The Book of Revelation

**The Book of Revelation** is the final book of The New Testament, and of the Bible as a whole, including Catholic Bibles.

It is also the only book of The New Testament to be prophetic in nature, as its subject matter is on predictions and revelations regarding the end times. Thus it is the only book that is classified as an "Apocalyptic" work in The New Testament.

The main themes of The Book's prophetic visions would include Jesus Christ's Second Coming, the End of all Evil, and the creation of the World to Come, in the form of The New Heaven, The New Earth, and The New Jerusalem that descends to The New Earth from The New Heaven.

Throughout the book and the visions within, the reader is encouraged to keep the faith in face of persecutions and martyrdoms until the time of Jesus Christ's imminent return, as if they do so, they will be greatly rewarded by becoming first and formost, Children of **GOD**, who are now fully redeemed from the world, and are now HIS firstfruits who will rule over all things alongside Jesus Christ.

## Etymology

### Naming

The name of The Book of Revelation is taken from the Greek Word **"ἀποκάλυψις"** **(apokálupsis)**, from which we get the word **"Apocalypse"**. Synonyms of the word in English include **"disclosure"**, **"unravelling"**, **"unveiling"**, and **"Revelation"**, from which the English Title of the Book gets its name.

("Apocalypse" is also another title used for the English name of the Book, although it is predominantly in older English Bible translations, such as the Douay-Rheims.)

### Reason for the Name

The Book is named as such because the Book primarily deals with multiple visions of the End times, as encountered by the Author during a certain Sunday (Called The Lord's Day) in the Island of Patmos. As a work of Apocalyptic Literature, it mainly deals with its subject matter through the use of symbols and metaphors in order to explain how the end times will come about.

Such symbolism is usually used to mask the truth from most readers, while giving a select number of readers hints or clues as to what these symbols represent, with these symbolism usually representing contemporary rulers or events that are negatively affecting the readership to which the Book was sent. Just as most parts of The Book of Daniel could possibly be written to indicate the Persecutions of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes through the use of visions from Chapters 7 until 12, The Book of Revelation was written to indicate the Persecutions of the Christians by Emperor Nero, until Domitian, of which The Book of Revelation alludes either the First Beast or the Second Beast to.

## Author

The main author of The Book of Revelation names himself John. However, he does not use anything else to indicate that he's either John the Apostle or John the Evangelist who wrote the Gospel and the First Letter that bears his name, or John the Presbyter, who may have written the other two letters that bears his name, but is also possibly the writer of the First Letter as well.

Instead, this John only identifies himself as "John", and for clarification purposes, he is more well known as "John of Patmos", after the island he was in when he saw and wrote down the visions he had in The Book of Revelation. Alternatively, in following the theme of including the word "The", and then adding a title, he is also called "John the Revelator", "John the Divine", or "John the Theologian".

### Intent of the Author

One indicator to show that John of Patmos is a different author than John the Apostle/Evangelist or John the Presbyter is that his style and mannerisms of writing is vastly different than that of the aformentioned Johns, for one, John the Evangelist rarely wrote apocalyptic undertones in the Gospel, and if he did, it was usually attributed as a saying of Jesus, and another, John of Patmos seems to not express and familiarity with Jesus and his Apostles, nor does he state that he had written other books for other churches.

Another indicator would also be the intent of John of Patmos' work, and where he would have sent it to. While the other "Johns" either written a Gospel for all the faithful (The Gospel According to John), or sent their letters to specific communities (1 John and 2 John), or to individuals (3 John), John of Patmos seems to treat his letters as a symbolic letter that tells the same thing, and is best read when their content and intent are combined together into one single letter meant for all Christians. Why is that? It is because they appear to not be structured as letters the same way Paul, James, Peter and John the Presbyter arrange their letters, and they are noticeably much shorter than the other letters (Even 2 John and 3 John, the shortest among the Letters, fills out at least 20 or less verses in their respective single chapters). Hence as stated earlier, the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches are best read as a single, coherent letter that speaks of the very same thing despite their "different" addressees.

How so? When John of Patmos wrote (Or was revealed) the messages for the Seven Churches, the Churches that were addressed were all located in the Roman Province of Asia Minor (Now, Turkey/Turkyie), and their locations formed a roughly circular shape when traced together, thus John could be using this particular arrangement of the Churches (Plus the number of the Churches at 7, the number of completeness and perfection) to indicate an address to the Universal Church as a whole, in short, it is a symbolism that he uses. Otherwise, if he was writing a letter to reach more Christians, he could have sent the whole letter to churches like Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria, where most of the Christians resided.

