Bible Rebel

There are lots of fiction novels and movies about the end of the world, and some of those stories use the images and words from the Bible’s Book of Revelation.

Let’s not get all worked up and frightened by novels and movies, though. Let’s look at what Revelation actually says and doesn’t say, rather than what others say about it.

It helps to get an idea of the “who” and “what” of Revelation. It is a short book written around 2,000 years ago by a man named John, describing a vision from God, and then sent out in a scroll to be read to groups of believers.

Our goal here is not to do a deep study of it, but it’s important to understand that Revelation is a vision with deeper meanings beneath what many of the words seem to be saying at first.

At times in the Bible God gave visions and dreams to people, using mysterious pictures and symbols that aren’t meant to be taken literally.

Years Not Ears

Here’s an example from the Old Testament Book of Genesis where Pharaoh tells Joseph about a dream he had and Joseph tells him what it meant:

Genesis 41:22-26
And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
And Joseph said unto Pharaoh…God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
…the seven good ears are seven years…

See? The ears of corn weren’t meant to be understood as actual ears of corn, they were dream symbols that actually meant years.

Most of Revelation is just like that – you have to understand the symbols and how the people back in that time and place would have understood those symbols. By the way, the time was about 2,000 years ago and the place was Asia Minor, which is the modern-day country of Turkey, under the rule of the ancient Roman Empire.

Symbols in Revelation

Here’s what Jesus looked like in John’s vision in the first chapter of Revelation:

Revelation 1:13-16
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Does Jesus actually look like this? Does he have a sword coming out of his mouth and feet made of brass? No, these are symbols and images to tell us something deeper. And if we want to understand what those symbols mean we first have to understand how the people who first heard and read those words understood them.

That makes for an interesting, but much longer study. For now, let’s take a peek at the overall subject and point of the Book of Revelation. That’s coming next.