warning: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”—and a specific eschatological promise to each church, which I will also quote below.

To Ephesus:
“The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands” (2:1)—probably a reference, using the number seven, to the plenitude of Divine power, as similarly expressed in things like the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the vision is explicit that stars are the angels who minister to the churches, and that the lampstands are the churches themselves (probably based on their witness to Christ the light of the world).

Christ praises the members of the Church at Ephesus for their “works”, “toil”, “patient endurance”, and refusal to accept “those who call themselves apostles but are not”, because they have “tested” them and “found them to be false” (2:2). It takes little imagination to apply this to many situations in the universal Church today: “I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” (2:3). But have we grown weary?

In any case, Christ continues: “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first” (2:4-5). If repentance is not forthcoming, Christ will “come to you and remove your lampstand from its place”—a fairly clear reference to a decline which can lead to the loss of the Church’s presence in particular regions.

Promise: “To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (2:7).

To Smyrna:
“The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life” (2:8).

Christ understands the Smyrneans’ suffering and poverty and the slander they suffer from the “synagogue of Satan” (false Jews in that time, but we may surely take this today as a reference to those who, in the Catholic name, disrespect and oppress less powerful Catholics who are true to the Faith). But He assures them that they are rich in what matters most. They are not to fear what they will suffer during a short period (“10 days”) of tribulation. If they remain faithful unto death, He will give them “the crown of life” (2:10), a point emphasized in the final promise below.

Promise: “He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death” (2:11). Note that the “second death” in the Book of Revelation is the eternal torment of hell to which damned souls are consigned at the final judgment.

To Pergamum:
“The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword” (2:12).

Christ understands that the Christians of Pergamum dwell in a place of great evil (“where Satan’s throne is”), yet they “hold fast my name” and did not “deny my faith”. For this He commends them, but he has “a few things” against them: (a) Some hold the teaching of Balaam (a reference to participation in pagan ritual banquets); (b) Some hold the errors of the Nicolaitans (meaning uncertain, but most likely also involving concessions to paganism). Therefore, these must repent or Christ will war against them with “the sword of my mouth”. It is not hard to discern here the many compromises Christians too often make with the dominant pagan culture, sometimes almost without realizing it.

Promise: “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it” (2:17) (a reference to using white stones bearing a mark as a token of admission to a feast or banquet; these will be tokens of admission to the heavenly banquet).

To Thyatira:
“The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze” (2:18).

Our Lord again states that he knows the works, love, faith, service and patient endurance of the Thyatirians. But He has this against them, that they tolerate Jezebel the alleged prophetess, who is drawing them into immorality (in the New Testament, “immorality” always refers to impure and unnatural sexual practices) and eating food sacrificed to idols. “Jezebel” is almost certainly a Scriptural reference, but perhaps there was a real person in that time who was seducing members of the Church to various forms of infidelity (or, again, it could be the spirit of the times). He will punish this “Jezebel”. But for those “who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan” (2:24), he does not lay upon them any additional burden. They must simply “hold fast what you have, until I come” (2:25).

Promise: “To him who conquers and who keeps my word until the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received power from my Father; and I will give him the morning star” (symbol of rebirth or resurrection) (2:26-28).

To Sardis:
“The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1)—again a reference to the fullness of Divine power (spirits of God) and to the Church which is supported by the angels (stars).

The judgment on this church is harsh: “I know your works; you have the name of being alive, but you are dead” (3:1). How easy it is to see in this that self-righteous secularism which so often proclaims as good and charitable that which is evil, while being dead to God and grace, and lacking utterly in true works of sacrificial love. “Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God” (3:2). Our Lord calls them to repent, warning that if they will not wake up, He will come upon them like a thief. Yet he acknowledges that there are still a few who have not soiled their garments, and “They shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy” (3:4).

Promise: “He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (3:5).

To Philadelphia:
“The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens” (3:7).

