Book of Revelation  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Revision as of 15:25, 27 May 2022
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

← Previous diff		 Revision as of 15:25, 27 May 2022
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

Next diff →
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-The book of '''Revelation'''{{Efn|The book is sometimes called the '''Revelation to John'''.+{{Short description|Book of the New Testament}}
 +{{Other uses|Book of Revelation (disambiguation)}}
 +{{Redirect|Apocalypse of John}}
 +{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
 +{{Books of the New Testament}}
 +{{John}}
 +[[File:BibleSPaoloFol331vFrontRev.jpg|thumb|Frontispiece, Book of Revelation, [[Bible of San Paolo fuori le Mura]], 9th century]]
 +[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 236.png|thumb|''The [[John's vision of the Son of Man|Vision of John]] on [[Patmos]]'' by [[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld]] 1860.]]
 + 
 +The book of '''Revelation'''{{Efn|The book is sometimes called the '''Revelation to John'''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/ESV_Pew_Bible_Black/HiPouAEACAAJ |title=ESV Pew Bible |publisher=Crossway |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4335-6343-0 |location=Wheaton, IL |pages=1028 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603093159/https://www.google.com/books/edition/ESV_Pew_Bible_Black/HiPouAEACAAJ |archive-date=June 3, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> It is most commonly abbreviated as "Rev."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Book Abbreviations |url=https://www.logos.com/bible-book-abbreviations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421100743/https://www.logos.com/bible-book-abbreviations |archive-date=April 21, 2022 |access-date=April 21, 2022 |website=Logos Bible Software}}</ref>}} is the final book of the [[New Testament]] (and consequently the final book of the [[Bible#Christian Bibles|Christian Bible]]). Its title is derived from the [[Incipit|first word]] of the [[Koine Greek]] text: {{transl|grc|apokalypsis}}, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of Revelation is the only [[Apocalyptic literature|apocalyptic book]] in the New Testament [[Biblical canon|canon]].{{Efn|Other apocalypses popular in the [[early Christian]] era did not achieve canonical status. [[2 Esdras]] (also known as the Apocalypse of Ezra) is recognized as canonical in [[Ethiopian Orthodox]] churches, but as part of the Old Testament.}} It occupies a central place in [[Christian eschatology]].
 + 
 +The author names himself as "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as [[Papias of Hierapolis]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Irenaeus]], [[Melito of Sardis]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], and the author of the [[Muratorian fragment]] identify [[John the Apostle]] as the "John" of Revelation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Carson|first=Don|title=An Introduction to the New Testament|date=2005|publisher=Zondervan|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|isbn=978-0-310-51940-9|pages=465ff|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Michael|title=The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations|date=2007|isbn=978-0801034688|page=749ff}}</ref> Modern scholarship generally takes a different view,{{sfn|Collins|1984|p=28}} with many considering that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet.{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=2}} Modern theological scholars characterize the Book of Revelation's author as "[[John of Patmos]]". The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the Roman emperor [[Domitian]] (AD 81–96), which evidence tends to confirm.{{sfn|Stuckenbruck|2003|pp=1535–1536}}{{efn|However, among recent writers, John Behr<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6u-MDwAAQBAJ&q=john+behr+paschal+gospel|title=John the Theologian and his Paschal Gospel|last=Behr|first=John|date=2019|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-257444-2}}</ref> argues that Irenaeus and the earliest traditions of the church placed the writing in the reign of Nero.}}
 + 
 +The book spans three literary genres: the [[Letter (message)|epistolary]], the [[Apocalyptic literature|apocalyptic]], and the [[prophetic]].{{sfn|Stuckenbruck|2003|p=1536}} It begins with John, on the island of [[Patmos]] in the [[Aegean Sea]], addressing a letter to the "[[Seven Churches of Asia]]". He then describes a series of prophetic [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]], including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon, [[Serpents in the Bible#Ancient serpent|the Serpent]], and [[The Beast (Revelation)|the Beast]], which culminate in the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus]].
 + 
 +The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. [[Historicism (Christianity)|Historicist]] interpretations see Revelation as containing a broad view of history while [[preterist]] interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the [[Apostolic Age]] (1st century), or, at the latest, the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century. [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurists]], meanwhile, believe that Revelation describes future events with the seven churches growing into the body of believers throughout the age, and a reemergence or continuous rule of a Greco-Roman system with modern capabilities described by John in ways familiar to him; and [[Idealism (Christian eschatology)|idealist or symbolic]] interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but is an [[allegory]] of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.
 + 
 +== Composition and setting ==
 +[[File:Johannes op Patmos Saint John on Patmos Berlin, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Gemaldegalerie HR.jpg|thumb|''[[St. John the Evangelist on Patmos]]'' by [[Hieronymous Bosch]], {{circa|1489}}]]
 + 
 +=== Title, authorship, and date ===
 +[[File:ApocalypseStSeverFol026vJohnRecievesRev.jpg|thumb|St. John receives his Revelation, [[Saint-Sever Beatus]], 11th century]]
 +{{Main|Authorship of the Johannine works|John of Patmos}}
 +The name ''Revelation'' comes from the [[Incipit|first word]] of the book in [[Koine Greek]]: {{lang|grc|ἀποκάλυψις}} ({{transl|grc|apokalypsis}}), which means "unveiling" or "revelation". The author names himself as "John", but modern scholars consider it unlikely that the author of Revelation also wrote the [[Gospel of John]].{{sfn|Collins|1984|pp=28–29}} He was a [[Jewish Christian]] prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addresses his letter.{{sfn|Stuckenbruck|2003|pp= 1535–1536}}{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=2, 24–25}}
 + 
 +The book is commonly dated to about AD 95, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the [[Roman emperor|emperor]] [[Domitian]].{{sfn|Perkins|2012|p=19ff}} The beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor [[Nero]] (reigned AD 54–68), but this does not require that Revelation was written in the 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that [[Nero Redivivus|Nero would return]].{{sfn|Collins|1982|p=100}}{{sfn|Stuckenbruck|2003|pp =1535–1536}}
 + 
 +=== Genre ===
 +Revelation is an [[apocalypse|apocalyptic]] prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=2}} "Apocalypse" means the revealing of divine mysteries;{{sfn|McKim|2014|p=16}} John is to write down what is revealed (what he sees in his vision) and send it to the seven churches.{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=2}} The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, which is addressed to all seven.{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=2}} While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times, more than any other [[New Testament]] book.{{sfn|Couch|2001|p=81}}
 + 
 +=== Sources ===
 +The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the exact number of allusions or the allusions themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fekkes|first1=Jan|title=Isaiah and Prophetic Traditions in the Book of Revelation: Visionary Antecedents and their Development (The Library of New Testament Studies)|date=1994|publisher=Bloomsbury T&T Clark|isbn=978-1-85075-456-5|pages=61–63}}</ref> Revelation rarely quotes directly from the [[Old Testament]], yet almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the references stem from [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]], [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]], [[Book of Psalms|Psalms]], and [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]], with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential. Because these references appear as allusions rather than as quotes, it is difficult to know whether the author used the Hebrew or the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, but he was clearly often influenced by the Greek.{{sfn|Beale|McDonough|2007|pp=1081–1084}}
 + 
 +=== Setting ===
 +Conventional understanding has been that the Book of Revelation was written to comfort beleaguered Christians as they underwent persecution at the hands of an emperor.
