Revelation Revealed: Biblical Christianity, #5

By Daryl J. Koerth

A revelation is a revealing of truth. The final book of the Bible - Revelation - is no different.

Most people think of this book as describing the end of the world. They are both right and wrong. Revelation is all about symbolism and metaphor to describe a new beginning.

This book is the fifth and final part of my Biblical Christianity series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rockin' K Publishers LLC
• Release date: Aug 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781959282037

Book preview

Introduction

I have always wanted to go to heaven, and have always been terrified of going to the other place, the bad place...because of what I was always told about the story of Revelation. I didn’t read it for myself for the longest time because, well, I thought I was hearing the truth in church and from friends.

I was not.

I had to write this book.

After reading the book of Revelation, I noticed that a lot of what I thought I knew was wrong. It was eye-opening. It was jarring. It was...the start of some very serious trust issues. It was both a pleasant surprise and a confusing, perplexing, slightly scary discovery.

Revelation tells a very frightening story with a very comforting end. It’s strange.

In this book, I’m going to attempt to demystify it. Yeah, I know. Of all the jobs, I chose this one. I’m not the first to try it, and I won’t be the last. I’ll make you one solid promise, though: I’m not a fan of hype or hyperbole, so there won’t be any extreme language or agendas in this book. No lies. No bias. No grandiose claims. No using the Bible to back up theories or cries for vengeance. Just truth.

If I speculate, I’ll tell you.

I’ll be the first to admit, this book is going to be difficult for some folks to read. It’s going to run contrary to a bunch of mainstream ideas. That’s the point. I want this book to help break the cycle of violent, apocalyptic (and wrong) interpretations. I want to help break the cycle of fear.

That cycle of threat, intimidation, and fear-mongering has done a lot of unnecessary damage to the faith, the people that follow it, and society at large. I’ve been one of those people. I say enough.

This book is going to step through and analyze every part of the book of Revelation. I will do my absolute best to leave no stone unturned. I recommend that you read a chapter of Revelation before each chapter of this book, since I have tried to do this chapter by chapter. It will still be a little difficult to follow, because we’ve all been exposed to parts of the story through the media frenzy: books, comics, graphic novels, television, and movies.

Please stay with it, even if you find it difficult. Especially if you find it difficult.

I promise you, the payoff is worth it. I want you to love the Lord your God, not be scared of Him.

Let’s get to it.

Chapter One

Iwant to start this journey by talking about the author of Revelation, since there seems to be some academic dispute. Why talk about the author? Perspective . We need to make a decision about who the author is before we can meaningfully interpret the book.

You see, believe it or not, the author’s identity matters. A lot. Authorship is a funny thing. No matter how hard we try, every literary work contains a little bit of the author. Our personal stories, our experiences, our likes and dislikes and desires all color what we write. If you want to know the whole story, you have to know something about the author.

So...we’re going to investigate this (shallowly) and make a decision about the author’s identity. It will help us understand everything that follows.

There are two contenders for the authorship of Revelation: John, son of Zebedee, the disciple and apostle, and the mysterious John the Elder. Ironically, these two names may refer to the same person – the apostle – and the Elder may simply have been introduced to challenge the canon status of the book. In other words, this name may have been invented and introduced to get the book of Revelation taken out of the Bible.

Instead of trying to rule John the Elder out, then, we’ll do our best to rule John the apostle in.

John the apostle has a thing about sevens. He uses the number seven in his gospel book a lot, probably as a kind of homage to the seven-day Sabbath cycle. Guess what? The book of Revelation is chock full of sevens.

The narrative style, or the writing patterns of the author, are very close. The writing of Revelation seems a little more mature, but this makes sense. The gospel book was written a few decades after Jesus’ death...but the book of Revelation was written even later. It’s amazing to me that this isn’t considered. People grow and change over time. Compare my current writing style to twenty years ago, and you’ll see something very similar.

John the apostle started out as a fisherman. He obviously takes to writing, though, and seems more concerned with poetic symmetry than with logical timelines or factual recall. The book of Revelation is the same. It’s all about poetic symmetry, and tends to minimize or ignore timelines and not include a lot of facts.

