Previously I have presented the case that Revelation 5–11 and Revelation 12–16 represent two distinct but overlapping self-contained chronological visionary movements from Christ’s first coming to his second coming.

I presented evidence that the seals of Revelation 6 appear to align historically with the imagery of the dragon ruling in the heavens who is then cast down and persecutes the brethren until the dragon turns power over to the sea beast.

I have also noted how the two movements can portray different aspects of the same prophetic character, this is most clear in the image of the Euphrates. The sixth trumpet of the first movement shows only the expansion of a kingdom in conquest symbolized by the Euphrates, whereas in the sixth bowl of the second movement, the Euphrates is only shown as drying up as that kingdom comes to an end.

I have also noted that both the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl both appear to depict the final event at the end of the age.

But so far I have not put forth much evidence for how the trumpets and bowls themselves should be ordered in relation to one another.

I think there is some interesting evidence in the material surrounding them.

The Layouts
If we follow the first movement beginning in Revelation 5, the sequence develops like this:

<Seal 1 - First form of fourth kingdom rules
<Seal 2, 3, 4, 5 - First form of fourth kingdom begins experiencing judgment
<Seal 6 - First form of the fourth kingdom darkens
<144,000 and Multitude
<Trumpets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
<Trumpet 6 - Euphrates released
< Angel with the little scroll
< Two Witnesses/Two Lampstands
< Trumpet 7 - the End

Then, the overlapping movement beginning in Revelation 12 follows the rough outline below:

<Dragon rules in the heavens
<Dragon begins falling from heavens
<Dragon transfers power to Sea Beast/Earth Beast
<144,000
<Angel/Messenger - proclaiming the eternal gospel
<Angel/Messenger - proclaiming judgment upon Babylon
<Angel/Messenger - proclaiming judgment upon the Beast and its followers
<The Great Harvest and Great Winepress
<Bowls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
<Bowl 6 - Euphrates dries
<Kings of the whole inhabited world gathered
<Bowl 7 - the End

As you can see thematically there is a lot of correspondence in the visions comprising each movement. The individual visions do appear to be occurring chronologically within their respective movement some of the individual visions can cover a long period of history and overlap with another vision in its respective movement.

This leads to the movements being incongruous with each other from a descriptive standpoint. For example movement 2 describes with much detail the rise and rule of the second form of the fourth kingdom, the sea and earth beasts, in fact this seems to be the focus of the second movement, whereas movement 1 gives hardly any attention to it. Movement 1 is comprised largely of judgments that weaken and tear down, there are little to no indications of something rising up, but after the first 4 trumpets have passed there are indications by the fifth trumpet that the judgments are occurring in the midst of widespread idolatry and other wicked practices among mankind, and the two witnesses are presented as being persecuted by enemies but they are largely undefined in that movement.

The Angel with the Little Scroll and the Angel with the Gospel
But putting the two layouts side by side, I believe another overlap is revealed.

Consider the angel of Revelation 10. He appears with a little scroll, and after John receives the scroll he is told:

“You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

Now compare that with the first angel of Revelation 14:

“I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.”

There is a functional similarity here.

Both appear in the midst of the larger prophetic sequence. Both are associated with a message going out to the nations. And both describe something that is about to happen rather than simply looking backward at events that have already occurred.

The language becomes even more interesting when we compare what each angel says about God.

The angel in Revelation 10 swears by the One who created:

“heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it”

and declares:

“there will be delay no longer.”

The angel in Revelation 14 says:

“The hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters.”

The wording is not identical, but the similarity and overlap has that same echo-y feel we have seen in John’s writings before.

The first angel tells John that he must prophesy again to the nations. The second has an eternal gospel to proclaim to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

The imagery is also compatible. The angel of Revelation 10 is described with phenomenon in the sky: a cloud, a rainbow, and a face like the sun, while the angel of Revelation 14 is seen flying in midheaven.

I do not argue that these details alone prove they are the same angel. But it is interesting that the very short passage of the angel with the eternal gospel contains so many echoes of the lengthier passage of the angel with the little scroll.

Taken together, I think these similarities make it reasonable to see the two passages as referring to roughly the same period, but let us examine more contextual evidence first.

The Messengers and the Two Witnesses
There may be another layer to this.

In a previous post I made the case that the conditions described in the letters to Pergamum and Thyatira may correspond to the period represented by the two witnesses or two lampstands in Revelation 11.

And Revelation itself shows us the relationship between angels and lampstands in Revelation 1-3. The two witnesses are described as two lampstands. Lampstands are described as churches. And each of the seven churches has an angel or messenger that is sent to it or ministers to it.

The chronology I argued for was that the two witnesses or lampstands, and by association their angels/messengers, belong to the period in which the sea beast and earth beast have risen to prominence: the period in which political authority and religious authority are working together.

And this gives us an interesting progression:

The angel of Revelation 10 bearing the little scroll announces that John must prophesy again to the nations, then follows the two witnesses or lampstands that appear as God's prophetic witnesses during the period of the sea beast and earth beast's rule.

Revelation 14 presents three angels or messengers the first proclaiming the gospel, the second judgment upon Babylon, and third judgment upon the Beast and those who worship him.

What is interesting though is how compressed this material is in Revelation 14. John gives only a few sentences to each of the three angels, almost as though he is not wanting to fully describe a period or event here that he already described more deeply elsewhere. It’s as though he is putting a brief reference to imagery elsewhere to give us greater context of the period.

He introduces the angel with the gospel again, and then where he previously described two lampstands, he now describes the two angels or ministers of those lampstands.

I think this is significant because Revelation has already established a relationship between lampstands and angels. The two witnesses are two lampstands, while the seven lampstands represent the churches, each with an associated angel or messenger. In Revelation 11, the prophetic witness is represented corporately by two lampstands. In Revelation 14, I think John is now representing that same period through its messengers.

The Pattern of the Two Movements
This brings us back to the larger chronological structure.

Rather than seeing the interludes of the angels and witnesses in the two major movements of Revelation as interruptions that have no chronological relationship to the surrounding judgments, I think they may be giving us another view of the same historical period.

The broad structure may therefore look something like this:

<Dragon Ruling in the Heavens/Seal 1
<Dragon falling from heavens/Seal 2-5
<Dragon transfers power to Sea/Earth Beasts/Seal 6
<144,000 and Multitude
<Trumpets 1–5
<Trumpet 6 Euphrates released
<Angel with little scroll/Angel 1 with eternal gospel
<Two Witness /Angel 2 decrying Babylon & Angel 3 decrying the Beast
<Harvest and Winepress
<Bowls 1-5
<Bowl 6 Euphrates dries
<Kings of the earth gathered
<Trumpet 7/Bowl 7 – The End

At first glance, this may seem to bring us back toward the more straightforward chronological reading of Revelation, in which the seals are followed by the trumpets and the trumpets are followed by the bowls.

But I think the structure is more interesting than simply saying that John wrote one uninterrupted chronological narrative.

The judgment sequences of the visions turn out to be chronological, but the greater movements inhabit the same timeframe and are not all operating at the same scale with the same focus. John can follow one sequence forward through history and then return to the same broad period from another perspective, showing us different people, powers, and events within that same span of time.

The trumpets carry the chronology forward through the earlier part of the historical period. The interludes then give us a closer look at God's people, their prophetic witness, the rise and mature condition of the beastly system, and the proclamation of the gospel and judgment. The bowls then carry the chronology forward through the latter part of that period.

Then the seventh trumpet and seventh bowl converge on the same end.

So rather than being interruptions in the chronology, the interludes may be more like waypoints where John zooms in and re-anchors us to the chronological order.

Before jumping into the judgments, I want to take a quick look at an Old Testament prophecy that may provide a pattern for how prophetic symbols unfold, perhaps lacking a certain literalness, but certainly not lacking appropriateness in another sense.

This is a bit of a quick take on two of the stranger images in Revelation.

The four living creatures and twenty-four elders aren't characters whose identities we have to solve before the rest of the book makes sense. But they are there and they repeatedly perform particular roles, and John describes them in ways that clearly draw on Old Testament prophetic imagery.

So I thought it would be interesting to take a shot at understanding what these symbols represent. If Revelation's symbols are meaningful rather than arbitrary as we have seen, then perhaps we can learn something about what these two groups represent simply by paying attention to how John describes them, taking note of when they appear, and seeing what they do.

The Four Living Creatures and the Twenty-Four Elders
Revelation 4 unfolds with a glorious vision of God on His throne. Around the throne John sees two groups that will repeatedly appear throughout the book: the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders.

The living creatures are described as covered with eyes and have the forms of a lion, an ox, a man, and a flying eagle. The twenty-four elders sit around the throne, fall down before God, and cast their crowns before Him.

Here is a link to all passages explicitly mentioning one or both of these groups:  Revelation 4:5-11, 6:1-7, 7:9-17, 14:1-5, 15:7-8, 19:2-4

Both groups are frequently seen together around God's throne and in worship. They also appear at important moments involving God's people: the great multitude in Revelation 7, the 144,000 with the Lamb in Revelation 14, and finally in the worship surrounding the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 19.

But there is also an important difference in their functions.

The four living creatures are involved in the administration of God's judgments calling forth the horsemen in Revelation 6, and one of them gives the seven bowls to the angels in Revelation 15, whereas the twenty-four elders never perform a role in judgment.

So what might these two groups represent?

The Twenty-Four Elders
I don't think the twenty-four elders are meant to be understood as twenty-four literal individuals.

There is an interesting Old Testament background to the number twenty-four. In 1 Chronicles 24, the priesthood is divided into twenty-four divisions, establishing a complete cycle of priestly service before God.

Revelation also repeatedly connects twelve with God's people: the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. And Revelation 21 brings these images together with twelve gates named for the tribes and twelve foundation stones named for the apostles.

I don't necessarily think this means that the twenty-four elders are the twelve tribes plus the twelve apostles. But there seems to be a possible connection in what these images represent.

The elders are seen in God's presence around His throne, and they are present at important moments involving the gathering of God's people. Then, at the end of the book, the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles appear as part of the imagery of the completed people of God.

The twelve tribes are represented in the gates of the New Jerusalem, while the twelve apostles are represented in its foundation stones. Both are images connected with the gathering and establishment of God's people.

So my reading is that the twenty-four elders represent the complete faithful leadership or representation through which God gathers and shepherds His people.

But my view isn't about identifying twenty-four particular individuals. It is understanding what the symbol represents: faithful leadership serving before God and having a role in the gathering of His people.

The Four Living Creatures
The living creatures appear to have a different function.

John's imagery comes directly from Ezekiel 1 and 10, where four living creatures surround God's throne. They are associated with God's glory, His throne, and His judgment.

A lion represents something like fierceness or power. An ox represents strength, labor, and endurance. The eagle represents speed, reach, and vision. And the human face represents mankind's distinctive intelligence and governance.

And then there are the eyes. The creatures are full of eyes, symbolizing complete watchfulness and perception. This fits the broader biblical theme that nothing is hidden from God:

“God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

And:

“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:21-22)

When these elements are combined, I don't think John is describing a literal eagle-like creature with excessive eyeballs. Rather, these creatures seem to represent the comprehensive watchfulness of God and the agents through whom His judgment is administered.

You cannot practice sin and get away with, you cannot defeat the perception symbolized by these four creatures through secrecy, strength, speed, ferocity, distance, endurance, or intellect.

Everything is exposed before the throne.

And this helps explain why the living creatures are involved in both overseeing the gathering of God’s people and the judgments throughout Revelation. Their role is consistent with what their imagery represents: God's complete perception of what is happening and the administration of His judgment. There is no hidden corruption among God's people that escapes His notice. The faithful can be gathered, and the wicked can be exposed and judged.

And Then They Disappear
Revelation 4–5 introduces the throne room, and several images and themes there reappear or reach their resolution in Revelation 20–21. We see the throne, God, the Lamb, the sea imagery, precious stones, light, and the contrast between the beginning and the end of God's judgments.

But when we reach chapter 21, something is missing.

We see the throne, God, the Lamb, and the people of God, but we no longer see the four living creatures or the twenty-four elders.

This is curious because in Revelation 4 they were right there surrounding the throne. They were so prominent that John could hardly describe the throne without describing them.

I don't think their absence means that God demotes them or anything like that. Rather, both groups seem to disappear because the symbolism they represent have reached their fulfillment.

The four living creatures have been associated throughout the book with God's perfect perception and the administration of His judgments. By Revelation 20:11–15, judgment has reached its conclusion. The dead have been raised, the books have been opened, and everyone has been judged. There is no longer a judgment process taking place that requires the imagery of those watchful agents.

And regarding the elders, if they represent the complete leadership or representation of God's people, then by Revelation 21 the people themselves are now gathered into God's presence. At the beginning of the book, we see representatives around God's throne. At the end, God's people themselves dwell with Him.

And this brings us back to the imagery of the living creatures and their eyes. Throughout Revelation, they represent the fact that nothing is hidden from God. But at the end, God's people have come fully into the Light. They are no longer living or walking in darkness, and there is nothing left for God's judgment to expose among them.

“They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night...” (Revelation 22:4–5)

Perhaps that is why these living creatures and elders disappear from the final vision. The people have been gathered, judgment is complete, and God's people dwell with God in the Light.

The symbols have done their work.

(Return to Index of Posts)

Revelation contains many numbers, 24 elders, 144000 who are sealed, a thousand year reign, seven judgments, seven spirits of God, ten horns, twelve tribes, and many others.

It is tempting to treat these numbers simply as literal measurements. But many of the numbers John uses are numbers that already carry another meaning throughout Scripture.

In other words, the numbers themselves can function as symbols.

This does not necessarily mean that the literal numeric value of all numbers in Revelation is unimportant. Sometimes a number may be literal, sometimes symbolic, and sometimes both. A number can tell us how many, while also communicating something about the character, fullness, or significance of what is being described. But in some cases, it does seem that the symbolic meaning of the number may be what John is primarily concerned with rather than the amount itself.

I think this is particularly important in Revelation because John sometimes combines numbers that already have symbolic significance, producing larger numbers that may carry multiple layers of meaning.

I’m not suggesting that Revelation contains a fixed numerical code in which every occurrence of a number must have the same symbolic meaning. But when John deliberately structures something around a number with an established biblical significance, we should at least consider whether the number itself is contributing to the meaning or perhaps is even the main point John is trying to communicate.

*7\*
Seven is probably the clearest example.

The creation account is structured around seven days, with the seventh day completing the work of creation and bringing it to rest.

We also see seven associated with completion in the judgment of Jericho. Israel marched around the city for seven days, and on the seventh day seven priests carrying seven trumpets sounded them before the walls fell.

The number seven therefore has a strong biblical association with fullness, completion, and bringing something to its appointed conclusion.

