Another Bible Commentary: Revelation

This seems like another good spot to discuss some “end times”-related material before we get to the meat of Revelation. There’s another infodump back in the 2 Thessalonians notes.

I don’t set myself up as some notable scribe that has all the answers; I’m a student of the Bible just like you. At this point in history, we can agree that the Messiah will rule on Earth (Isaiah 35, Joel 3, Jeremiah 23, Micah 4) at some point and that He’s ready to return quickly as soon as the Father says it is time. We can also agree that even futurists have a preterist understanding of books like Galatians, which is to say that some things which were written to specific people in a specific historical and cultural context, who understood it and found it useful in their specific situation, are still worth our attention now.

Here’s some conjecture to keep futurists happy, using Scripture they way they cite it instead of the explanations offered earlier:

Although Daniel 9:27 would need a new Temple to be fulfilled in a straightforward fashion (The principle of multiple fulfillment holds; 1 Maccabees 1:54 was like a preview of things Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24, etc.), unlike Peter’s original readers, we can see that:

There has been a nation with the name “Israel” back on Earth since 1948 (Ezekiel 20:34, Ezekiel 39:28, Jeremiah 30:2-10, Isaiah 11:12, Hosea 3:4-5).

That nation has controlled Jerusalem since 1967 (an interpretation of the end of the time of the Gentiles from Luke 21).

Their army is impressive, especially for its relative size – The Six Day War, etc. (Ezekiel 37:10, Zechariah 12:6-8).

The desert has bloomed; that nation is a net exporter of fruits (Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 41:19, Isaiah 51:3)

The Roman Empire ruled their known world; the emergence of a worldwide government is plausible today (Daniel 2:41-43).

Travel and knowledge are increasing (Daniel 12:4).

Russia, Iran, and Turkey had a historically new alliance in 1989 for the Hal Lindsey fans looking for a proto-Gog/Magog (Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39).

The Gospel is preached worldwide, with miraculous technology reaching the last ethnic groups without access to Bibles, etc. (Matthew 24:14).

The technology needed to see the two witnesses of Revelation dead worldwide and the technology needed to control all financial transactions (with no black market) exists now.

The Matthew 24:8 birth pangs from a futurist perspective: There were more people dead from war, famine, magnitude 8 earthquakes, etc., in the 20th century than were alive on Earth when Jesus preached. The wars will stop when He establishes global hegemony (1 Thessalonians 5).

We can’t know the day nor the hour, but what about the generation (Matthew 24:34)?

In the futurists’ view, the righteous leave Earth like Lot left Sodom. They say that the Seventy Weeks was about getting Israel to accept Christ, and it got interrupted. A Rapture after the fullness of the Gentiles are saved hypothetically leads to a corrupt world leader taking credit for our absence as proof of his divinity. The Temple gets rebuilt in their scheme, and the seventieth prophetic week resumes with the opening of the Scroll. The Tribulation drives Israel to finally accept Christ. In some versions of futurism, the Holy Spirit, righteousness, and sacrifices work more like in the Old Testament between the time we leave and Israel accepting Jesus. We already disproved two-peoples-two-plans back in the Epistles; I’m just summarizing a popular view before offering my own take.

There are many ways Christians have read the Book of Revelation. There are premillennialists that say there will be a 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth to wrap up the remaining temporal promises to Abe’s descendants. There are amillennialists that say the 1000 years is symbolic, and that the promises belong to the Church reigning now. As Paul is very clear that there is still a bodily resurrection waiting for us (1 Corinthians 15:35, 2 Timothy 2:18), the return of Christ will be obvious (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and both of those events are supposed to precede Revelation 20, I’m calling shenanigans on that one. There are postmillennialists that favor a social gospel of improving the world until He comes back. [As an aside, tikkun olam is “repairing the world” from Mishnah and is a Reform Judaism notion of amending even the Law to keep society “well-functioning”. This connects to a thought in the Amidah Prayer (similar to the “Lord’s Prayer”); asking for His Kingdom to come and for His will to be done somehow became God looking for partners to establish the Millennial Kingdom through generally left-leaning politics, in their view. This also rhymes with the Kabbalist notion of returning Divine Sparks to their Source as a form of world repair. The more politically conservative element within Judaism says that free markets and private tzedakah (instead of extracting it at swordpoint like the brickmakers’ overseer) provide the greatest good to the public and the greatest reward from God. Christians are free to have political opinions or to wait for Jesus Christ to return and conquer/replace the world; we love each other and preach Him in the interim. See Psalm 102:25-26.] I’m not going to be able to include everyone’s theories about everything, so please take this study guide in the spirit it is given. I favor a partial preterist interpretation in which many prophecies, especially those Jesus said would happen in His original hearers’ generation, already happened. There are some things that haven’t happened yet, so full preterism is an easy-to-topple straw man. Again, I’m not trying to divide believers, and prophecies can have multiple fulfillments.

Now, on to the Book of Revelation:

The Gospel of John was written with the good scribes in Ephesus; this was written on an island the Romans used for a penal colony, so the Greek is understandably a little different for those keeping score. This is an angelic vision, and the familiarity with poetic language and imagery you developed in the Psalms and with the Old Testament prophets will be useful here. The references to sexual sin in here therefore might refer to idolatry, as in the Old Testament, but Roman idolatry included the possibility of ritual sex, temple prostitution, and orgies that are off the menu for Christians, so make of it what you will. We’ve been happily swimming in an ocean of grace for the most part in the Epistles, but John 3:18 and John 3:36 were there all along. Even so, God hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans, but He loves people (Ezekiel 18:32) and would rather they give up and come to Him. Also, whether believers are mysteriously raptured out of here before or during the weird stuff or not, He has a great track record of defending a faithful remnant in the midst of general plagues, etc. The One who did not condemn the woman caught in the act of adultery won’t wage war upon His own Bride. It all turns out fine for us. Remember that spiritual warfare as presented in the Epistles is to declare that Jesus won the victory already. See also John 16:33, Romans 8:37, and 1 John 5:4. The Gospel of John lacks an Olivet Discourse. I think it’s because John had already written this book which functions similarly. Genesis 41:32 says that multiple prophetic dreams that amount to the same thing mean that the issue is decided and that God will be acting shortly. I will suggest in this commentary that, after an initial vision granting report cards to seven churches, the broad strokes add up to a series of visions (that reference Scripture that we covered already) that can each be summarized as Christ taking power, Jerusalem getting destroyed in 70 AD, and believers living with Jesus forever. Think of how much text and poetry in the Old Testament is about the destruction of Jerusalem. John wrote when the persecutions of Acts 7 and Acts 8 were recent memories. Roman provincial ruler Herod Agrippa ordered the execution of John’s brother James in Acts 12:1-2. The high priest at the time was Ananus ben Ananus, son of Annas (who had been given the job by the Romans), and he ordered the death of Jesus’ brother, James the Just. No one thought that God wouldn’t eventually judge Rome, but John’s audience in what is now Turkey, including many Jewish Christians, would have definitely cared about the events of 70 AD. Placing this book at the end, in addition to finishing with our happily-ever-after, allows us to appreciate how many other books it references. We see beasts as in Daniel 7, a heavenly being like in Daniel 10:5-6, horsemen as in Zechariah 6:1-8, lampstands/trees as in Zechariah 4:1-14, cherubim as in Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10, edible literature as in Ezekiel 2:8-3:2, marks as in Ezekiel 9:3-6, locust demons as in Joel, etc. The narrative bookends of the Bible are even more fitting than just “the beginning” and “the ending”. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In Ugaritic myth, Baal allegedly made his temple in seven days, so God is greater for making everything in six days and taking a day off. There is Temple imagery throughout Revelation (lampstands, trumpets, bowls, a big Holy of Holies cube), and we’re His Temple now. Jesus wins; it all turns out fine. See Psalm 37.

1:1 “soon” Verse 1 clarifies that Revelation is about what is soon and what is later from John’s perspective. An “angel” delivered this vision to John, so expect the same poetic language and imagery we encountered in the Old Testament prophets. For example, Jeremiah 4’s end of the world with the reverse of Creation imagery was ultimately about Babylon vs. Judah, and Zephaniah 1 about the end of the world parallels Jeremiah 4.

1:4 “seven churches” While seven has been known to signify completeness, don’t forget that these were also seven actual congregations listed in the order of the postal route in Asia Minor back then. Just like in the other Epistles, these letters tell us about the grace and shalom we have from the eternal God right up front. The use of the past, present, and future in this verse looks back to Isaiah 41:1-4 and Exodus 3:14.

1:5 He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He loves us and He has freed us (past tense, already done) from our sins by His blood (Hebrews 10:14). Others have risen from the dead before, but He is the first to rise from the coming General Resurrection with the new incorruptible body that believers will get when He returns. Since I know many readers will skip straight to Revelation, I feel compelled to let you know that if you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that He is risen from the dead, you will be saved (John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9, John 17:20-25). Also, by saying that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of Earth instead of the Roman Emperor, John had already committed treason punishable by the death penalty in Roman eyes. Therefore, anything “coded” in Revelation has a deeper meaning than mere fear of outside attention. Remember that Christians were called atheists (for not worshiping all the “right” gods and thereby inviting their wrath upon the community), were accused of incest (a believing wife is also a sister in Christ, and terminology like that got misconstrued), and were accused of cannibalism, too (Communion: “The body of Christ, broken for you; the blood of Christ, shed for you”), but refusal to worship the emperor was the main source of friction.

1:6 See Exodus 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:5. Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20) was a priest-king that was a prototypical David; Jesus Christ’s non-Levitical priesthood is named for him (Hebrews 7). The Law of Moses limited priestly duties to Levites and King Uzziah became leprous for messing that up; the Law of Moses is not for us (Acts 13:39, Acts 15:10).

1:7 See Daniel 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10.

1:8 The use of the past, present, and future in this verse looks back to Isaiah 41:1-4, Isaiah 44:6, and Exodus 3:14.

1:9 You are also a “companion in the suffering” because Christians were all martyred with Christ already (Galatians 2:19-20) and we are collectively hated by the world (John 15:18). The prison island of Patmos can be thought of as another wilderness experience for John, so the Revelation would have been like a Sinai for that (Exodus 19).

1:10 I think this is trying to signify that John was taken to The Day of the Lord in the Spirit, but think what you want to.

1:12 John was in the Heavenly Temple (because the new Temple-less Heaven comes later in the vision) speaking to our High Priest.

1:13 The Son of Man, Jesus Christ (Daniel 7:13), dressed snazzier than the Levitical priests from Exodus 39:1-5.

1:14 The white hair is from Daniel 7:9. Compare Jesus’ glorious appearance in Matthew 17 with that of the Ancient of Days in Daniel.

1:15 The bronze from Ezekiel 40:3 is back. His feet glow with power and are much better than the crumbly statue feet from Daniel 2.

1:16 The Word of God’s mouth sword from Isaiah 49:2 and Hosea 6:5 is back. See also Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12.

1:17 Jesus, with his mouth sword and burning eye sockets, says we have no reason to fear. There are plenty of weird things in this book, but even the Dragon should hide from the God that loves us. We can be fearless children of a fearsome Father.

1:18 We are saved by His indestructible life (Hebrews 7:25), not our own merit (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Accuser had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14), but Jesus took it.

1:19 This “now” and “later” can be made to fit whatever timeline you prefer. “Angels” also means “messengers”, if you’d rather.

We’re not done with letters to churches, yet. These have been distorted into scary admonitions to work harder, but we’re still swimming in grace. Jude, in pattern, content, and length, could sneak in among these letters, so see it for context, too.

2:1 And now, it’s time for another letter to the Ephesians. He holds the seven stars, and He holds you, and no one can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28). The lampstands are reminiscent of Exodus 25:31-37 and 1 Kings 7:49. The lampstands are churches, and He is with us (Matthew 18:20, Matthew 28:20).

2:2-3 There are people who read this letter to the Ephesians as an admonition to get back to work, but their works are maxed out. They were hard workers and they persevered. Regarding the wicked people and false apostles, Paul warned their bishop, Timothy, about false teachers (like those in 2 Corinthians 11:13) in 2 Timothy and it worked. John the Apostle carried on the regional tradition later when he personally contended with Diotrephes.

2:4 He remembers our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12) and He says we have nothing to fear (Revelation 1:17), so this is Him being concerned for the Ephesians. Our first love is God’s love for us (1 John 4:19) that Paul told them to soak in back in Ephesians 3:17-19. They had, as the old song goes, “Lost That Loving Feeling” and were in danger of burning out on flesh-powered religious do-goodery.

2:5 They didn't fall from grace; this is more like, “remember when this used to feel so much better?” Remember when you first came to Christ. The zeal of new converts is admirable, but before that kicked in, what did you do? Probably not a whole lot. Paul studied for three years before beginning his ministry. Lots of people go through an emotional stage as they get used to how much grace and love He’s sending us. The Ephesians were told to metaphorically go back to crying in their cars at stoplights listening to Christian music and thanking God for saving them. They were doing good things in the capital city of Asia Minor, but we’re more than workers to Him. The Good Shepherd says to rest in Him (Psalm 23:2, Matthew 11:28-30). This was their chance to be more like Mary than Martha (Luke 10:42). The whole town of Ephesus has historically relocated (Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, moved Ephesus about two miles), and Jesus Christ told them He might have to relocate (like we said in John 15:2) their mission (likely to a quiet place – Mark 6:31) for their own good. They had already undergone something similar in Acts 19:9-10. Also, notice He said He’d “come to” them. The phrase “Second Coming” has confused many people, because He shows up to intervene a lot (Isaiah 19:1-2, Malachi 3:2, etc.).

2:6 He hates the practices of the Nicolaitans, not people. There’s more about them in verses 14 and 15. The Nicolaitans were false believers that were still actively engaged in Roman paganism and denying Christ as uniquely divine by affirming the godhood of emperors. They were eating food sacrificed to idols and practicing sexual immorality (which is frequently a metaphor for idolatry in the prophets, but actual idolatry was sometimes accompanied by ritual sex, so make of that what you will) by sincerely participating in pagan rites, with Christ being thought to be one of many divine beings. Rather than accept menial jobs outside the trade guilds with patron deities, they kept attending their old pagan worship services, too. The Hebrew word pronounced "nokhal" (think Nicolaitan) means "let's eat". Some people will try to tell you John was writing against Pauline believers by conflating the grocery store meat purchasers Paul approved of with pagan temple attendees, but John and the rest of the original apostles approved of Paul's work (Galatians 2). Peter called Paul's letters Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). Alternatively, their name might mean “Victory (nike, nikao) over the people”, and they were perhaps driven to their actions by slap-happy (2 Corinthians 11:20) leaders like Diotrephes (3 John 9-10), or their name might mean “Victory of the people”, and they were perhaps trying to live their Best Life Now by compromising with Rome.

2:7 “victorious” can seem to be a pun based on a possible Greek root for the Nicolaitans’ name. Believers are victorious (John 16:33, Romans 8:37, and 1 John 5:4), so we get to eat from the tree of life. We already have His eternal life, so the fruit is just a bonus.

2:8 The “Crown of Smyrna” was a wall. Smyrna was (the poet) Homer's birthplace. A church leader from Smyrna, Polycarp, was famously martyred later. Polycarp had studied under John. They tried to burn Polycarp to death for refusing to worship the emperor; when that didn’t work, they stabbed him. He famously said, "Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked."

2:9 See Matthew 5:10-12 for their riches. Some Jews, the “synagogue of Satan” here, wrote Rome to get Christians’ Jewish exception to emperor worship revoked.

2:10 Again, “do not be afraid” of this letter of encouragement for the persecuted. The “ten days” signifies a time of testing, as in Daniel 1:12-14. You’re getting the victor’s crown of life (as a literary contrast to deaths like Polycarp’s) because Jesus is faithful even if we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13), so don’t be afraid to be faithful even unto death as that is less scary than meeting the end in pants-soiling terror.

2:11 Again, believers are victorious. The Resurrection (John 11:25) says to be brave when facing death. Don’t seek it needlessly, as Jesus avoided early martyrdom in Luke 4:28-30 and John 8:59.