Here we have Our Lord’s approval of those who are faithful to Him in word and deed, despite being very weak and relatively powerless: “I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (3:8). Here again He refers to the synagogue of Satan (which we can surely take to refer to all misguided worldly powers), promising that its members will “bow before your feet, and learn that I have loved you”. Because the Philadelphians have kept His word, He will keep them from the hour of trial “which is coming on the whole world”. One thinks of many powerless Christians (including surely the temporally weak but spiritually strong churches in Africa, in Islamic countries, and in China). “Hold fast what you have”, He says, “so that no one may seize your crown”, for He is coming soon.

Promise: “He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God: never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name” (3:12).

To Laodicea:
“The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation” (3:14).

Here we have Christ’s famous (and certainly chilling) condemnation of the lukewarm: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor not, I will spew you out of my mouth” (3:15). He tells the church in Laodicea that they say “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:17). Surely this applies especially to many members of the Church throughout the West today.

Christ counsels instead that they should “buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see” (3:18). He emphasizes that they must be zealous and repentant because He reproves those He loves. He says He stands at the door and knocks, and wishes to come in and eat with those who will simply open their doors.

Promise: “He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (3:21).

In fear and trembling

This very short first part of the Book of Revelation is extraordinarily rich in warnings which define the ways we have of minimizing our Faith, and the dire consequences of doing so. As we will continue to see as we work through the entire book, there is a great battle being waged for control of our eternal destiny, so that we must take our struggle against sin and error with full seriousness. There is absolutely nothing in this culminating book of the Bible to suggest any sort of easy salvation, let alone universal salvation. To read and understand it is to begin again to work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). The alternative is to lose the promises of Christ.

The full cosmic scope of this battle of Christ for our souls—this battle between good and evil, God and Satan, fidelity and betrayal—is the subject of the remaining nineteen chapters of the Book.

The Seven Seals: The Book of Revelation, Part 2

Returning from a brief vacation, I find myself faced with St. John’s visions of the warfare between earth and heaven which characterizes the time remaining before Christ returns in glory. The Book of Revelation describes this in eschatological language—language which is symbolic of the battle between good and evil, God and Satan which fulfills and concludes our history. John is lifted up to heaven in a second vision, and he begins to learn of these things through the opening of seven seals which conceal the secrets of the times which lead up to the end. More visions follow, but here I will discuss the vision which introduces the seven seals themselves, as recounted in chapters 4 through 11.

Before we begin, let me offer an important caution. When interpreting the Book of Revelation, it is essential to keep St. Peter’s advice firmly in mind:

[D]o not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [2 Pet 3:8-9]
God is both outside of time and the Lord of time. Therefore, in eschatological literature all times tend to be fused together. The emphasis is on the eternal implications of what we on earth experience as a protracted battle, in which we seem to play only minor roles and have too little hope. The Book of Revelation offers not a chronological human history but successive snapshots of the drama of good and evil under the authority of Divine Providence. Moreover, everything is recounted in largely symbolic language. Therefore, rather than attempting to match particular human events to the drama revealed through the opening of each of the “seven seals”, we should recognize the spiritual implications of the text as God battles against evil to draw all men to Himself.

Key themes

It will be much easier to benefit from the spiritual lessons of the Book as a whole, and of the seven seals in particular, if we recognize three great themes in this series of chapters (four through eleven):

The glory given to God in Heaven: St. John, when he is taken up (chapter 4), finds a place of constant worship of the Most High God, with a continuous singing of “Holy, holy, holy”, by the 24 elders (representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles), the four living creatures (representing the four evangelists), and the multitude of the heavenly host.
The recognition of the Lamb of God (Christ, who was slain): It is the Lamb who holds the “scroll”—the mysteries of Divine judgement and the consummation of all things (chapter 5).
The close connection between the saints on earth and those in heaven: Frequent references indicate that heaven is full of those who have suffered on earth for Christ, and that it is for the faithful on earth that God both limits His punishments and gives ample time for repentance and conversion—even though they suffer from the warfare and the delay.
It is the vision of the Lamb of God that sets the drama in motion, highlighted by one of the most famous passages in Scripture; for those before the Lamb “sang a new song”:

Worthy are thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. [Rev 5:9-10]
Then all acclaimed the Lamb, thousands upon thousands, with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev 5:12). Moreover, notice that John says he heard “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying: ‘To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!’” (Rev 5:13).

