Introductory Material
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Summary and Overview
“There are many reasons why the modern Christian and even the modern theologian may hesitate to give to the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming that emphasis which was usually laid on it by our ancestors. Yet it seems to me impossible to retain in any recognisable form our belief in the Divinity of Christ and the truth of the Christian revelation while abandoning, or even persistently neglecting, the promised, and threatened, Return. "He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead” says the Apostles' Creed. "This same Jesus” said the angels in Acts, "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." "Hereafter” said our Lord himself (by those words inviting crucifixion), "shall ye see the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of heaven." If this is not an integral part of the faith once given to the saints, I do not know what is.”
--CS Lewis[1]
There is a strong need today for a commentary that makes the language of Revelation accessible to the Christian layman. Tapestry: The Book of Revelation is intended to provide this in a way that is also accessible to specialists in the field as well. Revelation is a tapestry woven of threads that reach throughout the Bible. The authors propose to take our readers beneath the surface of this tapestry to show how the threads connect, revealing how Revelation ties together the rest of the Bible. Our fundamental purpose is to translate the symbols and images of Revelation into terms understandable by all Christians. We carefully distinguish between what John sees and how John explains what he saw. The latter is John’s language, but the former are God’s visions. Our task is not to explain why John wrote what he did. John wrote what he was shown. Our task is to understand the meaning of what God showed John.
Interest in prophecy, particularly in prophecy concerning the end of the age, has risen sharply throughout the past century, driven in part by historical events. With the re-establishment of Israel in 1948 and the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, there now remain no further prophecies that must be fulfilled before the commencement of the last seven years of this age. The fact that recent generations have seen prophecy fulfilled more clearly than any since the Apostles’ has sparked a growing curiosity to know what is next on God’s timetable.
The rise of technology has played its part as well. Modern science and engineering have in many ways caught up with Bible prophecy. The events in Revelation always could have been fulfilled miraculously; today, many of them are possible without the miraculous. Revelation tells us, for example, that people of every nation will see the bodies of the two witnesses lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem.[2] Throughout all time God could have made this possible through a miracle; today, it is possible through television and the Internet.
For all these reasons, the interest of both believers and non-believers in prophecy has grown. Numerous books, some of dubious scholarship, have appeared to serve this demand, but the most important book about the end times, the book of Revelation, remains out of the reach of most people. Many modern books on Revelation are too shallow or too sensational for the serious student and leave unaddressed the grandeur and depth of the book itself. Other books, written by and for scholars, lose the average reader in technical language and the finer points of theology. Tapestry seeks a middle ground.
Without a reliable guide, many abandon Revelation, believing the prophecy is too esoteric for the layman to grasp. As the time draws nearer, it is tragic that the book most concerned with Christ’s return should be closed to many Christians. It is also unnecessary. Using a firm grounding in scripture, we provide a guide to John’s language and God’s symbols that is accessible to modern readers. We hope we also reveal some of the beauty and majesty of this capstone of the Bible, this book that sees the fulfillment of all that has been prophesied across more than three and a half millennia.
Our approach to Revelation has many facets. First, we will show that what God showed John, he often also showed to other prophets, and how by comparing their visions with his we can reach a stronger understanding of John’s visions. By tying Revelation together with other prophecies of the end times we can also fill in gaps in our knowledge of things to come. Most important, we can better understand God’s symbols by comparing John’s visions with those of other prophets, and John’s language with other prophets’ and with deuterocanonical and extra-biblical sources.
What most makes Revelation difficult is that John stands nearly 2000 years in our past, describing events in our future, using a language of symbols that was centuries old when he wrote. Only through symbols could John comprehend enough of the far future to record what he saw and communicate it to those who lived after him. Our modern problems with God’s method are of our own making. We have allowed ourselves to lose fluency in the language of the symbols. Thus, the task of a commentator today is largely that of a translator, attempting to translate the symbols that God used into words that our age understands.
Symbols, in particular rich, visual ones like those in Revelation, contain their information holographically. They are literally true and yet not visually true. What makes our media-trained minds revolt is that the symbols represent, in visual form, things that do not look like the symbols. If we are told a man is strong as an ox, we accept the metaphor. When a man is symbolized by an ox, we may see the details of the ox's hide or horns but lose the meaning of the symbol. When Christ appears before God’s throne to take the scroll, John sees him as a mortally wounded seven-eyed lamb. When the Antichrist appears, it is as a multiheaded beast rising from the ocean. It is important to understand that the beast is no more and no less a beast than Christ is a lamb. We are not put off by statements that a particularly bad man is a beast or that Christ is the Lamb of God. We should not fear visual symbols that say the same thing.