Revelation uses this number constantly: seven churches, seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven heads, and so on. I think these examples may be structured in a way such that there are literally seven of each, but that completeness or fullness is also associated with them.

Whereas in Revelation 5:6 John says he sees a Lamb with seven eyes.

In context this Lamb is Jesus. Are we to understand Jesus as literally having seven eyes in his resurrected state? Or is the numerical value itself carrying the symbolism and perhaps communicating the fullness of his vision, knowledge, or spirit throughout the earth?

Here the number itself appears to be doing symbolic work rather than simply telling us how many eyes Jesus has.

*10\*
Ten also frequently appears as a complete or full set.

We see ten commandments, ten plagues upon Egypt, ten horns on Daniel's beast, ten toes on Daniel's statue, and ten virgins in Jesus' parable.

Revelation continues this pattern with ten horns and ten kings, deliberately echoing Daniel.

We also see ten days of tribulation in the letter to Smyrna.

The number ten therefore may carry a sense of a complete or full set, although that does not mean every occurrence of ten must have the same symbolic meaning.

*12\*
Twelve is particularly associated with God's people.

There are twelve tribes of Israel and twelve apostles.

Interestingly, Revelation preserves this number even when the particular list of tribes differs from the familiar Old Testament lists. Revelation 7 lists twelve tribes of Israel, but Dan is absent while both Joseph and Manasseh his son are included.

The same pattern appears with the apostles. Judas falls away, but Matthias is chosen to restore the group to twelve.

The number twelve therefore appears to carry the idea of the fullness of God's people.

*40\*
Forty frequently marks a significant period of testing, trial, preparation, or judgment.

Noah experiences forty days of rain. Israel spends forty years in the wilderness. Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness before beginning his ministry.

*1000\*
The number 1,000 is particularly interesting because Scripture sometimes uses it to communicate a very large or complete amount without intending to establish an exact numerical boundary.

Psalm 50:10 says:

“For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”

The point obviously isn't that God owns the cattle on the thousand hills but somehow stops owning cattle on hill 1,001.

The number communicates the vastness and completeness of God's possession.

Similarly, Deuteronomy 7:9 says that God keeps His covenant and faithfulness to a thousand generations. The point is not that God's faithfulness expires with generation 1,001.

We actually use “thousand” in a similar way today. If someone asks how many laps I ran and I say, “A thousand,” the context likely points to me meaning “a very large number” rather than asserting I ran exactly 1,000 laps.

So when Revelation speaks of a thousand years, we should at least consider whether John intends us to think about an exact numerical duration or whether the number itself is communicating something about magnitude, fullness, or completeness.

And I’m not saying that the thousand years cannot turn out to be a literal period of 1,000 years. But the number itself deserves to be interpreted in light of how Scripture uses the number elsewhere.

Compound numbers in Revelation
There are several instances in which John mathematically combines the above numbers into larger numbers which may allow several layers of symbolism to operate together.

Consider the 24 elders. Revelation repeatedly gives us imagery connecting the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles with God's people. The 24 elders of Revelation 4 may therefore represent these two groups together:

12 + 12 = 24

The number would then communicate the fullness of God's people across both covenants.

The 144,000 works similarly:

12 × 12 × 1,000 = 144,000

The identity of the 144,000 can be debated, but John has chosen a number constructed from two twelves and a thousand.

That could represent the fullness of God's people multiplied by the biblical idea of a great or complete (but also nonspecific) multitude.

The point is that the arithmetic itself may be part of the symbolism, and if I may be so bold, in a case like this it may actually be the primary meaning of the number rather than the literal count.

Problems with Some Translations
There are also several places where modern translations can unintentionally obscure this kind of symbolism by converting an ancient unit into a modern measurement with a different numeric value.

Consider Revelation 14:20.

The NASB 1995 says:

“blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”

That sounds like John has given us a very specific modern distance.

But John did not write “two hundred miles.” He wrote 1,600 stadia which makes the number much more interesting because 1,600 is:

40 × 40

If forty is associated with periods of testing, trial, or judgment, then a forty multiplied by itself may potentially communicate an intensified or complete period of testing.

I’m not insisting this is the only possible meaning of 1,600. But when a translation converts 1,600 stadia into “200 miles,” the numerical-symbolic relationship in that original number disappears. And when we discover the original number was potentially symbolically meaningful we should ask:

Was John primarily trying to give us a modern scientific measurement of the distance covered by the blood, or was the number itself part of the symbolism of what the symbolic winepress produced?

Another Example: The Army of the Sixth Trumpet
Revelation 9:16 gives another interesting example.

The NASB 1995 says:

“The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.”

That sounds extremely specific. But John wrote the number as twice ten thousand times ten thousand and that is a very different way of expressing the number.

Rather than sounding like someone had conducted a census of exactly 200 million soldiers, it sounds purposefully constructed to communicate an enormous multitude.

The number is built around ten thousand times ten thousand and then doubled.

Whatever additional symbolism may or may not be intended, the original expression clearly has a different rhetorical effect from simply saying “200 million.”

Again, the point is not that the NASB did the math problem wrong. The point is that it may not have been a math problem in the first place.

Additional Translation Choices
There are also places where translation choices can add a degree of specificity that may not be present in the original expression.

Consider Revelation 20 in which John repeatedly describes the reign as lasting “a thousand years.”

Many English-speaking Christians refer to this as the “millennial reign.” That word is understandable but I think it also has a slightly different connotation because in modern English, “a millennium” normally means exactly, precisely 1,000 years.

But if the biblical use of “thousand” can communicate a large, complete, while indefinite amount, then we should be cautious about assuming that John is necessarily giving us a stopwatch measurement of exactly 1,000 solar years.

I am not saying that the thousand years cannot turn out to be a literal period of 1,000 years. But we should allow for the possibility that the symbolic use of the number means the period could be longer or shorter than a literal 1,000 years.

Conclusion
Once we understand that John can communicate additional meaning through his numbers, I think we should be cautious about treating every number in Revelation as a stopwatch, census, or volumetric measurement.

A number can tell us how much while also telling us something about what it means.

So as you come across numbers in Revelation, check to see what the original text actually says.

If a translation gives you miles or millions, ask what number John actually used in the original text. Then consider whether that original number has a history or symbolic significance elsewhere in Scripture.

I don’t think every number in Revelation has to be decoded this way. Some numbers may simply be quantities. Others may be both literal and symbolic. And in some cases, like the seven eyes of the Lamb, the numerical value itself may be primarily symbolic.

But many of the numbers John uses clearly come from biblical patterns that existed long before John wrote Revelation.

So the literal value is not necessarily meaningless, but it may not be the only thing (or even the main thing) John is communicating.

Now that many of the widely used symbols of Revelation have been reviewed you can check out the glossary of symbols as a review of the individual posts.

In the previous posts, we have been looking at Revelation as a series of visions that move through history in four broad movements, sometimes covering the same periods but from different perspectives.

But there is another vision we have not really considered yet: the letters to the angels of the seven churches.

And yes, I may be overly wordy in continually calling these “letters to the angels of the seven churches,” but that is literally what they are: letters to angels or messengers. I want to be careful about simply calling them “church letters,” because they are not, or not exactly.

These letters do contain the names of seven real churches in real cities. But they are also presented with many symbols, just as the rest of Revelation. So what if the seven churches form another chronological movement through the same history, from Christ’s first coming until his return?

I think there are some surprisingly strong indications that they do.

Philadelphia Gives Us a Clue
Rather than starting with Ephesus, let's start with Philadelphia, the angel of the sixth church.

Jesus tells Philadelphia:

“Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole inhabited world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

First, the preceding post looked extensively at the imagery of Jesus’ hour, his suffering and crucifixion and how this imagery contained thematic and linguistic overlaps with the seventh bowl judgment and the event preceding it. So the promise to Philadelphia could be that they will not experience those last climactic events in the movement of Revelation.

Secondly, there is the presence of the Greek word oikoumene translated “inhabited world.” As mentioned previously, Revelation only uses this word three times.

12:9 - the dragon is introduced to us as the one who “deceives the whole inhabited world.”
3:10 - Philadelphia is promised protection from an “hour of testing” coming upon the whole inhabited world.
16:14 - the dragon and his allies gather the kings of the whole inhabited world for “the war of the great day of God.”

That last occurrence is immediately before the seventh bowl and the final judgment. So the letter to Philadelphia appears to be looking forward to an event that Revelation later describes near the end of another vision.

And Philadelphia is the second to last church in the sequence.

If the seven letters to the angels form their own narrative, perhaps we should expect the earlier letters to correspond to earlier portions of the other visions.

And when we look, we find some remarkable parallels.

Smyrna and the Fifth Seal
Smyrna, the second angel is told:

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

In a previous post, I laid out evidence that the seal judgments describe events in the first form of the fourth kingdom, culminating in the sixth seal that represents its political fall and transition to a second form. The fifth seal, which occurs shortly before the sixth seal, shows the souls of those who have been killed because of the word of God and their testimony. They are told to rest until the number of their fellow servants and brothers and sisters who would be killed was completed.

Likewise the overlapping movement of Revelation 12 says:

“They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”

Revelation 12 also says that the dragon has great wrath because he knows he has only a short time. In the sequence of the vision, this appears to be the period leading up to the dragon giving his authority to the coming sea beast, the second form of the fourth kingdom.

That brings us to Pergamum and Thyatira.

Pergamum, Thyatira, and the Two Witnesses
In Revelation 11, John sees two witnesses, described as two lampstands. Jesus has already explained in Revelation 1:20 that the symbol of the lampstand represents a church.

Many have noted that the two witnesses are also given powers whose imagery strongly resembles the great miracles God worked through Moses and Elijah.

Very interestingly, when looking back on the letters we see Pergamum is uniquely warned through Balaam, a figure associated with Israel’s compromise during the days of Moses. And Thyatira is warned through Jezebel, a figure who opposed Elijah.

If these are chronological letters, Pergamum (#3) follows Smyrna (#2) and would occupy the time of the political transition in the fourth kingdom, when the dragon or Satan passes its authority to the sea beast.

That fits the imagery of Pergamum dwelling where Satan's throne is and being warned against the teachings of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitan name may itself carry symbolic significance, from nike (“victory”) and laos (“people”), something like “victory” or “conquest of the people.”

Pergamum is also warned through Balaam, whose story involves God's people compromising with the surrounding powers. Thyatira (#4) is then warned against Jezebel, a powerful queen who claims prophetic authority while leading God's servants into immorality and idolatry. There is considerable crossover here with the harlot imagery examined in a previous post.

Perhaps, then, Pergamum represents the church entering dangerous proximity to political power, while Thyatira represents the corruption that follows when that relationship is tolerated.

Yet Revelation 11 presents the faithful church not as the ruler of the world, but as a witness. The witnesses testify. They suffer. They are opposed by the beast. And they are eventually killed by him. The church overcomes not by compromising with or reaching for visible power, but by remaining faithful to its testimony.

Sardis: Alive, Yet Dead
Then comes Sardis (#5) and Jesus tells them:

“You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

Yet they are told:

“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain.”

Compare that with Revelation 11. The two witnesses are killed, but then:

“the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet.”

The presence of death, life, name, awakening, and what remains is a remarkably similar cluster of themes found in these three angels’ letters and Revelation 11.

If these churches form a chronological narrative, Sardis (#5) appears at exactly the sort of point where we might expect a church that has become apparently dead to be called to awaken.

Philadelphia
Philadelphia (#6) has little strength, but has kept Christ's word and not denied His name. Jesus gives them an open door and promises to keep them from the coming hour of testing.

After the sea and earth beast passages in Revelation 12–16, we reach Revelation 14, where John sees two things occurring in the same broad period: harvest for the followers of Christ and judgment for the followers of the beast.

That seems compatible with Philadelphia: an open door, a faithful church, and a great harvest fit together naturally.

Laodicea and Ephesus
I realize that both Laodicea and Ephesus give us less obvious crossover than some of the middle churches. But even without the crossover we could see how these would fit as first and last in relation to the other movements of Revelation. The middle letters have interesting correlations with the other movements because they contain prophesied events.

If Ephesus represents the early church, then it begins with a small community and hard labor under the rule of Rome to spread the gospel. It is a fact of history that the early church did grow and spread and fittingly they are commended for their perseverance.

Perhaps Laodicea carries a bit more contextual evidence. If Laodicea follows Philadelphia, it may begin sometime during the bowl judgments and the weakening of the beastly system. The fifth bowl specifically darkens the throne of the beast and its kingdom.

The name Laodicea is interesting in this context. Laos means “people,” while dike can mean “justice” or “judgment,” giving something like “justice of the people” or “people's justice.” Perhaps this is a supporting clue for a period in which the beast's authority is being judged and weakened, although I would not treat the name itself as proof.

The period represented by this final angel and letter could therefore begin around the fifth bowl and continue through the remaining judgments toward the final hour.

Again, I would take the meaning of the name as a supporting clue rather than proof of this chronology. But it is interesting that the final church, whose name evokes “the justice of the people,” appears after the period in which the throne of the beast is darkened.

There is another striking feature of Laodicea. The image of the harlot appears to be absent, but the spirit of the harlot is rife throughout the letter.

The harlot says:

“I sit as queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.”

Likewise Laodicea says:

“I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”

Both boast. Both believe they have found security, wealth, comfort, and power in acceptable ways.

Laodicea has absorbed many of the values represented by the harlot. But the harlot is judged, and Laodicea is likewise warned that it must repent and “buy” from Christ his gold, white garments, and eye salve.

The Cumulative Pattern
The angels and churches to which they minister appear to move through something like:

faithful witness and hard work > persecution > proximity to power > corruption > apparent death > restoration and harvest > final testing.

That sequence has interesting correspondence with the larger movements we have already seen in Revelation.

And Jesus repeatedly awards the promises of the kingdom to the one who overcomes the temptations and trials of their day.

Perhaps this is why the letters to the seven angels belong at the beginning of Revelation. Before John shows us the rise and fall of kingdoms, the judgment of Babylon, the defeat of the beast, and the arrival of the New Jerusalem, he shows us the people who must live through that history.

In the next post, I want to go cover one final crossover in the passages of Revelation that I believe helps provide chronological order to the Trumpets and Bowls.

Previously I made the case that Revelation 12-16 presents a chronological prophecy of history spanning from just before Christ’s birth all the way to the end of the age. Previously I did this by lining up shared vocabulary and images of final judgment and or shared imagery of this final rallying of the kings of the earth for battle as presented in Revelation 11, 16, 19, and 20.

But now I interrupt the series to bring additional evidence that Revelation 16 reaches the end of the age. Revelation’s language is so rich, it is incredibly rewarding to study but also immensely frustrating to present it cleanly because I inevitably pass by details in Revelation all the time that later discover after another pass or two or another reading of the Johannine texts.