If John of Patmos was literally writing only for the Seven Churches, then only the church at Ephesus would have warranted a large enough audience for John of Patmos' messages to be heard and spread about, as the Apostle Paul had also written a letter to the Ephesians. Laodicea could also warrant a large enough audience as well, as there was also another Pauline letter to the Laodiceans that is since lost (But is possibly just a copy of the same contents in Ephesians, as Paul asks the Colossians in his letter to them to have the letter he sent them be read "in the Church of the Laodiceans" (Colossians 4:16)).

### Summarization

To summarize, John of Patmos has a different theological understanding of the Christian truths (Although it is still grounded in it, and is in no way, heterodox) than those of the other authors that bear the name "John". Additionally, the Seven Letters he sent to the Seven Churches do not resemble any of the Pauline or Catholic letters in the most basic sense, and is instead, best read as a single, unifying letter, with a primary, single intent. And finally, while some Johannite theology leaks in some of the verses of The Book of Revelation (The use of the word "Lamb" as a title for Jesus Christ, for example), it is not as prominent and as commonplace, as it would be if it was really written by John the Apostle or John the Evangelist himself.

Overall, while traditionally, the Catholic Church has always deemed that The Book of Revelation is indeed written by John the Apostle, who also wrote both the Gospel that bears his name, and the three letters that also bear his name, scholarly speaking, the writing and linguistic style is just far too different to make it so, in the same way as his understanding of certain Theological Truths are as well.

## Overview

### A Book of Symbolisms

Uniquely among the books of the Bible, The Book of Revelation is among the hardest to understand and fully interpret, as much of its work is in a symbolic nature reminiscent of other apocalyptic literature, which was popular around that time. For obvious reasons, some of the symbolic descriptions used to describe certain persons or events throughout the book are not to be taken literally.

These symbolisms can usually allude to persons, places, or states of time, each one serving a purpose to let the Reader understand when these things will all eventually lead to the fulfillment of **GOD'S** Salvific plan for Humankind, and spell the End of the Old and Passing, and the Beginning of the New and Eternal.

### Examples of Symbolisms

Another example would be the Seven-Headed Red Dragon with Ten Horns and Crowns is used to represent Satan, the Force of Evil (Or the Big Bad, as per TV Tropes), and it uses imagery of ancient, chaotic monsters that are typically slain by a God of Order, and then its body transformed into the Whole Universe. (Leviathan, Rahab and Tiamat come to mind).

### The Misunderstanding of the Symbols

its contents have led to various misunderstandings that resulted in many different doomsday cults and failed predictions, such as the various Messianic Movements of Millennialism, and other churches making predictions for when the end times will happen, which has always resulted in rather disappointing incidents, such as Harold Camping's failed predictions of the Rapture and Day of Judgement as happening on May 21, 2011, and then when it failed to pass, on October 21 of the same year, which also failed to pass.

## Synopsis

The Book of Revelation cannot be easily summarized without taking into account many of the elements and meanings used in almost every chapter, verse and word of the Book. As such, this summary is a personal summary of what almost everything in the Book means.

## Symbolisms

As a book of Apocalyptic Literature filled to the brim with symbolisms, The Book of Revelation nonetheless, has clear meanings for many of the more important symbols that it employs throughout the book. As such, they are listed here:

### Examples of Symbolisms: The Symbolisms of Jesus Christ

The most prominent example of such symbolisms in The Book of Revelation is at least three (3) symbolic descriptions of **GOD THE SON**, who is Jesus Christ, each of which reveals or shows to us aspects of his own nature and mission as **GOD THE SON**:

#### 1: The Exalted Son of Man

The first symbolic description is Jesus Christ being depicted in his exalted and glorious appearance, to which John of Patmos gives his descriptions in detail throughout **Revelation 1:13-16**. When he fist appears, he is seen as standing **"in the midst of the (seven gold) lampstands"**. Throughout the text, He is described as:

* **1:** **"...one like a son of man,..."** **(Verse 13)**, representing Christ as bearing the Messianic Name that he himself uses when describing himself. In many parts of The Old Testament, the title called **"The Son of Man"**, is used to describe the Messiah, but most especially in The Book of Daniel, when it describes "One like a son of man. **(Daniel 7:13)**, who takes his seat alongside GOD THE FATHER (The Ancient of Days), and subsequentially receives dominion, splendor, and kingship. All nations will serve him, and his dominion and kingship both extend to All Creation, and will not end or be destroyed, essentially lasting forever, or for all Eternity. **(Daniel 7:14).** We all know this passage to clearly point at the One True Messiah Himself, who is none other than **GOD THE SON**, who is Jesus Christ, The Son of Man.

