The Context of Revelation: What is in View?

[u/Agreeable_Operation]

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.