Interpretation Helps for Revelation 14, 16-21

Wrapping up Revelation (and the Bible), I will share what the People's Bible says on some of the difficult verses in yesterday's and today's readings:

• In 14:1-5 the 144,000 are the faithful believers. It says, "These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure." Defilement with women represents spiritual adultery.
• In these closing chapters the flow of the text isn't always chronological, so with 14:6-7, although the previous verses were talking about the victory of believers, we are now back in the New Testament age prior to the final judgment.
• In 16:1-11 about the bowls of God's wrath, the bowls obviously represent God's judgment, however the specific details aren't always very clear. In 16:2 the ugly and painful sores could represent disappointment and frustrations when trust in human saviors betrays them. The second and third bowls in 16:3-4 might represent environmental disasters. The fifth bowl in 16:10-11 plunges the beast's (governments and churches working with Satan) kingdom into darkness. The darkness could represent how the beast fails to deliver any real hope for people.
• In 16:12-16 the river Euphrates and the kings from the East symbolize the enemies of Israel. The later mention of the kings of the whole world shows that all governments will increasingly be in service to Satan. The gathering of kings at Armageddon is a stubborn, united resistance with which God's enemies will face him at the final judgment.
• With the seventh bowl of wrath in 16:17-21 the huge hailstones as well as the other events emphasize the level of horror involved with the final destruction.
• In 17:1-6 the prostitute is the false church and human institutions that preach salvation through human achievement. She is also known as the "beast of the earth" and "the false prophet." She "sits on many waters," which is peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. Her adulteries are spiritual unfaithfulness. Her name is Babylon. She is the "mother of prostitutes" because her liaison with secular powers spawns and trains others to be unfaithful.
• In 17:7-8 the beast the woman rides represents secular power under the control of Satan. These verses say he "once was, now is not, and yet will come." In comparison to our changeless, eternal God, the duo of the devil and secular powers will rise again and again to harm the church.
• In 17:9-12 the beast the woman rides is described. The seven heads/seven hills brings to mind the seven hills of Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin was in charge of legalistic Judaism, and Rome, out of which the Catholic church grew. So these are symbols of secular governments that claim divine rights and ally themselves with the false church. Verses 10-11 represents world powers that had fallen in the Old Testament and the restrictions God places on New Testament world powers. The ten horns in 17:12 represent governments that serve the beast in the New Testament age.
• Chapter 18 is an illustration of the destruction of "Babylon" (the false church) using imagery from the destruction of Old Testament Babylon.
• In 19:12 the "name" of Jesus "that no one knows but he himself"--this means name/reputation--only in heaven will we fully appreciate all that Jesus is.
• In 19:17-18 this announcement is made before the final battle in verses 19-21, showing that victory is a foregone conclusion.
• It's important to understand that while chapter 19 wraps up with God's victory, chapter 20 once again goes back to a setting of the New Testament age. The angel coming down out of heaven (verse 1) who has the key to the Abyss is Jesus. The devil is bound for 1,000 years, or the time of the New Testament era from Jesus through today. The devil is restricted until the very end, at which point there will be a period of great distress for believers with many false prophets during which "the love of most will grow cold" (Matthew 24:11-12).
• Revelation 20:4-6 is a section that is misinterpreted by some Christians resulting in the false teaching of millennialism where Jesus will reign on earth for 1,000 years just before the end of the world. First notice in 20:4 that the "souls" of believers, not bodies yet, are what is being talked about. Then verses 4-5 should be translated, "They came to life lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead [unbelievers] did not come to life live until the thousand years were ended.)" In other words, believers who die on earth continue to live in heaven through the New Testament age until Judgment Day, while unbelievers die in body and soul until they are resurrected for a brief time for the final judgment, only to be sent to eternal death once again. The first resurrection/death is our spiritual status on earth. The second resurrection/death is our eternal spiritual status.
• In 20:7-10 Satan is released to deceive the nations in the four corner of the earth--"Gog and Magog." "Gog and Magog" represent all the rulers and nations that oppose God's people. "Fire [the agent of God's wrath] came down from heaven and devoured them." They will be defeated.
• In 21:1 it says that in heaven "there was no longer any sea." Since this is where the first beast had come from, this could represent how there will no longer be any anti-Christian threats in heaven.
• In 21:16 the new Jerusalem is described as "wide and high as it is long." It was a perfect cube, as was the Most Holy Place of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple.
• In 21:25 says of the Holy Jerusalem, "there will be no night there." This means there will be no evil.

Very amazing, isn't it, how Revelation is truly a climax of so much of the background information we've been reading about for the past year? What an incredible way everything ties together to now tell of the amazing, victorious future to come for all believers in Christ!