* **2:** **"...wearing an ankle-length robe..."** **(Verse 13)**, representing Christ as holding the Office of Priest, which has been referenced so many times in The Letter to the Hebrews. As The Letter to the Hebrews states, Jesus Christ as the "High Priest", has already performed a single, eternally binding sacrifice that is infinitely greater than all of the sacrifices of other high priests combined. Through his Paschal Sacrifice, Christ has become both the Sacrificial Lamb, and the Priest that sacrifices the Sacrificial Lamb.

* **3:** **"...with a gold sash around his chest."** **(Verse 13)**, representing Christ as holding the Office of King, which is continued in Revelation's concluding chapters before The New Creation (Chapter 19 and Chapter 20). As the Nicene Creed states, when Christ will return, he will come to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no end. But even prior to that event, Jesus Christ is already ruling over all things as King, and we, his servants, now only await his return to fulfill the Kingdom of **GOD**.

* **4:** **"...The hair of his head was as white as white wool or as snow,..."** **(Verse 14)**, representing Christ as Eternal, holding the very same dignity that **GOD THE FATHER** had as the "Ancient of Days". As **GOD THE SON**, Jesus has the attribute of Eternity, pre-existing before all things, just as **GOD THE FATHER**, and **GOD THE SPIRIT** did. And even when he took up the flesh and dwelt amongst us, the display of his Eternity can be seen in the way he speaks of the eternal, unperishable things, or that he was there when the ancient ancestors and prophets of the Jews witnessed him, such as Abraham, Moses and Elijah.

* **5:** **"...and his eyes were like a fiery flame."** **(Verse 14)**, representing Christ as All-Knowing and All-Seeing, which can also be understood to be him possessing The Spirit of **GOD** **(GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT).** Nothing every escapes his notice, his knowledge or his judgement. For he is the "Searcher of Hearts and Minds" (Revelation 2:23), and everything that can be hidden, even the innermost personal thoughts, will be revealed in his presence.

* **6:** **"...His feet were like polished brass refined in a furnace,..."** **(Verse 15)**, representing Christ as Immutable and Unchangeable, which is an attribute of **GOD** as a whole. In Christ's case, he will forever remain steadfast in his Love for us, and his Will to Save and Mediate for us, and he will never abandon us in our time of need, no matter the problem or the cost.

* **7:** **"...and his voice was like the sound of rushing water."** **(Verse 15)**, representing Christ as speaking with Divine Authority. The voice of **GOD** is typically represented as either thunder or multiple waterfalls, both natural phenomena that produce very loud noises. Thus by attributing these descriptions to Christ's voice, is to basically attribute **GOD'S** authority to Christ, who is himself **GOD THE SON**, and is thus, justified in speaking with Divine Authority.

* **8:** **"...In his right hand he held seven stars."** **(Verse 16)**, representing Christ's dominion as being universal. The imagery of holding seven stars in the right hand is an imperial form of imagery, used by Roman Emperors and certain gods, such as Mithras, to indicate that their rule and sovereignty is universal. In Christ's case, this is true of him, and as the Seven Stars are representative of the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches that Christ will address individually later in the next chapter, and that Seven represented fullness, completeness or perfection, this symbolism is therefore saying that Christ's dominion over all things, and over the Church, is Universal.

* **9:** **"...A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth,..."** **(Verse 16)**, representing Christ as The Word of **GOD**. This also represents Christ as holding the Office of Prophet, for the Prophets, the Servants of **GOD**, speak the Word of **GOD** of **GOD'S** own accord, but HE, who is **GOD THE SON**, The Word of **GOD**, and The Son of **GOD** speaks of his own accord. This Word of **GOD** can save the righteous and repentant sinners, and punish the unrepentant sinners as they deserve, hence why it is described as a Sword that saves one from the other.

* **10:** **"...and his face shone like the sun at its brightest."** **(Verse 16)**, representing Christ as having the overall Divine Majesty of GOD. As GOD THE SON, Jesus Christ already possesses the Divine Majesty for All Eternity, temporarily and willingly subsuming it when taking on the Human Nature at the Incarnation, and then re-attaining it at the Resurrection after his Passion and Death on the Cross. Now and forevermore, **GOD THE SON**, Jesus Christ possesses his Divine Majesty in the Divine Nature, alongside the Human Nature that he took upon at the Incarnation, thus Jesus Christ is now **FULLY GOD, AND FULLY MAN**.