It is the Lamb that was slain that opens the seals.

Seals One through Six

The first six seals are dealt with quickly in chapter 6. The first four reveal the memorable “four horsemen of the apocalypse” who are sent to ravage the earth. The white horse signifies conquest; the red horse signifies the loss of peace on earth; the black horse, famine; and the pale horse, death (afflicting one-fourth of the earth). Seal five reveals those slain for God, who are ultimately protected under the altar. Seal six reveals cosmic chaos—a massive earthquake, stars falling from the sky, and people frantically hiding in caves in abject fear of the Lamb.

In chapter 7, the action of the seals is suspended, as it were. Four angels are told to hold back the four winds, with the revealing command: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads” (7:3). Here the term “seal” is given a new meaning; it is a protection, to be sealed by the Lamb, in marked contrast to the “sign of the Beast” which comes later in the book. In any case, once again a number representing fullness is used to signify the elect: “And I heard the number of the sealed,” John writes, “a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel” (7:4). One hundred and forty-four thousand (12 times 12,000) represents the immense number of those who will be saved, for John states:

After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb”. [7:9-10]
One of the “elders” explains to John that these represent all “who come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14).

The Seventh Seal

The opening of the last seal, in contrast to the others, is described at length, through the next four chapters. What it signifies is expressed in terms of seven angels with seven trumpets, with more revealed as each angel sounds his trumpet, and also three “woes”. In chapter 8, the first four trumpets are sounded, with these results: (1) Hail and fire with blood, destroying a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all grass; (2) A burning mountain thrown into the sea, turning a third of the sea to blood, destroying a third of the sea creatures, and a third of the ships; (3) A star (which may indicate an angel) falling on a third of the rivers and fountains, turning a third of the water to wormwood; (4) A third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars blotted out.

In chapter 9, the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, and a star falls to earth and is given the key to the bottomless pit (again, a star signifies an angel, this time Lucifer, of whom Christ said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Lk 10:18)). Smoke darkens the sun and the air; horrible “locusts” (who serve the angel of the bottomless pit) are unleashed against all humans beings who lack the seal of God, and they endure a torture for “five months” (a limited time). This ends the first “woe”.

Then the sixth angel blows his trumpet, and the four angels who have been restrained are released to kill a third of mankind. Still, the rest

did not repent the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols…which cannot either see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality [again, in the NT this word refers to sexual sins] or their thefts. [9:20-21]

At this point, John receives a vision which serves as something of an interlude (chapters 10 and 11). He is given a “little scroll” to eat, which tastes sweet in his mouth but is bitter in his stomach—a Scriptural image of the urge to prophesy. He is commanded to reveal these things “about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings” (10:11) (which offers further evidence that the lessons are hard to apply precisely only to particular historical circumstances). John is then told to measure the temple of God—just the temple itself, for the nations will be given to “trample over the holy city for forty-two months” (this is a symbolic period described as “a time, times and half a time” (as in 12:14) or “a half week of years”—half of the perfect number seven—which signifies a significant but limited duration).

During this period—described, again, in very symbolic language—it is revealed that two olive trees and two lampstands (doubtless representing Israel and the Church) will fight against the beast from the bottomless pit and be killed, leading to great rejoicing among all who are evil. But after three-and-a-half days (again, half of seven, or a period of limited duration) they will arise and be called up to heaven. At this, a massive earthquake strikes, causing many to praise God. And now the second woe has passed.

Conclusion of this section

Immediately, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet. Again, the number seven indicates fullness or completion, and now we have the seventh angel in the opening of the seventh seal—thus, the climax. This ultimate fulfillment is announced by loud voices in heaven:

the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever…. We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign. [11:15, 17]

In all of this eschatological language of the seals, we have learned something of the drama of salvation, but we have seen only a little of the figures who are most centrally involved in it. Although it is the Lamb who opens the seals, the action of the book to this point has been orchestrated by unnamed angels. But with the sounding of the seventh trumpet by the seventh angel within the opening of the seventh seal, this changes decisively. We have come to the vision recounted in chapter twelve, where the “woman” and the “dragon” are revealed to us. Who are this woman and this dragon, and why are they so important? That will be the subject for the next installment on St. John’s Book of Revelation.