--CS Lewis[1]
There is a strong need today for a commentary that makes the language of Revelation accessible to the Christian layman. Tapestry: The Book of Revelation is intended to provide this in a way that is also accessible to specialists in the field as well. Revelation is a tapestry woven of threads that reach throughout the Bible. The authors propose to take our readers beneath the surface of this tapestry to show how the threads connect, revealing how Revelation ties together the rest of the Bible. Our fundamental purpose is to translate the symbols and images of Revelation into terms understandable by all Christians. We carefully distinguish between what John sees and how John explains what he saw. The latter is John’s language, but the former are God’s visions. Our task is not to explain why John wrote what he did. John wrote what he was shown. Our task is to understand the meaning of what God showed John.
Interest in prophecy, particularly in prophecy concerning the end of the age, has risen sharply throughout the past century, driven in part by historical events. With the re-establishment of Israel in 1948 and the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, there now remain no further prophecies that must be fulfilled before the commencement of the last seven years of this age. The fact that recent generations have seen prophecy fulfilled more clearly than any since the Apostles’ has sparked a growing curiosity to know what is next on God’s timetable.
The rise of technology has played its part as well. Modern science and engineering have in many ways caught up with Bible prophecy. The events in Revelation always could have been fulfilled miraculously; today, many of them are possible without the miraculous. Revelation tells us, for example, that people of every nation will see the bodies of the two witnesses lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem.[2] Throughout all time God could have made this possible through a miracle; today, it is possible through television and the Internet.
For all these reasons, the interest of both believers and non-believers in prophecy has grown. Numerous books, some of dubious scholarship, have appeared to serve this demand, but the most important book about the end times, the book of Revelation, remains out of the reach of most people. Many modern books on Revelation are too shallow or too sensational for the serious student and leave unaddressed the grandeur and depth of the book itself. Other books, written by and for scholars, lose the average reader in technical language and the finer points of theology. Tapestry seeks a middle ground.
Without a reliable guide, many abandon Revelation, believing the prophecy is too esoteric for the layman to grasp. As the time draws nearer, it is tragic that the book most concerned with Christ’s return should be closed to many Christians. It is also unnecessary. Using a firm grounding in scripture, we provide a guide to John’s language and God’s symbols that is accessible to modern readers. We hope we also reveal some of the beauty and majesty of this capstone of the Bible, this book that sees the fulfillment of all that has been prophesied across more than three and a half millennia.
Our approach to Revelation has many facets. First, we will show that what God showed John, he often also showed to other prophets, and how by comparing their visions with his we can reach a stronger understanding of John’s visions. By tying Revelation together with other prophecies of the end times we can also fill in gaps in our knowledge of things to come. Most important, we can better understand God’s symbols by comparing John’s visions with those of other prophets, and John’s language with other prophets’ and with deuterocanonical and extra-biblical sources.
What most makes Revelation difficult is that John stands nearly 2000 years in our past, describing events in our future, using a language of symbols that was centuries old when he wrote. Only through symbols could John comprehend enough of the far future to record what he saw and communicate it to those who lived after him. Our modern problems with God’s method are of our own making. We have allowed ourselves to lose fluency in the language of the symbols. Thus, the task of a commentator today is largely that of a translator, attempting to translate the symbols that God used into words that our age understands.
Symbols, in particular rich, visual ones like those in Revelation, contain their information holographically. They are literally true and yet not visually true. What makes our media-trained minds revolt is that the symbols represent, in visual form, things that do not look like the symbols. If we are told a man is strong as an ox, we accept the metaphor. When a man is symbolized by an ox, we may see the details of the ox's hide or horns but lose the meaning of the symbol. When Christ appears before God’s throne to take the scroll, John sees him as a mortally wounded seven-eyed lamb. When the Antichrist appears, it is as a multiheaded beast rising from the ocean. It is important to understand that the beast is no more and no less a beast than Christ is a lamb. We are not put off by statements that a particularly bad man is a beast or that Christ is the Lamb of God. We should not fear visual symbols that say the same thing.