 + 
 +This is not the only interpretation. Domitian may not have been a despot imposing an imperial cult, and there may not have been any systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians in his time.{{sfn|Stephens|2011|pp=143–145}} Revelation may instead have been composed in the context of a conflict within the Christian community of Asia Minor over whether to engage with, or withdraw from, the far larger non-Christian community: Revelation chastises those Christians who wanted to reach an accommodation with the Roman cult of empire.{{sfn|Stephens|2011|p=152}} This is not to say that Christians in Roman Asia were not suffering for withdrawal from, and defiance against, the wider Roman society, which imposed very real penalties; Revelation offered a victory over this reality by offering an apocalyptic hope. In the words of professor [[Adela Yarbro Collins|Adela Collins]], "What ought to be was experienced as a present reality."{{sfn|Collins|1984|p=154}}
 + 
 +=== Canonical history ===
 +{{see|Development of the New Testament canon}}
 +Revelation was among the last books accepted into the [[Christian biblical canons|Christian biblical canon]], and to the present day some churches that derive from the [[Church of the East]] reject it.{{sfn|Wall|2011|p=no page number}}<ref>
 +{{cite book
 +| last1 = Taylor
 +| first1 = David G. K.
 +| chapter = Christian regional diversity
 +| editor1-last = Esler
 +| editor1-first = Philip F.
 +| editor1-link = Philip Esler
 +| title = The Early Christian World
 +| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ
 +| series = Routledge Worlds
 +| publisher = Routledge
 +| publication-date = 2002
 +| page = 338
 +| isbn = 978-1-134-54919-1
 +| access-date = 28 December 2015
 +| quote = [...] the minor Catholic epistles and Revelation continued to be omitted, and are still not included in the canon of the church of the East which was geographically (and from the late-fifth century doctrinally) isolated in the Persian empire.
 +| date = 11 September 2002
 +}}
 +</ref> Eastern Christians became skeptical of the book as doubts concerning its authorship and unusual style{{sfn|Pattemore|2004|p=1}} were reinforced by aversion to its acceptance by [[Montanism|Montanists]] and other groups considered to be heretical.{{sfn|Stonehouse|n.d.|pp=138–142}} This distrust of the Book of Revelation persisted in the East through the 15th century.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AmMEhsEYHUsC&pg=PA3 Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou (editor) ''Commentary on the Apocalypse''] by Andrew of Caesarea (CUA Press 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-8132-0123-8}}), pp. 3–6</ref>
 + 
 +[[Pope Dionysius of Alexandria|Dionysius]] (AD 248), bishop of Alexandria and disciple of [[Origen]], wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by [[Cerinthus]] although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer. He regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle ''(Eusebius, Church History VII.25)''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Caesarea|first1=Eusebius|title=Church History, Book VII Chapter 25|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250107.htm|access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[Eusebius]], in his [[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]] ({{c.|AD 330}}) mentioned that the Apocalypse of John was accepted as a canonical book and rejected at the same time:
 + 
 +{{quote|{{plainlist|
 +*1. ... it is proper to sum up the writings of the New Testament which have been already mentioned... After them is to be placed, if it really seem proper, the Apocalypse of John, concerning which we shall give the different opinions at the proper time. These then belong among the accepted writings [Homologoumena].
 +*4. Among the rejected [Kirsopp. Lake translation: "not genuine"] writings must be reckoned, as I said, the Apocalypse of John, if it seem proper, which some, as I said, reject, but which others class with the accepted books.<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Caesarea|first1=Eusebius|title=Church History, Book III Chapter 25|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm|access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref>}}}}
 + 
 +The Apocalypse of John is counted as both accepted (Kirsopp. Lake translation: "Recognized") and disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. The disputation can perhaps be attributed to Origen.<ref>{{Citation | first = ER | last = Kalin | title = Re-examining New Testament Canon History: 1. The Canon of Origen | journal = [[Currents in Theology and Mission]] | volume = 17 | year = 1990 | pages = 274–82}}</ref> Origen seems to have accepted it in his writings.<ref>{{cite book|author=Origen|title=Church Fathers: Commentary on John, Book V: 3 (Origen)|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/101505.htm|access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[Cyril of Jerusalem]] (AD 348) does not name it among the canonical books (Catechesis IV.33–36).<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Jerusalem|first1=Cyril|title=Catechetical Lecture 4 Chapter 35|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310104.htm|access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]] (AD 367) in his ''Letter 39'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Alexandria|first1=Athanasius|title=Church Fathers: Letter 39 (Athanasius)|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2806039.htm|access-date=14 October 2016}}</ref>
 +[[Augustine of Hippo]] ({{c.|AD 397}}) in his book ''[[De doctrina christiana|On Christian Doctrine]]'' (Book II, Chapter 8),<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Hippo|first1=Augustine|title=On Christian Doctrine Book II Chapter 8:2|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm|access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref> [[Tyrannius Rufinus]] (c. AD 400) in his ''Commentary on the Apostles' Creed'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Aquileia|first1=Rufinus|title=Commentary on the Apostles' Creed #37|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2711.htm|access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref> [[Pope Innocent I]] (AD 405) in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/innocent.html|title=Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture|website=www.bible-researcher.com}}</ref> and [[John of Damascus]] (about AD 730) in his work ''An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV:7)''<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Damascus|first1=John|title=An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV Chapter 17|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33044.htm|access-date=17 October 2016}}</ref> listed "the Revelation of [[John the Evangelist]]" as a canonical book.