2:12 Pergamum had the conventus iuridicus, a district court that could decide life or death, hence the sword. Jesus is the real authority.

2:13 Pergamum had many pagan temples and was a big worship site for the Imperial Cult, so “Satan’s throne” could mean a number of things. Antipas of Pergamum is traditionally believed to have been cooked alive in a “brazen bull”. This is a torture device invented by the Greeks in which a victim was placed within a hollow metal bull and roasted alive. The acoustic properties of metal tubing were employed to convert the screams of the dying into a mooing sound much like brass instruments make music from mouthpiece buzzing (which sounds like flatulence apart from the horn). The purpose of some of those details will be made clearer in the Revelation 13:15 note.

2:14-15 Regarding these false teachers, see Jeremiah 23:14-24, 2 Peter 2, and Jude. God’s divinity demands exclusivity (Exodus 34:14); you cannot put Him in a pantheon with false gods (Joshua 24:15). See Numbers 31:16 and Numbers 23 through Numbers 25 if you need a refresher. The sins in question are committing actual sexually immoral acts in service to idols and eating food sacrificed to idols in the context of worshiping the idols. God has even been pretty lenient historically about half-hearted stuff connected to a job (2 Kings 5:18-19) and sacrificing under false pretenses (2 Kings 10:25). Not that betraying Him is ever right, but I just wanted to make it clear how involved in pagan practices these people must have been to get this warning. Worship of idols (1 Corinthians 10:14, 1 John 5:21), sexual immorality (which was frequently involved in pagan worship, too), and murder (which was sometimes involved in pagan worship, too) are the three main pikuach nefesh exceptions regarding which the faithful dating back to Genesis have been expected to choose death over sinning in order to live another day. Since idolatry in the Old Testament is frequently described with an adultery metaphor, you could already also say that they ate the idol food and therefore committed sexual immorality. See 1 John 5:1 (believers in Christ are children of God) but also see Acts 15:20 and 1 Corinthians 5:1 (children of God are expected to refrain from ritual sex for idols, temple prostitution, Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 behaviors, etc.).

2:16 “them” Notice that the faithful don’t have to do anything; Jesus said he’d sort it out Himself. He said he’d “come” like in Isaiah 19:1-2, and the promised “Second Coming” (really the Return of Christ) to end human history did not happen in the first century when He dealt with these infidels. Also, notice that repentance was still an option. Critics of partial preterism are already pointing out that the world didn’t end in the first century AD after we say most of the prophecies got fulfilled, either, but Peter already told us in 2 Peter 3:8-9 that God is being merciful by waiting. We’ve seen many examples of God relenting from prophesied judgments due to intercessory prayer, too. Prophecies can be fulfilled multiple times, but none have to be done again in order to put history back on track. There is no obstacle to the immediate return of Jesus Christ.

2:17 Again, “victorious” (which all Christians are, thanks to Jesus) may be wordplay based on the nikao ~ “Nicolaitans”. Jesus is the true Bread of Heaven (John 6:35), but manna is also the food of angels (Psalm 78:25) – eating the secret stash of it is something one could do in Heaven. There has been much speculation about the white stone (not getting blackballed, an athletic trophy, a diamond, the Urim, etc.), but in all likelihood you’re getting a nickname that’s a secret between you and God to go along with taking His Name in our new identity as the Bride of Christ (Isaiah 62:2).

Okay, here’s one historical anecdote that fits: At the cruel Nero-like persecutor of Christians Emperor Domitian’s “black banquet”, the room was decorated in Halloween black, the food was all dyed black, and the guests were seated beside gravestones with their names on it. Domitian talked about killing people throughout the meal with the scared guests, who were sent home with gifts after it was all revealed to be a prank. As Domitian was said to be like a second Nero, I can only surmise similar stunts by earlier emperors. Instead of threatening us with death, Christ promises to keep us alive amidst trouble with the hidden manna.

2:18 Expensive purple dye came from Thyatira. Making it would have involved joining its trade guild. In addition to business, the guilds came with social and religious implications – think of a hard-partying fraternity with a pagan patron deity that also performed some civic functions. Regarding the eyes and feet, John was great at writing to a mixed audience: the Jewish Christians would have thought of Daniel 10:6, and the Gentile Christians would have understood Jesus to be cooler than the local deity, Apollo.

2:20 He remembers our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12) and He says we have nothing to fear (Revelation 1:17), so this is Him being concerned for them. The historical Jezebel promoted the worship of idols and killed God’s people (1 Kings 18 through 1 Kings 19); she and her offspring died (2 Kings 9 through 2 Kings 10). This “Jezebel” in Revelation seems to have advocated staying pagan to keep the purple dye trade guild jobs.

2:21-22 There was grace even for her. Let this one sink in: if “Jezebel” had the possibility of coming to Jesus, then believers can come back from any apostasy (like what she was causing).

2:23 I’m not pretending that Psalm 37:28. 2 Samuel 12:15, Job, and Hosea 9:12,16 don’t exist, but the Cross worked. There is no wrath for believers (Romans 5:9), and the Deuteronomy 24:16 prohibition and Ezekiel 18 suggest that killing kids for their parents’ sins isn’t God’s heart. This is a 2 Kings 10 reference for ending her influence; for turning them away in an analogous fashion to Sirach 23:22-27. “Jezebel” was acting as spiritual mother to these pagans in the same way that Paul and John were spiritual fathers to their flocks. Those who listened to her would have died just like anyone who lacks the Son. “Jezebel” is a preview of the whore called “Babylon” seen later in Revelation. Fear not; the “you” that He intends to repay were the faithful from verse 19 (addressed in the second person there) who have more good things coming than we can possibly deserve.

2:24-25 Again, the faithful don’t have to do anything about the “Jezebel” situation. Jesus has this handled.

2:26 This use of “victorious” here does not appear to be wordplay with the Nicolaitans, lending credence to the “nokhal” interpretation. Believers are victorious (Romans 8:37, 1 John 5:4). Regarding “does My will to the end”, His will is for you to believe (John 6:28-29); another translation of this is “keeps My works to the end”, and we rely on His works all the way instead of our own.

2:27 This is what Jesus does in Psalm 2:9.

2:28 “morning star” Jesus gives us Himself (Revelation 22:16). The medieval mace-like weapon known as a morningstar seems to have gotten its name from Revelation 2:27-28.

3:1-3 Sardis was the capital of ancient Lydia and home of rich King Croesus. John, of the Gospel of John, is not suddenly a fan of works-based righteousness. A lot of people hear something about Jesus’ teachings without experiencing the new birth, and their works look fine from the outside (1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 6:4,6,18) – many people in the church in Sardis needed to Believe and Love. Sardis is often used as an example of just having the hollow trappings of religiosity for show: “Churchianity”. Looking ahead to Revelation 3:4, there is also a hint of the same problem that we saw in the letters to Pergamum and Thyatira, mixing Jesus with other religions, that we’ll address in that note. The thief reference is reminiscent of how Cyrus the Great found the secret gap in the wall and took the city. Later, the Seleucids snuck in again the same way. The thief image is also used in Obadiah 5; Obadiah 20 perhaps mentions Sardis depending on your preferred identity for Sepharad.

3:4 Remember Cybele, the perpetually virgin mother goddess with a dying/rising castrated grandson/consort named Attis? Long before combining to form Artemis of the Ephesians, Cybele had been worshiped in Sardis. The priests in Cybele’s religion castrated themselves, and religious observances included getting the blood from that procedure on the congregation’s garments. Buggery with the castrated priests was also part of the religious services (which would account for the blood transmission). This remnant in Revelation 3:4 sounds like the seven thousand who had not worshiped Baal in 1 Kings 19:18 to me. This seems to be a lot more cut-and-dried than the traditional approach of rewashing sin-soiled garments through continued repentance that comes from misunderstanding 1 John 1:9 and ignoring Hebrews 10:14 altogether. The dirty clothes do represent sin (Zechariah 3:4) in need of cleansing (Revelation 22:14), and that is accomplished by confessing Christ (Revelation 7:14, Romans 10:9), but our old self dies and our sin record is destroyed completely upon doing so (Revelation 12:11, Colossians 2:11-14, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 10:14).

3:5 Believers are victorious (John 16:33, Romans 8:37, and 1 John 5:4), so we’re already dressed appropriately (Galatians 3:27). Don’t panic about Him blotting out names from the book of life (Daniel 12:1) based on a promise that He won’t do that; He acknowledges Christians (Matthew 10:32, Hebrews 7:25). The Exodus 32:33 people were dealing with the same God, but they were under a different covenant than you are.

3:7 Philadelphia sat where modern Amman, Jordan is. Ignatius (later famously eaten by lions for the entertainment of Romans) wrote to Philadelphia as well about not falling for those trying to make them follow the Jewish Law. The Philadelphian Christians had been banned from the synagogue for confessing Jesus as the promised Messiah. The key of David is from Isaiah 22:22; the open/shut stuff was to comfort the evicted believers.

3:8-9 Heaven’s wide open for us thanks to what Jesus did. Some Jews, the “synagogue of Satan” here, even wrote Rome to get Christians’ Jewish exception to emperor worship revoked, forcing them to choose to blaspheme or to die. See Romans 2:28-29 and John 8:39-44. See also Isaiah 60:14.

3:10 See Daniel 12:1-2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9. This verse leads some people to speak of a Rapture, but God has also protected select individuals and groups (Noah, Lot, their families, the Hebrews in Goshen during the plagues of Egypt, etc.) during general catastrophes before in other ways.

3:11 What you may see translated here as “soon” is “quickly”. When the time comes, it will be too late to react, so it’s important to take the deal while it is available. Regarding “no one will take your crown”, it’s a crown of victory, not salvation (and all believers are victorious in that regard) – “Don’t stop the car, you’re in the lead!” Philadelphia and Smyrna are the only two of the seven churches without criticisms.

3:12 The kicked-out Philadelphians and us will all be with Him forever. The Bride takes the Husband’s Name. The people who had been disowned by their families for choosing Jesus would have especially liked to see that He is renaming us after Himself.

3:14 Laodicea was a rich town on a trade route. It had a medical school. Black wool, eye ointment, etc., were profitable products. The town was so wealthy it politely declined disaster relief funds from Rome after an earthquake; they minted a self-congratulatory coin that basically said, “We did it ourselves!”

3:15-16 Being “lukewarm” is relative; there’s always someone else out there that is even more zealous. Salvation does not mean being in the Lord’s mouth. Their water, like many Roman cities, came from an aqueduct, traveling six miles in the open air. Hot water is useful for bathing, relaxation, etc. Cold water is useful for drinking. Lukewarm water is not considered as useful as cold or hot water. Jesus just encouraged them to live the lives He saved them for, to live with a purpose (Ephesians 2:10). Based on the next verses, it seems like most of the congregation wasn’t even in Christ yet. Laodicea had a large Jewish population, so based on the lack of evidence of persecution of Christians compared to the other six churches in Revelation, the congregation at Laodicea didn’t make a lot of waves. There was also likely collaboration with the pagan guilds and Roman government since they had that level of wealth and ease in that historical context.

3:17-18 Their pride sounds like Hosea 12:8. Believers are clothed with Christ, so this is an evangelistic appeal like Isaiah 55:1 to come and get what they thought they already had (Ephesians 1:3,8,18; Galatians 3:27). Jesus called the Pharisees blind, too (Matthew 15:14). Jesus speaks like a businessman would to these merchants.

3:19 In context, this “repent” is “convert to Christianity”.

3:20 Jesus offers table fellowship and the provision and protection which that entails. This continues the “don’t eat with the pagans at their idol feasts, eat with Jesus instead” theme from some of the rest of the letters.

3:21 Believers are victorious (John 16:33, Romans 8:37, and 1 John 5:4), so we sit with Him on His throne (Eph 2:6).

4:1 “after this” People favor different timelines for when Revelation was written down. I favor the early-to-middle 60s AD. Others really want certain aspects of it to be about Emperor Domitian in the 90s and their lack of faith in prophetic predictive power places the book there for them. Prophecies like Isaiah’s sign child have been shown to be recyclable in Scripture already, so it could be about Domitian, too, and/or something we haven’t seen yet. I know the historically documented persecution under Domitian was more widespread than that of Nero, but let’s not discount his efforts to kill us or the Jewish persecution we already saw in Acts 7, Acts 8, Acts 12:1-2, etc. Since so much seems to fit the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, if the later date people are right, then all this is a comforting promise that Rome or whatever future “Babylon” besets us will fall as Jerusalem did.

4:2-3 See Ezekiel 1:27-28. Also, the rainbow from Genesis 9:13 is present as a reminder of God’s promise not to execute judgment with a worldwide flood again. As it is judgment time at this point in the story, the unbelievers should have checked the fine print to see that a bunch of other weird stuff is still on the table.

4:4 “twenty-four thrones…twenty-four elders…dressed in white…had crowns” We’re already seated in Heaven with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). We’re a kingdom of priests (1 Peter 2:9), and there are twenty-four orders of priests in 1 Chronicles 24.

4:5 The Spirit intercedes for the saints (Romans 8:27).

4:6-7 See Ezekiel 1:22 for the glass. See Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10 for the creatures. Rulers are served by the best (Proverbs 22:29). God’s majesty is greater than the peak creature of every part of all Creation. Focus on the God above the creatures for the meaning.

4:8 These are similar to but even more winged than the creatures from Isaiah 6. John’s vision of eternity from his time-bound perspective looks repetitive; see Psalm 113:2. The song comes from Isaiah 6:3.

4:9-10 All those crowns the spiritually materialistic obsess over are for flinging at Jesus’ feet.

5:1-4 “scroll..both sides” The scroll of lament from Ezekiel 2:9-10 had harsh words for the Israelites, as did the scroll of the curse from Zechariah 5:1-4. The woes to Jerusalem and the surrounding area from Isaiah 29 were sealed in Isaiah 29:11 (like the sealed writings in Daniel 12:4). John wept because we were all stuck in Daniel 7:10 and Daniel 7:14 needed to happen. This reality was given to humanity (Psalm 115:16) and claimed by the evil one (1 John 5:19). Jesus took control again as a human (Matthew 28:18) much like the promised return of ownership from Jeremiah 32:14-15. The scroll, due to a few words with many meanings, can also be the same word as a bill of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8, Mark 10, Matthew 19).

5:5 See Genesis 49:9-10 and Isaiah 11:10-11. This is Daniel 7:13-14 culminating in Revelation 11:15.

5:6 Does Jesus Christ look like a slain Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes? I don’t think so; Mary Magdalene mistook him for a gardener. This is a symbol for how He died for us (Isaiah 53), how He has complete (all-week) power now (compare Lamentations 2:3), and how He sees all (Zechariah 4:10, Revelation 2:23). Inspired works can include symbolism, and we need to remember this throughout Revelation. This view is controversial in some circles. There are futurists that may one day say about a giant movie-worthy monster stomping down their street, “There ain’t enough horns on that beast, so it ain’t fulfilled yet!” Even so, let us not let secondary issues like eschatology divide the body of Christ.

5:7 Jesus takes control (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 28:18). Daniel and John were in attendance at the same event, thanks to the power of prophecy.

5:8 like the golden bowls of incense as seen throughout Numbers 7 (and added up in Numbers 7:86).

5:9 See Isaiah 53:12. It sounds like the fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25) is complete from the top-down view outside of the human concept of time, so things start wrapping up in Revelation 6:1.

5:10 see Exodus 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:9-10.

5:11 like Daniel 7:10.

5:12 like Isaiah 53:12.

5:13 All those locations are the alleged realms of various pagan gods.