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How to Read This Book
We strongly recommend reading the Principles of Exegesis in Appendix 8 to understand the methodology used to interpret Revelation and the events of the Last Days. While you are reading the commentary, it will also be helpful to have the Timeline (bottom of this section and at the top of each chapter - zoom and scroll as needed) at hand to put the events discussed in temporal context. Appendices
Revelation should be read as a set of prophesies yet to be fulfilled, similar to the way Isaiah or Ezekiel would have been read before their prophecies started coming true. One of the keys to understanding the book of Revelation is realizing that the prophecies are a series of overlapping views of the events of the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. John will present a series of events and then go back in time, sometimes well before the events just presented and carry the prophecies forward, generally further in time than the previous section and often from a different viewpoint. In these sections, John often switches from the Heavenly to the Earthly viewpoint and back.
Next, it would be advisable to read Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse (Appendix 2) which is essentially a synopsis of Revelation and related events.
After reading the entire book of Revelation, read the chapter corresponding to the chapter in the commentary. The chapter in the commentary quotes the entire book during the discussions.
The authors of this work are Christians who believe in the inspiration of scripture. We therefore put far more weight on a parallel passage or explained symbol if it comes from the Bible, and so the Bible has been our primary tool in providing that “symbol dictionary”. Nonetheless, there are sources beyond the Bible that can clarify particular passages, and they have been used when they offer significant aid. Important among these have been extrabiblical apocalypses. I Enoch, II Esdras, and the Gospel of Nicodemus have proven particularly useful.[1]
Tapestry grew from two courses: one in Christian Basics and one on the Book of Revelation that the authors taught at Celebration Presbyterian Church in Redmond, Washington. It is intended to be used by anyone wanting a more thorough understanding of Revelation. Small-group leaders who wish to lead Bible studies on Revelation or the end times will find it particularly helpful.
Quotes of Scripture from the entire book are generally from the NIV version of the Bible, primarily the 1984 revision of the 1978 edition. Some are from the 2011 revision. Where other versions are used, it is generally to provide a different translation of an ambiguous word or phrase.
Revelation should be read as a set of prophesies yet to be fulfilled, similar to the way Isaiah or Ezekiel would have been read before their prophecies started coming true. One of the keys to understanding the book of Revelation is realizing that the prophecies are a series of overlapping views of the events of the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. John will present a series of events and then go back in time, sometimes well before the events just presented and carry the prophecies forward, generally further in time than the previous section and often from a different viewpoint. In these sections, John often switches from the Heavenly to the Earthly viewpoint and back.
Next, it would be advisable to read Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse (Appendix 2) which is essentially a synopsis of Revelation and related events.
After reading the entire book of Revelation, read the chapter corresponding to the chapter in the commentary. The chapter in the commentary quotes the entire book during the discussions.
The authors of this work are Christians who believe in the inspiration of scripture. We therefore put far more weight on a parallel passage or explained symbol if it comes from the Bible, and so the Bible has been our primary tool in providing that “symbol dictionary”. Nonetheless, there are sources beyond the Bible that can clarify particular passages, and they have been used when they offer significant aid. Important among these have been extrabiblical apocalypses. I Enoch, II Esdras, and the Gospel of Nicodemus have proven particularly useful.[1]
Tapestry grew from two courses: one in Christian Basics and one on the Book of Revelation that the authors taught at Celebration Presbyterian Church in Redmond, Washington. It is intended to be used by anyone wanting a more thorough understanding of Revelation. Small-group leaders who wish to lead Bible studies on Revelation or the end times will find it particularly helpful.
Quotes of Scripture from the entire book are generally from the NIV version of the Bible, primarily the 1984 revision of the 1978 edition. Some are from the 2011 revision. Where other versions are used, it is generally to provide a different translation of an ambiguous word or phrase.
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Main Points in the Commentary
By following the Principles of Exegesis in Appendix 8, we have reached conclusions that may be controversial to some people. We believe that our readers should know them at the outset.
- The events of the seven seals, trumpets, and plagues are mostly temporally sequential. They deviate from the strictly sequential in two ways. First, some of them look ahead to later events. The sixth seal, for example, announces the wrath of God, which is carried out in the seventh seal. Second, and more importantly, there are several periods of recapitulation, some of them quite lengthy. Thus, more than four chapters separate the seventh trumpet[1] from the first plague.[2] Within that span is a recapitulation that reaches back to Christ’s first coming. In general, by the end of each recapitulation, events have advanced to or beyond where they were when the recapitulation started.
- Another difficulty people have with Revelation is that the events of the Last Days are not presented in order and are not told from a single viewpoint. For the most part, a section in Revelation will present a series of events that are related and that are seen from a particular viewpoint (whether that of heaven or of earth). The following section may present the same events from the other perspective, or it may cover a new set of events. In the latter case it often looks back to part of the previous period before going on to later events. Sometimes these “recapitulations” can be very extensive and last for several chapters in Revelation. Throughout, we will attempt to clarify where in the sequence of events a particular text applies, what the viewpoint is, and what is of particular importance in this section. Throughout, consideration of the Timeline will greatly aid in keeping events in order.