 + 
 +=== Synods ===
 +The [[Council of Laodicea]] (AD 363) omits it as a canonical book.<ref>{{cite book|last1=of Laodicea|first1=Synod|title=Synod of Laodicea Canon 60|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm|access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref>
 + 
 +The {{lang|la|[[Decretum Gelasianum]]}}, which is a work written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, contains a list of books of scripture presented as having been reckoned as canonical by the [[Council of Rome]] (AD 382). This list mentions it as a part of the New Testament canon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm|title=Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation)|first=Roger|last=Pearse|website=www.tertullian.org}}</ref>
 + 
 +The [[Synod of Hippo]] (in AD 393),<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xv.iv.iv.xxv.html |chapter=Canon XXIV. (Greek xxvii.) |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |title=The Canons of the 217 Blessed Fathers who assembled at Carthage}}</ref> followed by the [[Council of Carthage (397)]], the [[Council of Carthage (419)]], [[the Council of Florence]] (1442)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/FLORENCE.HTM|title=Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel|website=www.ewtn.com}}</ref> and the [[Council of Trent]] (1546)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT4.htm|title=Paul III Council of Trent-4|website=www.ewtn.com}}</ref> classified it as a canonical book.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3816.htm|title=Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419)|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>
 + 
 +The [[Canons of the Apostles|Apostolic Canons]], approved by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] [[Quinisext Council|Council in Trullo]] in 692, but rejected by [[Pope Sergius I]], omit it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=in Trullo|first1=Council|title=The Apostolic Canons. Canon 85|publisher=newadvent|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3820.htm|access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref>
 + 
 +=== Protestant Reformation ===
 +Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century [[Protestant]] [[Reformation]]. [[Martin Luther]] called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530),{{sfn|Lohse|1988|pp=322; 337–338}} [[Huldrych Zwingli]] labelled it "not a book of the Bible",<ref>
 +{{cite book
 +| last1 = Glasson
 +| first1 = T.F.
 +| chapter = How was the Book received by the Church?
 +| editor1-last = Glasson
 +| editor1-first = T.F.
 +| title = The Revelation of John
 +| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Rh07AAAAIAAJ
 +| series = Cambridge Bible Commentaries on the New Testament
 +| location = Cambridge
 +| publisher = Cambridge University Press
 +| date = 1965
 +| page = 6
 +| access-date = 29 June 2019
 +| quote = Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, said, '[The Book of Revelation] is not a book of the Bible'.
 +}}
 +</ref> and it was the only New Testament book on which [[John Calvin]] did not write a commentary.{{sfn|Hoekema|1979|p= 297}} {{As of |2015 |post=,}} Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the [[Divine Liturgy]] of the Eastern Orthodox Church,<ref>
 +{{cite book
 +| last1 = Boring
 +| first1 = M. Eugene
 +| year = 1989
 +| title = Revelation
 +| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BDQOcCrYFuEC
 +| series = Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
 +| location = Louisville, Kentucky
 +| publisher = Westminster John Knox Press
 +| publication-date = 2011
 +| page = 3
 +| isbn = 978-0-664-23628-1
 +| access-date = 2019-06-29
 +| quote = To this day, Catholic and Protestant lectionaries have only minimal readings from Revelation, and the Greek Orthodox lectionary omits it altogether.
 +}}
 +</ref> though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it.
 + 
 +=== Texts and manuscripts ===
 +There are approximately 300 Greek manuscripts of Revelation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Aune|first1=David|title=Word Biblical Commentary 52A: Revelation 1–5|date=1997|publisher=Zondervan|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|isbn=978-0-310-52177-8|page=cxxxviii}}</ref> While it is not extant in [[Codex Vaticanus]] (4th century), it is extant in the other great [[List of New Testament uncials|uncial]] codices: [[Codex Sinaiticus|Sinaiticus]] (4th century), [[Codex Alexandrinus|Alexandrinus]] (5th century), and [[Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus|Ephraemi Rescriptus]] (5th century). In addition, there are numerous [[List of New Testament papyri|papyri]], especially {{Papyrus link|47}} and {{Papyrus link|115}} (both 3rd century); [[Lists of New Testament minuscules|minuscules]] (8th to 10th century); and fragmentary quotations in the Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries and the 6th-century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas.{{sfn|Pate|2010|p=no page number}}
 + 
 +== Structure and content ==
 +[[File:Beatus-tafel.jpg|thumb|The [[Saint-Sever Beatus|Apocalypse of St. Sever]], {{circa|1150}}]]
 +[[Image:BritLibAddMS35166ApocalypseFolio003rAngelApeardToJohn.jpg|thumb|The Angel Appears to John, 13th-century manuscript, [[British Library]], London]]
 +[[File:B Escorial a.jpg|thumb|The angel gives John the letter to the churches of Asia, [[Commentary on the Apocalypse|Beatus Escorial]], {{circa|950}}]]
 + 
 +=== Literary structure ===
 +Divisions in the book seem to be marked by the repetition of key phrases, by the arrangement of subject matter into blocks, and associated with its Christological passages,{{sfn|Tenney|1988|pp=32–41}} and much use is made of significant numbers, especially the number seven, which represented perfection according to ancient numerology.{{sfn|Senior|Getty|1990|pp=398–399}} Nevertheless, there is a "complete lack of consensus" among scholars about the structure of Revelation.{{sfn|Mounce|1998|p=32}} The following is therefore an outline of the book's contents rather than of its structure.
 + 
 +=== Outline ===
 +{{Main|Events of Revelation}}{{See also|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse}}
 +[[File:White Rider from Tolkovy Apocalyps 17th century.jpg|thumb|Revelation 6.2: "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." White Rider from ''Tolkovy Apocalyps'', Moscow, 17th century]]
 +[[File:B Osma 92v.jpg|thumb|Apocalypse 7, the 144,000 elect. [[Beatus d'Osma]], 11th century]]
 +[[File:B Escorial 94v.jpg|thumb|The Fourth Angel sounds his trumpet, Apocalypse 8, [[Commentary on the Apocalypse|Beatus Escorial]], {{circa|950}}]]
 +[[File:B Osma 117v.jpg|thumb|Apocalypse 12, the Woman and the Dragon. Beatus d'Osma, 11th century]]
 +[[File:B Escorial 108v.jpg|thumb|A seven-headed leopard-like beast, Apocalypse 13, Beatus Escorial]]
 +[[File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - The Sunday at Home 1880 - Revelation 22-17.jpg|thumb|An 1880 [[Baxter process]] colour plate illustrating Revelation 22:17 by Joseph Martin Kronheim]]
 +[[File:B Escorial 120.jpg|thumb|"Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (14:15), [[Escorial Beatus]] ]]
 +[[File:Brooklyn Museum - The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12 1-4) - William Blake.jpg|thumb|right|''The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12 1–4)'', [[William Blake]], 1803–1805, [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]
 + 
 +Outline of the book of Revelation:{{According to|date=September 2021}}
 +#The Revelation of Jesus Christ
 +##The Revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated to John through prophetic visions. (1:1–9)
 +##John is instructed by the "one like a son of man" to write all that he hears and sees, from the prophetic visions, to [[Seven churches of Asia]]. (1:10–13)
 +##The appearance of the "one like a son of man" is given, and he reveals what the seven stars and seven lampstands represent. (1:14–20)
 +# Messages for seven churches of Asia
 +##[[Ephesus]]: From this church, he "who overcomes is granted to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (2:1–7)
 +### Praised for not bearing those who are evil, testing those who say they are apostles and are not, and finding them to be liars; hating the deeds of the [[Nicolaitan]]s; having persevered and possessing patience.