John the apostle, from his gospel book, has a flare for the dramatic. It’s not that he lies or misrepresents facts; he simply overemphasizes things that are purely symbolic or not important to the story. The book of Revelation is packed with symbols.

I’m calling it. The author of Revelation is John the apostle.

Let’s get started on analyzing Revelation.

Chapter Two

Right from the beginning, we’re slapped with a whole bunch of sevens and symbols. Seven churches. Seven stars. Seven lampstands. The stars are the angels of the churches. The lampstands are the churches.

Jesus is Jesus, but His clothing is described, and it’s somewhat different than His clothing before His death. Jesus is depicted as wearing a long robe, which is indicative of a judge or high priest. He’s also wearing a golden sash, which means He’s pure. So, according to this description, Jesus is a pure high priest and judge.

Tell me this isn’t John the apostle’s writing. It’s needlessly overcomplicated and poetically pedestrian. To be clear, I’m not questioning the message. I just don’t like John’s writing style.

Back to the first chapter of Revelation.

This chapter gives us three very important pieces of information: the author, the intended recipients, and the definition of the first few symbols. John the apostle is the author who had this vision. This is a letter to seven first century churches in Asia Minor. We get several symbols.

We’ve already identified the author, and the next few chapters deal with the seven churches. Let’s take a look at the symbols presented here.

The first blatant symbol we get is the seven golden lampstands. Explained later, the lampstands are symbols for the seven churches addressed by this letter. So, that one’s easy enough.

The second symbol we get is...Jesus. The description of Jesus is quite strange: white head and hair, long robe, golden sash, eyes of fire, feet of bronze, and a sword coming out of his mouth. What in the world does this mean? Well, white is the color that symbolizes purity. So, Jesus is pure. The long robe and golden sash are symbolic, too: of a pure judge.

Do you see what I mean about John’s writing style? He opens the action by telling us that Jesus is pure, pure, pure, pure...sooooo pure. We get it, John. All you had to say was, Jesus showed up to deliver a message. We know who the Man is. Move on.

The eyes of fire are a little more complex, and require us to get historically informed. There are two parts to this, symbolically speaking. The first part is easy enough. Believe it or not, before the advents of electricity and light bulbs, people had to use fire for light: campfires, torches, candles, and so on. By this symbol, Jesus’ gaze is bringing light (and truth) to whatever He looks at. The second part is more difficult. Fire is also a symbol of change. Materials burned by fire change to ash. Or they change state, like melting something from solid to liquid, or boiling something from liquid to gas. The point is that anything touched by fire is changed.

I think both of these fire symbols are relevant here. I think Jesus’ gaze brings light and truth, and prompts change. About His gaze bringing light and truth, I think it’s important to remember what He told the twelve apostles: for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known (Matthew 10:26). Regarding fire as a symbol of change, I think it’s important to remember basic human humility. If somebody tells you honestly that you stink, it prompts you to bathe and remedy the situation. If Jesus’ gaze therefore exposes some kind of indecency, people will naturally be prompted to change for the better.

I guess it’s not so complex, after all.

The bronze feet are an interesting symbolic twist. Bronze, as a building material and adornment, is found all throughout the Old Testament...especially in the cases of the tabernacle and the temple. Biblically speaking, bronze is a symbolic representation of dealing with sin through sacrifice, judgement, and grace. To recap briefly, Jesus conquered death by dealing with sin and (though He did not sin) it’s consequences on our behalf.

The tabernacle and temple used bronze for the sacrificial altars and cleansing baths, and both must be used before one could enter the temple. In this vision, then, Jesus’ feet are bronze as a symbol of His ability to deal with sin and death, His ability to judge those who come before Him, and His ability to show grace to those who need it. I see it not as Jesus is going to trample evil, because that’s the same Lion of Judah mistake the Jewish leaders made when they denied that Jesus was the Messiah. I think that we are meant to see the bronze feet – and what they symbolize – as a foundation upon which the might and love of Jesus, and the Father, are built.