Dramatis personae: The Book of Revelation, Part 3

The pivotal chapter in the Book of Revelation—the specific material which most illuminates the entire text—is the middle chapter, chapter twelve. Moreover, this chapter combines with the two immediately following to give us the most information about the characters at the very center of the struggle between good and evil represented by the entire Book. In addition to the angels and saints taken generally, who are present in various ways throughout, I am referring to the figures of the Woman, the Dragon, St. Michael the Archangel, and the Lamb.

The Woman

Chapter twelve is easily the most famous and most intriguing chapter of the entire book, the chapter about the mysterious woman clothed with the sun. From the first, Church Fathers, saints and doctors have given three different—and not at all exclusive—interpretations of this Woman. Here I will mostly summarize the Navarre Bible’s commentary on the Book which I recommended in my first installment, since it does such a good job of explaining the three most common interpretations. All of them fit quite well, and yet none fits every facet of the text all by itself. This, in fact, argues strongly that all three interpretations provide insight into the very same mystery.

If you will forgive me one very long quotation, here is the pivotal passage:

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 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 bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth 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, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God….
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him....
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness…. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. [12:1-6a, 7-9, 13-14a, 17]
Now, consider that this passage can apply to Israel, to the Church, and more specifically to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Israel was chosen by God as the people from which the Messiah would come. In fact, Isaiah compares Israel to “a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs, when she is near her time” (Is 26;17). Clearly Israel suffered much in bringing forth the Messiah, including taking refuge in the wilderness to escape Pharaoh. Just as clearly, the Dragon (Satan) heaped trial after trial on Israel to prevent the Messiah’s coming or to destroy Him.

But the woman can also refer to the Church, as St. Gregory wrote: “The sun stands for the light of truth and the moon for the transitoriness of temporal things; the holy Church is clothed like the sun because she is protected by the splendor of supernatural truth, and she has the moon under her feet because she is above all earthly things.” The Church gives birth in travail to many offspring—or to the one Body of Christ—and that Body is harassed by Satan down through the ages. Its members also take refuge in the wilderness (a metaphor for personal closeness to God).

And of course, the woman can refer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who gave birth to the Messiah. Though without labor pains at Christ’s birth, she certainly suffered them later in Christ’s passion and death to establish the entire People of God. We might see in the eagle’s wings a reference to her Assumption into Heaven. Moreover, the figure of Mary merges with those of Israel and the Church. At the Annunciation, St. Luke, through the angel’s greeting, identifies Mary with the faithful remnant of Israel (“daughter of Zion” in Zeph. 3:15). St. Paul sees a woman as the symbol of the Church, our mother; and the Second Vatican Council taught that Mary is a type or symbol of the Church (Lumen Gentium 63).

The richness of this reference to “the Woman” brings what we might call the human history of our salvation together in a single figure. One can meditate for a lifetime (and for eternity) on this chapter of the Book of Revelation.

St. Michael, the Dragon, and the Beasts

As soon as the woman gives birth, chapter 12 changes its focus: “Now war arose in heaven” (12:7). There are good grounds here for the theological assumption that the ultimate reason for Lucifer’s rebellion was his refusal to accept a human superior through the Incarnation, just as there are good grounds in the long quotation above for the traditional idea that one third of all the angels followed Satan. In any case, immediately we see “Michael and all his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (12:7-9). Then John heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. [12:10-11]
But, as we have seen, the Dragon—again, fallen Lucifer, that is, Satan—went off to make war on the woman’s offspring, meaning on Israel, on Christ while on earth, on the Church and on each of the faithful—on us. Moreover, we learn a little more of Satan’s methods in chapter 13. First John sees “a beast rising out of the sea” (13:1), to which Satan “gave his power and his throne and great authority” (13:2). The beast is often associated with worldly political authority set in opposition to God, in the service of evil. Early on, this was often thought to refer to the Roman Empire, which persecuted the Church, but it is easily applied to all political power exercised for purely worldly ends.