 +### Admonished to "do the first works" and to repent for having left their "first love."
 +##[[Smyrna]]: From this church, those who are faithful until death, will be given "the crown of life." He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the [[second death]]. (2:8–11)
 +### Praised for being "rich" while impoverished and in tribulation.
 +### Admonished not to fear the "[[synagogue of Satan]]", nor fear a ten-day tribulation of being thrown into prison.
 +##[[Pergamum]]: From this church, he who overcomes will be given the hidden [[manna]] to eat and a white stone with a secret name on it." (2:12–17)
 +### Praised for holding "fast to My name", not denying "My faith" even in the days of [[Antipas of Pergamum|Antipas]], "My faithful martyr."
 +### Admonished to repent for having held the doctrine of [[Balaam]], who taught [[Balak]] to put a stumbling block before the [[children of Israel]]; eating things sacrificed to idols, committing sexual immorality, and holding the "doctrine of the Nicolaitans."
 +## [[Thyatira]]: From this church, he who overcomes until the end, will be given power over the nations in order to dash them to pieces with a rod of iron; he will also be given the "morning star." (2:18–29)
 +### Praised for their works, love, service, faith, and patience.
 +### Admonished to repent for allowing a "prophetess" to promote sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
 +##[[Sardis]]: From this church, he who overcomes will be clothed in white garments, and his name will not be blotted out from the [[Book of Life]]; his name will also be confessed before the Father and his angels. (3:1–6)
 +###Admonished to be watchful and to strengthen since their works have not been perfect before God.
 +##[[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]]: From this church, he who overcomes will be made a pillar in the temple of God having the name of God, the name of the city of God, "[[New Jerusalem]]", and the [[Son of God]]'s new name. (3:7–13)
 +### Praised for having some strength, keeping "My word", and having not denied "My name."
 +### Reminded to hold fast what they have, that no one may take their crown.
 +##[[Laodicean Church|Laodicea]]: From this church, he who overcomes will be granted the opportunity to sit with the Son of God on his throne. (3:14–22)
 +### Admonished to be zealous and repent from being "lukewarm"; they are instructed to buy the "gold refined in the fire", that they may be rich; to buy "white garments", that they may be clothed, so that the shame of their nakedness would not be revealed; to anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they may see.
 +#Before the Throne of God
 +## The [[Throne of God]] appears, surrounded by twenty four thrones with twenty-four elders seated in them. (4:1–5)
 +## The four [[Living creatures (Bible)|living creatures]] are introduced. (4:6–11)
 +## A scroll, with seven seals, is presented and it is declared that the [[Lion of Judah|Lion of the tribe of Judah]], from the "Root of [[King David|David]]", is the only one worthy to open this scroll. (5:1–5)
 +## When the "Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes" took the scroll, the creatures of heaven fell down before the Lamb to give him praise, joined by myriads of angels and the creatures of the earth. (5:6–14)
 +#[[Seven Seals]] are opened
 +##First Seal: A white horse appears, whose crowned rider has a bow with which to conquer. (6:1–2)
 +##Second Seal: A red horse appears, whose rider is granted a "great sword" to take peace from the earth. (6:3–4)
 +##Third Seal: A black horse appears, whose rider has "a pair of balances in his hand", where a voice then says, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine." (6:5–6)
 +##Fourth Seal: A pale horse appears, whose rider is [[Death (personification)#In Christianity|Death]], and [[Hades in Christianity|Hades]] follows him. Death is granted a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (6:7–8)
 +##Fifth Seal: "Under the altar", appeared the souls of martyrs for the "word of God", who cry out for vengeance. They are given white robes and told to rest until the martyrdom of their brothers is completed. (6:9–11)
 +##Sixth Seal: (6:12–17)
 +### There occurs a great earthquake where "the sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon like blood" (6:12).
 +### The stars of heaven fall to the earth and the sky recedes like a scroll being rolled up (6:13–14).
 +### Every mountain and island is moved out of place (6:14).
 +### The people of earth retreat to caves in the mountains (6:15).
 +### The survivors call upon the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, so as to hide them from the "wrath of the Lamb" (6:16).
 +##Interlude: The 144,000 Hebrews are sealed.
 +###[[The 144,000 of the Book of Revelation|144,000]] from the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]] are sealed as servants of God on their foreheads (7:1–8)
 +###A great multitude stand before the Throne of God, who come out of the [[Great Tribulation]], clothed with robes made "white in the blood of the Lamb" and having [[Martyr's palm|palm branches]] in their hands. (7:9–17)
 +##Seventh Seal: Introduces the seven trumpets (8:1–5)
 +###"Silence in heaven for about half an hour" (8:1).
 +###Seven angels are each given trumpets (8:2).
 +###An eighth angel takes a "golden [[censer]]", filled with fire from the heavenly altar, and throws it to the earth (8:3–5). What follows are "peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake" (8:5).
 +###After the eighth angel has devastated the earth, the seven angels introduced in verse 2 prepare to sound their trumpets (8:6).
 +#[[Seven trumpets]] are sounded (Seen in Chapters 8, 9, and 12).
 +##First Trumpet: Hail and fire, mingled with blood, are thrown to the earth burning up a third of the trees and green grass. (8:6–7)
 +##Second Trumpet: Something that resembles a great mountain, burning with fire, falls from the sky and lands in the ocean. It kills a third of the sea creatures and destroys a third of the ships at sea. (8:8–9)
 +##Third Trumpet: A great star, named [[Wormwood (Bible)|Wormwood]], falls from heaven and poisons a third of the rivers and springs of water. (8:10–11)
 +##Fourth Trumpet: A third of the sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened creating complete darkness for a third of the day and the night. (8:12–13)
 +##Fifth Trumpet: The First Woe (9:1–12)
 +### A "star" falls from the sky (9:1).