- The seven trumpets are included in the seventh seal, the seven plagues in the seventh trumpet.
- The Antichrist, the first beast of Revelation 13, the beast from the Abyss of Revelation 17, the “man of lawlessness” of 2 Thessalonians, and the “prince who is to come” of Daniel 9 are all the same person, a literal ruler at the end of this age.
- There is no explicit seven-year period in Revelation. Except for the first four seals, all the end time events in Revelation that precede the return of Christ take place in a three-and-a-half-year period.
- We cannot be sure we are in the end times until the Antichrist is revealed. The first four seals are probably events of the first half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, but until the abomination of desolation is set up, we cannot know that we are within the Seventieth Week.[3] Both Christ[4] and Paul[5] tell us to look for the revealing of the Antichrist to know we are within the end times.
- From the revealing of the Antichrist at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week to the Return of Christ is 1335 days.[6] All periods of 1,260 days, 42 months, or 3 1/2 years in Daniel and Revelation cover the period from the revealing of the Antichrist to the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The period of the seven plagues (the seventh trumpet) covers an additional 30 days, reaching to day 1,290.[7] The remaining 45 days[8] allow the gathering of armies at Armageddon. At the end of that time, Christ returns and destroys the armies of the nations. The Millennium begins at that point. For the next seven months, Israel will bury the dead from Armageddon.[9] The temple will be purified for the first 965 days of the Millennium, bringing us up to 2,300 days.[10] For the first seven years of the Millennium, Israel will burn the weapons of their enemies for fuel.[11]
- The seven thunders[12] fit into the 1,260 days, which is why they occur in the sixth trumpet instead of the seventh. They are the only group of seven judgments[13] that do not fit into the seventh of the previous series. Neither we, nor anyone else, knows what the seven thunders said.
- The “great tribulation” of which Christ spoke[14] is part, but only a part, of this three-and-one-half year period, the second half of Daniel’s “Seventieth Week”. The authors have therefore been careful to avoid the misleading term “the Tribulation Period” as a descriptor of the seven years, preferring the more scriptural “Seventieth Week”.
- During the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist and the False prophet will murder an innumerable multitude[15] of believers. The largest number given in Revelation (and indeed, in the Bible) is the 200 million horsemen of the sixth trumpet.[16] The number of martyrs during the Great Tribulation will therefore exceed this count, a number on the order of the population of the entire earth when John wrote.
- Christians on earth during the Seventieth Week will be preserved through God’s wrath, not removed from the earth first. The Rapture will take place in conjunction with the “first resurrection”[17] when Christ gathers his elect.[18] We see no need to dispute whether the “Blessed Hope”[19] of the church is the Rapture or the return of Christ; they take place at the same time. We believe the “first resurrection” is indeed the first, not preceded by one seven years earlier. Likewise, we believe the “last trumpet” of 1 Corinthians 15:52 is not followed by the seven trumpets of Revelation nor by the trumpet call of Matthew 24:31. Throughout scripture “first” means first and “last” means last.
- Because the Rapture and the resurrection take place together at the end of the age, all believers will be in the same resurrected state at the beginning of the Millennium. At least three groups of non-Christians will enter the Millennium in physical bodies. These are Jews who turn to him after the Rapture,[20] the survivors of the nations who attack Israel at the final battle at Jerusalem (who, presumably had not taken the mark of the beast),[21] and likely others who had not taken the mark who survived the final plagues.
- The “Babylon” of Revelation is the anti-type of “Israel”. Both, at one level, are physical nations and both have additional symbolic meaning. As “Israel” is also God’s kingdom made manifest, so “Babylon” is also a Satan-inspired political system. As “Israel” is all those faithful to God, both Jews and Christians, so “Babylon” is all those who oppose God and his people.
- The setting for the “two in a field, one taken, the other left” prophecy of Luke 17 and Matthew 24 is the period immediately after the Antichrist is revealed and before he seizes Jerusalem. The “one taken” is caught by the Antichrist because he disobeyed Christ’s command to flee.[22]
- At the transition from the sixth to the seventh trumpet (at the resurrection of the two witnesses) a strange thing occurs. An earthquake in Jerusalem kills 7,000 people and the survivors give glory to God.[23] Both before and after the witnesses’ resurrection, men curse God for the calamities. Only here do they give him praise. This giving glory is in response to the first angel (of three) in chapter 14[24] who demands that everyone give glory to God. Some respond.