Before we get into the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls, let’s look around for a moment. While many things are references to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 28:61 promised surprises – not every curse will have a verse. Back in Leviticus 26:18-28, we saw that if accursed people don’t respond to correction, there were four upgrades to their punishment “seven times over”. That’s complete (all-week) judgment for every compass direction plus the first one again just to be sure. Hence, several series of seven punishments have a precedent. Deuteronomy 28 has a similar list of punishments. There are details particularly in Deuteronomy 28:49-65 about cannibalism that sound like they’re directly from Josephus’ later account of the siege of Jerusalem. The amounts like one-fourth or one-third are very much in the style of Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 13:7-9, Ezekiel 5). From Zechariah 13:7 to the end of Zechariah 14, there is plenty to compare with Revelation. Looking ahead to Revelation 9:20, after seven seals and six trumpets, humanity is still as unwavering as Pharaoh.

6:1-2 The first few seals bring the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first Horseman is Conquest. You may remember four horsemen from back in Zechariah 1:8 and Zechariah 6:1-7. Their identities look back to Ezekiel 14:21-22, Ezekiel 5:16-17, and even further back to Leviticus 26. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:12, Jeremiah 24:10, etc.) frequently referenced Leviticus 26’s sword, famine, and plague. There have been variants along the way, like Jeremiah 15:3. See Matthew 24:7. Adapted from the historical background material we covered earlier: The First Jewish-Roman War began in 66 AD. Vespasian (oddly, the Roman general was a self-styled Jewish Messiah claimant) invaded Galilee with four legions in 67 AD.

A little bonus for those who have been followin’ the references, if you will: Years before the time of this writing, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes fought the Four Horsemen of professional wrestling (and gave a lot of inspiring extemporaneous speeches to motivate ticket buyers), and I think these other Horsemen are in our rearview mirror as well. The Bible records many promises kept for us to read to be encouraged; you don’t have to worry about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because a) God’s got you and b) I’m pretty sure they rode about nineteen centuries before “Big Dust” rode “the edge of a lightnin’ bolt with a silver saddle, Daddy”. God promised to put hard times on those that mean us harm.

6:3-4 This Horseman is War. Remember “peace on Earth” from Luke 2:14? Peace off Earth. Adapted from the historical background material we covered earlier: Driven from Galilee, Zealot rebels and thousands of refugees arrived in Jerusalem, and internecine fighting ensued. In 67 AD, factions associated with Josephus, Vespasian, and John of Gischala were at war. Vespasian’s son Titus came with more troops. In 68 AD, the chaos continued. Zealots and Edomites/Idumeans terrorized the populace. Emperor Nero committed suicide, leading to more instability. Jerusalem was divided among Simon ben Giora, John of Gischala, and Eleazar ben Simon. In 69 AD, Vespasian was called to Rome and made emperor, leaving Titus (also a future emperor) to besiege Jerusalem in 70 AD.

6:5-6 This Horseman is Famine (See 2 Kings 6:25). War makes the poor’s necessities expensive. The Romans would have been careful not to damage profitable exports upon invading initially. If anyone is worried about this in a future context, things are eventually going to be so good for us (Revelation 7:16-17). Adapted from the historical background material we covered earlier: In 70 AD, John of Gischala and Simon ben Giora burned each others’ grain supplies, worsening the famine. Titus let the Passover pilgrims into the city but not back out. A wall was built around Jerusalem. Starving people tortured each other to obtain hidden food. Escapees got crucified until the occupying Romans ran out of wood, but people kept trying rather than starve. People resorted to cannibalism.

6:7-8 The Fourth Horseman, Death, is accompanied by the Grave/Sheol, which is a temporary holding place prior to the Last Judgment. (In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we saw that there was a good part of Sheol known as the Bosom of Abraham and a bad part of Sheol resembling the Greek Tartarus. Now that we have Jesus, to be absent from the body is to be present with our Lord; those choosing a different ending to their story await the Lake of Fire that we’ll see later.) The classic Leviticus 26 and Ezekiel 14:21-23 sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts are all accounted for in this verse. Adapted from the historical background material we covered earlier: The Romans got into Jerusalem and the Temple got burnt (reportedly against Titus’ wishes). False prophets had convinced people to hide in the inner rooms (Matthew 24:26). The rebel leaders were captured, more than a million people died, 97,000 people got captured, and the city was basically razed. The Temple was destroyed one biblical generation after Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. Again, prophecies may be used more than once, so if you’re not satisfied with this being the fulfillment of these words, then whatever it ends up being will rhyme with it.

6:9-10 This sounds like an inversion of Zechariah 1:12, as in, “How long until Jerusalem pays for killing the early Christians?” Blood has a habit of demanding an answer (Genesis 4:10, Jeremiah 51:35). Jesus, Stephen, James the Just, etc., forgave their killers, but the martyrs’ blood is under the altar like an offering (Exodus 29:12). God cares (Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 72:14, Isaiah 26:21). The surface meaning of the martyrs being those killed for their witness like the early saints and the prophets before them is clear (Matthew 23:29-32, Luke 13:33). However, don’t forget that every Christian is a martyr; we died with Christ already (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 6:2-3) through our testimony (by confessing Him).

6:11 Believers are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27).That could be the full number of Christian converts ever (for the end of the world) or just the full number to trigger judgment of Jerusalem (suggested by Matthew 23:35, analogous to Genesis 15:16).

6:12-14 For the earthquakes of Revelation, remember Psalm 18:6-7; we asked for Him to act in Revelation 6:10. The sun, moon, and stars as symbols for “rule” or leadership go back to Genesis 1:16; the removal of political and religious leadership in Judea would fit poetically, or this could be a literal universe-wrecking event. A lack of righteous people, like in the days of Noah, can be cataclysmic in a reality that responds to sin. Babylon fell. Jerusalem (as Roman territory) fell. Rome fell. “Babylon” and/or “Rome Revived” from anyone’s wall charts will fall too, if they’re any different from any of the previous places that fell already. See Joel 2:30-32, Isaiah 34:4, and Ezekiel 32:2,7-8. Now, see Isaiah 13:1 and Isaiah 13:9-13. John made an allusion to Isaiah’s prophecy of the end of Babylon because he’s predicting the end of “Babylon”.

6:15-16 See Isaiah 2:19-22 and Hosea 10:8. Also, Joel 2:32 suggested calling to the Lord, but they opted to plead to the mountain instead. The Greek for “earth” is ambiguous out of context; it can mean soil, a region like the “land” of Judea, or the planet. Therefore, since Jeremiah 4’s end of the world with the reverse of Creation imagery was ultimately about Babylon vs. Judah, and Zephaniah 1 about the end of the world parallels Jeremiah 4, this could be a symbol for the events of 70 AD. When Jerusalem fell to Titus, the rebel leaders escaped into the subterranean passages of the Temple Mount but failed to dig their way to escape. Simon bar Giora was taken prisoner when he emerged from the ground at the site of the ruined Temple dressed like a Judean king.

6:17 like Malachi 3:2. The answer to “who” is “God’s people”, as seen in Chapter 7.

7:1-2 “After this I saw” Visions don’t have to be in chronological order; this would presumably happen before the sixth seal. Compare these four angels with those in Revelation 9:13-15.

7:3 like in Ezekiel 9:4. Our worship of the true God is this seal upon our forehead (Deuteronomy 6:8). Cain, marked, was avenged sevenfold (Genesis 4:15); so are we, hence the several series of sevenfold punishments for our persecutors similar to Leviticus 26.

7:4 This is presented like an Old Testament census for an army. Twelve (like twelve tribes) also connotes completion in Hebrew thought, and one thousand is a multitude or a military unit. Hence, twelve twelves of a thousand make up His army for Revelation 19:14. As seen in Revelation 14:3-5, the 144,000 redeemed from Earth (it’s us, remember how God protects His people amidst general judgments) are blameless (which we are, thanks to Jesus – Colossians 1:22, Ephesians 5:26-27), follow the Lamb wherever He goes (because we are united – John 17:20-25), not liars (See 1 John 2:22 and Zephaniah 3:13; we’re not docetists or emperor-worshipers and we have nothing to do with the Father of Lies), and are virgins (See 1 Samuel 21:4-5; that’s an army that’s always ready. Think of the Old Testament idolatry/whoredom metaphors, lack of involvement with temple prostitutes and/or the Great Whore of Babylon seen later, or He sees us with that sparkly new resurrection body). Futurists say this is a future converted Israel as an army as seen in Ezekiel 37:10 and that they are the firstfruits of the rest of the national conversion seen in Revelation 11:13. Christians are sealed already (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 4:30). It is hypothesized that there is no Dan or Ephraim in this vision because of their historical association with idolatry (Judges 17 through Judges 18).

This is a vision; in Revelation 5:5-6, John heard about a Lion but saw a Lamb. Therefore, the multitude of Revelation 7:9,14 (which is also us) also looks like the 144,000 of Revelation 7:4.

7:6 Dan moved to Naphtali land and may be hidden within this number.

7:8 This says “Joseph”, but Manasseh is in verse 6, so “Joseph” is the hidden Ephraim (the source of Dan’s idol).

7:9 “After this I looked” Remember, this is still John’s vision. He saw that the symbolic 144,000 was actually a huge number of Christians (Genesis 22:17). We’re near God’s throne (Ephesians 2:6) which is in Heaven (Revelation 4:2) and therefore we’re not involved with the earthly unpleasantness of the judgments, whether raptured or not. Other commentators keep the multitude separate from the 144,000 with an Exodus 12:37-38 or Zechariah 14:16 mindset, but see the verse 4 note.

7:14 “tribulation” See Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:1-3,21,34. Whether our rescue is Rapture or just getting saved, thank you Jesus. See Revelation 19:8 and Isaiah 1:18.

7:16 See Psalm 121:6, Isaiah 49:10, and John 6:35. The plagues attack food and drink repeatedly (See Revelation 2:14 for why) and end with fire.

7:17 See Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34, and Isaiah 25:8.

With Vision 1 being letters to churches, Vision 2 started in Revelation 4 with Christ in Heaven and ends here with Christ after punishments for the wicked. This pattern repeats. Remember how in Genesis 41:32 multiple (even different) dreams about something meant that it had been surely decided and would happen quickly? Joseph was dealing with two dreams; the pattern in Revelation happens five times (like the five books of Moses).

8:1 Not only is silence good for listening to prayers (verse 3), there was silence before trumpets and destruction in Joshua 6:10-20. I know we’re at seal 7 of 7, but Revelation 7:17 was a “they all lived happily ever after” moment if there ever was one. I’m calling this Vision 3, which repeats Vision 2’s pattern and ends at Revelation 11:15.

8:2 See Hosea 8:1. See also Numbers 10:9; we’re remembered and rescued.

8:3 See Psalm 141:2.

8:5 See Ezekiel 10:2-7. Under the Law of Moses, towns tainted by idols were burned (Deuteronomy 13:16); expand that to our whole reality (2 Peter 3:10). Heaven and Earth get replaced later in the book.

The Trumpet judgments are still notably partial and are still an encouragement toward repentance before the Bowls of finality.

8:6 See Joshua 6:4, Zechariah 1:18-21, and Zechariah 9:14-16. In prophecy, horns are usually power. As the traditional Hebrew idea for trumpet is a shofar (ram’s horn), an animal’s stabbing power and an army’s signal are always metaphorically entwined.

Before we read the next plagues, revisiting Exodus 7 through Exodus 11 might be helpful. Let’s also remember that symbolism and hyperbole were even in use in the history books (2 Kings 21:16).

8:7 Raining blood, from a lacerated sky, with hail and fire (or perhaps altar coals from Revelation 8:5): A fourth of the people were affected by the Fourth Horseman; the trumpets move up to dealing in thirds (like Ezekiel 5, which is also helpful to review here), and the bowls get worse after that. See Joel 2:30 and Acts 2:19. Note that all the grass gets burned up, which will be noteworthy again in Revelation 9:4 (although roots can bring grass back relatively quickly, or the distinction is at the level of “green” grass, etc.). Or, the reappearing grass is a clue that we’re reading a symbolic (Revelation 5:6), non-linear (Revelation 7:1-2) book. Back in Revelation 7:16, we saw that relief from hunger, thirst, and the sun are ours while those under the trumpet judgments get burning hail, blood, and bitter water (verse 11). Plus, the death of all green grass would lead to the death of livestock as well as in the plagues of Egypt.

8:8 A big burning rock (or perhaps altar coal from Revelation 8:5): See Matthew 17:20 and Matthew 21:21-22 (and their notes about why this could be a symbolic reference to the Temple mount as well), Jeremiah 51:25 (in which the mountain is Babylon), and Jeremiah 51:42. You remember bloody water from Exodus; we’re playing the hits at the end of the show. Looking ahead to Revelation 16:3, all of the sea becomes blood vs. this third. The Romans killed many Jews at the Sea of Galilee aka Lake Genesareth (The Jewish War, 3.10.9) which was described as full of bodies and blood; take your pick whether you want to apply this fact here, later in the text, or at all. The massacre of Jews from Gadara at the Jordan River that Josephus also wrote about may also be of note (The Jewish War, 4.7.5).

8:9 In Noah’s flood, the fish were safe and so were the people in the boat. The stakes are raised here at the end. Plus, the dead fish remind us of Exodus 7.

8:10 This sounds like another way to say big burning rock (or perhaps altar coal from Revelation 8:5).

8:11 Bitterness and Wormwood, as seen in Deuteronomy 29:18, Lamentations 3:15, Lamentations 3:19, Amos 5:7, and Jeremiah 23:13-16 (punishment for idolatry). Plants and water have been affected, and light is next on the list (in reverse order of their creation to signify the end).

8:12 Let there be less light. Since celestial bodies as symbols of government is a recurring Biblical motif, there were lots of murders and suicides among the Roman leadership and the Herodians in the years leading up to 70 AD, leaving fewer “stars”. Wait, how is this happening if Revelation 6:12-14 already happened? Again, this is a symbolic and non-linear book. What I called Vision 2 had the broad strokes of Leviticus 26 judgments on behalf of God’s martyred people leading to the utter defeat of human gods and governments and us living happily ever after with Him. What I called Vision 3 seems to overlap, here zooming in on a portion of what Vision 2 covered broadly in which partial judgments could have been an incentive to repent, such as when Jerusalem divided itself into thirds and fought each other. This is also a callback to the Exodus 10 selective darkness. How did the plagues of Egypt end? With the death of the firstborn; now see Exodus 4:22 with regard to the hypothesis that most of this is about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

8:13 See Deuteronomy 28:49. We’re not inhabitants of the earth (or rather we don’t “belong to this world”); we’re citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20) living abroad. See Revelation 3:10, Revelation 6:9-11, Revelation 11:8-10, and Revelation 13:8 for why Christians are not lumped in with the ungodly inhabitants of the earth.

9:1 “the Abyss” See Luke 8:31 and Genesis 7:11. After the waters of chaos emptied out again in the Flood, the scary deep made a convenient holding cell for demons.

9:2 For the fire, see Luke 16:23-24. The darkness looks back to Exodus 10.

9:3 “locusts” See Joel. As to the scorpion’s power, in that time and place scorpion stings were generally nonfatal but very painful. We’ve already seen animal attributes metaphorically describing military might (1 Chronicles 12:8). I keep stressing the principle of multiple fulfillment. For example, Zealots possessed by a demonic horde back then do not preclude something similar down the road. Remember that John saw a vision and that weird things were promised (Deuteronomy 28:34).

9:4 “grass” See Revelation 8:7 note. We’re sealed (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 4:30); the evil one can’t touch us (1 John 5:18).

9:5 The Siege of Jerusalem lasted five months. Plenty of people still died, but the military objective of the Romans at the time wasn’t to kill them outright but to starve them into submission. Five months is also the same amount of time in Genesis 8:3, in which people were stuck inside a floating box waiting for God’s judgment to end.

9:6 See Job 3.

9:7 See Joel 2:4. Roman Sagittarii archers wore shiny conical helmets that were shaped like Babylonian crowns.

9:8 Some of the Roman helmets were decorated with horsehair. I’m sticking with the Roman army interpretation, but Josephus also wrote about effeminate Zealots robbing, raping, killing, etc., during the siege; them being possessed by a whole bunch of demons seems to be on-brand (The Jewish War 4.9.10). For teeth, see Joel 1:6.

9:9 See Joel 2:5.