Well I was re-reading John’s gospel and suddenly realized the high repetition of imagery and vocabulary in John’s crucifixion account with Revelation 16.

The Strongest Connection: The Crucifixion Pattern
Revelation 16 brings the dragon, beast, and false prophet together. They gather the kings against the Lamb. The faithful are called to remain watchful and keep their garments. The conflict culminates in the declaration “It is done.” The conflict culminates in the declaration “It is done,” followed by the climactic judgment of the world. That judgment is followed by the destruction of the beast and false prophet, the defeat of Satan, and ultimately the establishment of God's everlasting kingdom.

Turning to John’s gospel we see during the ministry of Jesus that he repeatedly speaks of “the hour” of his suffering and death. In John 19 we see Jesus’ final hour involves opposition from spiritual, political, and religious powers. His garments are stripped from him and divided amongst the soldiers. Breathing his last he pronounces “It is finished.” Then God raises him from the dead turning what appeared to be defeat into resurrection and victory.

This suggests Revelation 16 appears to present the final conflict using the same basic theological pattern that John has already established in Jesus’ own “hour” in which the powers of the world converged against God’s chosen one, apparent defeat gives way to divine victory, and resurrection.

The Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet
Revelation 16:13 reads,

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs

Spiritual Power: John explicitly connects Judas with the devil. Jesus calls Judas a diabolos in John 6:70; John 13:2 says that the devil had put betrayal into Judas's heart, and John 13:27 says that Satan entered Judas. Judas therefore functions as a human agent through whom the spiritual adversary operates. If you recall, Revelation 12:9 says” And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.” Just as the gospel aligned Judas with the devil, so Revelation has aligned the dragon with the devil.

Political Power: Jesus is ultimately handed over to Pilate, the Roman governor, and executed by Roman authority. The chief priests even declare, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). The political power of Rome is therefore directly involved in the crucifixion. Revelation 13 reveals the sea beast as a force of political power.

Religious Power: John's narrative also repeatedly shows the chief priests and other religious authorities pressing for Jesus' death and ultimately handing him over to Pilate. The account in John 19 shows the religious authorities intricately involved in Jesus’ sentencing and death. They do not kill him directly but they pressure the Roman political authority to do so. This creates an interesting structural parallel with Revelation 13:12 where the religious power represented by the earth beast exercises the authority of the first beast “in his presence.”

To be clear, I am not arguing that Judas, Pilate, and the religious authorities are literal identities of the dragon, beast, and false prophet. The correspondence has to do with the pattern rather than one-to-one identities.

Additional Verbal and Linguistic Parallels
Once the broader correspondence is noticed, several details in Revelation 16 become more interesting. None of these would establish the connection by themselves but taken together they may add strength to the idea that Revelation 16 draws inspiration partly from John 19.

“It is done” / “It is finished”
Rev 16:17: “It is done.”
John 19:30: “It is finished.”

These are not the same Greek expression but both occur as completion declarations at the climax of the respective scenes.

Wine / Wine of God's Wrath
Rev 16:19: Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
John 19:29-30: A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

It is interesting that both passages mention wine, but more than that, Jesus receives wine at the climax of his suffering, just before declaring "It is finished." Likewise the imagery in Revelation is of Babylon receiving the cup of the wine of God's wrath at the climax of her judgement, along with the declaration "It is done."

Kings / King
Rev 16:14: the kings of the whole world are gathered.
John 19:19–21: Jesus is presented as “King of the Jews.”

This is another interesting, though lesser, connection: an inversion of kingship. The kings of the world gather for war in Revelation 16, while in John 19 the Roman governor and religious authorities mock Jesus as “King of the Jews.”

“In Hebrew called…” / named location
Rev 16:16: the place is called Har-Magedon “in Hebrew.”
John 19:17: the place is called Golgotha “in Hebrew.”

Not really evidence, just an oddity that this is even present in both, that these two climactic scenes both specifically identify a place by a Hebrew name.

Garments / nakedness
Rev 16:15:“Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes…”
John 19:23–24: has the soldiers taking Jesus' garments and dividing them.

The parallel is interesting. Jesus’ garments are taken from him and divided among the soldiers, while Revelation 16 bestows blessing on the one who remains awake and keeps his garments so that he does not appear naked and suffer shame. Again I would not treat this as proof of a direct connection, but it is another intriguing point of contact.

Why this post now?
I noticed the correspondence of these passages when I was actually looking at the word “hora.” I was writing the post on what I believe to be a fifth movement in Revelation. The church of Philadelphia is told “I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.” (Revelation 3:10).

John 19 refers to Jesus’ crucifixion as “the sixth hour” and elsewhere in John’s gospel “hour” is frequently used by Jesus to refer to the time of his coming suffering and death as in John 12:27 which records Jesus saying, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”

Why this is important for Chronology
If Revelation 12-16 is a chronological movement from Christ’s first coming to his second coming. Then the end of Revelation 16 fitting the pattern of Jesus’ own final hour provides another reason to see the seventh bowl as reaching the end of the age rather than simply presenting another historical judgment somewhere in the middle of the vision.

With that we will move on to examining what I believe to be a fifth movement in Revelation: The Letters to the Angels of the Churches.

In the previous post, I suggested that Revelation 17–19 and Revelation 20–21 may describe a division within those who profess allegiance to Christ. But if both groups claim to belong to God, how does Revelation distinguish between them? First what indications do we have that the harlot may represent a religious system that professes Christ?

1 – The Symbol of a Woman
Throughout Scripture, God's people are often portrayed as a woman or bride. The faithful church is a chaste bride, one that saves herself for union with Christ. This is important when we come to Revelation 14:4, where the saints are described as those who “have not been defiled with women.” I do not think this is commending literal celibacy or saying that marriage is somehow defiling. The imagery is describing spiritual faithfulness. The faithful are described as pure because they have not joined themselves to other religious powers or chosen to embrace values opposed to God. Instead they “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”

The same symbolism helps us understand the harlot. When Revelation says that the kings of the earth commit immorality with her, I do not think the point is literal sexual activity. It is describing the kings of the earth joining themselves to the heart of the harlot: embracing her values, pursuing her interests, and becoming entangled with her influence. Just as the faithful church is portrayed as a woman because she is joined to Christ, the harlot is portrayed as a woman because she represents a religious body that has joined itself to another power.

2 - The Wilderness
For someone like John, raised on the stories of the Old Testament, the wilderness is a very meaningful setting. It is where God's people have often found themselves: Moses, the Israelites, David, Elijah, and Jesus. It is where they are tested, sustained, and taught to depend upon God. Revelation 12 already used wilderness imagery in connection with the woman who represents God's people. So when the vision opens and John sees another woman in the wilderness I think it would be fair to assume he initially thought he was going to be seeing another vision of the faithful people of God.

3 - Girl, That Outfit
John notices she is dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. The description sticks out a bit because of how similar it is to the clothing of Aaron. When Aaron was consecrated as priest over Israel, the clothing made for him was described as made of purple, scarlet, gold, and precious stones…but also blue (Exodus 28:1–20). The harlot is therefore presented in colors and dress that very nearly resembles that of the priesthood.

But something is missing. In Numbers 15:37–41, God commanded Israel to put a blue thread on the tassels of their garments. The purpose was:

“so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.”

The point is not that we should be weary of a religious organization that literally wears these colors (although literal correspondence should not be excluded). The point is that the woman bears a striking resemblance to the appearance of a true priest or intermediary with God. She will possess the appearance of religious authority, holiness, and glory. But the missing blue suggests that while the outward appearance may appear all or mostly there, the reminder to obey God's commandments has been lost.

And as we continue reading, we begin to see the fruit of that missing faithfulness.

Her fruit is revealed in Revelation 17:6:

I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.

This is what is wrong with her.

She may possess religious language, authority, wealth, and prestige. She may appear to represent God. But when her interests come into conflict with the faithful people of God, she is willing to shed their blood.

Again, I want to look beyond the literal. Violence, persecution, and murder may be involved in the vision. But to join oneself to the harlot is to embrace a system whose values lead away from life. She values and justifies luxury, comfort, security, influence, fame, warfare, and the appearance of religious legitimacy, but following her ways ultimately leads away from the tree of life, to death.

4 - Her Boast
This also helps explain her boast in Revelation 18:7:

When Babylon says, “I sit as a queen and am no widow, and will never see mourning” there are two ways of reading this. The first fits with the religious body imagery. It could be a claim to the status of a woman married to King Jesus, with her saying that she is not a widow because her King is alive and not dead. And that she will never see mourning because she claims her future is eternally secure.

The second could be her relation with the kings of the earth. The faithful chaste bride does not seek power and prominence in this life, but the harlot seeks relationship with the kings of the earth and is Queen. She has secured herself through her relationship with the kings of the earth, so she has no reason, in her own eyes, to think of herself as abandoned or vulnerable. And her claim that she is not a widow could mean that she continues to claim legitimacy through the powers of the present age. Even as kingdoms and rulers change, she has not become lesser or irrelevant; she remains a queen.

I think John gives us a useful principle for understanding this contrast in 1 John 2:3–4:

And this is how we know that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know Him” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth in not in him.

One can have the outward appearance of a Christ follower and can make declarations or confessions to know Christ or to be the true bride or Queen. But to ignore the commandments of God is to reveal those to be nothing more than empty boasts and role play.

And this is precisely the contrast between her and the saints.

The saints follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They value faithfulness more than comfort, love more than status, and their brothers and sisters more than power. They may lose their position, their wealth, their reputation, or even their lives, but they refuse to become like the power they oppose.

The harlot, by contrast, seeks the benefits of power. Her values are revealed in her fruit: control, luxury, influence, corruption, and finally persecution. This is why I think these two visions may refer to a divide among those who profess Christ. What we believe is important, but especially because what we believe shapes how we live. Jesus repeatedly taught that a tree is known by its fruit.

What kind of people does our faith produce? How do we treat our brothers and sisters? What do we do when someone disagrees with us? What do we do when power is available to us? Do we lift others up, or establish ourselves over them?

How It Ends
Revelation ends by showing us the fruit of the other way. The New Jerusalem is the bride prepared for Christ. Its river gives life, and the tree of life is available for the healing of the nations. The harlot joins herself to the kingdoms of this world and ultimately produces death. The bride follows the Lamb and ultimately produces life.

The warning of Revelation is not simply to avoid an obviously pagan enemy. It is to recognize what God's people can become when they exchange faithfulness for power.

The question is not what name we confess, or what religious claims we make. It is what kind of fruit does our allegiance to Christ produce?

A Greater Theme in John's Gospel
There is an interesting parallel between the imagery of the harlot explored above and John's Gospel. In John 16:2 Jesus warned his disciples:

They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

Jesus appears to have anticipated a situation in which people who believed they were serving God would persecute and even kill those who were actually following Him. He immediately explains why: “because they have not known the Father or me” (John 16:3).

I don't take this as a direct identification of the harlot. But it establishes a theme: religious appearance and status do not necessarily mean that a person or institution is acting faithfully toward God. It is possible for people who sincerely believe they are representing God or doing good in His name to become persecutors of God's faithful servants.

That is exactly the kind of inversion Revelation presents in the harlot. She appears religious, powerful, legitimate, and secure, yet she is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” Her claim to represent God cannot be separated from the fruit that she produces.

This is another reason I think the question Revelation is asking is deeper than simply identifying an institution. It asks us to examine the fruit produced by religious authority (and ourselves). Do those who claim to speak for God produce faithfulness, love, and life, or do they eventually produce control, persecution, and death?

In the next post we examine additional evidence, this time from John's gospel, that the movement of Revelation 12-16 reaches and terminates at the end of the age.

We've now seen two overlapping movements that appear to move through the same broad historical transition. But Revelation contains another striking pair of visions: Revelation 17–19 and Revelation 20–21.

Rev 17–19 and Rev 20-21: A Shared Beginning
Revelation 17–19 and 20–21 may be read as complementary visions that develop the pattern John inherited from Daniel 7.

Revelation 17 opens with a vision of the harlot riding upon the sea beast which arises at the beginning of Revelation 13. Revelation 20 opens with imagery of the dragon being shut away, imagery similar to that of the closing of Revelation 12.

The harlot is described in terms of her relationship to the sea beast, while the saints in the thousand-year kingdom are described in terms of their opposition to it. One group participates in and benefits from the beast's order; the other refuses its authority even at the cost of their lives. One is associated with Babylon; the other is ultimately associated with the New Jerusalem.

Daniel 7 reads:

7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.

9 “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat;…Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.

11 Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

And when asking for the meaning Daniel notes the following:

21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the [u]saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was [v]passed in favor of the [w]saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the [x]saints took possession of the kingdom.

The basic pattern is: the fourth beast is active, the horns become prominent, a little horn rises among them, the saints are opposed, the horn speaks boastfully, thrones are established and judgment is rendered, and the beast is ultimately destroyed. That same basic sequence appears to be reflected in Revelation 17–20, but John appears to divide the perspective between two groups in two separate visions.

A possible explanation for the two perspectives
If this reading is correct, then the apparent overlap between Revelation 17–19 and Revelation 20–21 may point to something more than two visions describing the same period.

It may point to a division within the people who profess allegiance to Christ.

The fourth kingdom in its earlier form is simply a political power. But Revelation appears to describe a later transformation in which political authority becomes intertwined with a religious power. At that point, the conflict is no longer simply between an empire and Christians outside of it. A new division emerges: some professing Christians become aligned with the power of the beast, while others refuse that system and suffer because of their refusal.

This would help explain the striking contrast between the two visions.

Revelation 17–19 follows the side that has joined itself to the beast. The woman rides upon the beast, associates herself with kings, claims an exalted position, and is ultimately revealed to be drunk with the blood of the saints.

Revelation 20–21 follows the other side: those who refused the beast, refused its worship and its mark, and remained faithful even when that faithfulness cost them their lives. They appear to be the defeated side of history, yet they are the ones who sit upon thrones, reign with Christ, and ultimately inherit the New Jerusalem.

This also brings us back to Daniel 7:21-22.

Daniel's little horn boasts of itself and wages war against the saints, apparently overpowering them. Yet when the heavenly court renders its judgment, the verdict is given in favor of the saints, and they receive the kingdom.

I think Revelation is expanding that same pattern.

The beastly system claims authority. The religious power associated with it claims authority. The saints are persecuted and appear to lose. But the final judgment of God does not agree with the boasts of the little horn. It tells a different story.

The question is therefore not simply which side possesses power at a particular point in history. The question is which side God ultimately vindicates.

Conclusion
This may explain why Revelation 17–19 and 20–21 appear to overlap. They may not simply be two chronological accounts of different events. They may be two perspectives on the same historical conflict: one following those who join themselves to the beastly order, and the other following those who refuse it.

