REVELATION SPECIAL LECTURE #2
Dr. Dave Mathewson
Gordon College/Denver Seminary
INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION
• Review
• Persecution largely at local level from those keen on
showing their allegiance to Rome
• Problem: Christians compromising with Rome
• Revelation to unmask/expose Rome’s arrogance, it’s
pretentions, its desire for wealth at the expense of
others, imperial oppression
•
REVIEW
• John exposes the whole system, it’s a hideous blood
thirsty beast
• God’s people shouldn’t give in to it no matter what
the consequences
GENRE OF REVELATION
• Genre:
• We don’t read or write apocalypses today
• It’s a vision into the heavenly world, lifting the veil so
the readers can see behind the empirical world.
• An apocalypse is a first person narrative of that
heavenly vision
ANALOGY : MODERN POLITICAL CARTOON
• One possible modern literary parallel might be the
political cartoon
• Political cartoons refer to actual specific historical
events and people, rooted in reality
• The way they do it is by highly exaggerated symbols
of those persons or events
• Because we know the present scene and because
we know their symbols we can identify with them
and resonate with them
REVELATION AS POLITICAL CARTOON
• Dave’s analogy: Rebuilding a cabin: old political cartoons
in 1930’s didn’t understand because didn’t know that time
or the symbols
• A commentary on the political circumstances of the 1 st
century to help his readers understand the true nature
of their conflict with Rome
• Some of the symbols are stock: eagle=USA; donkey or
elephant= political parties
• So too in Revelation: 7 headed beast or a dragon, says
something about the true nature of the Roman empire
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• 1) Chapters 4-5 Vision of God and Lamb upon the throne
• Begins the heart of John’s vision: John ascends to
heaven, God lifting the veil giving him a glimpse into the
heavenly reality
• Symbolic depiction: Rev. 4:1-7;
• Throne and lightning = judgment
• This throne in heaven is meant to usurp and replace the
throne of Caesar; Caesar is not on the throne but God is
on the throne being worshipped
• So what is happening on earth is not all there is
REVELATION 4-5 SECTION
• Chapter 5 introduces scroll
• Scroll is probably God’s plan to establish his
sovereignty and bring salvation and judgment
• No one who can open it, John weeps
• John is introduced to the Lamb who can open it
• Jesus described as lion and lamb (symbolically)
REVELATION 4-5 SECTION
• Jesus can open it and divulge its contents, so Jesus
through his death can enact the contents of the scroll
• The rest of Revelation tells how that God’s sovereignty
and worship permeate the rest of creation
• Cf. Lord’s prayer, God’s will/rule in heaven now extents
to the entire creation is the rest of Revelation
• Revelation 4-5 is the fulcrum of the rest of the book
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• 3 sections of 7: 7 Seals opened; 7 Trumpets sounded
and 7 Bowls poured out
• What are we to understand of the symbolism?
What are they suggesting?
• Need to understand the OT background
• Rev. 8:1-9:3 Trumpets sounding
• Bowls are much of the same: whole earth darken,
frogs, locusts, water to blood
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• What do these plagues recall in your canonical
memory?  Exodus
• Plagues on Egypt and the deliverance of his people
• In the same way God judged Egypt God will once
again judge an arrogant human empire
• These are not literal descriptions
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• What is their meaning? God will judge wicked
humanity (wicked Rome) in the same way he did in
Egypt via the exodus
• Combination of physical and spiritual judgments
• Judgment on Egypt’s commerce and life similar to
the judgment on Rome
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• Relationship between the seals/trumpets and bowls
• Do the seals/trumpets and bowls follow each other
sequentially?
• Are they sequential? seals, then trumpets, then
bowls
• Do they overlap? seals; describe it again as
trumpets; describes it again as bowls
SAMPLING OF SECTIONS OF REVELATION
• John’s point is not to speculate how many now or in
the future
• John’s primary point is to evoke the imagery of the
exodus; don’t give in to Rome’s evil system because
God is going to judge it
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• In Revealtion Numbers must also be interpreted
symbolically
• As the beasts, water to blood, stars falling and making
the water bitter, = symbolically portraying God’s
judgment on the earth; so too the numbers
• Many try to take the numbers literally, should be just
the opposite
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• What about the number 666?
• This number was taken literally by some 
Caterpillar tractor company, credit cards, computer
chips, mark of beast identified with all sorts of
modern things
• Any interpretation that John could not have intended
and his readers would not have understood should
be looked at with suspicion
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• The concern not with the exact numbers but what they
symbolize
• 1) Perhaps the number 6 is one short of 7 the number
of perfect; (Rev. 13) 666 is short of 777, the number of
humanity, falls short of perfection
• Imagery may evoke more than one meaning
• 2) 666 may have suggested the name “Nero” when
the letters are added up it = 666
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• If John is writing under Domitian maybe John is
wanting them to recall Nero as that evil beastly ruler.
Now the spirit of Nero is resurrected and the true evil of
Rome is being exposed
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• The number 7 has symbolic value: 7 days of creation
perhaps, completeness, perfection
• 7 seals, trumpet, bowls: completeness, perfect number
of God’s judgment on the world
• 3 ½ is half of seven: only half of perfection; so often
persecution of God’s people is 3 ½ years; not significant
for temporal value but symbolic value; intense time of
conflict it will be cut short
• So trouble 3 ½ years the point is it will be cut short, it
won’t last
NUMBERS IN REVELATION
• The number 12 is 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles
144,000 = people of God; new Jerusalem measured in
unit that are multiples of 12  people of God
SECTIONS OF REVELATION : REV. 12-13
• Revelation 12 and 13
• Vision of 5 main characters
• A woman
• A child
• Dragon
• 2 Beasts
SECTIONS OF REVELATION : REV. 12-13
• Woman with child; when child is born the dragon goes
after the child of the woman [people of God; Israel as
the wife of Yahweh common in OT]
• Dragon enlists 2 beasts one from the sea and one from
the land. They will help the dragon destroy the offspring
of the woman
REVELATION 12-13
• What is the Old Testament background?
• Genesis chapter 3:14f cursing of the serpent and
Proto-evangelium–enmity between the serpent and
woman, he will crush your head and you will strike his
heal
• How many of those motifs get repeated in Revelation
12-13?
• The dragon is clearly identified as the serpent of old
(Gen. 3)
COMPARISON GEN. 3 AND REV. 12-13
• Gen. 3:15-16 serpent
and the woman in enmity
• Rev. 12 dragon and
woman in battle
• Gen. 3:15-15 the
offspring in enmity also
• Rev. 13 the dragon and
two beasts go after the
woman’s offspring
• Gen. 4:15=16 describing
head crushing
• Gen. 3:15-16 woman
undergoing pain in
childbirth
• Rev. 12-13 beast has a
damaged head
• Rev. 12-13 woman
suffers pain
REVELATION 12-13
• What is the function of Rev. 12-13
• Rev. 12-13 is showing the true nature of the conflict.
• The conflict ultimately goes all the way back to Gen. 3
so they should not be surprised by their struggle with
Rome
• Their struggle with Rome is really their struggle with
Satan and goes all the way back to Gen. 3.
REVELATION 12-13
• Rev. 12-13 is a commentary in Eph. 6 spiritual armor;
your battle is a spiritual battle in heavenly places;
conflict with Rome is not the whole picture, John lifts
the veil and shows the connection with the age old
struggle (Gen. 3)
• The death blow has already been dealt so all they need
to do is resist Rome