9:10 I’ve mentioned that John’s writings struck chords with Jews and Gentiles/Hellenized alike. It’s like Joel’s (locust) army were also manticores, another chimeric combo-beast that fits with the creatures still to come in this book. Think of an army as one creature with many attributes – archers, cavalry, ballista, etc. One hypothesis is that the tails refer to arrows fired behind long-haired Parthian archers. Others note the horsehair ponytails on some Roman helmets and remember that a Scorpio was a Roman siege engine resembling a giant crossbow. (The Roman legions also had animal and combo-animal symbols similar to modern sports teams, but I’m having trouble attaching the historical armies’ Apollo face, raven, swan, wolf, bull, eagle, lightning bolt, and ship to this prediction.) Also, I’m not endorsing astrology, and the stuff we see in the sky doesn’t control anything, but God gave us signs (Genesis 1:14) that we’ve already seen used approvingly (Matthew 2:2). I’m told that on the night of April 14, 70 AD (Passover) when Titus laid siege to Jerusalem, it was the right time of year for the constellations Leo (lion, teeth in verse 8), Virgo (woman, hair in verse 8), Libra (scales from Revelation 6:5), Scorpio (scorpion, verse 10), and Sagittarius (centaur archer, half-horse, verse 7) to be visible in the sky. Again, they were told what was coming and when it was coming.

9:11 In addition to throwing shade at Apollo (son of Zeus – Jesus is the only real Son of God), one of Titus’ four legions was the Legio XV Apollinaris. From the Jewish perspective, remember that the siege began at Passover and look for the Destroyer in Exodus 12:23. The top level of Roman leadership was the angel of the Abyss who had fallen (Luke 10:18) and had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). God used the Babylonians in 586 BC (the righteousness of this was discussed in Habakkuk), and He can use even the demons for His purposes (1 Kings 22:22).

9:12 There were three woes or laments pronounced in Revelation 8:13 connected to trumpets 5, 6, and 7. The warlike honks (think of the Mexican Army’s “El Degüello” announcing that there will be no quarter) have a mournful quality. There is wrath for them (John 3:36), but God does not enjoy this (Ezekiel 18:23).

9:13 subtly references Zechariah 1:18-21 while using the horns in a different context; like a subversion of the summoning in Isaiah 27:13.

9:14 Compare the four angels to those in Revelation 7:1-3. Regarding “Euphrates”, this location will come around again in Revelation 16:12 and the leadership of Titus’ legions had just been near there in recently conquered Parthian territory.

9:15 like in Ezekiel 9. Since the “earth” can be the “land” throughout Revelation, based on the kill count and the likely number of Passover pilgrims crowding Jerusalem, that percentage is spot-on. There are commentators that subtract the one-fourth from Revelation 6:8 and the one-third here to arrive at 42% remaining to add to the already plentiful 42s in Revelation (and the rest of the Bible, like in 2 Kings 2:24 about supernatural judgment and Matthew 1:17 about Messianic fulfillment), but that’s not how math works. If 25% already died and a third of what’s left also dies, half (Matthew 24:40-41) of the starting amount is left.

9:16 This is a Psalm 68:17 reference identifying the Romans as God’s army in this instance. He sent Babylon (Habakkuk) to Jerusalem in 586 BC, too. Since “1,000” in Hebrew can be “military unit”, the twenty thousand Roman auxiliary troops or “two myriads” fits. This is also in a vision; an actual angel army might be invisible (2 Kings 6:17).

9:17-18 Red, dark blue, and yellow for fire, smoke, and sulfur. Burning yellow sulfur powder produces a blood red liquid and a blue flame. See Genesis 19:24 and Revelation 11:8. The colors cast the army as the same sort of judgment given to Sodom (and there are plenty of depictions of Roman troops in red, blue, and yellow out there for any interested parties). The lion head can be a metaphor for ferocity (1 Chronicles 12:8), but some Roman soldiers wore lion pelts on their heads, and some Roman horse armor had decorations including lions’ faces on the helmets. The fire breathing compares the Roman army to the Leviathan (Job 41:19), and firebrands were launched into Jerusalem in 70 AD – much like in 586 BC (Ezekiel 5:2).

9:19 like the Chimera, another combo-beast. The constellation Ophiuchus, or serpent-bearer, can be seen along with others mentioned in the Revelation 9:10 note; that’s the source of the snake attribute. The ancient Greeks thought of Apollo slaying a serpent at the Oracle of Delphi, and the Romans went with Asclepius, alleged god of healing. You may have seen snakes in medical symbols like the Caduceus. In the constellation, the “serpent” sticking out can also look like a tail. A traditional chimera has a lion head, a fire-breathing goat head, and a live snake for a tail. The lethal snake tail in this image is an upgrade from the scorpion sting of Revelation 9:5; the Romans moved from keeping Jerusalem under siege to actively destroying it. Think of how the troops were arranged: The front line were men covered with overlapping shields carrying burning torches, pickaxes, etc., to undermine the wall. They were covered by suppressing fire against the city’s defenders coming from archers further back firing (flaming) arrows. Even further back, the scorpio, onager (think of a catapult), and ballista fired heavier projectiles. The “fangs'' of the serpent were the arrows, proto-crossbow bolts, etc. Even in the centuries of Roman warfare prior to 70 AD, the rear rank was composed of the richest men with the nicest spears. Compare their appearance with depictions of the “serpent-bearer”, the head of the spear is the lethal bit, etc.).

9:20-21 All of this is Noahide matter. It is implied that there was still a way out of their predicament (Ezekiel 18:23).

Revelation 10 – Remember in Ezekiel 3 when the prophet ate a scroll before prophesying the doom of Jerusalem?

10:1 The identification of the Old Testament Angel of the Lord as the Pre-Incarnate Christ flavors this. The rainbow (Revelation 4:3, about God the Father) and the sun face (Revelation 1:16, about God the Son) are clues. The “fiery pillars” are like what the Hebrews followed in the wilderness in Exodus.

10:2 The sea connotes Gentiles (Revelation 17:15), and the land connotes Jews; Jesus rules us all.

10:3 “lion” See Revelation 5:5.

10:4 We don’t know everything. Verse 7 implies that what the thunders said might have had to do with the particulars of Revelation 11:15-19.

10:5-6 He seems pretty serious about the “no more delay” thing (compared to the time, times, and half a time from Daniel 12:7), so I’m inclined to take the Bible at face value and say that most of this stuff got wrapped up in 70 AD within a few years of John writing it down.

10:7 See Revelation 11:15-19.

10:8-10 John joined the scroll-eatin’ prophets (Ezekiel 3:3, Jeremiah 15:16).

10:11 “about many…” The “about” here is more frequently translated elsewhere in the Bible as “over”, “against”, or “before”. It’s a fuzzy preposition (about, above, after, against, among, any, around, because, before, besides, beyond, further, inasmuch, onto, over, together, toward, under, within, etc.). John is prophesying before many nations as we speak since the Bible is a bestseller in many languages. John is also about to address some big-picture stuff about all of God’s people.

11:1 This verse would make little sense if this were written in the time of Domitian after the Temple was destroyed. I’ve tried to keep the adherents of several interpretations happy, but this is a hard one to sugarcoat. Ezekiel 40-47 probably has enough Temple measuring for you. See also Zechariah 1:16 and Zechariah 2.

11:2 Three and a half years (or 42 months, 1,260 days, “time, times, and half a time”, etc.) is half of seven, so it can be thought of a shorthand for finite, incomplete, “not forever”, “you can handle this”, etc., as we discussed in Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, etc. Elijah’s drought lasted three and half years (James 5:17). The Jewish Revolt lasted about three and a half years, from the time the Roman troops arrived to respond to the destruction of the Temple. Nero’s persecution of Christians lasted about three and a half years.

11:3 “two witnesses” in the Old Covenant were an adequate number of people to attest the truth of something (Deuteronomy 19:15, Luke 10:1). Elijah’s sackcloth was the garb of Old Covenant repentance. Based on that (Acts 21:20), the 1,260 days (verse 2), the future tense “will”, and Revelation 1:3, it seems that someone preached from the Book of Revelation to the people of Jerusalem starting around 66 AD.

11:4-6 The powers attributed to the Two Witnesses suggest Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17:11). Some point to Hebrews 9:27 and insist on Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah. The existence of resurrections like those of Lazarus and the Matthew 27 people seems to mean Moses is still possible. In light of their deaths (verse 7 through verse 10), Matthew 23:34-38, Luke 13:33, and Luke 11:50-51 suggests the Old Testament prophets (whom the Temple Establishment never got along with) are involved. Compare Zechariah 4. The olive trees there seem to be Zerubbabel and Joshua, a priest and a ruler; see 1 Peter 2:9 about us (as the new Exodus 19:6). Earlier in Revelation, the lampstands were churches. The prophets speak for God, and so do we. You can see all of God’s people, Old and New, in the two witnesses, but especially those ever sent to warn Jerusalem about events like those in 586 BC and 70 AD. (You know who seemed a lot like Elijah and a new Moses to a Jewish Christian audience, particularly in a heavily symbolic work like this? John the Baptist and Jesus.) See Psalm 97:3, Isaiah 11:4, and Jeremiah 5:14-17 (which not only has the fire breath, but promises of Gentile invasion). Death by mouth (Revelation 19:15) and fire for our enemies (Revelation 20:15) come around again later.

11:7 God gives notice (Amos 3:7), so it seems that these witnesses preached this Revelation (Revelation 1:3) to the people of Jerusalem. When the apostles finished their preaching mission, the blessings of protection (like Mark 16:17-18, Luke 10:19, or “plot armor” in the sense of a writer keeping necessary characters from harm until they outlive their usefulness) seem to have worn off, and they all died horribly except for John. The “two witnesses” before 70 AD said what they had to say and then died, too.

11:8 See Isaiah 1:10. A quotable identification with Egypt is harder to find. It’s definitely Jerusalem because that’s where our Lord was crucified. The focus isn’t on where it “has been” called those places in the text; it “is” called those names here in light of the various Exodus 7-11 and Genesis 19 stuff it had on its plate for 70 AD.

11.9-10 Here is another instance of “three and a half”. These deaths look like an alternate version of Genesis 19:5 in which the visitors didn’t live. (For a modern application, there will always be people that doubt the truth of Galatians 2:19-20 in your life. People will try to convince you that you are still the old you; in this way, they deny your burial by saying you didn’t die and rise with Christ.) The movement known as the Way (Acts 24:14) was the culmination of the mission of the prophets. Remember that party where John the Baptist was beheaded for calling sin sinful? He was speaking to members of his in-group (Judaism); we’re not the world police yet (1 Corinthians 5:12). However, Christians “tormented” the Romans, too, as we were blamed for natural disasters allegedly caused by our lack of pagan piety in not worshiping their local gods. I could change planes a few times and get martyred for preaching Christ in a number of countries today pretty predictably. Verses 5 through 10 could be set in many parts of the Old Testament history books…

11:11-12…but here’s something new. God’s people don’t stay down. See Ezekiel 37. He vindicates us. He called us away from the doomed Temple system before it all collapsed. The movement known as the Way seemed to be going away after the deaths of “Seems Like Elijah” John the Baptist and “The New Moses You Should Have Been Looking For” Jesus, but we got past that.

11:13 In the days of Elijah, basically everyone was an apostate except for seven thousand who had never worshiped Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Here is an inversion of that; the rest honor God based on what they’ve seen. Not everyone converted to Christianity in 70 AD, as some critics will point out, but this section is grand in scale and symbolic. It would seem that Revelation 11 is just as big-picture symbolic as Revelation 12 in the post-scroll eatin’ part of John’s work. In summary, the big picture is that God’s people take it on the chin like we always have, but He vindicates us, it all ends well for us, and the promise that Abe’s descendants will come to Christ (Romans 9 through Romans 11) comes to fruition. Even pagan Nebuchadnezzar gave glory to God as in this verse when faced with evidence (Daniel 4:34). Back to the particular, there were a lot of people hiding in the Temple when it came down, so the death toll checks out. Using references to prior biblical plagues to describe the events of 70 AD is like how the Japanese use kaiju like Godzilla to talk about the effects of nuclear warfare. That reference is purposeful, as there are giant creatures coming soon in the text.

11:14 The woes were connected with the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets in Revelation 8:13.

11:15 It’s time for the third lamentation promised in Revelation 8:13, which will get clearer in verses 18 and 19. Lending credence to the notion that several visions describe the same events, the effects of the seventh bowl in Revelation 16:17-18 are similar to those of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15-19. The unbelieving world laments that Jesus rules, and was promised to rule (Psalm 2); the devil temporarily squats on the throne illegally.

11:16-17 What we endure is temporary (John 12:31-32). We celebrate instead of lament; Revelation 11:15 is famously quoted in the Hallelujah Chorus.

We’re back in the throne room. What I’ll call Vision 4 ends at the end of Revelation 14.

11:18 “the dead” does not refer to Christians. We have his eternal life (Colossians 3:4); we are reborn as children of God (John 3). The dead lack life (John 14:6) because they lack the Son (1 John 5:12). Notice the other groups of people like “the prophets” and “your people who revere your Name”. Praise Him; it’s that easy to be in group 3. Hallelujah! Since the “earth” is the “land”, the promises of destruction in this verse seem pointed at the Roman invaders; there would have been a really specific section about environmentalism back in Leviticus if this verse were meant to be about that.

11:19 The new Heaven and new Earth aren’t here yet in this part of the story, so the Temple above that was used as a model for the Old Covenant houses of worship here below was still there (Exodus 25:9,40). Like when the veil ripped at the Crucifixion, people could now see into the Holy of Holies but this one still had the Ark of the Covenant that went missing on Earth. We see the Ark, and it’s coming around again in Revelation 15:5 near some more Exodus-like plagues. The hail here is just a taste. But first, some more big picture stuff:

12:1 Astrology, in which the planets, etc., are thought to control aspects of human life and sit on God’s throne so to speak is an occult practice that is off-limits per Deuteronomy 18:9-13. The Canaanites got punished for that sort of thing even apart from the Law of Moses, plus it doesn’t sit with trusting the one God. Believe. Astronomy, however, is merely studying part of God’s creation. Here, we find a middle ground between the two that is reminiscent of what the Magi were up to in Matthew 2:2; God gave us the heavenly bodies to help us tell time and for “signs” (Genesis 1:14). As long as God is the one telling you what to look for, it’s okay, like carrying a mat on the Sabbath was. The woman has been traditionally identified as Israel, Mary, or God’s true people throughout history, the New Jerusalem above (Galatians 4:26). Her crown symbolizes the Hebrews similarly to Genesis 37:9-10.

12:2 During part of the year, the sun appears to be in the womb of the constellation Virgo and the moon is at her feet. I’m told that this lined up with the time of the birth of Christ. Hey, it does that on a regular basis, though…oh, wait, there was a bonus star pointing out the location during the instance that mattered, and the magi knew that the spare was new because they had regularly watched the skies. God gave the heathens sky pictures of key concepts.

12:3 Jesus symbolically has seven horns for his complete power (Revelation 5:6); the dragon (Satan per verse 9) looks a little “try-hard” (2 Corinthians 4:4) in comparison. The beast of Revelation 13:1 has the same number of heads and horns as the dragon but differs in the number of crowns. This dragon looks like a Leviathan from Psalm 74:13-14; we’ve come a long way from the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The “enormous…dragon” Hydra is an enormous constellation.

12:4 It is said that the devil took one-third of the angels with him in his revolt in Heaven. Jesus still has two witnesses for every one of Satan’s; a double portion for the firstborn Son of God, of course. During part of the year, as the tail of the constellation Hydra approaches the horizon, many stars poetically look like they fall to Earth. Stars have also been associated with God’s people (Genesis 22:17) facing persecution as in Daniel 8:10. The one-third proportion also lines up with Ezekiel 5 about the destruction of Jerusalem. In addition to the apparent relative motion of the sun to Virgo and Hydra depicting the birth of a baby that a dragon tries to get, the devil has been trying to prevent the Messiah from coming to power all along. The baby murders in Exodus, similar horrors under Antiochus IV “Epiphanes”, and Herod’s infanticide are all part of an effort, whether known or unknown to its human co-conspirators, to prevent the rise of Jesus Christ.