Finally, it seems that Jesus is armed...with a sword coming out of His mouth. Yes, I know. It’s taking everything I have not to make sharp tongue jokes. The irony here is that this is precisely the meaning of this symbol. Words are powerful. They can comfort, correct, convey love, or be used as a weapon. I think that, in this context, His words are meant to do all of these things and more.

You see, there are two purposes for every weapon. People typically only focus on one purpose: causing harm. The second purpose is just as common, though: protection. Another way to say it is attack and defense. If somebody approaches you with a sword, you’d better have a sword of your own. A shield may stop the sword for a while, but it’s not designed to end the attack. Only a weapon can do that.

Jesus knows this, so He brings a sharp tongue to the confrontation. The message delivered to the seven churches will expose their flaws so they would have an opportunity to change. If they choose not to change, a more difficult fate awaits them.

This is a nice time to segue into those messages, so let’s take a look at them next.

Chapter Three

The first message is directed to the church in Ephesus. Unsurprisingly, this church was started by Saul of Tarsus, who went by his Roman name of Paul to distance himself from all the bad things he’d done before he became a Christian. Seriously...he was a bad, bad dude.

Obviously, I’m not a fan of Saul of Tarsus. Let’s get back to the church in Ephesus.

Ephesus, for those not familiar with ancient cities, was a big, popular port city on the shore of the Aegean Sea. It was regarded as a busy place, a good place to build a successful business, and a good place to live. A model port city, you might say.

The vision of Jesus basically says they’re doing a good job, except that they’ve abandoned the love [they] had at first (Revelation 2:4). The key word in this little admonishment, as I see it, is love. That’s not just silly sentimentality, either. When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He answered with two commandments: 1) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37), and 2) You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22: 39). Note that both of those commandments are about love.

The conclusion we can draw, then, is that the church in Ephesus is not fulfilling these two commandments. That means it is no longer performing the role of a church. Instead, it has likely become some sort of business or political entity...which is essentially what happened to the Jewish temple and religious establishment (which is why Jesus challenged it).

Hence, the message from Jesus that they need to get back to being a church.

According to the next verse, the Nicolaitans have got a very bad day coming. For a bit of context, this was a group known for eating food sacrificed to idols and practicing fornication...among other things that blurred the lines between Christianity and paganism. In other words, this group was associating Christianity with pagan practices, which was not good.

For a little more context, it’s helpful to know that Revelation was written 35 to 50 years after Christianity started. The Nicolaitans, then, posed a very great threat to Christianity, because they were doing these bad things right after the foundation of Christianity, while it was still establishing a foothold in the ancient world. This kind of thing, happening within a generation of a religion’s founding, makes the difference between a fad and a religion. That’s why it was important enough to mention here.

After this, Jesus tells us to pay attention and makes a sort of strange promise: To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). There are two really important parts to this: what Jesus means by conquers, and what eating from the tree of life would get us.

First, let’s take a look at the notion of conquering. What does Jesus mean by this? Well, it goes back to the crucifixion. Many people see Jesus’ crucifixion as a failure...but this is not true. Jesus was crucified, and died, so He could conquer death. He did. His resurrection was the proof of His victory. I think that Jesus means anyone who can conquer their fear of death will be rewarded with the permission to eat from the tree of life.

Second, what’s the deal with this tree of life business? This tree was at the center of the Garden of Eden. It represents immortality. See, we were created immortal. We only started dying after we ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The promise is that if we can manage to conquer our fear of death, we will no longer succumb to it.

Yeah...this book starts off with a big bang.

Chapter Four

We’re going to start this chapter with a brief explanation of how Jesus refers to Himself: the first and the last, who was dead and came to life (Revelation 2:8). Believe it or not, this is really important, and it might shock you. You might learn something cool.

By saying He is, the first and the last, Jesus is not saying He was the first created being. Instead, He is saying that He is the Creator (as part of the Holy Trinity). To really get this, you have to go all the way back to Genesis. That’s right: this is stated on the first page of the Bible, when humanity is about to be created. Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’ (Genesis 1:26).

Do you see it? It would be very strange (to us, anyway) if God were a singular entity and talking to Himself. He is talking to Himself, but as the Holy Trinity. Hence, His use of the plural words us and our.