A little later, John saw “another beast which rose out of the earth” (13:11). This beast, to which the Dragon gives much power and the authority to speak on his behalf, constantly woos and frightens people everywhere into the service of the first beast. Again, this is often interpreted as a symbol of all the other worldly sources of influence and gain, especially commercial powers, which constantly justify illicit political and worldly ends, urging everyone to go along with and accept evil as good. Thus the second beast makes an image of the first beast, with the power to kill those who refuse to worship it. Note in particular the economic consequences:

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. [13:16]
This is doubtless a commentary on misused economic or public relations or advertising power in every era. But in keeping with the early applications to the Roman Empire, it is interesting that the sign of the beast is given as 666, or in some manuscripts 616, and that this corresponds to the letters used for Caesar Nero in Hebrew (666) or in Greek (616). (In Hebrew, Greek and Latin, letters of the alphabet were used to designate number values; but nobody really knows the signification of the numbers, and there have been many interpretations.)

The Lamb and his companions

I will close this installment with a consideration of chapter 14, which marks the transition from the enmity between the “woman” and the “dragon” to the ultimate victory of the Lamb and all those who have been faithful to Him. John starts this chapter with the following words:

Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. [14:1-3]
Once again, the number 144,000 refers to fullness or completion. John explains that this multitude of the redeemed are those who are chaste, who follow the Lamb “wherever he goes”, who have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits, “and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless” (14:4). It is an understatement to recommend taking this information to heart.

After this come three angels proclaiming an “eternal gospel” to all on earth:

“Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come.” (v. 7)
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great [Rome and/or worldly power, wealth and influence in general], she who made all nations drink the wine of her impure passion.” (v. 8)
“If any one worships the beast…he also shall drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever….” (vv. 9-11)
Then John heard a voice from heaven: “‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them’” (v. 13).

Following these announcements, the final harvest of souls begins, with its bloody vintage:

So the angel swung his sickle on earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God; and the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for one thousand six hundred stadia. [14:19-20]
This is very serious material. In reading the Book of Revelation, as in our very lives, it is time now to consider the final judgement of God. We will take up that judgement, and what comes after, in my next and last installment on St. John’s magnificent book of prophecy.

[Denise]

“I make all things new”: The Book of Revelation, Part 4

By Dr. Jeff Mirus

In surveying the last eight chapters of St. John’s Book of Revelation, I am concluding a long series of commentaries on all the books of the Bible by taking a look at God’s final victory. To understand this victory, we need to remember once again that the apocalyptic style of the book portrays a series of snapshots of the battle between good and evil. While in some ways generally chronological, in other ways this is simply a way of looking at the drama as a whole from multiple angles.

To alter Dante’s inscription over the gateway to Hell: “Abandon strict chronology, all ye who enter here.” Or to alter Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in dates.” Both of these warnings should give pause to those who seek to apply the text definitively to particular times, places and worldly events, whether past or future.

The overthrow of evil

What we do know is that chapter 15 begins with the hymn of the saved, who rejoice that God will now finally act to defeat evil and usher in an era of unending joy for those who have been faithful to Him. In this chapter we find announced the seven “bowls” of God’s wrath, which are then enumerated in chapter 16. This is one kind of “snapshot”:

Painful sores on those who worshipped the beast;
The sea made like blood and the death of the creatures in it;
The rivers made like blood indicating the judgment of God;
The sun scorches men, who curse God but do not repent;
The throne of the beast is cast into darkness, but no repentance;
The Euphrates is dried up, and three foul spirits emerge from the beast and the false prophet to enlist the kings of the earth in war against God at Armageddon;
Finally, a voice from the air: “It is done!” And cities, nations, islands and mountains fall.
Chapter 17 offers another “snapshot”: The “great harlot” appears on “many waters” and on the beast. Many early commentators saw the harlot as representing Rome (“the woman that you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth” (17:18)), with the beast, as I mentioned in an earlier installment, representing anti-Christian worldly power. Obviously, for the early Church, pagan Rome with its persecutions and emperor-worship represented the epitome of worldly evil—of greed, impurity and direct rebellion against God. Throughout Scripture harlotry also refers to idolatry, of betraying the true God through intercourse with false gods. But while the ascription of all this to Rome (called “Babylon the Great”) is certainly valid, it is hardly exhaustive. Rome may be taken here as a symbol of all the worldly infidelity and power arrayed against God down through history, including that of our own time.