 +### This "star" is given "the key to the bottomless pit" (9:1).
 +### The "star" then opens the bottomless pit. When this happens, "smoke [rises] from [the Abyss] like smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky [are] darkened by the smoke from the Abyss" (9:2).
 +### From out of the smoke, locusts who are "given power like that of scorpions of the earth" (9:3), who are commanded not to harm anyone or anything except for people who were not given the "seal of God" on their foreheads (from chapter 7) (9:4).
 +### The "locusts" are described as having a human appearance (faces and hair) but with lion's teeth, and wearing "breastplates of iron"; the sound of their wings resembles "the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle" (9:7–9).
 +##Sixth Trumpet: The Second Woe (9:13–21)
 +###The four [[Angel|angels]] bound to the great river [[Euphrates]] are released to prepare two hundred million horsemen.
 +### These armies kill a third of mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone.
 +## Interlude: The little scroll. (10:1–11)
 +###An angel appears, with one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, having an opened little book in his hand.
 +###Upon the cry of the angel, seven thunders utter mysteries and secrets that are not to be written down by John.
 +###John is instructed to eat the little scroll that happens to be sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach, and to prophesy.
 +###John is given a measuring rod to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.
 +###Outside the temple, at the court of the holy city, it is trod by the nations for forty-two months ({{frac|3|1|2}} years).
 +###[[Two witnesses]] prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. (11:1–14)
 +##Seventh Trumpet: The Third Woe that leads into the [[seven bowls]] (11:15–19)
 +###The temple of God opens in heaven, where the ark of his covenant can be seen. There are lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
 +#The Seven Spiritual Figures. (Events leading into the Third Woe)
 +##A Woman "clothed with a white robe, with the sun at her back, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" is in pregnancy with a male child. (12:1–2)
 +##A great Dragon (with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads) drags a third of the stars of Heaven with his tail, and throws them to the Earth. (12:3–4). The Dragon waits for the birth of the child so he can devour it. However, sometime after the child is born, he is caught up to God's throne while the Woman flees into the wilderness into her place prepared of God that they should feed her there for 1,260 days ({{frac|3|1|2}} years). (12:5–6). War breaks out in heaven between [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] and the Dragon, identified as that old Serpent, the [[Devil]], or [[Satan]] (12:9). After a great fight, the Dragon and his angels are cast out of Heaven for good, followed by praises of victory for God's kingdom. (12:7–12). The Dragon engages to persecute the Woman, but she is given aid to evade him. Her evasiveness enrages the Dragon, prompting him to wage war against the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (12:13–17)
 +##A Beast (with seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns on his horns and on his heads names of blasphemy) emerges from the Sea, having one mortally wounded head that is then healed. The people of the world wonder and follow the Beast. The Dragon grants him power and authority for forty-two months. (13:1–5)
 +##The Beast of the Sea blasphemes God's name (along with God's tabernacle and his kingdom and all who dwell in Heaven), wages war against the Saints, and overcomes them. (13:6–10)
 +##Then, a Beast emerges from the Earth having two horns like a lamb, speaking like a dragon. He directs people to make an image of the Beast of the Sea who was wounded yet lives, breathing life into it, and forcing all people to bear "[[Number of the beast|the mark of the Beast]]", "666". Events leading into the Third Woe:
 +##The Lamb stands on [[Mount Zion]] with the 144,000 "first fruits" who are redeemed from Earth and victorious over the Beast and his mark and image. (14:1–5)
 +###The proclamations of three angels. (14:6–13)
 +###One like the Son of Man reaps the earth. (14:14–16)
 +###A second angel reaps "the vine of the Earth" and throws it into "the great winepress of the wrath of God... and blood came out of the winepress... up to one thousand six hundred [[Stadion (unit)|stadia]]." (14:17–20)
 +###The temple of the tabernacle, in Heaven, is opened (15:1–5), beginning the "Seven Bowls" revelation.
 +###Seven angels are given a golden bowl, from the Four Living Creatures, that contains the seven last plagues bearing the wrath of God. (15:6–8)
 +#[[Seven bowls]] are poured onto Earth:
 +##First Bowl: A "foul and malignant sore" afflicts the followers of the Beast. (16:1–2)
 +##Second Bowl: The Sea turns to blood and everything within it dies. (16:3)
 +##Third Bowl: All fresh water turns to blood. (16:4–7)
 +##Fourth Bowl: The Sun scorches the Earth with intense heat and even burns some people with fire. (16:8–9)
 +##Fifth Bowl: There is total darkness and great pain in the Beast's kingdom. (16:10–11)
 +##Sixth Bowl: The Great River Euphrates is dried up and preparations are made for the kings of the East and the final battle at [[Armageddon]] between the forces of good and evil. (16:12–16)
 +##Seventh Bowl: A great earthquake and heavy hailstorm: "every island fled away and the mountains were not found." (16:17–21)
 +#Aftermath: Vision of John given by "an angel who had the seven bowls"
 +##The great Harlot who sits on a scarlet Beast (with seven heads and ten horns and names of blasphemy all over its body) and by many waters: Babylon the Great. The angel showing John the vision of the Harlot and the scarlet Beast reveals their identities and fates (17:1–18)
 +## New Babylon is destroyed. (18:1–8)
 +##The people of the Earth (the kings, merchants, sailors, etc.) mourn New Babylon's destruction. (18:9–19)
 +##The permanence of New Babylon's destruction. (18:20–24)
 +#The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
 +##A great multitude praises God. (19:1–6)
 +##The marriage Supper of the Lamb. (19:7–10)
 +#The Judgment of the two Beasts, the Dragon, and the Dead (19:11–20:15)
 +##The Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire. (19:11–21)
 +## The Dragon is imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit for a thousand years. (20:1–3)
 +##The resurrected martyrs live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. (20:4–6)
 +##After the Thousand Years
 +###The Dragon is released and goes out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—[[Gog and Magog]]—and gathers them for battle at the holy city. The Dragon makes war against the people of God, but is defeated. (20:7–9)
 +###The Dragon is cast into the Lake of Fire with the Beast and the False Prophet. (20:10)
 +###The Last Judgment: the wicked, along with Death and Hades, are cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death. (20:11–15)
 +#The New Heaven and Earth, and [[New Jerusalem]]
 +##A "new heaven" and "new earth" replace the old heaven and old earth. There is no more suffering or death. (21:1–8)
 +##God comes to dwell with humanity in the New Jerusalem. (21:2–8)
 +##Description of the New Jerusalem. (21:9–27)
 +##The River of Life and the Tree of Life appear for the healing of the nations and peoples. The curse of sin is ended. (22:1–5)
 +#Conclusion
 +##Christ's reassurance that his coming is imminent. Final admonitions. (22:6–21)
 + 
 +== Interpretations ==
 +{{Christian Eschatology}}
 +Revelation has a wide variety of interpretations, ranging from the simple historical interpretation, to a prophetic view on what will happen in the future by way of the [[Will of God]] and the [[Woman of the Apocalypse|Woman]]'s victory on Satan ("[[Allegory|symbolic]] interpretation"), to different end time scenarios ("futurist interpretation"),<ref>Robert J. Karris (ed.) The Collegeville Bible Commentary Liturgical Press, 1992 p. 1296.</ref><ref>Ken Bowers, Hiding in plain sight, Cedar Fort, 2000 p. 175.</ref> to the views of critics who deny any spiritual value to Revelation at all,<ref>[[Carl Gustav Jung]] in his autobiography ''Memories Dream Reflections'' said "I will not discuss the transparent prophecies of the Book of Revelation because no one believes in them and the whole subject is felt to be an embarrassing one."</ref> ascribing it to a human-inherited [[Jungian archetypes|archetype]].