12:5 See Psalm 2; He rules. The Resurrection worked. Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven.

12:6 Jesus told the Jews/Jewish Christians how and when to flee before the events of 70 AD. Believers bugged out to Pella in 66 AD when they saw the army He told them about. The wilderness experience was a recurring theme for them (Exodus, Elijah, etc.). Here’s Elijah’s not-permanent you-can-get-through-this three and a half years again (James 5:17). Mary hung out with John. John went to a prison island for a while, so she fits here, too.

12:7 Because Christ is so far above Satan’s weight class for fighting, it looks like Michael (Daniel 12:1), despite historical identifications with Christ, is a created angel – he functions here as Heaven’s Bouncer. For example, Jesus Christ wouldn’t have been referred to as merely “one of the chief princes” in Daniel 10:13.

12:8-9 See Exodus 15:7, Isaiah 14:12-15, and Luke 10:18 (Jesus, like the Old Testament prophets, could speak to His disciples of future events in the past tense).

12:10 Jesus definitely won at the Cross, and yet, the world seems to still be in the power of the evil one illegally for a time (1 John 5:19). As part of the show visible in the night sky in the first century AD, the constellation Hercules, named for a counterfeit demigod offspring of a god and a human mother (The Jews would have considered Hercules to be a nephilim), appeared to throw the constellation Hydra to Earth and then bend down to pick up the Corona Borealis, a constellation depicting a crown.

12:11 We won through what Jesus did at the Cross. We spoke of our faith in Him and we were saved (Romans 10:9). We didn’t shrink from death because to be born again thusly is to die (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 6).

12:12 We already dwell in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6) as well as on Earth because we are in Christ, and we will be with Him forever (John 17:24, Psalm 23:6). Just because Satan was defeated at the Cross doesn’t mean he’s not still acting like he’s in charge of the world – 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 6:12, and 1 John 5:19 were all penned after Christ rose from the dead. A snake without a head still flops around.

12:13-14 The wings are a familiar image from Exodus 19:4. The constellation Virgo is also depicted with wings. Again, there is a lot of symbolism in this book, so Mary (in that interpretation) literally grew wings to the same extent that Jesus literally looks like a seven-eyed seven-horned dead sheep. The Jewish Christians bugged out to Pella in 66 AD and waited out the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD; three and a half years is “a time, times, and half a time”.

12:15-16 The prophets (Revelation 11:5) and God speak fire, so the dragon in revelation spews “water”. In mythology, Greek dragons were more likely to spit venom than fire. The geographic range of spitting cobras includes Egypt and the Levant, so it would have been a familiar image to a Jewish audience, too. Venom burns, possibly influencing some cultures’ depictions of fire-breathing reptiles. Venom seems like accusation (Revelation 12:10), and water seems like a bunch of Gentiles (Revelation 17:15). Since “the earth” is “the land” as well, Judea took the brunt of the Romans’ wrath while those who had listened to Jesus were safe. The earth opened in Numbers 16:30-34, too.

12:17 Mary enthusiasts look to John 19:26-27 and others look to Galatians 4:26 on the question of the meaning of the woman. Since John is the human author of Revelation, “God’s commands” are Believe and Love as in John’s gospel and in his epistles. Having failed to exterminate the Jewish Christians thanks to Jesus’ warnings, the devil turned his focus to persecuting Christians in general through Nero. Gentile Christians had an especially hard time as they lacked the Jewish legal exception to mandatory emperor worship.

13:1 Leviticus 26:22 promised wild beasts. The SuperLeviathian (dragon), reminiscent of Psalm 74:13-14, stood on “the sand of the sea” as in Genesis 22:17; it persecuted the descendants of Abraham. Jesus and the Ancient of Days share physical characteristics in the prophetic books, and so do the dragon and the sea beast from the Abyss. The four beasts of Daniel 7 had a combined seven heads and ten horns. This beast is all of them rolled into one. Leviticus 19:19 forbade crossbreeding cattle under the Old Covenant, so imagine how unclean a hybrid beast seemed to the original hearers. The beasts in Daniel represented governments, and the Roman Empire as a persecutor of Christians took after its father, the dragon. Roman emperors used titles like “Lord”, “Savior”, and “Son of God”.

13:2 The beast, a MegaLeopardLionBear if you will (Hosea 13:4-8, which was from looking to another god), has characteristics from the beasts of Daniel 7. The dragon giving the beast power mirrors the enthronement of the Slain Lamb in Revelation 5.

13:3 The apparent mortal wound (the serpent was promised a head stomp in Genesis 3:15, after all) and miraculous healing of one of the beast's heads mirrors the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This image symbolizes the resilience and revival of Rome (and in a way, Nero). Following the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors (Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) with Nero's death by suicide in 68 AD, there was a brief period of civil war. Rome fell into chaos. In what is called the Year of the Four Emperors (June 68 AD to December 69 AD), Galba, Otho and Vitellius rose to power and then in turn got killed until Vespasian, the first ruler of the Flavian Dynasty, became the emperor. The Flavian Dynasty issued coins depicting them helping the goddess Roma back on her feet to celebrate the new stability. There was also a rumor going around (the Nero Redivivus Legend) that Nero had faked his death or risen from the dead (complete with Elvis-like sightings), and that he was coming back with a Parthian army behind him to destroy Rome. Vespasian and Titus were a father and son team of Roman generals involved in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple who both became emperors. Titus’ brother Domitian who also became an emperor was considered to be the second coming of Nero by persecuted Christians.

13:4 Roman emperors were celebrated with Triumphs which were parades in which they were dressed up like and celebrated as “gods for a day” even before some emperors demanded worship full time while alive. In a Triumph, the guest of honor was often hailed as Invictus or “Unconquerable”.

13:5-7 “mouth” See Daniel 7:8. Here’s that Daniel 7:25 length of time again. God’s people made it through before; you’ve got this. Since the known Roman world sufficed for the extent of the spread of the Gospel in Colossians 1:23, a first century context for “every” type of person still works here.

13:8 Those who do not belong to God, whose names are not in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 3:5), worshiped the beast. Specifically, they engaged in the politically and economically expedient emperor worship, pagan trade guilds, etc., instead of worshiping Jesus, who demands exclusivity, as Lord. Don’t panic about Him blotting out names from the book of life (Daniel 12:1) based on a promise that He won’t do that (Revelation 3:5); He acknowledges Christians (Matthew 10:32, Hebrews 7:25). He knew what He was doing when He wrote your name (Luke 10:20). The Exodus 32:33 people were dealing with the same God, but they were under a different covenant than you are. Revelation 13:8 curiously either says that the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world or that the names were written since the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb (Ephesians 1:4-6). The Cross is the dividing line of human history, and the new Heaven and new Earth look back to the finished work of Christ, but also remember that Revelation is set in Heaven from an eternal perspective outside time. We think of that event happening about two millennia ago, but God knew what would happen before anything happened. You could say that a new world started with the death of Christ, but there’s a newer physical reality coming, as we’ll see later in Revelation. It’s also like the sign at Heaven’s border says “Free to All Who Believe” on one side and the back of it says “We Knew You Were Coming Since the Foundation of the World”. Knowing that something is going to happen is not the same as causing it to happen.

13:9-10 See Jeremiah 15:2. The Christ-deniers, both in Jerusalem and Rome, are all eventually doomed. As in the letters to the seven churches, Christians just “keep on keeping on” believing, loving, and waiting for Him to act.

13:11-12 This beast is human (Revelation 13:18, Genesis 2:7). The “earth” also can be the “land”. There have been some who have traditionally seen the sea beast as Gentile and the earth beast as Jewish. The Jews who got Christians’ emperor worship exemption revoked gave them the choice of idolatry or death; the false teachers like “Jezebel” and the Nicolaitans from earlier in Revelation also encouraged compromise with Rome.

Consider that Vespasian and Titus were both generals on Judean soil before becoming Roman emperors; there’s “two horns” of power and “the earth” for those keeping score. Vespasian was a self-styled Jewish Messiah claimant, Titus finished what Vespasian started with the destruction of the Temple, and later Domitian persecuted Christians ruthlessly making the Flavian Dynasty look like a lamb (Jesus, Revelation 5:13) but speak like a dragon (Satan, Revelation 12:9). A “second beast coming out of the earth” can also be understood as a second resurrected beast, like considering the rulers who put Christians in cages today to be new “Neros”.

13:13 There are parallels between the heavenly group (God, the Son of God aka the Prophet Like Moses, and Possibly Ersatz Elijah) and the hellish group (Dragon, Sea Beast, and Earth Beast aka the False Prophet). Regarding the fire, false signs were promised in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. The beastly counterfeit is a parody of the burning of Sodom, Moses’ burning hail, Elijah’s fire in 2 Kings 1:9-14, Pentecost, etc. Mere humans that ordered the worship of Rome, its gods, and its emperor with Jupiter’s lightning bolt on their standard who enforced their authority with flaming arrows fit the bill in view of the symbolism utilized by the Old Testament prophets. See Deuteronomy 13; a city tainted by idolatry was to be burned. God was as free to use the Romans with flaming arrows in 70 AD as He was to use the Babylonians in 586 BC (Habakkuk).

13:14-15 See Daniel 3. Killing those who refused idolatry is an inversion of Ezekiel 9. A bit of historical background: Antiochus IV “Epiphanes” put a statue of Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem. Caligula “ordered” a statue of himself as Zeus placed in the Temple in Jerusalem, but didn’t get it, but it still sounds like a revival of the beast from Daniel 7:11 (which seemed a lot like the Antiochus’ Seleucids in that context). Herod placed a golden eagle statue symbolizing Rome’s world domination outside the Temple. All of that traditional focus on things in or near the Temple is because of Jesus’ prediction of the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15-16) which was the Roman armies (Luke 21:20-21), but the statue in this verse can be anywhere. Vespasian brought back Julius Caesar’s cult. There was a bronze statue of Nero as a god similar in construction to the American Statue of Liberty (and a little over half as tall) called the Nero Colossus. It was eventually placed outside the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum, where many Christians were martyred. The large statue was hollow. Thanks to the acoustic properties of metal tubing (like those of the brazen bull we discussed in the note for Revelation 2:13), the priests inside could make the statue speak with an amplified voice. The head was eventually replaced to honor the sun god Sol. Also, a personal appearance by an emperor whose face was graven on coins would be another way to make a statue speak poetically, but the Colossus thing just fits too well.

13:16-17 Again, as in Revelation 7:3 and Ezekiel 9:4, our worship of the true God is a sign upon our hands and a seal upon our foreheads (Deuteronomy 6:8). The devil parodies Revelation 7:3 and Revelation 14:1. See 3 Maccabees 2:25-33 for an earlier historical episode of persecution involving mandatory idolatry to avoid economic ruin and marking with a symbol. Worship of other gods denies Christ His unique divinity. Participation in much of the Roman economy required things like possessing witnessed and certified proof of having sacrificed to the Roman ancestral gods or to the “genius” of a given emperor, etc., participation in trade guilds that served patron deities, etc. The coins depicting allegedly divine emperors were considered graven images by the Jews. To take the mark is to deny Christ, and to deny Christ is to take the mark. A Christian, by definition, does not have the mark on them, but is instead sealed for God. John’s attempted idolatry seen in Revelation 19:10 did not damn him; taking the mark is indicative of a whole life given over to refusal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ aka blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

13:18 When you think of “wisdom” you may think of Solomon, whose name means peace. Jerusalem means City of Peace. Solomon got 666 talents of gold in tribute annually (1 Kings 10:14, 2 Chronicles 9:13). Solomon turned to idolatry late in life, resulting in the ruin of his kingdom. Let’s see, who represented the anti-Jesus power and money in Jerusalem? Herod’s family was ultra rich and in nominally charge. The Temple Establishment was loaded, too, and got tithes from the Nehemiah-next-to-the-throne types throughout the known world. Did either really rule Jerusalem, though, compared to Rome? The number six is associated with humanity because we were made on the sixth day (that claim is not unique, but that doesn’t stop commentators) and falls short of the completeness of seven. Three sixes is a Trinity composed of man demanding worship as a god. To be precise, it’s not “digit digit digit” but it’s more like “six hundred and sixty and six”, a precise numerical value. Let’s go deeper into the text: Ezra 2:13 tells us of a man named Adonikam associated with the number 666. “Adonikam” means “The Risen Lord”, “Your Lords”, (or maybe “Lord of Enemies”). A “risen lord” checks out with the stuff about recovering from an apparently mortal wound. The Hebrew notion of gematria uses letters as numbers (like the Roman numerals with which you may be familiar). In some manuscripts, the number is 616, depending on whether we’re starting with the Greek Neron Kaiser or the Latin Nero Caesar. Very few names fit both numbers. So which corrupt power is John talking about? All of them. Jesus is coming back to end idol worship and human government. Nero needed no additional provocation to torture and kill Christians, so why would coded messages matter to him? John already committed treason by declaring Jesus to be the ruler of the Roman emperors in Revelation 1:5; “Nero Caesar” is in code because it stands for every Nero, for every “bad shepherd” and tyrant that adds up to his score that we’ll ever face as God’s children. It is a good stand-in for the entire concept of state-sponsored persecution. Focus on Christ instead of the “Antichrist”.

Here’s some more historical background on Nero: Nero used Christians as scapegoats for a fire (that some people blamed Nero for) in Rome. For his own and the public’s amusement, he had us eaten by animals, crucified, dipped in oil and burned as living torches to provide light for his garden parties, etc. For many readers, that’s enough to know. However, Paul gave us several vice lists so going deeper into Nero’s resumé isn’t just telling “obscene stories”. In addition to the usual imperial self-aggrandizement (Romans 1:30), to prevent threats to his reign, he poisoned his stepbrother and had his mother killed (Romans 1:29, 1 Timothy 1:9). Nero would have naked boys and girls immobilized so he could dress up like a wild beast (in the words of Roman historians, like the Beast) so he could attack them in some kind of body-part-eating fantasy fulfillment (Romans 1:24). Nero fell in love with a woman, divorced his first wife to have her, impregnated her, maybe kicked her to death (but some historians say there was a fatal miscarriage), then fell in love with a boy that looked like her, had him castrated, and married him instead (Romans 1:27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:10). Of course, Nero was in good company with the rest of the Roman emperors: Tiberius had his sex/molestation island, don’t get me started about Caligula, etc. Unregenerate mankind is thoroughly evil, and power corrupts, but if you told me they were all possessed, I wouldn’t need a lot of convincing.

14:1 There we are again, in John’s vision, with Jesus. Genesis 22:17 says our census is more like trying to count sand; we’re getting closer to the part of that verse about taking our enemies’ gates.

14:2 You may feel like your Babylonian enemies make you want to leave your harp in a bush because you don’t feel like singing (Psalm 137:2), but things are looking up for us. Praising Him and victory go together (2 Chronicles 20:21-22).

14:4 Regarding “virgins”, the world would diagnose this as temple hooker deficiency. Remember the Old Covenant idolatry/whoredom parallels. Christians aren’t mixed up with the Great Whore of Revelation 17. A virgin army is always ready per 1 Samuel 21:4-5. Officially, we are this way because of what Jesus did for us (Ephesians 5:25-27). Our resurrection bodies won’t come with mileage on them. Regarding “follow”, see John 17:20-25.

14:5 The liars are Christ-deniers (1 John 2:22, from the same author). We don’t call the emperor a deity. We have nothing to do with the Father of Lies (John 8:44). We’re blameless already (Romans 8:33, Colossians 1:22) because of what He did (Hebrews 10:14).

14:6-7 A gospel or evangelion is an advertisement for a ruler. A little Romans 1:21 historically does wonders for keeping things less plague-y (Jonah).

14:8 See Isaiah 21:9. This theme will be expanded upon in the coming chapters.