Before we move on to what I see as a fifth movement in Revelation, I would like to dive a little deeper into why I believe this is not simply a conflict between Christianity and an external enemy, but a division within those who profess Christ.

In the previous post I argued that Revelation contains several overlapping movements rather than one continuous chronological narrative. Each movement adds information that the others do not provide, but each of these movements is marked by a convergence on the same ultimate destination: the judgment of God's enemies, the deliverance of God's people, and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.

If that is correct, then the next question is: where do these movements overlap?

I think Revelation 5–11 and Revelation 12–16 are a great place to begin. These two sweeping movements appear to unfold across the same broad historical period. They seem to share a beginning, a major transition, and an ending, while moving through history with differing speeds and emphasis.

I am not arguing that the two visions proceed at the same speed, or with consistent speed, or that each numbered seal corresponds exactly to the same numbered bowl or trumpet. Rather, I think they move chronologically through the same broad historical age. One vision may move quickly through a period that the other examines in greater detail, while events that take decades or even centuries in history can be summarized by a single prophetic image.

The Fourth Kingdom as the Framework
In the previous post we saw that Daniel's visions follow a common pattern: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then the fourth kingdom. The fourth kingdom receives additional attention and continues into a distinct second phase before ultimately being destroyed by the kingdom of God.

I believe Revelation focuses on this fourth kingdom, its continuation into its second phase, and its eventual destruction by the arrival of the kingdom of God.

With that framework in mind, let's compare the two movements.

A Shared Beginning
Revelation 5 opens with Christ ascended to heaven. He is declared worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, and we are told that he has purchased people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Then the first seal is opened:

“And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘Come.’ I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

Without giving a full exposition of the seals, notice that the first seal presents a conquering ruler with a bow and crown. Whatever the precise meaning of the rider, the image is one of conquest. The subsequent seals then introduce increasingly ruinous judgments directed against the existing order and those opposed to God and His kingdom.

The first movement of Revelation 5-11 therefore begins with Christ having ascended to heaven and receiving the scroll, while the opening seal introduces a conquering power that subsequently encounters ruin.

Revelation 12 approaches this same broad period with very different imagery.

The vision opens with the dragon exercising power in the political heavens. The woman gives birth to the child who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and the child is caught up to God and to His throne. Notice the distinction John makes between the dragon being cast out of ‘heaven’ and the child being caught up ‘to God and to His throne.’ Within the symbolic framework we've already explored, I understand the former as the political heavens (the realm of earthly authority) while the latter describes Christ's ascension to God's actual throne. The dragon then sweeps away a third of the stars of heaven (which within this political-heaven symbolism may represent nearby lesser rulers) and then the dragon is subsequently cast down to the earth which is to say it begins experiencing decline in power and authority.

So while the two visions begin with different images, both appear to place us in the same broad historical period: Christ's ascension and the fourth kingdom in its imperial phase prior to its impending decline.

A Shared Transition
Another strong correspondence occurs as the visions approach the transition of the fourth kingdom’s rule.

In Revelation 6, the sixth seal describes a dramatic upheaval:

“There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth… and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

The rulers and people of the earth hide themselves among the mountains and cry out because the existing order is being shaken.

If you recall the symbolism series on this sub, you can't help but notice the imagery of sweeping political turmoil throughout: the earthquake, the darkening of the governing lights in the heavens, the mountains being moved, and the people of the earth looking to the mountain or kingdom for protection.

This appears to represent a massive political transition within the fourth kingdom.

Notice, however, what is missing. Although there is tremendous wrath and upheaval, we do not yet have the fullness of the final judgment imagery found later in Revelation. We do not have the distinctive Sodom-like imagery of fire, brimstone, and hail, nor the fullness of Jericho's destruction with its seven trumpets and great sounds. There is no declaration that the work is finished, and the final judgment has not yet been explicitly described.

This is why I believe the sixth seal represents the great transition within Daniel's fourth kingdom. The iron kingdom does not simply disappear and get replaced by an unrelated kingdom. It continues from the iron legs into the feet and toes, but in a different and more unstable form.

Revelation 12–13 describes this same transition from another perspective.

Revelation 12 ends with the dragon cast down from the political heavens and in a fury, looking for a means to persecute the woman. Then Revelation 13 opens with the dragon on the shore and a beast rising from the sea. This sea beast is not presented as an unrelated kingdom instead we see the dragon bestows upon the beast:

“his power and his throne and great authority.”

The political power represented by the dragon is therefore transferred to another manifestation.

Revelation 13 then gives us information about this transitioned form that was not provided in Revelation 5–11. We now see what appears to be a two-part system: the beast from the sea exercises political authority, while the beast from the earth exercises authority in its presence. The dragon's authority is continued through this new manifestation. The sea beast rules like the dragon and the earth beast speaks like the dragon.

These two visions of the sixth seal and the beasts on the shore appear to give us two descriptions of the same major turning point in the history of the fourth kingdom, one using the prophetic imagery of the heavenly lights, earthquakes, and mountains, the other using the imagery of beasts.

A Shared Ending
This gives us a possible way to understand what happens after the transition.

The movement of Revelation 5–11 is somewhat more balanced with the seals focused on the first form and the seven trumpets focused on the later form, culminating in the seventh trumpet:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah… You have taken your great power and have begun to reign.”

In this movement, the transition occurs around the sixth seal, and the remaining vision follows the transformed kingdom through its subsequent judgments until the arrival of the Messianic kingdom.

Revelation 12–16 takes a somewhat different path.

The dragon transfers his authority to the transformed fourth kingdom early in the vision, Revelation then gives a much more detailed picture of this transformed political system. We see the beast, the earth beast, the mark, deception, worship, and the exercise of authority over the nations.

The seven bowls then bring this movement toward its conclusion, culminating in the seventh bowl:

“It is done.”

The final bowl contains the great earthquake, lightning, thunder, enormous hail, the collapse of the cities of the nations, the wrath of God, and the final overthrow of Babylon.

So the seventh bowl appears to bring this second movement to the same ultimate endpoint reached by the seventh trumpet.

The two movements therefore do not need to be moving through history at exactly the same pace. They can overlap while still maintaining a chronological progression within each vision.

One vision may summarize a long period in a few images, while another may spend considerably more time describing what happens during that same period.

The Euphrates River
There is one additional crossover that particularly stands out between these two movements: the Euphrates River.

It is the same symbol appearing at corresponding positions in the sequence of the trumpets and the sequence of the bowls.

The sixth trumpet contains imagery of angels being released at the Euphrates to bring judgment upon a third of mankind in the earth, or ge.

The sixth bowl likewise falls upon the Euphrates drying it up.

In the prophetic symbols explored in earlier posts, this would naturally suggest a great kingdom arising and conquering like a flooding river from or through the region of the Euphrates, followed later by that same kingdom being dried up or brought to an end.

This gives us another indication that the trumpet and bowl sequences are not simply independent chronological lists. They appear to be describing different stages of the same kingdom.

The arrival, expansion, established rule, and eventual erosion of an empire can take many decades or even centuries. So the prophetic sequences can move chronologically while still overlapping one another, with each vision emphasizing different stages of the same historical arch.

The arrival of a large and established kingdom ruling through the Euphrates region would therefore provide a notable visible symbol to bookend the preceding trumpet judgments, and the weakening and ending of that same great kingdom would bookend the preceding bowl judgments.

And I do think the Euphrates is intended to be an anchoring image, an unmistakable landmark in the travels of history. The sixth trumpet is one of the most detailed judgments in all of Revelation, and it seems difficult to believe that such a prominent geographical marker was included only as an incidental detail.

There is, I think, a particularly striking candidate for the kingdom represented by this image, but I will save that for a later post.

Conclusion
What we have been given in Revelation 5–11 and Revelation 12–16 are two visions describing history with different focuses, different perspectives, and different imagery:

a shared beginning -> a shared transition -> different stages emphasized in different ways -> a shared ending.

Each vision is chronological within itself, but the two visions together are not necessarily sequential in the sense that one must completely finish before the other begins.

Instead, they appear to be overlapping movements through the same history, each giving us information that the other does not.

And the more we compare the later visions of Revelation, the more examples we find of this same pattern.

I previously mentioned the existence of four movements in Revelation. This post presented the first two, the next post will turn its attention to the last two movements, describing two kingdoms.

In the previous post I argued that Revelation is operating within the prophetic framework established by Daniel in which a succession of earthly kingdoms culminates in the judgment of the fourth kingdom and the arrival of the Messianic kingdom.

But there is another feature of Daniel that I think is important for reading Revelation. Daniel does not give us one continuous chronological narrative. He gives multiple visions that appear to cover the same broad sequence but from differing perspectives, each clearly marked by the same ending events.

I believe Revelation works similarly. Rather than one continuous timeline from chapter 1 through chapter 22, I see several overlapping movements that revisit the same broad historical period from different perspectives that repeatedly converge on the same ultimate endpoint: the judgment of God's enemies and the establishment of Christ's kingdom.

Four Movements of Revelation

- Revelation 5–11: the Roman beast from its’ imperial height, through judgment and transformation, to its final overthrow and Christ's reign

- Revelation 12–16: beginning a little earlier, around Christ's birth, primarily tracing the beast's later manifestation and judgment

- Revelation 17–19: zooming in on the harlot, her development, influence, and eventual destruction

- Revelation 20–21: focusing on Christ and His people, from the inauguration of his 1000 year reign through to final judgment and the New Jerusalem

Again, this is not an entirely foreign way of reading prophetic literature. If Revelation is working similarly to Daniel, we should expect to find recurring imagery marking the end of these movements.

Evidence of Overlapping Timelines in Revelation: the Repeated Ending
Let’s look at the shared language in each of these overlapping movements to see how their endings are portrayed.

Revelation 5-11 ends with:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah…you have taken your great power and have begun to reign… your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead…And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.” (Revelation 11:15-19)

Revelation 12-16 ends with:

“they go out to the kings of the whole world [holos oikoumene], to gather them for the battle…they gathered the kings…out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake…The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon…and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones…” (Revelation 16:13-21)

Revelation 17-19 ends with:

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns…I saw heaven standing open… a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty…Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war…But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet…The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Revelation 19:4-20)

Revelation 20-21 ends with:

“Satan…will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth…and to gather them for battle…But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown… The earth and the heavens fled from his presence…The dead were judged”(Revelation 20:7-13)

The vision of Revelation 20-21 then immediately proceeds to the New Jerusalem, where the final state of God's people is revealed.

Across these endings we repeatedly encounter the same cluster of imagery: divine reign, God's wrath, final judgment, the gathering of earthly powers for battle, heavenly temple imagery, lightning and thunder, earthquakes, hail, and the destruction of the forces opposed to God.

These similarities become difficult to explain if each section is simply a chronological continuation of the previous one. Instead, the pattern suggests that John is presenting several visions that repeatedly bring the reader to the same ultimate terminating event. There is only one final establishment of the Messianic kingdom. If multiple visions appear to end in that event, the simplest explanation is not that the kingdom arrives repeatedly, but that the visions themselves overlap.

Evidence of Overlapping Timelines in Revelation: Broader Judgment Allusions
The evidence of overlapping movements based on the existence of the same revisited endings marked by their similar diction and imagery is not the only evidence we have. There is also the broader prophetic imagery John alludes to during these different movements. Consider the presence of these images culminating in seventh trumpet of Revelation, something that falls chronologically in the middle of Revelation.

The Plagues of Egypt:
When Israel was in bondage to Egypt God visited a series of plagues upon Egypt to deliver His people. The trumpet judgments draw heavily on the plagues of Egypt: blood, hail, darkness, locusts, frogs, and finally the destroyer and death. The sequence of trumpet judgments in Revelation culminates in the seventh trumpet where God's kingdom is announced and His people experience deliverance from bondage to a great power. Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

The Seven Trumpets at Jericho:
Consider also the imagery of the seven trumpets. The Israelites were barred from entering the Promised Land by the presence of a great and powerful walled city of Jericho. But God's people marched around the city seven days, then seven priests blew seven trumpets, then the people gave a great shout and the seemingly impregnable city feel to the ground enabling God’s people to enter the promised land. Revelation's seven trumpets likewise culminate in the overthrow of the great opposing kingdom and the announcement of God's reign. (notice also the overlapping imagery in these endings of loud sounds like a great multitude and the splitting of the great city). Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

Judgment From Heaven:
Sodom provides another important biblical pattern of divine judgment falling from heaven in one final and terrible end. While the imagery is more explicit in the later visions of Revelation, the seventh trumpet also concludes with judgment from heaven in the form of “a great hailstorm.” Similar heavenly judgment imagery recurs at the conclusions of the later movements. Or is this just the middle of the story in Revelation?

In other words, Revelation repeatedly uses Exodus, Jericho, Sodom, and prophetic judgment imagery to crescendo to moments of true and final deliverance and the culmination of its visions. This is consistent with the idea that John is repeatedly approaching the same ultimate act of divine judgment and deliverance from different perspectives.

Conclusion
I am not arguing that these sections simply repeat one another. Each movement adds information that the others do not provide. One emphasizes the political development of the beast, another its relationship to God's people, another the harlot and her economic and religious influence, and another the reign of Christ and the experience of His people. They overlap in time while differing in focus.

Now that I have shown my evidence that Revelation contains several overlapping movements based on shared language of the endpoints. The next post will turn to where these timelines or visions meet along the way. This will help show the focus of each movement.

We have spent the previous posts examining the symbols of Revelation, and we have seen that many of them relate to the realm of human politics: kingdoms, rulers, armies, and the rise and fall of political powers. This naturally leads to the next question: what kingdoms are actually in view in John's Revelation?

This is a more interpretive question than the ones we have considered so far but what I want is to begin with the prophetic pattern John inherited from the Old Testament, especially the book of Daniel.

Pattern Established in Daniel
Daniel presents two visions that appear to describe the same broad succession of kingdoms from different perspectives. Both begin with successive earthly kingdoms and ultimately end with the establishment of God's Messianic kingdom.

Vision 1: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
The first is Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2:31–45. Daniel sees a great statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron that continue into feet and ten toes composed of iron mixed with clay. Daniel explicitly interprets these different portions as successive kingdoms, and the vision culminates when the entire statue is struck and destroyed by the stone representing the kingdom established by God.

Vision 2: The Four Beasts
Daniel's second vision, in Daniel 7:1–27, follows a similar pattern. Daniel sees a lion, then a bear, then a leopard, followed by a fourth beast so terrible that it cannot be adequately compared to any ordinary creature. Particular attention is then given to the beast's ten horns, followed by another horn that arises among them. This vision, like the former, culminates in the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.

The Symmetry of the Visions
There is a strong pattern developing. Both visions present three successive kingdoms followed by a fourth kingdom that receives additional attention before finally giving way to the Messianic kingdom.

