The book of Revelation

That’s all for the Olivet Discourse for now. I want to jump into the book of Revelation. I’ll jump right to Revelation chapter 6, with the four horseman of the Apocalypse. It seems like we should see four literal horseback riders that gallop by and wreak all kind of havoc. Futurists (those who think all this stuff is going to happen some time in the future) think the horseman come during the Tribulation, which is in the future.

However, before 70 AD, we had conquest, war, famine, and death. Josephus was pretty adamant. But, you might object, not on a world-wide scale! Be careful, though. The greek word for world in these verses (in chapter 6) is ‘ge’, which means ‘smaller land’. What about the ‘souls of the martyrs’? Are these the ‘tribulation saints’? They don’t have to be. They’re probably the martyrs scattered throughout Jerusalem at the time, like James the Just and Stephen in the Book of Acts. What about ‘war, famine, pestilence, and wild animals’? These four curses actually match up quite neatly with the four curses in Ezekiel as the ‘sore acts of judgment’, which matches up just as neatly with the punishments against the covenant people in Deuteronomy. So, Revelation is just lining itself up with this precedent here.

What about the rider on the white horse? Some think it is the anti-Christ. I actually think it’s Jesus Christ Himself. First, in Revelation 19:1, Jesus goes out on a white horse to make war. Also, Satan wouldn’t wear a crown given only to victors. Satan isn’t victorious. And crowns are only given to Kings, which is Christ, not Satan. Second, the rider has a bow. But the bow is an allusion from Habakkuk 3:9-11: "Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear." Third, the greek word used here for ‘conquer’ is only ever used of Christ’s conquering. So, it’d be out of place to use that same word for Satan conquering.

The rest of Revelation 6 uses the same Apocalyptic language. If we take it literally here, we’d have to take it literally in the major prophets when they describe the judgments of Edom or Babylon or Assyria or Egypt. The same language is used, but no one thinks the moon literally turned blood red, or that the sun was black as sackcloth, etc in those cases. It’s the same in this case, since both use the same kind of language.

What are the 144,000? These are the Jews in the Roman Empire that ‘convert’ prior to 70 AD.

What is the ‘great multitude’ that’ll be saved in Revelation 7:9-17? It’s all those who’ll be saved after 70 AD, during the Messianic age, during the Millennium, including Jews and Gentiles. The ‘great tribulation’ is this birth of the Messianic age.

Rev. 8:7-12 use the same apocalyptic language found in the major prophets to talk about the judgment of a nation. We have metaphors of divine judgment. The precedent in the major prophets justifies us here.

The stinging scorpions could be a metaphor for two things. First, when Gessius Florus (Roman Procurator) terrorized the Jews just to get them to rebel: he incited them to rebellions (circa. 66 AD). Second, in 70 AD, when Titus actually invaded Jerusalem. These two events were awful. Horrific. Barbarous. Bloody. Josephus thought it was so bad that at any minute, God would make another flood, or have another Sodom and Gomorrah judgment.

What about the locusts? This is a metaphor for the Roman legions. John says the ‘locust’s’ heads were like gold crowns. Right. Roman warriors had gold helmets. They also had iron breastplates (hmmm). They had faces like men: also had by Roman warriors. Their hair was like a woman’s. Like Samson? Teeth like a lions: more symbols for strength. Tails like a scorpion’s: in line with pagan imagery (the ‘man-scorpion’), which indicated a pagan army: the Romans.

Revelation 11: 1-2: here, the Gentiles ‘tread the temple underfoot’: for 40 and two months (a.k.a. 3 1/2 years, the latter half of the 7-year tribulation. This is the Jewish War, from 70 to 73 AD, when Rome trampled Jerusalem underfoot.

What about the 2 witnesses, Elijah and Moses? Will they literally come down and wreak literal havoc with a fire and brimstone? No. There’s no reason to think the fire literal, especially in this ‘apocalyptic-imagery’ context. Otherwise, you’d have to take the parts in the major prophets that use the same exact language literally too, which no one believes to be correct. Like Jeremiah 5:14 - “Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.” Real fire? And the people: real wood? And literal fire literally devours literal wood? Of course, not. This apocalyptic-language finds a counterpart in the language in Revelation.

Who is the ‘beast’ in Revelations 11:7-10? The Roman Empire. Titus - the Roman Emperor during the Jewish War - wanted to wipe Christianity off the face of the map. Even before the Jewish War, Nero tried to end Christianity by terrible persecution. And ‘they shall suffer not to be put in graves’? Yep. It’s documented that the Romans purposively chose not to bury the Christians they killed. This was supposed to bring shame on the Christians: indeed, the Romans wanted to use shame to defeat them. But they were wrong. John then uses apocalyptic-language to say that Christianity wasn’t destroyed, despite Rome’s best efforts.

What about the ‘beast’ that is ‘wounded to death’, but is then ‘revived’? Believe it or not, it’s a point of history that there was such a thing as the ‘Nero-myth’. A number of people in Rome believed, after Nero died, that Nero came back to life, a myth many believed, even though he was really dead. John here employs this myth for his purposes. When Nero was still alive - and still sane - so-called prophets predicted that he would be rich beyond measure and that his rule was extend to the East. But when he lost his marbles and eventually died, the Nero-myth was conjured. So, this beast has a ‘double-representation’: both Rome and Nero. And so what is the ‘wound in the head’? Consider Acts 17:6 “And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also...” The Greek word for ‘world’ here is ‘oikoumene’, which is just the Roman Empire, turned upside down, on its ‘head’. In a sense, the Church was fighting a war of its own against Rome, a culture war of values and beliefs. Or, we can look at it another way. Remember the ‘woman’s seed’ (Jesus) ‘wounding’ the ‘serpent’s head’ in Genesis 3:15? So, John could be giving us an allusion here to compliment the earlier point.

And: Rev. 13:5-8: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

What’s all this? From November 64 AD to June 68 AD, Nero heavily persecuted the Jews. Nero was then the big boss, the emperor. ‘Worship’ doesn’t here mean the ‘religious kind’: just to fawn or crouch - but if it does, it’s ‘emperor worship’, not unusual for the time, when emperors thought of themselves as deities.

Rev. 13:11-12 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

What’s this ‘other beast’? Is it a future false-prophet sent to speak on behalf of some future anti-Christ? Probably not. The ‘two-horned lamb’ is that part of Jewish leadership which joined to Romans to persecute the Christians, prior to 70 AD. So, the lamb (treacherous Jews) joined the beast (Rome) to persecute the Church.

Rev. 13:15-17 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The mark of the beast!! Is it a barcode implanted in our wrists? Or a computer chip implanted in our brains? Nah. First of all, what is this ‘image of the beast’? The greek word for ‘image’ means a ‘contact point’ at and through which ‘some authority’ is expressed. In this case, Jewish leadership gave Rome a ‘contact point’ at and through which ‘Roman authority’ could be expressed. Remember, the Romans didn’t force the Jews to worship the Emperor. When the Jews sided with the Romans, they basically cut the Christians out of that deal: the Christians still had to worship the Emperor. But they didn’t: so they broke the law, which lost them the privilege of buying or selling. The ‘mark’ isn’t a literal mark, just like the seal on the 144,000 isn’t a literal seal. The whole passage alludes to Deut. 6:8, "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes."

Rev. 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

What is 666? It’s Nero. Ever heard of gematria? It calculates the numerical values of words. John knew the Romans played this game. In Greek, the numerical value of Nero is 1005. In Latin, it’s 616. But in Hebrew, it’s 666.

And I’ll get to more later.