Following this, Jesus Christ as the Exalted Son of Man utters words and titles that further attributes to him what was traditionally attributed to **GOD THE FATHER**, expound further on the fact that Jesus Christ conquered Sin and Death, Resurrected from the Dead, and regained his life for All Eternity. Thus, these words he addresses to himself further stress that Jesus Christ is **GOD THE SON.** These are:

* **1:** **"... I am the first and the last,..."** **(Verse 17).** Jesus Christ is telling John of Patmos (And the Reader) that he is the First and the Last, essentially taking the meaning of the words that **GOD THE FATHER** spoke out a few verses earlier **(Revelation 1:8)**. This is another way to describe Christ's own Eternity, as he is First before all things, and he will remain after all things will pass and be replaced with the new. Later on in The Book of Revelation **(Revelation 22:13)**, he will repeat the mentioned line, and include **GOD THE FATHER'S** line in **Revelation 1:8:** **"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."**, thus further stressing his nature as Eternal.

* **2:** **"...the one who lives."** **(Verse 18).** Jesus Christ, in his Passion and Death, has conquered Sin and Death, and following that, he is Resurrected from the Dead, thus invalidating Death's hold on him. As the First one to be Resurrected (The cases of Enoch and Elijah are not counted as they were bodily taken up to Heaven without tasting Death, and the cases of the various people brought back to life, including Lazarus, are not counted, as they were merely brought back to life without the glorious transformation of the Resurrection, their lives merely continued on, and they eventually died again.), Jesus Christ can truly and rightfully address himself as **"The One Who Lives"**, or in some translations, **"The Living One"**. Thus he tells John of Patmos (And the Reader) that he is Eternal and Death could never touch him again.

* 3: **"...Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever."** **(Verse 18)**. Continuing on from the prior description, Jesus Christ tells John of Patmos (And the Reader) as to why he merited the title of **"The One who Lives"**: It is because he once tasted death at the Cross, but now the Resurrection has brought him back from the dead. And not only is Jesus Christ brought back to life, but through his Resurrection, he is alive forever and ever, and Death will never touch him again, as Christ had conquered Death not just for himself, but for everyone.

* **4:** **"...I hold the keys to death and the netherworld."** **(Verse 18)**. Finally closing the two prior statements he made about himself, Jesus Christ triumphantly tells John of Patmos (And the Reader) that he holds the keys to Death and the Netherworld. This means that he now keeps Death and the Netherworld under lock and key, that they could no longer have a hold on the souls of those who are loyal and obedient to Jesus Christ and follow his Message of Salvation. Both Death and the Netherworld, however, will take hold of the unrepentant souls that will eventually come to them in the following chapters. Thus, Jesus is telling John of Patmos (And the Reader), that in keeping Death and the Netherworld under lock and key, he has spared them from their clutches, and that at the moment of the bodily deaths, they will see Jesus Christ and walk with him and stay with him until the day that they attain their own glorious resurrections, instead of seeing the face of Death, and then being dragged to their realms to cry and grind their teeths forever and ever, as it is the fate of the unrighteous and unrepentant sinners.

Finally, the Son of Man explains what the Seven Gold Lampstands behind him, and the Seven Stars on his right hand represent:

**"This is the secret meaning of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."**

**(Revelation 1:20)**

The Seven Gold Lampstands represent the Seven Churches that John of Patmos will address to with the Seven Letters, while the Seven Stars on Christ' right hand, represent the Seven Churches' angels, spiritual leaders, or their community spirit, as was aforementioned earlier. However, owing to the symbolism of the number "Seven" as meaning fullness, completeness and perfection, the Son of Man is expressing to John of Patmos through the symbolic imagery of the Seven Gold Lampstands and the Seven Stars that he holds the dominion of the entire Church in his right hand, and is present in all of them, he is present in their midst. He takes the words that he said: **"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."** **(Matthew 18:20)**, and applies it to the entire Church in the entire Universe, most certainly in all of Creation.

As the most visually beautiful and most symbolic of the three symbolisms for Jesus Christ, this **"Vision of The Son of Man"** also summarizes the most basic and most important Christology into the person of The Son of Man, showing to us that there was already a developed Christology and understanding of Jesus Christ at the time of John of Patmos writing The Book of Revelation.