 + 
 +=== Liturgical ===
 +==== Paschal liturgical ====
 +This interpretation, which has found expression among both Catholic and Protestant theologians, considers the liturgical worship, particularly the [[Easter]] rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. This perspective is explained in ''The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse'' (new edition, 2004) by [[Massey H. Shepherd]], an Episcopal scholar, and in [[Scott Hahn]]'s ''The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth'' (1999), in which he states that Revelation in form is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple's destruction (AD 70) had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean.<ref>Scott Hahn, ''The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth'', {{ISBN|0-385-49659-1}}. New York: Doubleday, 1999.</ref>
 + 
 +They believe the Book of Revelation provides insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth. The idea of the Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is also explored by British Methodist Geoffrey Wainwright in his book ''Eucharist and Eschatology'' (Oxford University Press, 1980). According to [[Pope Benedict XVI]] some of the images of Revelation should be understood in the context of the dramatic suffering and persecution of the churches of Asia in the 1st century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Benedict XVI |first1=Pope |title=John, the Seer of Patmos |url=http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060823.html |website=Vatican.va |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=31 May 2020}}</ref>
 + 
 +Accordingly, they argue, the Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil.<ref>{{cite web |author=Catholic Online |url=http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 |title=Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online |publisher=Catholic.org |date=23 August 2006 |access-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010122/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 |archive-date=5 October 2013 }}</ref>
 + 
 +==== Oriental Orthodox ====
 +In the [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic Orthodox Church]] the whole Book of Revelation is read during Apocalypse Night or [[Good Friday]].<ref>[http://suscopts.org/resources/literature/222/night-of-the-apocalypse/ "Night of the Apocalypse"], published by [[Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States]], accessed 23 May 2018</ref>
 + 
 +=== Eschatological ===
 +Most Christian interpretations fall into one or more of the following categories:
 +* [[Historicism (Christianity)|Historicism]], which sees in Revelation a broad view of history;
 +* [[Preterism]], in which Revelation mostly refers to the events of the [[apostolic era]] (1st century) or, at the latest, the fall of the [[Roman Empire]];
 +* [[Amillennialism]], which rejects a literal interpretation of the "millennium" and treats the content of the book as symbolic;
 +* [[Postmillennialism]], also rejects a literal interpretation of the "millennium" and sees the world becoming better and better, with the entire world eventually becoming “Christianized;"
 +* [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurism]], which believes that Revelation describes future events (modern believers in this interpretation are often called "[[Millennialism|millennialists]]"); and
 +* [[Idealism (Christian eschatology)|Idealism/Allegoricalism]], which holds that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events, but is an [[allegory]] of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between [[good and evil]].
 + 
 +==== Eastern Orthodox ====
 +[[File:Apokalipsis XVI.jpg|thumb|An Orthodox [[icon]] of the Apocalypse of St. John, 16th century]]
 +Eastern Orthodoxy treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events (events occurring at the same time) and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadow. It rejects attempts to determine, before the fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals.<ref>{{Cite book
 + | last =Averky (Taushev)
 + | first =Archbishop
 + | year =1996
 + | title =The Apocalypse: In the Teachings of Ancient Christianity
 + | editor-last =Eng. tr. Fr. [[Seraphim Rose]]
 + | place =Platina, California
 + | publisher =St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
 + | isbn =978-0-938635-67-3
 + | url =https://archive.org/details/apocalypseintea00aver
 + | url-access =registration
 + }}
 +</ref>
 + 
 +Book of Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is not read during services by the Byzantine Rite Churches although in the [[Western Rite Orthodoxy|Western Rite Orthodox Parishes]], which are under the same bishops as the Byzantine Rite, it is read.