14:9-11 This is just another way to say John 3:36. See Genesis 19:24, Deuteronomy 29:22-28, and Isaiah 66:24.

14:12 Not that I’m telling anyone to take the mark and deny Christ, but there’s a lot of fear out there in the traditional interpretations of this verse. I’m just saying we’re encouraged in our patient endurance by hearing things like Revelation 14:9-11 through knowing that God’s got us. Vengeance is His (Deuteronomy 32:35, and lots of the things predicted in Revelation are in response to a call for vengeance on our behalf in Revelation 6:10.

14:13 God’s grace doesn’t end at the gates of Heaven. You don’t have to scan the want ads for what you’re going to do to get by up there. The deeds that follow Christians are seen in Revelation 12:11; it’s what we said when we got saved (Romans 10:9). See Matthew 10:32.

14:14 Coming on the clouds looks like Daniel 7:13. As we saw back in Matthew 3:12 the Temple sat on the site of a former threshing floor (1 Chronicles 21:28 through 1 Chronicles 22:1), so this sickle was a threat of Temple destruction. See Jeremiah 15:7 and Jeremiah 51:33. Babylon destroyed the Temple in 586 BC, so our killers are “Babylon” now. In the 60s AD, our killers would have included Rome but were mainly the Temple Establishment; see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

14:15-18 See Deuteronomy 32:32 (understanding the ripeness per Genesis 15:16), Isaiah 5, Joel 3:13, and Ezekiel 15. Look ahead to Revelation 19:21 as well.

14:19-20 See Isaiah 63:1-6. The bit about “outside the city” is a reference to Topheth/Gehenna, the burning trash pile outside Jerusalem that used to be used for child sacrifice. Recall the “judgment of Gehenna” Jesus spoke of in Matthew 23:33 (in Greek; English translators opt for “hell”) in reference to Jeremiah 19:11-15. See Zechariah 14:1-3. The measurement stated in Revelation 14:20 is the length and depth of the Jordan River. Josephus’ historical account of the revolt against Rome says that the Jordan River was the site of a large massacre (The Jewish War, 4.7.5). The Jordan River is the length of Israel, for those who see poetry. Again, symbolism and hyperbole were even in use in the history books (2 Kings 21:16).

15:1-4 Here we are across the proverbial Jordan safe in Heaven again, even singing across-the-water-freedom’s-comin’ songs like Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32. See Psalm 111:2-3, Deuteronomy 32:4, Jeremiah 10:7, Psalm 86:9, and Psalm 98:2.

15:5 As foreshadowed in Revelation 11:19, here’s the Ark of the Covenant – some plagues reminiscent of those in Exodus can’t be far away. What I’ll call Vision 5 lasts from here to the end of Revelation 16. Several of the bowls sound like several of the trumpets.

15:6 They wear the Daniel 10:5 uniform.

15:7 God is a joy to know. The wrath (and it is God’s wrath in the literal translations) is on our behalf (Revelation 5:8, Revelation 6:10); the bowls avenge martyrs/saints.

15:8 See Exodus 40:35; no one can stop the wrath (John 3:36) once it begins.

16:1 See Revelation 15:7 note. This is a sevenfold (Leviticus 26, Psalm 79:12) upgrade of the sort of bowls seen in Zechariah 9:14-16 and Isaiah 51:17.

16:2 See Exodus 9, Deuteronomy 28:27,35, and Zechariah 14:12. The beast got a livestock curse, so to speak. Sanitation was poor during a siege.

We don’t hunger, thirst, or get burned (See Revelation 7:16 note). Remember that between here and verse 9.

16:3-4 Here’s the answer to Revelation 6:10. Josephus said that even the Dead Sea (aka Lake Asphaltitis) was full of bodies (The Jewish War, 4.7.4-6) in addition to the aforementioned Sea of Galilee and Jordan River.

16:5-6 See Isaiah 49:26 and Deuteronomy 28:53-57. Josephus wrote of cannibalism, too (The Jewish War, 6.3.4). Accusing them of the death of prophets is another clue to this being about Jerusalem (Matthew 23:34-36).

16:7 The talking altar, reminiscent of Pee-wee Herman’s talking furniture, is explained by Revelation 6:9 in light of Genesis 4:10.

16:8-9 See Deuteronomy 28:22 and Isaiah 49:10. It’s neither as dim as Revelation 8:12 nor dark as Revelation 6:12. Since we’re in an Exodus frame of mind, they’re hard-hearted like Pharaoh. Josephus said that people died from the heat that summer (The Jewish War, 3.7.32).

16:10-11 See Exodus 10 and the Revelation 6:12-14 note. Rome fell into chaos and civil war in the Year of the Four Emperors.

16:12 The dry river is reminiscent of miraculously crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River in the Old Testament. Here, God aided those coming to destroy Jerusalem, soon referred to in the text as “Babylon”. When the Persians under Cyrus the Great attacked Babylon in 539 BC, they diverted the flow of the Euphrates in order to get under the wall. Compare the blood, darkness, and enemy armies of Revelation 8 and 9 with what we’ve seen in Revelation 16.

16:13 We’ve seen boils, darkness, blood, etc., but what would an Exodus reference be without frogs? The mouths signify spoken commands, but also remember the river from the dragon’s mouth in Revelation 12:16 along the context of Exodus 8:7.

16:14 Here are more of the signs like in 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Rulers like Vespasian were credited with miraculous healings anecdotally. Regarding the summoning, see Joel 3:2.

16:15 Since verse 16 logically follows verse 14, He interrupts mid-thought. Surprise! See Revelation 19:8; our righteousness is provided by the unmerited favor of God. Nudity itself is not shameful per se; the context is unreadiness. See Nehemiah 4:23. To expect the return of Christ is to watch and to be ready. The Levites’ managers could burn the clothes of sleeping Temple watchmen, allegedly. Believers are okay (Hebrews 7:25). People who are not expecting the Thief get naked and go to sleep in this analogy. We expect Him.

16:16 This ends up being like a dark version of Micah 4:2. Armageddon/“Har Megiddo” means “Mount Megiddo”. See Judges 5:19-20; the reference suggests that the foreign invaders are doomed. Megiddo is a plain (Zechariah 12:11), so Armageddon sounds like things associated with the plain of Megiddo happening at a mountain like Jerusalem. Mount Carmel is near enough to Megiddo that the Elijah story with all the dead prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18) is another handy reference to divine judgment.

16:17-18 “into the air” See Ephesians 6:12. The effects mirror Revelation 11:19. “It is done!” looks back to John 19:30.

16:19 See Habakkuk 2:16. Jerusalem being divided into three parts may be in reference to the three warring factions at the end (See Revelation 6:3-4 note), but I see the sign of the hair from Ezekiel 5 about 586 BC again as well as the thirds from Zechariah 13:8-9. Rome was also divided in three in a way during the period as Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were briefly emperors in turn during the turbulent Year of the Four Emperors.

16:20 The mountains and islands moved in Revelation 6:14; here they’re nowhere to be found. See also Isaiah 40:4. However, this seems like Flood imagery (Genesis 7:19-20), with the Gentile sea (Revelation 17:15) swallowing the lands of Judea, Idumea, etc., in 70 AD.

16:21 See Exodus 9, Joshua 10:11, and Ezekiel 13:13. The boulders Titus’ catapults fired at Jerusalem were white like hailstones and weighed a Roman talent, which is about one hundred pounds. In an inversion of Leviticus 24:14, they cursed God because they were being stoned.

Revelation 17 – What I’ll call Vision 6 still keeps it tight on the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

17:1 The worship of false gods (like pagan deities, arrogant emperors, etc.) by those in a covenant relationship with God is consistently presented as prostitution judged as adultery against God as Husband in the Old Testament (for example, in Exodus 34:15-16). This is what distinguishes the Great Whore of Babylon from the run-of-the-mill Matthew 21:31 prostitutes. The old Jerusalem, which was razed, was Roman territory. The New Jerusalem is above (Galatians 4:21-26). The Whore (Jeremiah 3:6-8, Ezekiel 16, Hosea 1:2, Nahum 3:4-7, Zechariah 5:5-11) is the opposite of the Bride of Christ, similar to Folly as a foil to Lady Wisdom in Proverbs. Regarding “many waters”, see Jeremiah 51:13.

17:2 The “kings” accusation is nothing new; see Ezekiel 23 for God’s judgment of the political maneuverings of the Temple Establishment before the first Temple was destroyed. See John 19:15. The wine image can be seen in Jeremiah 51:7.

17:3 The “wilderness” invites further comparison between the Whore and the true people of God (Revelation 12:14). She’s “sitting” on the beast in a way that violates Leviticus 18:23. She is one flesh with it (1 Corinthians 6:16), so Jerusalem and Rome can share the name of “Babylon” like a husband and a wife. The blasphemous names are emperor titles like “Lord and God”. The red is a new detail showing how much Rome resembled the dragon (Satan). The Lamb also had seven horns, but in this instance it may be of note that Rome is known for its seven hills (Revelation 17:9). There were allegedly seven rulers/emperors (Revelation 17:10) officially called gods by the Senate (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and Domitian, for the fans of a later date of authorship out there) (The partial preterist list is in the Revelation 17:11 note). For those taking a broad historical view of this image, God’s people had been dominated by Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, the Seleucids, and Rome under the Julio-Claudian dynasty; an eighth (Revelation 17:11) would be a revived Rome under the Flavian dynasty (or the futurists can identify a future revived Rome if they want).

17:4 Jerusalem is depicted as cosplaying as the goddess “Roma”; see Zephaniah 1:8 and 2 Chronicles 18:29. Jerusalems’s wickedness was depicted as a woman being sent to Babylon in Zechariah 5:5-11. Some other commentators see the leadership of Catholicism wearing Roman royal purple (left over from the Canaanite Phoenicians, of course) and red who happen to be holding expensive goblets. I don’t see it that way, but perhaps seeming more like Pete the Commercial Fisherman than Hijos de la Gran Puta might be better for public relations, not that I’m an expert.

17:5 The whore metaphor from Hosea, Ezekiel, etc., continues. In Revelation 3:12, Jesus said He’d write His Name, God’s Name, and “New Jerusalem” on us. Instead of God’s mark (Revelation 7:3), Old Jerusalem had taken the beast’s mark (Revelation 13:6-7). Saying “the mother of” to mean the biggest one seems to have originated within a few hundred years of the time I am writing this, we must realize that the scope of this statement extends further back than the Neo-Babylonian Empire that knocked Jerusalem over in 586 BC. Think about Ezekiel 23:2; Ezekiel 23 did not end well. Jerusalem (long before 70 AD) had become a citizen (in the Revelation 3:12 sense) of Babel/Babylon, or what New Testament writers broadly call “the world”. The Tower of Babel was called that because of wordplay (a similarity to the Hebrew word for confusion), but either name refers to the alleged “gate of the gods”. Since Babylon is also named openly in Jeremiah, for the futurists references like Sheshak (an atbash cipher for Babylon in Jeremiah 25:26), Leb Kamai (a cryptogram for Chaldea aka Babylon in Jeremiah 51:1), and “Mystery Babylon” here hint at our killers, a corrupt world system ruled by Satan as far back as Cain’s first city and especially since the peoples were divided under the rulership of Watchers after the Tower of Babel incident (Genesis 11:9, Deuteronomy 32:8). For preterists, “Mystery Babylon” is first century Jerusalem, as naming it openly would have no mystery. There’s truth in both interpretations; while this passage seems to me to be about the events of 70 AD, Christ will be victorious over all of our enemies and all tyrants from Nimrod to Nero and beyond.

17:6 Without getting into blood libel conspiracy theories about how some peoples’ version of the Eucharist involves drinking the blood of the Bride of Christ, think of Matthew 23:33-38, a mob yelling “Crucify Him!”, Acts 7 through Acts 8, and Paul’s legal troubles. We saw in the gospels how some Jews got the Romans to crucify Jesus and that pattern continued; some Jews tried to get Rome to kill Christians and were successful in some cases. As in the 1 Peter 5:13 note, we’re the Temple now, so our killers are Babylon (whether Roman, Jewish, etc.). Don’t mistake passages about the actions of specific historical persons as any sort of license to treat anyone poorly now, especially on the basis of race, national origin, current religious affiliation, etc. We’re still God’s little grace dispensers and a living commercial for Jesus Christ. There are non-preterist people with wall charts that insist all these things have waited until now, and some of them will try to sell you a bunker, non-perishable food, and likely anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about international communist financiers that are secretly Judeo-Phoenicians and/or space reptiles still worshiping Canaanite gods in various shocking ways. There is nothing new under the sun. Every generation thinks that it’s special. Just keep letting Christ love others through you.

To the conspiracy-minded futurists out there, rather than try to talk you out of certain beliefs, let me emphasize that there’s nothing to worry about because there’s nothing to lose that He can’t give back – there is safety in Jesus’ hands. Faith doesn’t have to listen to fear, and that frees up a lot of time. You are free in Christ to wonder about various convoluted and speculative New World Order scenarios, but you are also free in Christ to trust Him to handle it, put your hands in your pockets like Orange Cassidy, and relax. You’re even free in Christ to wind down after a nice day of doing the good things you are led to (Ephesians 2:10) by enjoying the more straightforward escapism of wrestling’s New World Order from the late 1990s. The shows and the associated backstage drama of that Hogan/Nash/Hall/Bischoff/etc. era are just more entertaining than politicians who also basically talk for a living. About this “real” world, you can care, you can pray, and you can help others, but getting bent out of shape about things you have no control over won’t do you or anyone any good. When Jesus comes back to deal with the world under the control of Satan, it will be much like Tony Schiavone frequently said when Sting rappelled down from the rafters: “We’re out of time!”

17:7 See Leviticus 20:16. Jerusalem fell, Rome fell, and so will any legitimate present or future antichrist your pastor can point to.

17:8 The resurgence of Rome after the Year of the Four Emperors was seen by some as miraculous given the tendency of empires to fall apart. Daniel 7:7-8 and Daniel 7:20-24 would be good to review now for the material between here and verse 14.

17:9 Rome is built on seven hills, but the local government of Jerusalem answered to Rome, and the Temple Establishment was propped up by the Roman government that appointed the High Priest, so Jerusalem figuratively sat on Rome.

17:10-11 Compare with Daniel 7:20-24. The Julio-Claudian dynasty consists of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. After a few contested placeholders, stability returned with the Flavian dynasty, making Vespasian the seventh and Titus the eighth. Against the larger plot of Rome ascending again under the Flavian emperors, the resurrected beast is specifically said to also be an eighth ruler. Former general Emperor Titus, the eighth “king”, can be seen as a new Antiochus IV “Epiphanes” (Revelation 17:8,11). Analogously, we already saw John the Baptist as a new Elijah-type prophet (Matthew 11:13-14). Elijah called down fire from Heaven as a sign to those who would not worship the God he represented before ordering their deaths in 1 Kings 18; Titus did much the same with flaming arrows. Titus desecrated the holy Temple (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 note), but before that back in 168 BC, Antiochus IV “Epiphanes” (Daniel 11:31) stopped Temple sacrifice for three years, erected an idol of a foreign god in the Temple (2 Macc 6:1-2) and sacrificed a pig in the Temple (1 Macc 1:59 and The Jewish War, 1.1.2). Jesus predicted another “abomination that causes desolation” (Matthew 24:15) two centuries after Antiochus’ actions. In light of Daniel 7, Daniel 8 and 2 Thessalonians 2, Titus is called the “man of sin/lawlessness” and the “little horn” by some commentators just like Antiochus IV “Epiphanes” in the traditional understanding of Daniel in Jewish literature. Them being possessed by the same demon just seems to write itself.

17:12-13 There has been much speculation about which Roman client rulers are signified here, or which historical powers are meant that we can look back on from our time or have to look forward to. Eleven sheaves bowed to Joseph, but in this verse the beast plus ten kings become the mob from Ezekiel 16:36-41 and Ezekiel 23:42-49. God places whoever He wants into positions of leadership (Jeremiah 27:6-7, Romans 13), and here some say that He does so specifically to punish our persecutors in Jerusalem in 70AD.