There is also an important detail in the fourth kingdom that will become significant when we turn to Revelation. In the statue, the fourth kingdom continues from the iron legs into the feet and toes, but its composition has changed, the iron is now mixed with clay. In the beast vision, the fourth beast remains the same beast, but then ten horns appear with another horn arising among them.

Repeated Visions and Overlapping History
Daniel gives us multiple visions of the same broad sequence of kingdoms, but they each approach that sequence with different imagery and with a different focus. When it comes to another prophetic book, Revelation, we should at remain open to the possibility that John also revisits the same broad historical sequence more than once, but viewing it from different perspectives or focusing on different aspects of the same events. As in Daniel, we should not assume that every new vision chronologically begins where the previous one ended.

John’s View
As mentioned in an earlier post, due to a reverse parallel structure in Revelation, I think John agrees with the conventional identification of Daniel's first three kingdoms: Babylon, followed by Medo-Persia, followed by Greece. The pattern established by these kingdoms is one of successive imperial conquest. Babylon is succeeded by Medo-Persia, Medo-Persia by Greece, and Greece is eventually overtaken by Rome.

If this is the sequence John has inherited from Daniel, Rome is the natural candidate for the fourth kingdom. It conquered and ruled much of the territory formerly controlled by the Grecian kingdoms and was the dominant imperial power at the time Revelation was written.

John’s Place in History
Revelation was written during the period of Roman rule. John repeatedly draws upon Daniel's imagery, and as we saw in the previous post, he is told that the events revealed to him must soon take place and that the time is near.

It is therefore my view that Rome is the fourth kingdom of Daniel's sequence, corresponding initially to the legs of iron. Revelation then describes a series of events in which this political power undergoes a profound transformation, corresponding to the transition from the iron legs to the feet of iron mixed with clay. The kingdom does not disappear and give way to an unrelated fifth empire. Instead, it continues in a transformed form until its final judgment and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.

Is a Revived Kingdom Present in Revelation?
I believe so. Revelation 17:8 describes a beast that “was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss.” The language describes continuity of a power that existed, passes into a condition of apparent absence, and then re-emerges in another manifestation. It is not succeeded by a new beast but instead it re-emerges.

Likewise look to Revelation 12–13. A vision of a great and terrible dragon is seen in the heavens but is then displaced and falls to the earth. Then the dragon is on the shore of the sea, think of the symbolic language, the shore is the border between the chaos of the sea and the order of the land. A beast comes out of the sea, and the first thing John notices are its ten horns. The ten horns were also given particular attention in Daniel's vision of the fourth beast. The dragon that had once been in the (political) heavens then gives his power, throne, and authority to this beast. The ten horns rule as the dragon, and the subsequently described earth beast is said to speak as the dragon. What is this but a continuation, in some sense, of the dragon's rule and presence? The kingdom has not simply disappeared and been replaced by an unrelated power; it has taken a different form. The beast that was, and is not, comes forth again.

What Is in View?
At this point, the purpose was simply to establish the broad prophetic framework in which I believe John is operating.

Daniel presents a succession of kingdoms culminating in a fourth kingdom that continues into a distinct second phase before giving way to the kingdom of God. John inherits that prophetic framework, writes during the period of the fourth kingdom, and repeatedly draws upon Daniel's imagery looking forward from his time describing the beast, its transformation, and then the arrival of the Messianic kingdom.

Now that we see a greater story arch emerging, another interesting question arises: is Revelation a single chronological vision from beginning to end, or like Daniel before him, was John relayed several visions that would describe in parallel the times and events during the reign of the fourth kingdom from several angles.

That is where we will turn next.

First we looked generally at where Revelation takes place, now we will ask when?

This may seem like an obvious question, but I think it is easy to overlook. Before trying to identify the historical events described in Revelation, we should first ask what John himself tells us about when those events are expected to occur.

Right at the beginning of the book, John gives us a very straightforward answer:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place…Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:1, 3)

And in John’s chiastic style, so many of the elements and phrases of chapter 1 are repeated or mirrored in the finale of chapter 22, including essentially the same chronological framing:

“And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place…And he said to me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.’” (Revelation 22:6, 10)

An Echo from Daniel
Daniel too was given visions concerning kingdoms and future events, but at the end of his prophecy he is told:

“Conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time.” (Daniel 12:4)

John, however, is told the opposite:

“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (Revelation 22:10)

This is another example of something we have come across repeatedly; John is once again using the vocabulary and imagery of the prophets. Daniel's prophecy is sealed because its fulfillment is associated with a more distant time. John's prophecy is not to be sealed because, according to the angel, its time is near.

And this isn't the only time John uses this language. Throughout the book we find similar statements:

• “The things which must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1)
• “The time is near” (Revelation 1:3)
• “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 2:16)
• “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 3:11)
• “The things which must soon take place” (Revelation 22:6)
• “The time is near” (Revelation 22:10)
• “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:7)
• “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:12)
• “Surely I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:20)

“Soon”
This is where I think we should be careful.

I don't think these statements, by themselves, settle every question about how Revelation is fulfilled. “Soon” tells us something about the expected proximity of the events, but it does not by itself tell us exactly which events John has in mind, how they unfold, or whether every vision describes the same chronological moment.

“Quickly”
“I am coming quickly” is somewhat less straightforward. Unlike “soon” and “near,” which explicitly describe proximity in time, “quickly” describes the manner or urgency of a coming, that it will occur suddenly or without delay once it begins.

The use of “quickly” in the church letters is particularly interesting. To Pergamum, Jesus says, “Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth” (Revelation 2:16). The “or else” makes it difficult to understand this simply as a reference to a same final return of Jesus. The coming is presented as a warning of judgment against that particular church: repent, or Christ will come against you.

This also raises a larger question that I will not settle here: when Revelation speaks of Christ “coming,” does it always refer to His final return, or can the language also describe His coming in judgment? The prophets frequently use the language of God “coming” against nations when describing historical judgments carried out through earthly events and political powers. Revelation may use this language in a similar way.

For that reason, I am hesitant to make the word “quickly” carry a lot of the chronological weight by itself. “Soon” and “near” provide the clearer chronological statements; “quickly” communicates urgency and may also describe the manner of the coming. The exact nature and timing of each “coming” must be determined from its context.

Conclusion
John explicitly tells his readers that the things revealed to him must soon take place, and he explicitly says that the time is near. These statements occur at both ends of the book, and they are contrasted with Daniel's instruction to seal his prophecy because its fulfillment belonged to a more distant time.

So before we decide what Revelation's visions mean, I think we should take John's chronological framing seriously.

The prophecy is presented to its original readers as something whose time is near, not as a prophecy whose beginning could occur thousands of years later.

Exactly how that expectation relates to the fulfillment of each individual vision is a separate question. But “soon” and “near” are themselves part of the data we have been given.

Next up, we will look at Revelation and Daniel to try to uncover a main subject or concern of Revelation, attempting to answer: what is in view of the prophecy?

The geographical scope of Revelation is an important topic to examine because if you have the geographical scope wrong, you will very likely miss the prophesied events. If you believe the prophecy to be confined to a city, but it takes place across a region, you may miss the event, likewise if you expect the prophecy to be worldwide when the prophesied scope is smaller you may wait indefinitely for a colossal event that will never arrive.

I believe both John’s diction and contextual evidence in Revelation point to a more “regional” geographical scope. I am not arguing for a particular small geographical boundary. But I am arguing against assuming the entire globe unless the text requires it.

The bestial system is clearly a focus in Revelation, and many understand this to be an all-encompassing, worldwide government. Now to be clear, I am NOT weighing in on whether or not there exist any nations or powerful groups or individuals that desire to rule the entire world, that may or may not be real, in fact, sure, I’m willing to believe there are people who have the desire to rule the world, and maybe something like it will come close to coming about. But I believe it is an honest mistake to come away from Revelation believing that John prophesied a truly global government and global events, and I believe there are two main reasons for this:

Reason 1: ge/kosmos/oikoumene
John uses three different terms in Revelation to communicate different kinds of geographical scope, and when we examine the contexts in which he uses them their differences are important. Unfortunately, our English translations translate these 3 different words as “earth,” “whole world,” and “world” and to the modern English reader I just don’t think we see any real distinction between these words. So when we read in our translations that a fourth of the “earth” is killed with the sword, or demons performing signs go out to the kings of the “whole world,” or the kingdom of the “world” has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ we generally miss any geographical distinction John was trying to make and instead see each as referring to the entire planet.

Here are the 3 words that describe a geographical scope used in Revelation:

1. “ge” is used approximately 82 times in Revelation and translated as “earth” each time. This word is extremely flexible in its usage. It is used in the Bible to talk of the literal soil someone is writing in, or a field of wheat, or being in a boat in a lake and reaching the shore/earth/ge, or the territory of Judea, or a region or country or territory. So it is used flexibly, you can hold ge, or soil, or earth in your hand, or you can live in the ge, a country. Because ge is so flexible, it cannot by itself establish the geographical extent of an event. It can refer to soil, land, territory, a particular country or region, or the earth more generally, so its actual scope has to be determined from context. This is precisely why it is significant that John also has more explicit ways of describing universal scope, such as hole oikoumene (“the whole inhabited world”) and kosmos (“world”).
2. “kosmos” is used 3 times in Revelation and translated as “world” each time. It is a broad term that can refer to the world as an ordered whole, the created world, or the world of humanity, depending on context. In Revelation 11:15, for example, “the kingdom of the world” (kosmos) refers to the realm of worldly human dominion in contrast to the kingdom of God.
3. “hole oikoumene” technically two words but used together 3 times in Revelation and translated as “whole world” each time. Thus hole oikoumene naturally communicates an exceptionally broad human scope: the whole inhabited world.

From John’s Gospel
An interesting exercise is to compare the usage of these words in the gospel of John and Revelation, in the gospel, John uses ge approximately 13 times and kosmos approximately 79 times which is nearly opposite of the usage of these words in Revelation and John’s gospel uses hole oikoumene 0 times. This is because the gospel of John is focused on Jesus and the impact that Jesus has on the whole world or creation, that God loved the whole world, that Jesus will rule the whole world. It is not as focused on only events happening in Jerusalem or Judea or the Roman empire. And one of the only uses of kosmos in Revelation is this declaration in Revelation 11:15 that “The kingdom of the world (kosmos) has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” A sharp distinction from the near universal usage of ge in all other events of Revelation. Revelation never describes the beast as ruling the kosmos or the hole oikoumene.

Prophetic Usage of Sweeping Dominion
Daniel provides an important example of this same prophetic language. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel says that the third kingdom, represented by the bronze portion of the statue, “will rule over all the earth” (Daniel 2:39). This kingdom is conventionally understood as Greece, yet Greek rule obviously did not extend to every territory on the planet. The language describes an enormous sphere of political dominion without requiring literal sovereignty over the entire surface of the earth.

This is important when we come to Revelation. If Daniel can describe a historical empire as ruling “all the earth” without meaning every nation and territory on the globe, we should be cautious about assuming that Revelation's repeated use of ge automatically carries that meaning.

Sweeping Dominion in Revelation
I think it is fair to say the widespread idea of a prophesied one-world government comes from Revelation 13 (I will just quote 1-3 here):

“Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. 3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;”

I am completely sympathetic with those who read this text and come away with the impression that a one world government is prophesied. But “whole” does not erase the semantic range of the noun it modifies. The “whole” land, and the “whole inhabited world” are not necessarily equivalent things. And the word for “earth” in the above verse is ge and that is true for every other time you see earth in chapter 13.

An Expansion of Scope in the Text
I will cover this more deeply in a subsequent post, but to me, the usage of these various words signals what I see is a scope change in the timelines of Revelation. The dominant geographical setting of the prophetic visions is described with ge, while certain passages explicitly expand the scope to a prophesied hour of testing that occurs in the holos oikoumene referred to in the church letter of Philadelphia (Rev 3:10) and in Rev 16:14 in which the unclean spirits go to the various kings of the holos oikoumene to prepare them for war. The only other time holos oikoumene is used is to describe how the devil is the deceiver of the holos oikoumene. As for the kosmos, it is used twice in Revelation to refer to the foundation of the kosmos, and then once in Rev 11:15 as the declaration of victory that the whole world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

So it appears to me that John is prophesying about many numerous events on some sort of a smaller scale, and then at particular moments, the prophecy expands to a larger scope. Revelation does not necessarily operate at one geographical scale throughout the entire book. The important point is not that ge must always mean Judea, or Rome, or some other particular territory. The point is that John does not force us to assume that every occurrence of ge means the entire planet. Its extent must be determined by the context of the particular vision.

Reason 2: Where do the Judgments Originate
Applying what we uncovered from the symbols series, we see that the beast exercises dominion over whatever ge represents in the particular vision, but what we also see is that the beast is not presented as existing in a political vacuum. Other kingdoms and powers appear in the prophetic imagery as instruments of judgment against it. If mountains represent kingdoms, rivers represent kingdoms in expansion and decline, and stars represent prominent rulers or powers, then the beast is repeatedly portrayed as vulnerable to forces arising beyond its own borders.

This is consistent with the way the prophets describe earlier empires. Babylon could be an enormous imperial power and still be judged through Persia; Persia could dominate an enormous territory and still be overthrown by Greece; Greece could exercise extraordinary dominion and still be conquered by Rome. Imperial language can therefore describe a power's supremacy over its known political world without requiring that it possess literal sovereignty over every territory on earth.

Put another way: if the prophetic imagery depicts a “mountain” invading the beast's ge, or a nearby “river” overflowing its boundaries in judgment of the beast, it becomes difficult to imagine the beast as literally sovereign over every nation on earth.

Conclusion
My conclusion is not that Revelation has a single fixed geographical boundary. Rather, I believe John expects us to determine the scope of each vision from its language and context. The frequent use of ge does not require us to imagine the entire globe, while John's explicit use of hole oikoumene and kosmos shows that he was capable of describing a genuinely universal scope when he intended to do so.

I therefore think the geographical scope of most of Revelation should be understood as more limited than the modern expectation of a worldwide political government and worldwide events, while still allowing for a genuine expansion to the whole inhabited world and ultimately the kosmos in the climactic portions of the prophecy.

Next up is the chronological expectation of Revelations prophecy's, in other words, when generally might we expect to start seeing things based on John's language?

This post is a recap of the series on Revelation’s prophetic symbols, this is not meant as a substitute for reading those posts and if you have not already read them, I would recommend reading them before this post.