 + 
 +==== Protestant ====
 +{{main|Historicist interpretations of the Book of Revelation}}
 + 
 +===== Seventh-day Adventist =====
 +{{main|Historicism (Christianity)#Seventh-day Adventists}}
 +Similar to the early Protestants, Adventists maintain a historicist interpretation of the Bible's predictions of the apocalypse.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Holbrook|first1=Frank|title=What prophecy means to this church|journal=Ministry, International Journal for Pastors|volume=56|issue=7|page=21|date=July 1983|url=https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1983/07/what-prophecy-means-to-this-church|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref>
 + 
 +Seventh-day Adventists believe the Book of Revelation is especially relevant to believers in the days preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ. "The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."<ref>{{cite web|title=Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs|url=https://www.adventist.org/fileadmin/adventist.org/files/articles/official-statements/28Beliefs-Web.pdf|website=The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church|publisher=General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."<ref>{{cite web|title=Revelation 14:12|url=https://biblia.com/books/nkjv/Re14.12|website=Biblia.com|publisher=Logos Research Systems|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> As participatory agents in the work of salvation for all humankind, "This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Remnant and its Mission|url=https://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/church/the-remnant-and-its-mission/|website=The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church|publisher=General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists|access-date=29 June 2017}}</ref> The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God's messages and go forth as his agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth.<ref>{{cite web|title=Councils to the Church |page=58|url=https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/19.422|website=Ellen G. White Writings|publisher=White Estate|access-date=5 October 2018}}</ref>
 + 
 +==== Bahá'í Faith ====
 +By reasoning analogous with [[Millerism|Millerite]] historicism, [[Bahá'u'lláh]]'s doctrine of [[Progressive revelation (Bahá'í)|progressive revelation]], a modified historicist method of interpreting prophecy, is identified in the teachings of the [[Bahá'í Faith]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy|url=http://www.mille.org/scholarship/papers/collinswip.html|access-date=28 October 2018}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]], the son and chosen successor of Bahá'u'lláh, has given some interpretations about the 11th and 12th chapters of Revelation in ''[[Some Answered Questions]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last1='Abdu'l-Baha|first1=Abbas Effendi|title=Some Answered Questions|url=http://www.bahai.org/r/469123567|website=bahai.org|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1='Abdu'l-Baha|first1=Abbas Effendi|title=Some Answered Questions|url=http://www.bahai.org/r/617897051|website=bahai.org|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref> The 1,260 days spoken of in the forms: one thousand two hundred and sixty days,<ref>{{cite web|title=Holy Bible|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12:6&version=NKJV|website=biblegateway.com|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref> forty-two months,<ref>{{cite web|title=Holy Bible|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+11:2&version=NKJV|website=biblegateway.com|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref> refers to the 1,260 years in the [[Islamic Calendar]] (AH 1260 or AD 1844). The "[[two witnesses]]" spoken of are [[Muhammad]] and [[Ali]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/saq-11.html|title=Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61}}</ref> The red Dragon spoken of in Revelation 12:3 – "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads"<ref>{{bibleverse|Revelation|12:3|NKJV}}</ref> – are interpreted as symbolic of the seven provinces dominated by the [[Umayyads]]: Damascus, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, Andalusia, and Transoxania. The ten horns represent the ten names of the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty: Abu Sufyan, Muawiya, Yazid, Marwan, Abd al-Malik, Walid, Sulayman, Umar, Hisham, and Ibrahim. Some names were re-used, as in the case of Yazid II and Yazid III and the like, which were not counted for this interpretation.<ref>{{cite web|last1='Abdu'l-Baha|first1=Abbas Effendi|title=Some Answered Questions|url=http://www.bahai.org/r/177218635|website=bahai.org|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref>
 + 
 +==== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ====
 +The [[Book of Mormon]] states that [[John the Apostle]] is the author of Revelation and that he was [[Foreordination|foreordained]] by God to write it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/14.18-27?lang=eng|title=1 Nephi 14:18–27}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2018}}
 + 
 +[[Doctrine and Covenants]], section 77, postulates answers to specific questions regarding the symbolism contained in the Book of Revelation.<ref name="lds.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20.35?lang=eng|title=Doctrine and Covenants 20:35}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2018}} Topics include: the sea of glass, the four beasts and their appearance, the 24 elders, the book with seven seals, certain angels, the sealing of the 144,000, the little book eaten by John, and the two witnesses in Chapter 11.
 + 
 +Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the warning contained in Revelation 22:18–19<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/rev/22.18-19?lang=eng|title=Revelation 22:18–19}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2022}} does not refer to the biblical canon as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hunter |first=Howard W. |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/04/no-man-shall-add-to-or-take-away?lang=eng&query=book+of+revelation|title=No Man Shall Add to or Take Away}}</ref> Rather, an open and ongoing dialogue between God and the modern-day Prophet and Apostles of the LDS faith constitute an open canon of scripture.<ref name="lds.org"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1.9?lang=eng|title=Articles of Faith 1:9}}</ref>
 + 
 +==== Esoteric ====
 +Christian Gnostics are unlikely to be attracted to the teaching of Revelation because the doctrine of salvation through the sacrificed Lamb, which is central to Revelation, is repugnant to Gnostics. Christian Gnostics "believed in the Forgiveness of Sins, but in no vicarious sacrifice for sin ... they accepted Christ in the full realisation of the word; his life, not his death, was the keynote of their doctrine and their practice."<ref>R. [[Frances Swiney]] (Rosa Frances Emily Biggs) ''The Esoteric Teaching of the Gnostics'' London: Yellon, Williams & Co (1909) pp. 3, 4</ref>
 + 
 +[[James Morgan Pryse]] was an esoteric gnostic who saw Revelation as a western version of the Hindu theory of the [[Chakra]]. He began his work, "The purpose of this book is to show that the Apocalypse is a manual of spiritual development and not, as conventionally interpreted, a cryptic history or prophecy."<ref>James M. Pryse ''Apocalypse Unsealed'' London: Watkins (1910). The theory behind the book is given in [[Arthur Avalon]] (Sir John Woodroffe) ''The Serpent Power'' Madras (Chennai): Ganesh & Co (1913). One version of how these beliefs might have travelled from India to the Middle East, Greece and Rome is given in the opening chapters of [[Rudolf Otto]] ''The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man'' London: Lutterworth (1938)</ref> Such diverse theories have failed to command widespread acceptance. However, Christopher Rowland argues: "there are always going to be loose threads which refuse to be woven into the fabric as a whole. The presence of the threads which stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the neat tapestry of our world-view does not usually totally undermine that view."<ref>Christopher Rowland ''Revelation'' London: Epworth (1993) p. 5</ref>
 + 
 +==== Radical discipleship ====
 +The radical discipleship interpretation asserts that the Book of Revelation is best understood as a handbook for radical discipleship; i.&nbsp;e., how to remain faithful to the spirit and teachings of Jesus and avoid simply assimilating to surrounding society. In this interpretation the primary agenda of the book is to expose as impostors the worldly powers that seek to oppose the ways of God and God's Kingdom.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} The chief temptation for Christians in the 1st century, and today, is to fail to hold fast to the non-violent teachings and example of Jesus and instead be lured into unquestioning adoption and assimilation of worldly, national or cultural values – [[imperialism]], [[nationalism]], and [[civil religion]] being the most dangerous and insidious.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}}
 + 
 +This perspective (closely related to [[liberation theology]]) draws on the approach of Bible scholars such as [[Ched Myers]], [[William Stringfellow]], [[Richard Horsley]], [[Daniel Berrigan]], Wes Howard-Brook,<ref>{{cite book|title=Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now|last= Howard-Brook|first=Wes|author2=Gwyther, Anthony|publisher=[[Orbis Books]]|year=1999|isbn=978-1-57075-287-2}}</ref> and [[Joerg Rieger]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Christ & Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times |last=Rieger| first=Joerg |publisher=[[Fortress Press]]| year=2007| isbn=978-0-8006-2038-7}}</ref> Various [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchists]], such as [[Jacques Ellul]], have identified the [[State (polity)|State]] and [[political power]] as [[The Beast (Bible)|the Beast]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |pages=123–126 |quote=Revelation}}</ref> and the events described, being their doings and results, the aforementioned 'wrath'.