17:14 These ten (perhaps toes from Daniel 2:41) along with the beast also try to fight the Lamb (Psalm 2:2,10). The same Rome (and its client kingdoms) that unwittingly avenged us in 70 AD also persecuted us.

17:15 Water usually symbolizes chaos and/or Gentiles. The disorder resulting from idolatry is described in Romans 1:18-32.

17:16-17 The prostitute symbolized Jerusalem (Jeremiah 4:30). The fire comes from Leviticus 21:9; a priest’s daughter that turned to prostitution looked too close to pagan temple hooking. Much like God used Babylon to punish Jerusalem in 586 BC but later punished them for it (as discussed in Habakkuk), Rome later fell in ways reminiscent of Zechariah 2:9.

17:18 Some say Rome ruled the known world at the time, but Jerusalem is God’s choice for the Messiah’s (Revelation 1:5) capital city (Revelation 21:24, Psalm 2:6, Psalm 48:2, Isaiah 60, and Isaiah 49:22-23). See also 2 Chronicles 6:32-33, Psalm 68:29, Jeremiah 7:11, 1 John 5:19, and 1 John 2:15-17. Rome wasn’t in a covenant relationship with God as Husband either, so the cheating whore imagery for Jerusalem is much stronger.

Revelation 18 – We saw a few city laments in the Old Testament; this one sounds like Isaiah 47 and Ezekiel 27. See also Isaiah 13’s predictions about Old Testament Babylon.

18:1-2 See Isaiah 21:9. At this point in Revelation, it’s like God was serenading Jerusalem with “Hey Joe”, “Papa Loved Mama”, “Used to Love Her”, and two other songs about killing her. Nineveh in the days of Jonah only needed a sentence to turn around.

18:3 See Jeremiah 51:7 and Nahum 3:16.

18:4 See Jeremiah 51:45. Despite “come out from her” threats of getting mixed up in others’ punishment (Genesis 19:15, Jeremiah 50:8, Jeremiah 51:6, Jeremiah 51:9), Genesis 19:22 makes it clear that the righteous have to be out of the way before the beatings commence, so to speak.

18:5 like Genesis 11:4.

18:6 See Jeremiah 16:17-18, Jeremiah 17:18, and 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. We’re the Temple now, so when the old Temple Establishment was killing us, there were consequences.

18:7-8 See Isaiah 47:7-9 and Jeremiah 51:25-64, with the role of Babylon played by Jerusalem and the role of Jerusalem/Judah/Israel played by first-century Christians.

18:9-10 See Ezekiel 26:16-17.

18:11 Compare with Ezekiel 27, Nahum 3:16, and Isaiah 23:3.

18:12-13 Other commentators point to Rome for the opulence, but the list items are clues. See Exodus 25, Exodus 28, Exodus 29:40, Exodus 30, and 1 Chronicles 29:2-8. This is all fancy stuff for Temple use and for the wealthy families from which the chief priests were appointed. The histories written by Josephus and Alfred Edersheim are consistent with the supposition that all of this stuff was available for purchase in first century Jerusalem. What is translated as “slaves” in many English Bibles is “the bodies and souls of men”; while Herod and the Sadducees had many of these servants (and transgressed Deuteronomy 17:16-17 in several ways as leaders), Paul’s notion of them still enslaving people to the Law (Galatians 4:24) is worth mentioning, too.

18:14-15 like Ezekiel 27:25-36.

18:16 This sounds like Caiaphas’ outfit (Luke 16:19). See Isaiah 3:16-26.

18:17-18 like Ezekiel 27:25-36.

18:19 See Isaiah 43:14. The Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:27 was a convert to Judaism who was next to power (Queen Candice) like Joseph, Mordecai, and Nehemiah. There were many wealthy Jews overseas tithing to the wealthy chief priests. About ten percent of the Roman Empire as a whole and twenty percent of what modern Turkey occupies now was Jewish at the time, etc.

18:20 See Jeremiah 51:48-49.

18:21 The righteous will live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4); remember what Jesus taught about the Temple Mount in Matthew 21:21. The catapults at the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD threw boulders weighing a Roman talent (~100 pounds).

18:22 See Jeremiah 25:10-14 and Ezekiel 26:13; God doesn’t mind instruments (Psalm 150) anymore that He minds the sounds of tools, He’s just saying His enemies will be wiped out.

18:23 “merchants” is the same word in Hebrew as “Canaanites” because of Phoenician Tyre (Isaiah 23:8), which first century Jerusalem has been compared to in this chapter by way of Ezekiel 27 references. The “magic spell” looks back to Nahum 3:4; Paul’s Judaizer opponents based in Jerusalem (continuing the Matthew 23:15 playbook) were described with similar imagery in Galatians 3:1.

18:24 This verse is a huge giveaway. See Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:33.

19:1 Here we are again in Heaven (Revelation 7:9).

19:2 See Deuteronomy 32:43.

19:3 See Isaiah 34:9-10 and Isaiah 66:24 about burning forever.

19:7 See Psalm 45, Isaiah 62:4-5, Hosea 2:19-20, and Ephesians 5:31-32.

19:8-9 We don’t make these garments (Genesis 3:7, Isaiah 59:6, and Isaiah 64:6); they are given to us as a free gift (Genesis 3:21, Galatians 3:27, and Romans 5:17). We have already put on Christ, so it just makes sense to accessorize with saintly behavior (Colossians 3:10-14).

19:10 On this side of the Cross, prophecy is just a clear witness for Jesus Christ. Also, John’s attempted idolatry didn’t damn him, so those who stumbled with regard to Roman paganism as seen earlier in Revelation were capable of being restored (Jude 22-25). The mark of the beast is indicative of a whole life given over to refusal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ aka blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

19:11-12 “I saw” signifies the beginning of a new vision. John seeing from the eternal perspective in Heaven allows us wiggle room with our timelines. This rider is Jesus, as will be clarified soon. I’ve tried to keep believers attached to several interpretation schemes happy because I know they all revolve around one fixed point: Jesus Christ is coming back. Again, Paul was very clear to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians that this bodily return will be obvious and accompanied by the physical resurrection of believers. This has not happened yet, so I must part ways with the other preterist commentators here. The story structure of Jesus winning and ruling before another fight happens later (Revelation 20) resembles the broad strokes of Zechariah 12 through Zechariah 14. As for why this all didn’t happen hot on the heels of 70 AD, the Bible contains stories of God relenting on account of repentance (Jonah) and for intercession (Amos 7:1-6), so He doesn’t have to do any of the unpleasant stuff (if any is not yet fulfilled) on our schedule or at all. He’s willing to delay the end to adopt more of us (2 Peter 3:9), and the Amos-like prayers of tenderhearted believers may have changed the strength, timing, duration, etc., of the nastiness in Revelation. Again, if a prophet is wrong about trouble (such as the prediction of Hezekiah’s death or Jonah’s prophecy of doom for Nineveh), God’s mercy is on display.

19:13 Jesus is the Word (John 1). Yes, His robe is bloody because He died for us, but Isaiah 63:3 still exists, too.

19:14 Based on the “holy ones” or “saints” from Zechariah 14:5 and on 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we’re riding with Him. We’re already seated with Him (Ephesians 2:6), so we go where He goes.

19:15 See Psalm 2:9, Isaiah 11:4, and Revelation 14:19-20. Jesus is Greek for Joshua, as unsettling as that book is for many believers. The iron scepter bit is about His absolute power; He’s still the nice guy we read about in the Gospels, but the bad shepherds and evil spiritual entities are going away.

19:16 See Deuteronomy 10:17 and Daniel 2:47. Tattoos are off the menu for Him (Leviticus 19:28, John 8:46, 2 Corinthians 5:21), so the name on the thigh signifies a scabbard for the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) which is Jesus (John 1).

19:17-18 sounds like Lamentations 2:22 and Ezekiel 39:17-20.

19:19 Thanks to Revelation’s overlapping visions, we saw an assembly like this in Revelation 16. Humans want to engage God (Psalm 2) on His level again like at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). Wrestling has been a recurring theme in this book. The final battles won’t be hour-long classic matches between well-matched opponents; they won’t resemble Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat from the 1970s house shows or Will Ospreay vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman from the 250th episode of AEW Dynamite. The final battles against evil will be “squash” matches characterized by brevity and decisively utter domination, like the early work of Goldberg.

19:20 Being thrown in alive is associated with treating the Lord with contempt (Numbers 16:30). Jesus, the firstborn of the dead (Colossians 1:18), has gone back to Heaven before us so those who tried to usurp Him get to be the firstborn of the damned, so to speak. God threatened to turn the Promised Land into a lake of burning sulfur in Deuteronomy 29:22-24 because of the worship of false gods. His anger is said to burn forever in Jeremiah 17:4. This burning place was not borrowed from Zoroastrianism during the Babylonian Captivity, nor is it a rebranded Greek Tartarus; it’s in Isaiah 30:33.

Again, we have notions of climactic battles between good and evil from fiction, but it’s more like those on the side of good just play defense until the mercy clock runs out and God intervenes. The fight is over when it starts. The bus hits evil at the intersection of Mess Around and Find Out. When Mick Foley was thrown by the Undertaker from a great height atop a steel cage through a table (narrated unforgettably by Jim Ross), he fought his way off of a stretcher with a separated shoulder and heroically climbed that cage again. He was slammed through the top of the cage and fell again, inadvertently losing teeth in the process, but kept going for the sake of his art (much like when he accidentally lost an ear in another match) until, as a human pincushion decorated with thumbtacks, he lost the match but gained admiration for his determination from most of the people who watched him. In comparison with this legendary performance, the beast and the false prophet do not make any sort of comeback like this, and neither does the devil (Luke 10:18). There is not any point in this battle narrative where evil even looks like it has the upper hand. Despite what you might expect from all the movies and television shows about an ooky spooky unbiblical Antichrist, not only are the beast and the false prophet no match for Jesus, but they get chokeslammed to Hell “quicker than a hiccup” as Jim Ross might say, allowing no time for exposition or plugging delicious barbecue sauces, jerky, and jalapeño honey mustard. Oh, and Mick is doing fine at the time of this writing: funny, warm, charitable, a bestselling author, and fun to meet in person at live events or on Cameo.

The lake of fire is intended for the devil and his fallen angels (Matthew 8:29, Matthew 25:41, Ephesians 3:10-11, Ephesians 6:12, and 1 Enoch 21 for bonus points). It is said that the angels were made from fire in the same way that humans were made from dirt, so this may be an ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust scenario for them. Since the fire was prepared for the fallen angels, what if it served its purpose and the beast and the false prophet here are the entities throughout history that possessed the leaders that persecute us and that empowered the signs and wonders of false religion? The Persian bear in Daniel 7 had a “prince” in Daniel 10:13 that fought one of God’s angels, after all. There is a “court” in Daniel 7:10-12 and Daniel 7:26. Remember the ruler of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:2-10 that thought he was a god and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:12-19 that was an angel per Ezekiel 28:14. Since some of the orderly angels in John’s vision are called “living creatures”, might some fallen angels be “beasts”, too?

The “they” in Revelation 20:10 implies eternal conscious torment for more than just the devil. The worms and fire are eternal in Isaiah 66:24, but the bodies are said to be dead there. I would also be remiss not to reference Lamentations 3:31-33 again regarding God’s nature. Psalm 37:20 implies that God’s enemies are eventually annihilated/burned to nothing, but with biblical time being so nonspecific (a day could mean a thousand years or vice versa) why would anyone risk it with His grace being so readily and easily attainable? The “are” in Revelation 20:10 shows us the beast and false prophet are still in the fire after a thousand years. I had wondered if their durability was a hint as to whether they were angels, but Luke 16 shows us an uncomfortably hot human afterlife prior to the existence of resurrection bodies.

The topic of Hell always brings out emotions. Since Jesus is the only way to Heaven, what does that imply about the eternal destination of babies who died before being able to confess Him (Romans 10:9), the mentally challenged, and countless people born in places presently lacking Christian influence, or who lived and died before Jesus arrived on Earth? Let’s start with God's character, which is just, loving, and merciful. God desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4) and that He is not wanting anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Acts 17:30-31 also speaks of God's patience and His desire for people to seek Him. In 2 Samuel 12:23, David expresses confidence that he will see his deceased infant son again, suggesting a belief in God's mercy toward those who cannot make a conscious decision. We see mercy for ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13) and those who stray, forget, etc. (2 Timothy 2:13). Regarding those who have never heard of Jesus, the apostles actually got the word out enough (Colossians 1:23) for everyone to encounter Him at some point in their lives. Additionally, Romans 1:20 indicates that God's qualities are evident in creation. I had heard the Gospel from many people in my life, but the Holy Spirit spoke most clearly to me on a quiet hillside in an experience I can compare to Luke 19:40. On the flip side of Romans 1:20, if His qualities are evident in creation, then maybe being adequately impressed by a big rock is faith enough in its Creator (Colossians 1:16-17). Some of the resumés in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 seem pretty thin. If you ask someone to save you, you believe in them, and also you believe in their power and authority to do so. Is a well-timed “Help!” not explicitly addressed to a false god while falling off a cliff faith enough in our Lord and Savior? Ultimately, we must trust in God's justice and mercy. He knows everyone’s hearts, and He will judge righteously (Psalm 9:8). As for those who died before the time of Christ, the faith that saved Old Testament believers was faith in God's promises, which ultimately pointed to the coming Messiah (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3). Hebrews 11 commends many Old Testament figures for their faith, showing that they trusted in God's promises even though they did not see their fulfillment in their lifetimes. Moses is commended for his faith in God's deliverance of Israel and his anticipation of a greater prophet to come (Deuteronomy 18:15). Forward-looking Moses considered "the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt," (Hebrews 11:26). The Old Testament believers were saved by grace through faith, as are we. Their faith in God's promises came to fruition in Jesus Christ. They looked forward to Him, while we are looking back to His finished work on the cross. Those Romans 1:20 stars and rock formations were there for the Gentiles all along, too. Jesus has been the plan all along (Revelation 13:8); we just need to recognize our need for His help. Salvation has always been based on faith in God's provision, not what we do (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 3:6-9). Hell is for the devil, his angels, and, if they absolutely refuse to ever change course, Christ-deniers.

19:21 See Revelation 19:15-18 notes. Just like God dealt with Assyria in Isaiah 30:31, He deals with our enemies here in similar language. Those were the armies, but the unregenerate civilians remain. They are idolaters (Revelation 9:20) with wicked hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).

20:1-3 This period of restraint looks like Isaiah 24:21-22, Mark 3:27, and another fulfillment of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. See John 12:31 and Luke 10:18. Jesus won the decisive battle at the Cross (Colossians 2:15), so this is just “mopping up”. Perhaps we will be neighbors during the Thousand Years in the Millennial Kingdom. A round number like a thousand might be a figure of speech or it might not. See Psalm 50:10; does He not also own the cattle on the 1,001st hill as well? We will reign on this planet with Jesus in our new bodies for as long as it takes for the remainder of the promises like Old Testament prophecies regarding Israel and “the nations” (perhaps like Isaiah 25, Jeremiah 48:47, Ezekiel 16:53, Ezekiel 29:13, etc.) to be settled. Also, I see this as an answer to the objections of this age: “Why was His existence so hidden?” (It’s not.) “The devil made it too hard to believe” etc. We’re going to provide a utopian existence as frankly benevolent dictators (iron scepter, after all) for a very long time, and humans will still choose to turn on Him (like Ezekiel 38:8-10), confirming that He’s adopted everyone He can and that this experiment can be ended. See Isaiah 26:10. Also, we don’t have our new bodies yet, which means that we as Christians are to mind our own business with regard to the behavior of outsiders (1 Corinthians 5:12) instead of trying to legislate what people do on certain days of the week (Colossians 2:16-17), etc. We’re not supposed to be pushing Law like posting the Ten Commandments everywhere to stimulate more sinning (Romans 7:8). Post the empty tomb; the Resurrection is the only thing that fixes people.