Verse 8 of chapter 17 merits particular attention: “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition”. This is certainly a deliberate inversion of an earlier passage in which St. John begins the letters from God to the seven churches with these words: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev 1:4).

Chapter 18 continues this portrayal of the destruction of all opposition to God by recounting the fall of Babylon the Great (again, Rome and all worldly power). An angel announces “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt for every foul spirit” (18:2). And so God, through another voice from heaven, calls out: “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (18:4).

Victory…but wait

Then, in chapter 19, the songs of victory begin in heaven. Hear the “hallelujahs” for victory and the marriage of the Lamb:

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just…. Amen. Hallelujah!... Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. [19:1-9]
And so an angel said to John: “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (19:9). The marriage of the Lamb is of course the marriage of Christ with the Church (see St. Paul in Eph 5:32), which encompasses all of the elect. That is why, for a justly forgotten book I wrote in my late twenties on the topic of salvation history, I chose as the title “The Divine Courtship”, and I wrote, for my closing sentence, “The history of salvation is the making of our wedding gown.”

But remember what I said about the Book of Revelation being a book of not-always-chronological pictures or “snapshots”. Actually, this should teach us something about the certitude of Faith. For it is after this song of victory that a white horse appears (“the Word of God”) ridden by a great rider (“Faithful and True”). His mouth is a sharp sword “to smite the nations”. The name inscribed on his robe is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16). And by Him the Beast—that representation of all the evil of Satan—is destroyed. Moreover, this is described as only the first battle.

Then we learn in chapter 20 that there will be a thousand year reign of Christ and His people, a period in which Satan is bound, though “after that he must be loosed for a little while” (vv. 2-3). We are told that all those beheaded for Christ will reign with Him for that thousand years.

Unfortunately, this text has given rise to a large variety of errors known generally as “millenarianism”, by sects which take it literally, and even believe they are going to reign with Christ in the sky for this period of time. The Church has never allowed this interpretation. Again we must remember that numbers in this book are symbolic, and by far the best interpretation of this “thousand years” is that it stands for the time between the first coming of Christ (by which Satan was indeed effectively bound so that we may participate in the very life of Christ without any fear of evil) and the second coming (at which time Satan will be overthrown for all eternity, and the final judgment will take place).

Accordingly, there follows the “second battle”, beginning in verse 7. Satan gathers all the nations he has deceived in order to make war on God, but fire comes down from heaven and consumes them, and “the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (20:10).

Only after this does John describe his vision of the Last Judgment of the living and the dead (vv. 11-15):

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [20:11-15]
Clearly this “lake of fire”, this second death, is eternal damnation in what we call “the fires of hell”.

The end of all things

Two final chapters complete this remarkable book. In chapter 21, John sees “a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (21:1). He sees “the holy city, new Jerusalem [the Church], coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (21:2). And a great voice from the throne says,

Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. [21:3-4]
Much more could be quoted to illustrate the beauty of the closing of the Book of Revelation, but it is easily read and understood. God announces that “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (21:6) and explains the separate destinies of the faithful and the unfaithful. The Bride of the Lamb (the Church encompassing all the elect) is revealed to John in his famous vision of a city of crystalline radiance, which has no need for a temple and no need of sun or moon, “for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (21:23).

Jesus Himself concludes these revelations to St. John: “I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star” (22:16). Therefore, John warns his readers to heed “the words of the prophecy of this book”, to add nothing, and to take nothing away (22:18-19).

Among the last words of God to John are “Behold, I make all things new” (21:5) and “behold , I am coming soon” (22:7). Indeed, God repeats Himself: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (22:12-13). And John ends both the book and all of Scripture with his own affirmation, which we must make our own:

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. [22:20-21]