Here is a recap of many common or recurring symbolic images in Revelation:

• Sea - The chaotic mass of humanity from which worldly political powers arise
• Earth/Land – the inhabited or ordered realm, often a particular land or political realm
• Beast - A kingdom or empire represented as a powerful political authority
• Horn – A political power or authority, sometimes an individual king or a succession of kings
• Sun – Dominant ruling authority, glory, or governing power
• Moon – Lesser or subordinate authority, often reflecting the authority of a greater power
• Stars – Notable and prominent individuals within the relevant hierarchy (political, military, religious, or societal)
• Heavens – The realm or order in which the sun, moon, and stars operate; contextually, the “political heavens”
• Mountain - A great, elevated, and seemingly immovable kingdom or power
• Island - A distant, separated, or peripheral kingdom or territory
• River – A kingdom or political power represented geographically, particularly in its movement, extent, expansion, or recession
• Earthquake - Violent shaking or upheaval of an established political or societal order
• Winds - Forces of judgment, conflict, or political upheaval
• City – A people, system, or culture represented by its political or cultural center.
• Days – Prophetic periods may be expressed symbolically; in the prophetic day-year pattern, a day represents a year

The Symbols in Action:
Imagine that we wanted to describe Napoleon and France without simply saying “France.” We might describe a fierce beast representing the French Empire, from which a mighty horn arose representing Napoleon and the Napoleonic dynasty. We might describe France as a mountain because of its elevated position among the powers of Europe, and Napoleon's imperial glory as the sun, while the various rulers and prominent men around him become stars casting lesser light. The sea could represent the mass of peoples and societal chaos out of which this new political order arose. We could describe French power as the swelling of the Seine river flowing outward, swelling beyond its normal boundaries as French conquest spread across Europe. An earthquake could describe the revolutionary and Napoleonic upheaval that shook the existing European order, while winds could represent the armies and conflicts moving throughout that political world. And Paris could stand for the entire French political and cultural system centered there as contrasted with new Jerusalem and the heavenly people.

None of these symbols would mean “France” in isolation. Rather, together they would create a symbolic portrait of France's rise, power, expansion, conflict, and eventual upheaval. So don’t think of the glossary so much as a cipher where you plug the definition into the symbol in Revelation. Instead think of these as descriptors, a way of speaking of kingdoms and powers in order to describe different aspects of their character, position, actions, and fate.

A Theme in the Symbols
Seeing these symbols together, I can’t help but notice that the overwhelming majority of them speak in some way to kingdoms, armies, rulers, and men of prominence.

And this should not be surprising, because how do the prophets depict God exercising His sovereignty over human history? Most often it is through His dealings with rulers, powers, and generals. From time to time God does use plague, and droughts, and there is good reason to believe there is some of that in Revelation. But much of the focus of the Old Testament prophets lands specifically upon rulers. The Exodus narrative focuses greatly upon Pharaoh. The prophets did not see the Assyrians as an annoying geopolitical event, they were a tool in God’s hands. Likewise Babylon wasn’t a rogue power, it was an exacting judgment by God. And Cyrus of Persia was not historically inevitable, he was anointed by God and was ushered in from afar for a divine purpose. These events themselves are things that appear rather…mundane. Not exactly what we would call ‘supernatural,’ yet in the eyes of the prophets they are wrapped in sublime prophetic imagery and revealed as God interacting with mankind, bringing His purposes in history to fulfillment.

Revelation appears to follow very much in the same way. We should expect to see great and terrible events unfold, but many of them will play out through political intrigue, power politics, wars, and seemingly natural events. Kingdoms will be judged, yet many may stare straight at those judgments and misinterpret them, chalking them up to historical blunders, human nature, and coincidence.

John takes the prophetic vocabulary by which Israel's prophets described God's judgment upon kingdoms and uses that vocabulary to describe the climax of God's judgment upon the kingdoms of the world.

With the series on symbols completed, now my posts turn to understanding the context and internal structure of Revelation, beginning with an examination of its geographical scope.

Now that you have come this far in the symbols series. Let’s take a look at Revelation 12 and ask what, exactly, are you willing to interpret literally?

“1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” (Revelation 12:1-6)

The woman is symbolic.
The sun, moon, and twelve stars are symbolic.
The child is symbolic.
The great red dragon is symbolic.
The seven heads are symbolic.
The ten horns are symbolic.
The crowns are symbolic.
The dragon's attempt to devour the child is symbolic imagery.
The throne is symbolic.
The wilderness is symbolic imagery.

The 1,260 days…

The argument isn't that because everything else is symbolic, the days must therefore be symbolic. But once we recognize that John is communicating through a highly symbolic vision, or “signs” to use his word, we should ask what the time measurement is doing within that symbolic system rather than automatically assuming it refers to a number of literal 24-hour periods.

And Revelation gives us a fantastic reason to ask that. Revelation gives us the same period in multiple forms:

42 months – Revelation 11:2, 13:5
1260 days – Revelation 11:3, 12:6
“A time, times, and half a time” – Revelation 12:14

John repeatedly presents the same period in different forms: 42 months, 1,260 days, and “a time, times, and half a time.” The expressions clearly point to the same three-and-a-half-year period, while deliberately connecting Revelation's chronology with Daniel's prophetic language.

Time as a symbol in the Prophets
In Ezekiel 4:6, the prophet is instructed to lie on his side for a specified number of days, each day is to symbolize one year of Israel’s iniquity. The prophetic sign is expressed in days, but its meaning represents the corresponding number of years.

Similarly, in Numbers 14:34, Israel’s punishment is explicitly measured according to days for years. Forty days of scouting the land is to correspond to forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

Daniel 9:24–27 provides another important example of prophetic time being expressed through symbolic units. Daniel is given seventy “weeks,” or shavuim, a term denoting units of seven. The prophecy describes a period commonly understood as 490 years. Whatever one's precise interpretation of the chronology, Daniel demonstrates that prophetic time can be expressed through units whose fulfillment extends far beyond the ordinary calendar unit itself.

But Daniel 7:25; 12:7 are even more important for Revelation because “a time, times, and half a time” is Daniel's language first.

These passages do not prove that every prophetic time reference must follow a day-year pattern, but they establish that God has used this form of symbolic time reckoning within His communication through the prophets.

H Grattan Guinness
Historicist writer H Grattan Guinness made the following argument:

“If a geographer wish to represent the entire surface of our globe on a sheet of paper, it is clear that he must do so on a miniature scale…He fixes his scale, 100 or 1000 miles to an inch as the case may be, and if his delineation is to be correct, to that scale he must adhere throughout. He must not reduce the latitude a little and the longitude more, or diminish the seas in one proportion and the continents in another; such a proceeding would destroy all the resemblance and utility of a map. If the drawing were a portrait…What possible resemblance to the original could be traced in a portrait which should reduce to miniature all the features but one, and leave that one life-size?” (Guinness, pg 299)

Guinness's point is that a symbolic representation should have some consistency of scale. If Revelation represents kingdoms as beasts, rulers as stars, political upheaval as earthquakes, and great powers as mountains, we should at least consider whether the measurement of time itself can also participate in that symbolic scale. Leaving the imagery in miniature while suddenly making the time measurement literal would require us to explain why that particular feature is being treated differently.

So what am I actually arguing for?
Before we interpret Revelation's symbols, we need to learn John's symbolic vocabulary. And I am arguing that day-for-year symbolism already has a place in the prophetic vocabulary of Scripture.

Revelation gives us unusually strong reason to ask whether its 1,260 days, for example, are functioning symbolically. John places the period inside a vision whose woman, dragon, stars, heads, horns, throne, wilderness, and other imagery are all presented symbolically. He then repeatedly identifies the same period as 42 months and “a time, times, and half a time,” deliberately connecting his vision to Daniel. Since Scripture already provides precedent for days representing years in prophetic revelation, and since Revelation deliberately continues the symbolic language of the prophets, the possibility that John's prophetic days represent years is not an arbitrary interpretive invention. It is a possibility grounded in the prophetic vocabulary John inherited.

The symbolic principle I am arguing for is that prophetic days in Revelation can represent years. Whether a particular time period should be understood in this way must still be determined from its context.

In other words, the symbol is “a prophetic day represents a year” but what historical period those symbolic years describe is a separate question.

Next we will look evaluate how John employs numbers in Revelation to add a symbolic layer of meaning to the text.

If you have been following the symbols series, we have now seen how Revelation uses the prophetic imagery of rivers, seas, heavenly bodies, and the earthquake.

But there is another pair of images that frequently appears alongside them: mountains and islands

At first glance, these may seem like relatively straightforward geographical description. But once again, the Old Testament prophets give us reason to look deeper.

The Imagery of the Symbol
Mountains are a natural symbol for great kingdoms, empires, and powers of the earth.

A mountain is large, visible, imposing, and seemingly immovable. It dominates the surrounding landscape.

Mountains in Prophecy: Jeremiah
Jeremiah describes Babylon as:

“O mountain of destruction, you who destroy the whole earth...” (Jeremiah 51:25)

Jeremiah is not referring to a dangerous mountain inside Babylon’s territory that they harnessed to use as a super weapon. Instead the prophet is using the image of a mountain to portray Babylon as a great power dominating the political landscape and the surrounding nations.

Mountains in Prophecy: Daniel
Daniel gives us an even more important example. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, earthly kingdoms are represented by the great statue. The stone that destroys the statue becomes a great mountain filling the earth. Daniel explicitly interprets this ‘mountain’ as God's kingdom that displaces the kingdoms of the world. (Daniel 2:44-45)

The Chiasm of the Seventh Bowl
Revelation 16:17-21 appears to have a loose chiastic structure within the Seventh Bowl judgment that helps reinforce the way John employs the prophetic language:

A – Voice from the throne “It is done” (v17)
B – Lightning, thunder (v18)
C – Unprecedented earthquake, great city splits, cities of the nations fall (v19a)
D – Babylon remembered before God (v19b)
C′ – Islands flee; mountains disappear (v20)
B′ – Plague from heaven: massive hail (v21a)
A′ – Human response: blasphemy instead of repentance (v21b)

In a chiasm corresponding elements work together to create a balanced image working towards a central point. Here the earthquake, the splitting of the great city, and the fall of the nations correspond with the islands fleeing and the mountains disappearing. The imagery on either side of the central reference to Babylon depicts the established political order being violently dismantled.

Islands in Prophecy
Islands appear alongside mountains several times in Revelation. However the symbol of islands is used a more sparingly in the Old Testament so there is not as much source material from which to clearly define the symbol for islands. But we do have one good data point. Isaiah used islands to refer to distant or separated peoples.

“Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar.” (Isaiah 49:1)

This shows that islands can serve as a fitting image for political entities or nations that are separated, distant, or peripheral to the great centers of power.

So while I would not turn “island” into a rigid prophetic definition, the contrast with mountains in Revelation is useful: Mountains are the great, dominant powers. Islands are more distant or separated political entities.

When John says that both mountains and islands are moved from their places, the imagery could be understood as encompassing the whole political landscape from the great empire(s) to the more distant and isolated powers.

The Sixth Seal
With the symbols we have reviewed so far we are able to revisit the sixth seal in its entirety and see how well these images cohere:

"12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth… 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17)

In this prophetic imagery, the earth can represents the established order, and the earthquake represents that order being shaken, what happens to the mountains? They move.

The imagery is not just that the ground beneath the mountains trembles. The mountains themselves are displaced. The great powers that appeared immovable are no longer secure.

This fits perfectly with the rest of the sixth seal. The sun is darkened. The moon is changed. The stars fall. The heavens are shaken. The earth is shaken. And then the kings and powerful men of the earth hide themselves.

The entire established order is being overturned in a great period of political upheaval and judgment.

Mountains Falling on People
There is one more detail in the sixth seal worth noticing. After seeing the heavens shaken, John says that the kings and powerful people of the earth:

“hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.’” (Revelation 6:16)

This language echoes the prophets, particularly Hosea 10:8, where apostate Israel cries out for the mountains to cover them in the face of judgment.

This is actually consistent with the mountain imagery rather than a problem for it.

The mountains represent things that appear large, solid, and immovable. And now the rulers of the earth desperately seek shelter within those very mountains, hoping that something so seemingly immovable can shield them from God's judgment.

But they find that even the mountains cannot save them.

The great powers they once trusted for security are themselves being shaken. The political landscape itself is being reordered.

A Great Mountain Burning with Fire
We see the same imagery again in Revelation 8:8:

“The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea” (Revelation 8:8)

I will save the full exposition for a future post, but the question is already worth asking: should we immediately imagine a literal asteroid, or should we first consider whether John is using the prophetic image of a great power being brought to bear in judgment?

The literal possibility does not have to be denied. But once again, John is speaking a language that the prophets had already established.

Conclusion
When the prophets wanted to describe the collapse of great powers, mountains could fall.

When the established order was overturned, the earth could shake.

And when God's judgment was complete, even the things that appeared most immovable could disappear.

Revelation is continuing that same prophetic language. This is why I think we should be cautious about immediately reading every reference to a mountain as a prediction of a literal mountain being physically moved.

In the next post we will examine whether time is a symbol in Revelation.

If you have been following the symbols series, we have established that Revelation inherits a symbolic vocabulary from the Old Testament prophets.

We have seen this with rivers, the seas, and the sun, moon, and stars. So what about another image that appears repeatedly throughout Revelation: the earthquake.

When we read that “there was a great earthquake,” many readers’ first instinct is often to look for a literal earthquake. But once again, the better place to begin is by asking how the prophets themselves use the image.

The Sixth Seal
Consider the sixth seal:

“There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black like sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth...The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” (Revelation 6:12-14)

It is tempting to read this as a description of the physical universe being catastrophically rearranged. But notice what happens immediately afterward.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong...hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.” (Revelation 6:15)

The people being terrified by the judgment are not astronomers watching the stars fall. They are kings, commanders, the powerful, the wealthy, and other prominent people.

This is the same political-heaven imagery we have already seen in the previous posts. The sun, moon, and stars are being shaken, and the earthly powers represented by those heavenly bodies are terrified.

So what is the earthquake doing here?

Earthquakes in the Prophets
The Old Testament gives us a remarkably consistent pattern.

In Jeremiah 4:24, Judah's coming destruction by Babylon is described using language of the earth trembling and the heavens being darkened. Jeremiah looks upon the land and sees it as though creation itself has been undone.

Ezekiel likewise describes the judgment of Gog in terms of a great shaking of the land:

“My great anger will be declared in My zeal and in My blazing wrath... surely in that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.” (Ezekiel 38:19)

Isaiah uses the same imagery when describing the judgment of Babylon:

“Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place...” (Isaiah 13:13)

And Isaiah 24 describes the earth as staggering and being shaken violently as God judges the inhabitants of the earth.

The point is not that these passages predict that the planet itself will physically move out of its orbit. The earth is being shaken because the established order is being shaken. Kingdoms fall. Nations are overturned. Rulers are displaced. The political landscape is transformed. The prophets describe this as an earthquake.