20:4-6 See Daniel 7:22,27. When we died with Christ (Galatians 2:20), our old self was cut off (Colossians 2:11). We replaced our Head (Colossians 1:18) like the Romans did with the head of the Nero Colossus. We’ve discussed the lack of certain verb tenses before; since we rode in with Him in Revelation 19:14, the “came” in Revelation 20:4 is “had come” to life. Our physical resurrection awaits His return (1 Thessalonians 4), so don’t fall for attempts to spiritualize the ending away (2 Timothy 2:18). We’re new inside, and we do reign with Christ now (Ephesians 2:6), but this era will be different. See Daniel 12:2. Think of an amplified Zechariah 8 stability.

20:7-8 See Isaiah 24:21-22. For the Revelation 20 devil release, think about the lying spirit of 1 Kings 22:22 with the father of lies (John 8:44) in a similar role to what was within his power to do (Job 1:12). The devil is released against soft prosperous unregenerate people under our benevolent rule so God can demonstrate truths similar to Ezekiel 38:16,23, Isaiah 26:10, and Isaiah 54:14-17 regarding them, Him, and us. “Jezebel” and “Balaam” back in Revelation 2 were comparisons to Old Testament characters, so this Gog can be different from the one in Ezekiel (Gog of Magog vs. Gog and Magog, etc.). We’ve seen the Bible use peoples and countries as compass points several times now. We’ve seen this sort of multinational bad guy team before (Psalm 83:1-8, Isaiah 5:26-30, Ezekiel 38, Ezekiel 39, Zechariah 12:3, Zechariah 14:2, Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19).

20:9 See Psalm 83, Isaiah 27:4-5, Isaiah 66:16, and Malachi 4:1. When Jerry “The King” Lawler sold out the Mid-South Coliseum every Monday night, sometimes his opponents would cheat and get his championship belt. When it was time to end the feud and win it back, the crowd was almost guaranteed to see him lower a shoulder strap to free up his arms for striking when he meant business. There were usually a lot of great-looking punches, a fist drop from the second rope, and a piledriver to end it. Frequently, he’d even throw a fireball at someone trying to gang up on him. In comparison, the “King of Kings” is very, very patient, but when the time comes, He shows up with no strap and skips straight to the fireball. Isaiah 5:26-30 goes differently this time, so to speak. Evil has good public relations; storytellers magnify the obstacles their heroes face to make things more dramatic. People think that evil is cool or strong and they love to see a dragon coming up the proverbial Elevator From Hell, but in the eternal scheme (the only one that matters), Evil just gets stepped on, because Evil is vermin.

20:10 See Deuteronomy 29:22-24, Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 30:33, Jeremiah 17:4, Daniel 7:11, and Matthew 25:41.

20:11-15 See Deuteronomy 32:22, Psalm 37:20, Isaiah 65:17, Daniel 7:10, Zephaniah 1:18, Zephaniah 3:8, Malachi 4:1-3, and 2 Peter 3:10. Remember, we meet Him in the air as we saw in 1 Thessalonians. We’re already seated with Him (Ephesians 2:6), and we go where He goes. We are not “the dead” because we have Life (John 3:16), for we have the Son (1 John 5:12). We are done being judged (John 5:24), and our sins are not remembered (Psalm 103, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:14). He saves us completely (Hebrews 7:25). Christians are alive and glorified, not condemned (Romans 8:1). We’re already new on the inside thanks to the New Covenant, and by this time, we’ll have our Christlike bodies too. We will be beyond the influence of Sin and therefore we’d be forgiven even under the old Ezekiel 18 deal. We have no bad deeds left that Jesus didn’t handle, but “the dead” who have refused the only real way of salvation, Jesus Christ, have no deeds in their favor (Isaiah 64:6, John 3:36). They have chosen to remain eternally sinful. Man’s experiment with attempted works-based righteousness (aka the Fall), as if that would suffice for a perfectly holy God, will end. The last enemy is death. The last of Christ’s enemies being made His footstool (Psalm 110, 1 Corinthians 15) does not mean that everything gets better and then we resurrect, which is a heresy that is growing in popularity at the time of this writing. Jesus already got up and therefore defeated Death, so our resurrection is irrelevant in that fight by that logic. Death itself ceases to be in Revelation 20:14. Sin will be forever in the rearview mirror, and blissful life with God and other Christians is all that will remain. See 1 Corinthians 15:24.

21:1 “new heaven and a new earth” See Psalm 102:25-26. Isaiah 51:6, and Isaiah 65:17. We will be done with the fallen world, Noah-era redecorations and all. For the lack of sea, see Jeremiah 51:36.

21:2-3 The Bride of Christ in contrast to the Whore of Babylon; the New Jerusalem in contrast to the old. See Isaiah 62:4, Jeremiah 33:16, and Ezekiel 37:27.

21:4-5 See Isaiah 25:8 and Isaiah 30:19. The new heaven and the new earth have everything you need to live happily with God forever (Psalm 37:4, 1 Corinthians 2:9).

21:6 See Isaiah 55:1.

21:7-8 At first glance, it appears that “the cowardly [The apostles were scared (Mark 4:40) and ran (Mark 14:50)], the unbelieving (again, Mark 4:40 and Mark 6:52), the vile (which also refers to idolatry in Revelation 21:27), the murderers, the sexually immoral (defined in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20; We are to love other believers regardless of their struggles per 1 John 5:1), those who practice magic arts (like Deuteronomy 18:9-13 for that applied even in the absence of the Law of Moses), the idolaters (John tried to worship and angel), and all liars (all of us, see Romans 3:4, Pete lied three times, David lied in 1 Samuel 27 but did no wrong per 1 Kings 15:5, the Hebrews midwives from Exodus, etc.)” are fated for a lake reminiscent of Deuteronomy 29:22-24. The apostles’ sexual immorality, magic, and abominable acts are not recorded. I’m hopefully kidding about that. The point is that they aren’t damned; their names are on the foundations of the New Jerusalem. Our High Priest made us perfect (Hebrews 10:14). Believers are victorious (John 16:33, Romans 8:37, and 1 John 5:4). The vice list from verse 8 is similar to the one found in Isaiah 29:19-21. First of all, believers are safe (Hebrews 7:25) and this is stuff we won’t have to put up with in the afterlife. “Wheat stays, chaff goes” like Isaiah 33 has been a recurring theme. Second, remember how many times I have had to type pikuach nefesh to keep things on the rails. Third, remember John’s opinion of the specific people who killed our Lord and John’s brother James (Matthew 8:10-12). Then, revisit the murderers (John 8:44), the sexually immoral (in the sense of the Old Testament metaphor for false religion, like in Matthew 16:4), the sorcerers (Galatians 3:1), and the liars (1 John 2:22, 2 John 7) in the context of our enemies. Also, remember the false teachers encouraging Revelation 2:14-15 behavior, denying Christ aka taking the mark of the beast, etc. In summary, we don’t match Revelation 21:8 on the inside now thanks to the benefits of the New Covenant, and we won’t match it at all once we get our new bodies.

21:9-10 See Galatians 4:26 and Hebrews 8:5.

21:11 See Isaiah 49:18, Isaiah 54:11-14, Zechariah 9:16 (after Zechariah 9:14-15 talked about “trumpets” and “bowls”), and Tobit 13:13-18 for bonus points. The gemstones will make even more sense soon. Please continue.

21:12-14 See Ezekiel 48:30-35. All believers can flock in from wherever (Isaiah 43:5-7 plus Matthew 8:10-12). Cases were decided in the city gates (Proverbs 31:23) so the tribal gates with apostolic foundations (Matthew 16:18) are in reference Matthew 19:28. Again, the 2 Thessalonians 2:15 foundational teachings are the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ and not any robed homebrew from people claiming apostolic succession.

21:15-21 Compare Ezekiel 40 and Ezekiel 41 with this vision. It’s a big Holy of Holies cube like in 1 Kings 6. The gemstones on the breastplate of the high priest in Exodus 28 were a way to symbolize keeping God’s people close to his heart; we are in Christ (our High Priest) and near His heart, so the lists of gemstones are very similar (especially given time for their meanings to shift and a translation from Hebrew to Greek, and they’re closer in the Septuagint). Pearls were more valuable than diamonds to the ancient Romans. The Carpenter wasn’t kidding when He said He was going to prepare a place for us (John 14:3). Earth’s surface is just under 197 million square miles. Twelve thousand stadia is about 1,400 miles; 1,400 miles by 1,400 miles by 1,400 miles is 2,744,000,000 (or 2.744 billion, if you prefer) cubic miles. There’s enough Heaven for everyone.

21:22-26 The wealth, not closing, lack of need for lights in the sky, our righteousness, our permanence, and God dwelling amongst us resemble Isaiah 60. The temple of the old Heaven opened in Revelation 11:19, but the new Heaven and the new Earth will be united. We won’t need signs to underline unique situations like Zechariah 14:5-6 anymore; life will be stable and good.

21:27 Looking at how the word for “shameful” or “abomination” is used here in comparison to the Septuagint (like in 1 Kings 11), it’s about idolatry (the worship of false gods, including the emperors). John almost worshiped an angel in Revelation 22:8-9, so we all need grace. In 2 John 7 (from the same human author), being deceitful is denying Christ, Christ’s physicality, etc.

22:1-2 See Zechariah 14:8 and Ezekiel 47:12. No matter what you can think of or what John can write down, living in the new Heaven and the new Earth with Him will be cooler (1 Corinthians 2:9, Psalm 37:4). We get the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:22) without a way to mess it up (Genesis 3:3). See 1 Enoch 24 for bonus points. The abundant food (John 6:35) and healing are a picture of life with the Great Physician and His provision, as our resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15) are unlikely to need physical healing in the ideal circumstances of our promised future (Revelation 21:4-5).

22:3-5 See Exodus 15:17-18. There will be no more curses (Genesis 3). Prophets have seen visions representing Him (Ezekiel 1:1-28, Isaiah 6:1-8), but we will get to hang out with Him as a family (Psalm 17:15).

22:6-7 He said most of this was about things that “must soon take place”, and I believe Him. Therefore, I think much of Revelation consists of promises made and kept regarding the end of the Second Temple in 70 AD. The final bits have been mercifully delayed for evangelism time. He is coming “quickly”; He’s waiting very patiently at the door, but when He bursts through it will be too late to act. If you’ve somehow made it this far without accepting Him or just flipped to the ending, please take the deal while it is on the table (John 3:16-17). To “keep the words” of the prophecy is to hear and believe them.

22:8-9 See Colossians 2:18.

22:10 Unlike Daniel 12:4, Revelation is about things that were scheduled to happen soon after they were written down.

22:11 This is to say that if Revelation hasn’t convinced them, then let the chips fall where they may.

22:12 Again, He’s coming “quickly” when He does (2 Peter 3:9). He brings His reward with Him (Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 62:11), and we are heirs with Him (Galatians 4:7). Jesus alone ever earned anything and He is generous. We can’t mess it up (1 Peter 1:3-5). He’s going to give to each person according to what they have done with the Gospel (John 6:28-29).

22:14 When Creation itself is new or remodeled, someone gets a fresh new outfit (Adam, Eve, Noah, etc.). To be washed in the sense of Isaiah 1:18, be baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27) by believing in Him (Galatians 3:2,5, Ephesians 1:13-14). That new outfit is not capable of becoming soiled (Hebrews 10:14), because then we wouldn’t be “perfect forever”.

22:15 See Zephaniah 3:13 and Revelation 21:8. Jews called Gentiles and male prostitutes (who typically serviced male clients) dogs. Dogs were not pets in that culture; they roamed around eating dead/unclean things, and they spread ritual uncleanliness wherever they went. Regarding the items in this vice list, not that any of them are a great idea, but even if Sin fools you into doing something these things are not who you are by nature anymore (1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:10, Colossians 1:22) and they’re not what God is thinking about with regard to you (Hebrews 8:12). This is another stab at the Revelation 2:14-15 people, the docetists, the emperor worshipers, etc.

22:16 See Numbers 24:17.

22:17 See Isaiah 55:1.

22:18-19 There can be lots of variation between manuscripts of ancient texts (and the books of the Bible are miraculously consistent). Some scribes added to or changed what was written at their whim as they copied. Remember how Luke seems to have looked at Mark and used it as a framework for his own gospel? That’s not what’s in focus, because it is titled “Luke”. This would be writing a new section or deleting content and still passing the new work off as “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. This sort of curse on any who would add or subtract text was a common attempt to maintain the integrity of a document. It isn’t aimed at people trying to explain or write about the document. I’ve seen political posts on social media that are presented as Revelation content, and I do not advise that sort of thing at all.

22:20 “Maranatha!” as in 1 Corinthians 16:22. He is coming “quickly” so Revelation encourages all humanity to be ready for His return.

The overall theme of Revelation keeps echoing clearly: “Jesus Wins.” This proclamation resonates even amidst the hardships and persecutions faced by believers throughout history, foreseen by Jesus himself in John 15:18. Hardships of Christians collectively aren’t proof we’re failing, they’re proof we belong to Him. Critics of placing most of Revelation's events in the first century AD argue that Christ's promised return to reign over Earth (Revelation 20), alongside all believers, including the physically risen, as emphasized by Paul, has yet to transpire. Peter already told us in 2 Peter 3:8-9 that God is being merciful by waiting. We’ve seen many examples of God relenting from prophesied judgments due to intercessory prayer, too. Prophecies can be fulfilled multiple times, but none have to be done again in order to put history back on track. There is no obstacle to the immediate return of Jesus Christ. The critics of futurism point out that these things were said to happen soon or within the generation of the original hearers; giving those persecuted by the Roman Empire a book that is irrelevant/useless until the rise of the televangelists would be cruel. What good would an early draft of a sci-fi movie that took forever to get greenlit be to them? Others point out that we rule with Christ even now (Ephesians 2:6), and we do, but Paul is clear that the dead will literally rise and that the return of Christ to rule will be obvious to all. Revelation is an apocalypse, a work from a highly symbolic literary genre. We must account for symbolism, angelic visions instead of straightforward prose, the eternal point of view confusing the temporal viewpoint, etc. What I’m saying is that Revelation is timeless, to a point. From the eternal viewpoint, Christ was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), and to our temporal eyes it was about two millennia ago. There was a beginning, and there will be an ending. He’s coming back, the dead will rise first, we’ll all be changed, we’ll be together forever, and He’ll reign on Earth until the last enemy is subdued before handing it all to the Father, etc. Revelation’s message of hope, perseverance, and ultimate victory underpins the Christian journey across ages. It was relevant in the first century AD, and it will stay relevant until it’s all over. “Nero Caesar” is in code because it’s every Nero, every tyrant we’ll ever face as God’s children. Jesus has brought us through before, and He can keep bringing us through. Our mission to Believe, Love, avoid gross stuff from Acts 15, spread the Gospel, etc., is unchanging no matter what century we are in. Those being used as human torches by Nero felt like they were in the Great Tribulation, and I’m sure believers being kept in pet crates today in hostile countries can say the same. From the eternal perspective, the worship service in Heaven goes on with the assurance that victory belongs to Christ, it all ends well for Christians, and it all ends badly for our persecutors. “Jesus Wins.”

22:21 “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” Indeed it is, and the whole Bible has been pointing to it and to Him all along. I have happily offered the insights that I have been given to everyone for free. You all have insights that I do not have, making you all smarter than me now. Good for me. After all, I was told that the last will be first. See Genesis 1:1. Simchat Torah is a joyful Jewish holiday that marks finishing the annual cycle of Torah readings (from the first five books of your Bible) and immediately beginning the cycle of reading them again. It is a lively celebration with dancing, singing, and a parade of Torah scrolls in the synagogue. The holiday emphasizes the importance of books that the Holy Spirit inspired and the joy of ongoing study and engagement with sacred texts. Reading the Bible repeatedly is a journey of transformation. Each trip through it uncovers new layers of meaning and connection. The Spirit will show you deeper insights that might have been missed before. Again, please see Genesis 1:1 and keep going.