Understanding Revelation from the Perspective of Creation

[Guest]

I got bored. So sue me. ;-p

I mentioned before that the book of Revelation can best be understood from the perspective of Creation. Since I'm not sure that anyone really understood what I meant, I'll post a (rather lengthy, sorry) study to explain this concept.

In the ancient world, people didn't view history the way we do today. History wasn't just a series of names, dates and events to them. Rather, it was a series of events and experiences that were, indeed, immediately relevant to the people then living, but which often drew their meaning from events and experiences going straight back to Creation. This is especially true for biblical personalities and nations.

I'm not going to do a verse-by-verse study, but I will hit some highlights in Revelation to show how the symbolism is directly tied in with the events of Creation.

Let's begin with John's vision of the seven lampstands, etc., in Revelation 1. Here we have the following elements:

1. Seven golden lampstands, set in a circle.
2. The "son of man" standing in the middle of these lampstands.
3. Seven "stars" in his right hand.
4. A sharp two-edged sword coming from his mouth.

Jesus tells John that the seven stars represent the angels to the seven churches, and the seven lampstands represent the seven churches.

Now, here's something that not many people have seen and studied. When the earth rose out of the water as we read in Genesis 1:9-10, there were seven angels - variously described as "spirits," "eyes" or "morning stars" in the bible - standing in a circle!

How do I know? Let's look at Job 38:4-8:

"Where were you [Job] when I [God] laid the foundations of the earth? declare it, if you understand. Who laid out its measurements, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it? Where are its foundations secured? Or who laid its cornerstone; when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the gates of the sea, when it broke forth, as if it had come forth from the womb?"

We can see the time setting from the last sentence here. God set the boundaries of the sea when He separated it from the dry land in Genesis 1:9-10, so that's when the morning stars, who were witnesses of this event, "sang together".

This also ties in with Zechariah 3:9: "Seven eyes will be upon one stone." This is a reference to the cornerstone - see the excerpt from Job 38 above - that seven "eyes" or angels or "morning stars" - focus on!

The symbolism is this. In the beginning, we have what are later known as the seven angels to the seven churches standing in a circle. In the middle of this circle stands Jesus Christ, with His foot resting on a 'rock' - the symbolic corner stone of all Creation. In Revelation 1, we have the "son of man" - a phrase referring to the Messianic descendant of Adam (see Gen. 3:15) - tending seven lampstands representing the seven churches via seven "stars" which are the angels to the seven churches.

So, the symbolic setting of Revelation 1 ties in directly with the events of Creation, giving the whole of Revelation a global scope on the whole of human history leading up to the establishing of Christ's eternal Kingdom.

Let's continue to Revelation 2 and 3. Here we have a description of the seven churches and their various good points and failings. Primarily (but not exclusively), this is actually talking about the 7000 year span of human history. Each "church" represents a thousand years. Why? Because, going back to Creation, we have the sun, moon and stars established in the heavens to give light, to separate day from night. In Exodus, we see seven lamps all on a single menorah or candlestick to give light to the people. So each candle represented one day, one cycle of the sun, moon and stars for the purpose of giving light.

In Revelation 5 through 7, we have the seven seals being opened. Again, we have millenial symbolism going on here. Each seal primarily represents a thousand years of human history. How do we know? Because a seal is set upon Satan in Revelation 20:1-3 to bind him for a thousand years. So, a seal represents a thousand years.

In Revelation 8-11, we have seven trumpets being blown by the seven angels, culminating in the judgment of "the great city" which is spiritually called Sodom, Egypt, and every other rebellious city. Now, in Joshua 6, we have the judgment of God on the city of Jericho with seven trumpets. For six days, we have trumpets blown once each day. On the seventh day, the trumpets are blown seven times. So symbolically, these seven trumpets represent God's judgment on the seven thousand years of human history, culminating in a repeat of the cycle of judgment all at once.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Now the pattern changes and gets more specific. In Revelation 12, we have a woman giving birth to a child who is destined to rule. This goes straight back to Genesis 3:15, the Messianic descendant of Eve.

The woman can represent many different people or things. She can represent Eve, the ancestress of the Messiah. She can represent Sarah as the mother of Isaac, the promised son. She can represent Mary, the direct mother of the Messiah. She can represent Eve as the mother of all living. She can represent Mary as the mother of the Church. She can represent Jerusalem above as the mother of the Church. And so on.

Now, notice that the dragon has seven heads. And what do they represent, but seven thousand years of human history once again? And yes, they also represent seven kings and seven governments, as well as seven high-ranking demons who are in charge of the affairs of these seven kings and seven governments. These seven demons are simply the Satanic counterfeit of the seven angels to the seven churches.

The woman flees into the wilderness, which is symbolic of the state of the world before Creation...or before re-creation - that is, renewal. (See Jeremiah 4:23-26 and compare it with Genesis 1.)

For Eve, that would have been reconciliation with Adam and the birth of Seth to replace Abel. For Mary, that would have been the receiving of her son back from the dead after three and a half days. (Jesus was resurrected Saturday towards evening, but Mary didn't see Him again until sometime Sunday morning.) For the Church, that would be...too many things to go over in this post. Try again next time. 8)

In Revelation 13, we have a beast rising out of the sea. This sea represents the waters of Creation. Remember Jesus, standing with His foot on a rock as the earth rose out of the waters? That's Messianic symbolism, making this beast a counterfeit Messiah. He has seven heads, which once again primarily represent the seven thousand years of human history. One of his "heads" - meaning a king ruling over a government - is "wounded to death" but then healed. This is a counterfeit of Jesus being "wounded to death" and then resurrected. He rules for the last 3 1/2 years before Christ returns.

The second beast rises out of the earth. The "earth" here represents the Promised Land, in contradistinction to the "sea" which can represent anywhere else. In the Creation account, this is the land of Eden. To Abraham, this is the land of Israel. This second beast exercises the power of the first beast "before him" - that is, as his prophet. So when you see mention of the beast and the false prophet later on in Revelation, the false prophet is the same as this second beast in Revelation 13. He calls fire down from heaven, just as the two witnesses - who are two prophets - do in Revelation 11. He's a counterfeit of the end-time Elijah, in other words, since Elijah of old called down fire from heaven.

The infamous "mark of the beast" is the same as the mark that God set upon Cain. It simply represents a spirit of hatred and violence instead of Godly love. It has nothing to do with Sabbath-keeping, Sunday-keeping, having the right doctrine, or anything else.

The 144,000 in Revelation 14 are the same as those in Revelation 7. They are 144,000 prophets of God, chosen as His special servants because they've been faithful to Him. This isn't just a special group of people who have some exalted position in the Kingdom because they have the right doctrine, or something ridiculous like that.

In Revelation 16, the seven last plagues represent the judgment of God, and likewise primarily represent seven thousand years of human history.

In Revelation 17, the woman sitting on the beast is the harlot that eternally seeks to create relationships that are NOT based on love. This can be love for God, for a spouse, for a family, or what-have-you. In the beginning, this represented the civilization founded by Cain. In the end, this problem will have infected the people of God to such an extent that they'll need a great restoration in order to be ready and prepared for Christ's return. Jerusalem will spiritually have become Babylon the Great, in other words.

I'll leave further details on this for some other time. But it's interesting, innit?

Damon