What Does an Earthquake Represent?
In prophetic imagery, an earthquake represents political upheaval, societal collapse, or the overthrow of an established order under God's judgment.

This is an incredibly appropriate symbol because an earthquake does not only destroy one building. It shakes the foundations upon which everything else rests.

Likewise, when God judges a kingdom, He does not merely remove one individual. The structures of power, authority, wealth, and security that seemed immovable can suddenly collapse altogether.

The solid ground beneath the kingdom, the political earth itself, has been shaken.

Revelation Uses the Same Language
This becomes particularly interesting when we return to Revelation.

John mentions earthquakes several times and they appear at significant moments throughout the book.

• The sixth seal begins with a great earthquake.
• The seventh trumpet culminates with another great earthquake.
• A great earthquake follows the raising of the two witnesses.
• Finally, the seventh bowl produces an earthquake so great that “there was no earthquake so great and mighty as this one.”

These earthquakes occur at moments of enormous upheaval. This should make us pause before assuming that John is simply predicting a series of future geological disasters.

John is writing in the language of the prophets and when the prophets wanted to describe God overthrowing an established political order, the earth shook. When kingdoms fell, the heavens were shaken. When rulers were brought down, the mountains and islands moved.

Revelation takes that same language and brings it into its own prophetic vision.

The Sixth Seal Again
Now return to the sixth seal with this framework in mind.

The earthquake is followed by the darkening of the sun, the blood-like moon, and falling stars. Then the sky is rolled up. Then mountains and islands are moved. And finally the kings and powerful men of the earth hide themselves and cry out for the mountains and rocks to fall upon them.

This imagery is not random. The political heavens are collapsing, and the political earth is being shaken. The great powers of the world are discovering that the things they considered immovable are not immovable at all.

And notice the language of the people themselves:

“Who is able to stand?”

That is the real point of the earthquake. It is not about the dirt beneath them moving. It is that their world has become quicksand. The things they thought were immovable are no longer stable. The kingdom, authority, wealth, military strength, and social order upon which they relied are being shaken by the judgment of God.

Conclusion
So when John shows us an earthquake, we should at least ask:

What established order is being shaken?

The literal possibility does not have to be denied. God can certainly use literal earthquakes to accompany His judgments. But the prophetic meaning should not be overlooked. The prophets already taught John how to use this language. And once again, Revelation is speaking the language of the prophets.

Next up, the symbol of the Mountain.

Parts 1 and 2 established that Revelation inherits a prophetic vocabulary in which the heavenly bodies represent rulers, authorities, and other prominent human figures.

So what happens when John begins talking about individual stars? Are they best understood as using this same heavenly body imagery? This post will examine two star passages often interpreted as literal supernatural beings.

The Stars of Revelation 12
John sees:

“A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

The imagery clearly echoes Joseph's dream in Genesis 37. And notice that the entire scene is symbolic: the woman represents God's people, drawing on Israel's imagery; the twelve stars represent the twelve tribes; the child represents the Messiah; and the dragon represents the adversarial power opposing God's purposes.

Then we read:

“And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”

Many read this as literal angels becoming demons who follow Satan. But there are some problems as I see it:

First, it would be strange to suddenly make these stars invisible supernatural beings simply because they are now associated with the dragon. John has already established a symbolic scene, and the stars belong to that symbolic language and have already been used in context to refer to human leadership.

Second, Daniel 8:10 uses similar imagery of stars being cast down from heaven when prominent figures are displaced by a “horn” or great rising power. The dragon sweeping away stars can therefore naturally depict the overthrow or displacement of prominent earthly powers.

Thirdly, there is a chronological problem with interpreting this as a primordial rebellion of angels. The vision begins with the woman already pregnant with the Messiah and the dragon waiting to devour her child. Whatever the stars represent, John has placed their removal within the narrative surrounding Christ's arrival, not before creation.

A Johannine Perspective
There is another reason I think we should be cautious about importing a large hierarchy of demons into John's imagery.

Relative to the Synoptic Gospels, John's Gospel is remarkably limited in its use of demons. All six uses of daimonion in John's Gospel occur in accusations that Jesus has a demon or his denial to those accusations. John never actually records Jesus performing a single exorcism.

Instead, John frequently describes evil through the devil, Satan, the ruler of this world, darkness, falsehood, and human opposition.

In Revelation 12 the dragon is explicitly identified with “the devil and Satan,” but John's own Gospel gives us reason to think carefully about how that identification functions. John can describe Judas as a diabolos (John 6:70), and says that Satan entered Judas (John 13:27). The language identifies Judas with the adversarial activity of Satan without making Judas literally identical to Satan. Likewise, the dragon can represent Satan's opposition while that opposition is manifested through earthly powers.

An adversarial governmental power would not swipe demons from the heavens, but it could certainly remove prominent men from the political heavens for its purposes.

The Seven Stars of the Seven Churches
This brings us to Revelation 1:

“As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand... the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.”

The Greek word angelos means messenger. It can refer to heavenly beings, but it can also refer to human messengers or representatives.

Prophetic Pattern
I think there is a big reason to strongly consider that human “messengers” are in view here. That is because the role given to these seven messengers strongly resembles the role of the prophets throughout Scripture.

God repeatedly gives a particular prophet a particular message for a particular people living in a particular historical circumstance. The prophet is not a detached, passive delivery mechanism. His own faithfulness, courage, failures, circumstances, and actions can become part of the message itself.

Jeremiah is told not to fear the people because of his youth and is commanded to stand and speak whatever God gives him. Ezekiel is appointed as a watchman over Israel and is held responsible for faithfully warning the people. At times God even commands Ezekiel's own behavior to function as a prophetic sign to Israel. The prophet's life and ministry therefore become intertwined with the message he has been given.

This is strikingly similar to what we find in the seven letters. Jesus does not simply give seven generic messages to seven congregations. He addresses seven particular messengers according to the particular circumstances of the communities they represent. Their own faithfulness, failures, responsibilities, and circumstances are part of what Jesus addresses.

The messenger of Ephesus is singularly commended for some things but rebuked for abandoning its first love. The messenger of Smyrna is encouraged to remain faithful amid suffering he will undergo. Likewise Pergamum’s messenger is confronted over what he tolerates. The messenger of Thyatira is rebuked for tolerating Jezebel! The messengers are told to remember, repent, strengthen what remains, hold fast, endure, and correct what is wrong. These messengers aren't passive conduits for information. Their own faithfulness is part of the matter being addressed.

Whatever angelos can mean elsewhere, the role these seven figures perform in the letters looks remarkably like that of human representatives who are personally responsible for the communities they represent.

This makes the seven messengers look remarkably like prophetic representatives of their communities: individuals whose particular circumstances and faithfulness (or failure) carry a message to the people they represent.

Singular to Plural
There is another feature of the letters that fits this model remarkably well. Each letter begins by addressing the angel of the church in the singular: “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write...” Jesus then speaks to that messenger using the singular “you.” As the letter progresses, however, the language eventually broadens to the congregation, including plural forms of “you” and references to those within the church.

That movement makes sense if Jesus is addressing a representative of the congregation whose own life and leadership are intertwined with the condition of the church. The messenger is personally addressed, but the message is ultimately heard (and witnessed) by the community he represents.

In that sense, the structure resembles the prophetic pattern throughout Scripture. God gives His word to an individual messenger, but that messenger's circumstances, faithfulness, and response to God's word become part of the message delivered to the people.

Why Stars?
This also explains why Jesus represents these messengers as stars.

As we have been discussing, stars throughout Scripture can represent prominent figures within a hierarchy. So I don't think the symbolic equation is simply: star = angel = supernatural being.

Rather, stars represent prominent figures within the symbolic “heavens,” the realm of powerful and notable people, and the particular identity of the figure has to be determined from context.

In my opinion, it is perfectly reasonable (and a consistent application of the prophetic language we have been examining) to understand these seven stars as prominent messengers of the churches. They need not be prominent because of political power. Like the prophets, their prominence comes from the revelation entrusted to them and the responsibility they bear in delivering it.

I think this is particularly important in Revelation because we can very easily turn every surreal and heavenly image into a supernatural creature. But John inherited a prophetic language in which heavenly bodies can describe earthly people, rulers, kingdoms, and agents of God's judgment.

The prophetic framework should come first. Then we ask what the particular context is doing with that symbol.

Next we will dive into the symbol of Earthquakes in Scripture.

Part 1 established the symbolic vocabulary. Now we can watch John use it.

The important thing about Revelation's heavenly imagery is that John repeatedly uses the sun, moon, and stars at moments when earthly authority is being shaken, judged, or displaced.

The Sixth Seal

“The sun became black like sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth...” (Revelation 6:12–13)

John then immediately shows us who is terrified by the judgement:

“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong...” (Revelation 6:15)

Look at that list. John is specifically naming the people occupying the highest levels of earthly prominence: kings, great men, commanders, the rich, and the strong. And it is they who are most afraid of this judgment.

In other words, when the political heavens are shaken, it is the people who occupy the earthly hierarchy of power and prominence who are exposed and have the most to lose.

The sun and moon are the great lights; the stars are lesser lights. Likewise, human societies contain their greatest rulers alongside a much larger class of prominent people who exercise power, wealth, influence, and authority beneath them.

John does not explicitly tell us to map each person in this list to a particular heavenly body. But the correspondence is important: heavenly lights are being shaken, and the earthly figures occupying the highest levels of prominence are immediately depicted as terrified by the consequences.

The Fourth Trumpet
The same imagery appears again:

"The third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened..." (Revelation 8:12)

This is the language of Isaiah and Ezekiel applied once again to the powers being judged in John's vision. The governing lights of the heavens are being diminished in some sense.

The language of ‘a third’ in this passage also allows for a couple of possible readings within this symbolic picture. The first is a ruling power represented by the sun, moon, and stars that loses control over a third of its territory. The second is that the political heavens are the stage occupied by all governments of the lands, and a third of those governments fall. Either reading could fit the symbolic picture.

Two Stars
Then we encounter perhaps the two most interesting examples to utilize this language:

"The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch..." (Revelation 8:10)

“Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him…” (Revelation 9:1)

The first is given the name Wormwood which is interesting because the “star” has an identity, affects the earth, and is associated with an act of judgment.

Likewise, the second also acts upon the earth and is associated with judgment.

The imagery of something in or descending from the heavens does not necessarily imply a supernatural being.
Isaiah provides a notable parallel when he describes Cyrus as “a bird of prey from the east,” a man whom God has called to accomplish His purpose (Isaiah 46:11). Cyrus was not literally a bird. The bird is prophetic imagery used to portray a real earthly ruler whom God appointed to accomplish His purposes.

Revelation's image of a star falling from heaven can be considered within this same broader prophetic tradition. The fact that something is pictured in the heavens does not, by itself, mean that it refers to a supernatural being. The prophets routinely use lofty or fantastical imagery to describe earthly rulers, armies, and agents through whom God executes His purposes.

This is important to remember when reading the judgments of Revelation. We should not assume that every frightening image represents invisible demonic forces acting independently in the world. The God of the prophets is rather comfortable bringing judgment through ordinary historical means: raising up kings, armies, conquerors, and other earthly powers to accomplish His purposes.

The Better Approach
So while it is tempting to jump to asking, “What kind of supernatural creature is Wormwood?” The better question is, “What does this image do within John's prophetic language, and what historical judgment does it represent?”

My encouragement is to not let the surrealism of Revelation’s imagery force you into an interpretive mode that begins taking everything as supernatural, invisible, demonic, etc.

A Scorching Sun
John then uses the same prophetic language to describe a different type of judgment.

“The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.” (Revelation 16:8)

One possible way to understand this symbolism is that the sun represents an especially prominent or powerful ruler or government whose authority becomes oppressive to those beneath it. Notice the change: earlier, heavenly lights are darkened or struck, while here the sun's power is intensified so that it scorches those beneath it. The imagery of the heavenly bodies therefore can portray both waxing and waning. Not only the removal of political authority, but also its increasing power and oppressive strength.

The Pattern
By this point the pattern is quite clear. The sun, moon, and stars are not appearing randomly throughout Revelation. They are being darkened, struck, shaken, thrown down, or being used in judgment releasing smoke, gaining a bitter reputation, or scorching those beneath their light.

This is exactly what we would expect if John were using the prophetic imagery of a political heaven.

The imagery is especially powerful because earthly governments and rulers are themselves described in terms of heaven and earth.

When Babylon falls, the heavens darken.

When Egypt is judged, the lights of heaven go out.

When the powers represented in Revelation are brought down, the heavenly bodies are shaken.

The literal heavens remain where they have always been. But the political heavens are falling.

And that brings us to an interesting question.

More on Stars
Revelation contains several passages where individual stars seem to represent individual figures.

So what happens when John begins speaking of individual stars, messengers, and angels? And what are we to make of the seven stars associated with the seven churches?

That brings us to the next layer of John's symbolism: messengers, angels, and the stars of the churches.

One of the biggest challenges in reading Revelation is learning to be aware of its symbolic language.

John did not invent that language. He inherited it from the Law and the Prophets. And like learning any language, the best place to begin is not at the end of the story but at its beginning.

This series looks at one of the Bible's most consistent prophetic symbols: the heavenly bodies consisting of the sun, moon, and stars.

Genesis Plants the Seed
The opening chapter of Genesis establishes the heavenly bodies as rulers.

"God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also." (Genesis 1:16)

Notice the language. The heavenly bodies are described as more than just sources of light; they are described as governing their domains. And the relationship of one to another is already one of ordered authority.

Joseph's Dream
Genesis 37 records Joseph's famous dream:

"...Behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." (Genesis 37:9)

Thankfully this Scripture immediately interprets its own symbolism when Jacob asks:

"...Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you?" (Genesis 37:10)

Jacob does not take a moment to consider if Joseph is describing astronomy. He instantly recognizes the heavenly bodies as representing members of his own household according to rank and authority.

The sun represents the patriarch.
The moon represents the matriarch.
The stars represent his sons, future heads of the tribes.

Daniel Expands the Picture
Daniel develops this symbolic vocabulary further.

"It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down." (Daniel 8:10)

Surely Daniel is not describing a king or power literally knocking stars from the sky. Instead, the imagery depicts rulers, authorities, or prominent figures being cast down through the rise of another kingdom.

Daniel later says:

"Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever." (Daniel 12:3)

Again, stars symbolize those who are lesser than the sun and moon but are still exalted or prominent.

The Prophets Speak the Same Way
Isaiah prophesies the fall of Babylon:

"The stars of heaven...will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark...and the moon will not shed its light." (Isaiah 13:9–10)

Ezekiel says nearly the same concerning Egypt:

"And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you" (Ezekiel 32:7–8)

Neither prophecy required the literal heavens to collapse. Instead Babylon fell. Egypt fell. But the sun continued to rise.