- The great majority of the events of Revelation and the end times can take place without miracles. A mark to control commerce,[25] the worldwide viewing of the bodies of the two witnesses,[26] the melting of dead men’s flesh before their bodies can fall,[27] the creation of a speaking image,[28] even the calling down of fire from “heaven”,[29] can now all have technological causes.
- Satan tried to give the kingdoms of the earth to Christ,[30] and Christ refused. The Antichrist will be made the same offer and will accept. At the time of Christ’s temptation, the kingdoms of earth were still Satan’s by right because of Adam and Eve’s sin. With Christ’s death, they became Christ’s by right.[31] He will retake them by conquest.
- Revelation contains two periods of wrath. Satan’s wrath[32] starts with his being cast to earth[33] and God’s wrath is unleashed with the seventh seal and covers the seven trumpets and seven plagues.[34]
- God wins!
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Structure of This Commentary
We have divided Tapestry into several sections in order to serve readers with different needs. The primary section, occupying the greatest portion of the book, is a verse-by-verse commentary laid out with chapter numbers paralleling those in Revelation. This commentary can be read straight through or used as a reference. It is divided into seven books for presentation on the website.
Unlike most commentaries on Revelation, Tapestry concentrates on the images shown to John, tying them to similar or identical visions given to other prophets. When the same scene is presented through different sets of eyes, it becomes clearer. To do this, we have included those scriptures (and occasional extrabiblical quotations) that deal with similar events. Also included are footnotes and endnotes where the authors present information that may be interesting to a specialist or that is too detailed to be presented inline in the general commentary.
The second division is a glossary explaining many of the terms used in the general text. The definitions are from one sentence to a few paragraphs in length. Areas requiring more in-depth treatment are covered in the third division.
The third division of Tapestry comprises detailed discussions on particular subjects relevant to Revelation, such as the Rapture and the Wrath of God. The topics covered throw light on the visions seen or the events foretold in Revelation but require too detailed a discussion to fit into the general commentary. Since Tapestry is a book about Revelation and not a complete study of the End Times, these topics are generally presented in ways relevant to the exegesis of Revelation.
Each division has footnotes. These footnotes, which appear at the bottom of the appropriate pages, contain references cited in the text and short comments that would otherwise interrupt the text. Longer comments are relegated to the endnotes.
Book 1 consists of chapters 12, 13, 14 of Revelation as well as material relevant to the events in those chapters but not necessarily detailed in Revelation. We start Tapestry with discussions of chapters 12, 13, and 14 because chapters 13 and 14 prophesy the most important and central events of the Seventieth Week and chapter 12 lays the groundwork for them. In particular, the revealing of the Antichrist, the event Christ tells us to watch for in the Olivet Discourse to tell we are in the end times, takes place in chapter 13.
Unlike most commentaries on Revelation, Tapestry concentrates on the images shown to John, tying them to similar or identical visions given to other prophets. When the same scene is presented through different sets of eyes, it becomes clearer. To do this, we have included those scriptures (and occasional extrabiblical quotations) that deal with similar events. Also included are footnotes and endnotes where the authors present information that may be interesting to a specialist or that is too detailed to be presented inline in the general commentary.
The second division is a glossary explaining many of the terms used in the general text. The definitions are from one sentence to a few paragraphs in length. Areas requiring more in-depth treatment are covered in the third division.
The third division of Tapestry comprises detailed discussions on particular subjects relevant to Revelation, such as the Rapture and the Wrath of God. The topics covered throw light on the visions seen or the events foretold in Revelation but require too detailed a discussion to fit into the general commentary. Since Tapestry is a book about Revelation and not a complete study of the End Times, these topics are generally presented in ways relevant to the exegesis of Revelation.
Each division has footnotes. These footnotes, which appear at the bottom of the appropriate pages, contain references cited in the text and short comments that would otherwise interrupt the text. Longer comments are relegated to the endnotes.
Book 1 consists of chapters 12, 13, 14 of Revelation as well as material relevant to the events in those chapters but not necessarily detailed in Revelation. We start Tapestry with discussions of chapters 12, 13, and 14 because chapters 13 and 14 prophesy the most important and central events of the Seventieth Week and chapter 12 lays the groundwork for them. In particular, the revealing of the Antichrist, the event Christ tells us to watch for in the Olivet Discourse to tell we are in the end times, takes place in chapter 13.