#### 2: The Lamb of GOD, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David

The second symbolic description is Jesus Christ being depicted as a Lamb with Seven Eyes, Seven Horns, and having appeared to be recently slain.

Prior to the Lamb's introduction, one of the Twenty-Four (24) Elders comes to John of Patmos to comfort him, and tell him that **"The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David"**, has emerged triumphantly from conquering Sin and Death via his Passion, Death and Resurrection. This Lamb, is then the representation of the Triumphant Christ, returning back to the Heavenly Kingdom after his Passion, Death and Resurrection. As a result, it thus makes Jesus Christ worthy of breaking the Seven Seals of the Book that foretells the Fulfillment of GOD's Salvific Plan for all things in Creation.

As symbolism abounds in this description of Jesus Christ **(Which is in Revelation 5:6)**, they will be listed as such:

1: **"...that seemed to have been slain.":** The Lamb is described as being slain, which represents the Passion and Death that Jesus Christ had to undergo in order to become the Paschal Lamb that saves us all from our sins. And the fact that John described the Lamb as being "slain", despite his description of it indicating that the Lamb is very much alive, it is also indicative that the wound that makes the Lamb appear as though slain, is possibly the Wound at Jesus' side that from which pours forth Blood and Water. Later descriptions in The Book of Revelation that point to "The Blood of the Lamb", and the Lamb leading his flock to "rivers of life-giving water" seem to support this theological understanding, although John of Patmos himself may not have thought of that in mind when he wrote the Book as dictated by **GOD'S** Angel that was sent by both **GOD THE FATHER,** and **GOD THE SON.**

**2:** **"...He had seven horns and seven eyes;":** The Seven Eyes and the Seven Horns is used to represent the fullness of Power (Horns), and Knowledge (Eyes). As we know, Seven is traditionally a number of completeness, and thus justifies that the Lamb has the fullness of Power and Knowledge that he attains upon his triumphant return. This also harkens back to the prior vision of Jesus Christ as the Exalted Son of Man, when both the Seven Stars and the Seven Lampstands represent the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches, and the Seven Churches, respectively. Thus in connecting this description of the Lamb as having Seven Horns and Seven Eyes to the Son of Man as holding Seven Stars and standing in the midst of Seven Gold Lampstands, we are simply stating that Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, and the Lamb of **GOD** who takes away the sins of the world, holds Power and Knowledge over all things.

**3:** **"... these are the [seven] spirits of God sent out into the whole world.":** Additionally, the Seven Horns and Seven Eyes are given further representations: They also represent the Seven Spirits of GOD, which is usually indicated to mean the completeness of GOD's Holy Spirit (GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT) as being upon the Lamb, in as much the same way as it was upon Jesus Christ at his Baptism **(Matthew 3:13-17,** **Mark 1:10-11,** **And** **Luke 3:21-22).** Thus a Trinitarian Image can be inferred in this one: As the Lamb of **GOD** **(GOD THE FATHER)** who takes away the sins of the world, The Lamb **(GOD THE SON)**, who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David (Both titles for the Messiah, of which Jesus is indeed and without question, the True Messiah), also has in him, the Seven Spirits of **GOD**, which is the fullness of **GOD'S** Spirit **(GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT)**.

Just as The Son of Man from the First Chapter of The Book of Revelation harkens back to **Daniel 7:14**, the Lamb too, is described as obtaining the very same power and authority over all things as The Son of Man in Daniel did. From the moment the Lamb took the Scroll with the Seven Seals, All Creation comes down in worship of him, and then they declared praise to him by saying:

**“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain**

**to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength,**

**honor and glory and blessing.”**

**(Revelation 5:12)**

Thus in the same manner when the Son of Man in Daniel received Power and Dominion when presented to the Ancient of Days, so is the Lamb given Power, Riches (In some translations, it is Godhood or Divinity, although this would somehow contradict the Lamb's already divine nature, this can be understood as the Lamb's divinity being restored at the Resurrection, and then taking back his rightful place as one of the **THREE DIVINE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY**), Wisdom, Strength, Honor, Glory and Blessing.

## Other Links

This article serves as a general article regarding the Book of Revelation itself.

* To read the Book of Revelation through the many Catholic Bible translations, see The Book of Revelation/Translation.
* To see commentary on the Book of Revelation, see The Book of Revelation/Commentary.
* For any extrabiblical information about the Book of Revelation, see The Book of Revelation/Extra Information.
* To see any images related to the Book of Revelation, see The Book of Revelation/Image Gallery.