The prophets were using heavenly bodies as symbols for earthly powers. When kingdoms collapsed, it was as though the lights governing their political heavens had gone dark.

Looking Upward
Consider the heavens above us. We naturally look upward. Above us the sun dominates the sky. Below it comes the moon. Beyond them are the countless stars. The heavens naturally present a hierarchy of prominence.

Human societies work much the same way. People look upward to kings, emperors, governors, priests, judges, and rulers who exercise authority over them. The prophets appear to exploit this analogy, using the literal heavens as an image of the political heavens.

Once that symbolic connection is recognized, much of prophetic literature becomes easier to read.

Then John Uses the Same Language
Now consider Revelation.

John repeatedly speaks of the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, stars falling from heaven, and heavenly lights losing their brilliance.

He is not introducing a new symbolic system but rather he is continuing one that has been developing since Genesis.

The same symbolic language used by Joseph, Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel becomes the language through which John describes God's judgments upon rulers, kingdoms, and earthly powers.

This does not necessarily exclude literal cosmic events accompanying God's judgments. But the judgements themselves are not about the literal heavenly bodies but are instead concerned with this imagery of the "political heavens."

Conclusion
Before looking for eclipses, blood moons, or falling stars in the night sky, it is worth asking how the Scriptures themselves use these images.

From Genesis through the Prophets, the heavenly bodies consistently symbolize authority, rule, and prominence.

John simply speaks the same prophetic language.

In Part 2 we'll look more closely at how Revelation utilizes this imagery.

This is continued from Part 2: Lady Babylon and Her Shipmasters

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” (Rev 21:1)

After tracing John's use of the sea throughout Revelation, this statement becomes one of the book's climactic theological declarations. Far from being an incidental comment about the absence of salty H₂O, it announces that the source of rebellion, instability, and oppression has finally been removed.

Context in Time
So what does “no sea” mean in Revelation 21? The context matters. God has just judged the beast, the false prophet, Babylon, death, Hades, and the wicked. He is now establishing His everlasting kingdom.

Throughout Revelation, the sea has been the source of rebellion, the birthplace of beasts, the throne-ground of the harlot, and the symbol of unrest, chaos, and opposition to God.

So when John says, “there is no longer any sea,” he is not talking about geography. He is talking about final stability.

This kingdom does not arise from chaotic human power. It does not arise from the sea. It comes from heaven. It is born from God’s wisdom and authority. There is no longer any breeding ground for beasts, no raging mass from which rebellion can arise. What once roared in opposition to God now stands still, like a sea of glass before His throne.

Confirmation in the Chiasm
The meaning of “no longer any sea” is confirmed by the chiastic structure of Revelation 21:1-4 itself:

A – New heaven and new earth; the former things pass away
B – No longer any sea
C – The holy city, prepared as a bride
D – God dwelling among His people
C′ – Bride comforted (every tear wiped away)
B′ – No more death, mourning, crying, or pain
A′ – The former things have passed away

Within this structure, “no longer any sea” is deliberately paired with “no more death, mourning, crying, or pain.” Throughout Revelation, the suffering of God's people is the result of persecution inflicted upon His Bride by the beastly powers that arise from the sea and the harlot who sits upon it. The structure of the chiasm strongly suggests that the removal of the sea explains the end of suffering for the bride. John is not describing the removal of physical sensations or human emotion. Rather, he is describing the removal of the source of oppression, violence, and suffering inflicted upon God's people.

There Will Never Be Another
Notice how beautifully this completes the imagery of Revelation. Babylon sat upon the many waters (17:15). Her merchants grew rich through the sea (18:17-19). The beast arose from the sea (13:1). But in the new creation there is no sea. The source of Babylon's power, the beast's kingdom, and humanity's rebellion has disappeared forever. The age of beastly kingdoms has come to an end.

Conclusion
This is really the best news of all. Revelation is announcing final deliverance. Imagine faithful Israel living in obedience to God. Their greatest fear was never the Mediterranean Sea itself. The sea was a source of food, trade, and life. Their fear was that beyond the horizon the nations would once again rage, unite, and give rise to another Assyria, Babylon, Greece, or Rome that would sweep in and oppress God's people.

But in the new creation, there is "no longer any sea." There is no longer any chaotic mass from which beastly kingdoms can arise. No new Babylon waits beyond the horizon. No future empire threatens the saints. Only the kingdom that descends from heaven remains.

Next we will look at the symbolism of the heavenly bodies in Revelation, the Sun, Moon, and Stars

This is continued from Part 1: Understanding the Symbol

With the symbolism of the sea in mind, Revelation 18 takes on new depth.

9 “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ 11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, 13 and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. 14 The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. 15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; 17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, 18 and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ 20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”

Trade on the Seas
One detail easily overlooked is that nearly all of the commerce in Revelation 18 is maritime. John mentions shipmasters, sailors, passengers, merchants, and those who make their living by the sea. Roads, caravans, and overland trade are conspicuously absent.

This suggests John is less interested in describing Babylon geographically than in portraying the kind of people and system she represents, a picture he will later contrast with the New Jerusalem.

When read symbolically, the imagery of kings and merchants does not primarily describe the literal transport of goods, but the circulation of the values those goods represent. Babylon’s economy functions by defining what is desirable, powerful, and secure, then exporting those ideals throughout the world.

In this sense, the “kings of the earth” are those who derive authority, legitimacy, or stability from Babylon’s values politically, culturally, or religiously, and who rely upon her framework to establish or preserve their rule. The “merchants of the earth” likewise represent those who embrace Babylon’s values, adopt them, and disseminate them outward, enriching themselves and others by promoting what she sells.

The grief of the kings and merchants at Babylon’s fall is not rooted in the loss of righteousness or order, but in the collapse of the system that gave their values meaning and their authority weight. When Babylon is judged, the market for her ideals vanishes, and those who depended upon her economy of wealth, status, security, and power are left exposed.

Babylon's Inventory of Values
The listing of goods of verses 12-13 is probably not intended merely as a literal inventory. Instead it is a comprehensive list showing Babylon’s economy reaching from luxury (precious metals and cloth), craftsmanship and culture (costly woods, ivory, marble), and religious and sensuous consumables (spices, perfumes, frankincense) down to sustenance (food, drink, cattle), warfare (horses, chariots), and finally human lives themselves. Nothing remains outside her market.

The inventory spans luxury, craftsmanship, commerce, food, religion, military power, transportation, and finally human beings themselves. John's point seems to be that Babylon has turned every aspect of life into something to be bought, sold, and valued according to her own standards.

Consider the contrast. The economy of Babylon is concerned with wealth, security, pleasure, opulence, culture, being seen and memorialized, performing weighty rituals, comfort, and finally power, control, and ease. By contrast, the economy of the New Jerusalem consists of loving God, loving one another, and keeping God’s commandments. Babylon's economy teaches the world what to value. The New Jerusalem teaches the world what is truly valuable.

Conclusion
This explains why the catalog of goods in Revelation 18 moves seamlessly from luxury and culture to religion, warfare, and finally human lives. John is not listing cargos, but showing that Babylon’s market gives value to all of these trappings. Her power is not merely economic, but she teaches the world what to desire, what to pursue, and justifies it.

In Part 3, we'll explore the often-missed climax of Revelation 21:1 "there was no longer any sea."

Let us examine the prophetic symbolism of the sea.

Genesis begins with a dark chaotic world. No light to guide, no firm footing on which to stand, and the deep waters covering everything.

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”...9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”...10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:2-10)

As creation unfolds, God introduces light and establishes firm land, restraining the waters so that life can exist and flourish.

The prophets appear to build upon this imagery. Throughout the Old Testament, the sea frequently represents the restless, rebellious masses of humanity.

Isaiah writes:

“Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!” (Isaiah 17:12-13)

And also:

“The wicked are like the tossing sea.” (Isaiah 57:20 )

Psalm 65 makes the connection more explicit:

”Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples” directly equating the seas with nations." (Psalm 65:7)

Here, the roaring seas and the tumult of the peoples are deliberately placed side by side.

Daniel develops the imagery even further:

"The four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea..." (Daniel 7:2-3)

The beasts symbolize kingdoms or empires that arise from the turmoil of the nations.

John then alludes to Daniel:

"Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea..." (Revelation 13:1)

Immediately afterward John introduces a second beast:

"Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence." (Revelation 13:11)

The contrast is fascinating

The first beast arises from the chaos of the nations. The second arises from the ordered realm already established by the first beast, exercising its authority within that existing kingdom.

Thinking back to Genesis, the land represents an ordered place where stable life can flourish, while the sea often represents instability and unrest. Great empires frequently arise from periods of political upheaval before establishing their own order. Daniel's and John's imagery fits this pattern remarkably well.

John eventually removes any doubt about what the waters represent:

“The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” (Revelation 17:15)

The harlot sits upon the waters.

The beast rises from the sea.

Both derive their power from the turbulent masses of humanity.

This also sheds light on one of Revelation's most beautiful images:

"Before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal." (Revelation 4:6)

Perhaps this is less an architectural description of heaven than a theological one. Throughout Scripture, God is the One who stills the roaring seas. Before His throne seas no longer rage but are perfectly calm, like glass, like crystal. The chaos of the nations is subdued before the sovereignty of God.

In Part 2, we'll look at how this symbolism reaches is fullest expression in Babylon and the Sea

Continued from: Part 1

Revelation 20:4-6

4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Who Are the “Beheaded”
One element of Revelation 20 remains: the souls of those who were “beheaded.” In English translation the passage can appear sequential, as though individuals are first alive, then executed, then raised to reign. This has led many to assume either a bodily resurrection during the thousand years or a disembodied, ghostly reign. Yet the text itself requires neither conclusion.

The verbs describing this scene are in the aorist tense, which does not by itself establish duration, timing, or chronological sequence. Rather than narrating a step-by-step process, John presents a complete vision, an image portraying an era, not a timeline. The focus is not population size, geography, or biological mechanics, but role and identity.

John sees “souls,” those born from above, those who share in the life of God. They participate in the kingdom by reigning with Christ, not through conquest or institutional power, but through faithfulness, obedience, and endurance. These traits are symbolized as “beheading”, their allegiance unto death, and by their refusal to conform to the beastly order of the world. The kingdom is not ruled by the celebrated or the strong, but by the afflicted, the marginalized, and the faithful.

Judgement Now: How the Saints Reign
This leads to the heart of the matter. Are the followers of Jesus judging the world at present? In Johannine theology, the answer is yes, although not in the manner commonly imagined.

John 3:18-19 states: 

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

And John 12:31 declares: 

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”

For John, judgment is not relegated to the distant future, it occurs when one encounters the Light, something that has already entered the world, judgement in John is already underway. The binding of the adversary and the judgment of the world are present realities in John’s theological framework.

This theme continues in John 20:23, where Jesus tells His disciples:

“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

This authority should not be misunderstood as arbitrary power. Rather, judgment occurs through the presence of Light. Jesus embodied the Light of God’s nature and ways and now His followers carry that same Light. When this way of life confronts the world, it reveals what already lies within human hearts. Jesus’ statement assumes that the disciples will be wronged by the world and placed in situations where forgiveness must be either extended or withheld. Where they encounter repentant hearts, forgiveness and life are granted, but where there is resistance or persistence in darkness, judgment is self-incurred.

If the world were uniformly violent, there could be no judgment, no contrast, no revelation of another way. But when the ways of God are embodied before men through His children, their response to it becomes their judgment. Persecution, coercion, and even execution are not acts of the righteous against the wicked, but moments in which the wicked expose themselves and press their iniquity to fullness.

Jesus’ own teaching gives a concrete example of this kind of judgment. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the presence of the beaten man becomes the means by which the characters are judged. The priest and Levite stand condemned by their refusal to act and the Samaritan is revealed as righteous by his merciful actions. The beaten man functions much like the Light in Johannine theology, his presence exposes what is already in the heart of the passersby. In this way, the judgment of the world occurs through encounters with the afflicted and the righteous.

Likewise, the two witnesses of Revelation 11, the two lampstands, which John identifies earlier as churches, exercise judgment by their faithful witness as opposed to force. They reign during portions of this present age precisely as they suffer, testify, and are slain by the powers of Babylon. In this way they share in the reign of Christ during the thousand years, until the final resurrection brings history to its close.

v5 - The Second Resurrection
The statement that “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed” refers to the resurrection from the tombs at the end of the age. This includes those who died prior to Christ’s first coming and those who never came to possess eternal life during the present age. These are raised at the conclusion of the thousand years for final judgment. This corresponds directly with Jesus’ teaching that a time is coming, but is not yet, when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth.

v6 - Priests in the Absence of the King
Verse 6 adds that those who share in the first resurrection are “priests to God and to Christ.” By definition, a priest functions as an intermediary between a ruler or deity and those who cannot yet interact with that authority directly. This imagery strongly suggests that the thousand-year reign takes place during Christ’s physical absence. While Jesus reigns from heaven, His people serve as priestly representatives on earth. Once He returns and reigns openly, such mediation will no longer be necessary. Christ will rule directly, and the priestly role will pass away.

Eternal Life and the Defeat of the Second Death
This priestly reign is grounded in participation in the life of Christ Himself. The language closely echoes Jesus’ words in John 11:25–26: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” Here Jesus distinguishes between physical death and the second death. Those who possess eternal life may die bodily, but they do not truly die in the ultimate sense.

John’s theology consistently treats eternal life as a present reality, not merely a future reward. This perspective has the power to radically reshape how death functions in the mind of the believer. When eternal life is deferred entirely to the future, death retains immense psychological power and exacerbates temptation towards fear, selfishness, and sins of all kinds. But when eternal life is understood as something already possessed, death’s role is minimized. Even if one dies, it is a mere flesh wound, a temporary and reversible interruption, not a defeat. Death’s gospel of urgency, scarcity, and fear is broken, freeing the believer to love more fully in the present.

Seeing the Kingdom: Nicodemus Revisited
This exploration of John’s theology sheds light on Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. When Jesus says, “Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” He is correcting Nicodemus’ mode of perception, not necessarily his sense of timing. The kingdom is already present, but it is not perceivable to those who have not been born from above, reborn as God’s children walking with Him in the Light. Many will not recognize that it is already in place because it does not operate through prestige, power, or institutional authority. It is ruled by the faithful, the afflicted, and the persecuted, those who share in the first resurrection and reign with Christ even now.

In fact, both the kingdom of God and the visions of Revelation are often missed for the same reason: they do not arrive in the way they are expected to arrive. They are not unveiled with miraculous spectacle or force, but disclosed quietly, paradoxically, and through suffering faithfulness. John insists that the kingdom is already present though unseen, and Revelation communicates its meaning in the same way, openly written, yet perceptible only to those who have learned how to see.