 + 
 +=== Aesthetic and literary ===
 +[[File:Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch — Folio 185 crop.jpg|thumb|This artwork from {{lang|de|[[Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch]]}} illustrates Revelation 11:5-8: "And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed... And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city." ({{c.|1550}})]]
 + 
 +Literary writers and theorists have contributed to a wide range of theories about the origins and purpose of the Book of Revelation. Some of these writers have no connection with established Christian faiths but, nevertheless, found in Revelation a source of inspiration. Revelation has been approached from Hindu philosophy and Jewish [[Midrash]]. Others have pointed to aspects of composition which have been ignored such as the similarities of prophetic inspiration to modern poetic inspiration, or the parallels with [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek drama]]. In recent years, theories have arisen which concentrate upon how readers and texts interact to create meaning and which are less interested in what the original author intended.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Breu |first1=Clarissa |title=Biblical Exegesis without Authorial Intention?: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Authorship and Meaning |date=2019 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-39581-7}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[Charles Cutler Torrey]] taught [[Semitic languages]] at [[Yale University]]. His lasting contribution has been to show how prophets, such as the scribe of Revelation, are much more meaningful when treated as poets first and foremost. He thought this was a point often lost sight of because most English bibles render everything in prose.<ref>Charles C. Torrey ''The Apocalypse of John'' New Haven: Yale University Press (1958). Christopher R. North in his ''The Second Isaiah'' London: OUP (1964) p. 23 says of Torrey's earlier Isaiah theory, "Few scholars of any standing have accepted his theory." This is the general view of Torrey's theories. However, Christopher North goes on to cite Torrey on 20 major occasions and many more minor ones in the course of his book. So, Torrey must have had some influence and poetry is the key.</ref> Poetry was also the reason John never directly quoted the older prophets. Had he done so, he would have had to use their (Hebrew) poetry whereas he wanted to write his own. Torrey insisted Revelation had originally been written in Aramaic.<ref>''Apocalypse of John'' p. 7</ref>
 + 
 +According to Torrey, "The Fourth Gospel was brought to Ephesus by a Christian fugitive from Palestine soon after the middle of the first century. It was written in Aramaic." Later, the Ephesians claimed this fugitive had actually been the beloved disciple himself. Subsequently, this John was banished by Nero and died on Patmos after writing Revelation. Torrey argued that until AD 80, when Christians were expelled from the synagogues,<ref>''Apocalypse of John'' p. 37</ref> the Christian message was always first heard in the synagogue and, for cultural reasons, the evangelist would have spoken in Aramaic, else "he would have had no hearing."<ref>''Apocalypse of John'' p. 8</ref> Torrey showed how the three major songs in Revelation (the new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb and the chorus at 19: 6–8) each fall naturally into four regular metrical lines plus a coda.<ref>''Apocalypse of John'' p. 137</ref> Other dramatic moments in Revelation, such as 6:16 where the terrified people cry out to be hidden, behave in a similar way.<ref>''Apocalypse of John'' p. 140</ref> The surviving Greek translation was a literal translation that aimed to comply with the warning at Revelation 22:18 that the text must not be "corrupted" in any way.
 + 
 +[[Christina Rossetti]] was a Victorian poet who believed the sensual excitement of the natural world found its meaningful purpose in death and in God.<ref>"Flowers preach to us if we will hear", begins her poem 'Consider the lilies of the field' ''Goblin Market'' London: Oxford University Press (1913) p. 87</ref> Her ''The Face of the Deep'' is a meditation upon the Apocalypse. In her view, what Revelation has to teach is patience.{{efn|Rossetti remarks that patience is a word which does not occur in the Bible until the New Testament, as if the usage first came from Christ's own lips.<ref> Christina Rossetti ''The Face of the Deep'' London: SPCK (1892) p. 115</ref>}} Patience is the closest to perfection the human condition allows.<ref>"Christians should resemble fire-flies, not glow-worms; their brightness drawing eyes upward, not downward." ''The Face of the Deep'' p. 26</ref> Her book, which is largely written in prose, frequently breaks into poetry or jubilation, much like Revelation itself. The relevance of John's visions{{efn|'Vision' lends the wrong emphasis as Rossetti sought to minimise the distinction between John's experience and that of others. She quoted 1 John 3:24, "He abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us" to show that when John says, "I was in the Spirit" it is not exceptional.}} belongs to Christians of all times as a continuous present meditation. Such matters are eternal and outside of normal human reckoning. "That winter which will be the death of Time has no promise of termination. Winter that returns not to spring ... – who can bear it?"<ref>''The Face of the Deep'' p. 301</ref> She dealt deftly with the vengeful aspects of John's message. "A few are charged to do judgment; everyone without exception is charged to show mercy."<ref>''The Face of the Deep'' p. 292</ref> Her conclusion is that Christians should see John as "representative of all his brethren" so they should "hope as he hoped, love as he loved."<ref>''The Face of the Deep'' p. 495</ref>
 + 
 +Recently, aesthetic and literary modes of interpretation have developed, which focus on Revelation as a work of art and imagination, viewing the imagery as symbolic depictions of timeless truths and the victory of good over evil. [[Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza]] wrote ''Revelation: Vision of a Just World'' from the viewpoint of rhetoric.<ref>Elisabeth Schuessler Fiorenza ''Revelation: Vision of a Just World'' Edinburgh: T&T Clark (1993). The book seems to have started life as ''Invitation to the Book of Revelation'' Garden City: Doubleday (1981)</ref> Accordingly, Revelation's meaning is partially determined by the way John goes about saying things, partially by the context in which readers receive the message and partially by its appeal to something beyond logic.<ref name="Tina Pippin 1993 p. 105">Tina Pippin ''Death & Desire: The rhetoric of gender in the Apocalypse of John'' Louisville: Westminster-John Knox (1993) p. 105</ref>
 + 
 +Professor Schüssler Fiorenza believes that Revelation has particular relevance today as a liberating message to disadvantaged groups. John's book is a vision of a just world, not a vengeful threat of world-destruction. Her view that Revelation's message is not gender-based has caused dissent. She says humanity is to look behind the symbols rather than make a fetish out of them. In contrast, Tina Pippin states that John writes "[[Horror fiction|horror literature]]" and "the [[misogyny]] which underlies the narrative is extreme."<ref name="Tina Pippin 1993 p. 105"/>
 + 
 +[[D. H. Lawrence]] took an opposing, pessimistic view of Revelation in the final book he wrote, ''Apocalypse''.<ref>D H Lawrence ''Apocalypse'' London: Martin Secker (1932) published posthumously with an introduction (pp. v–xli) by Richard Aldington which is an integral part of the text.</ref> He saw the language which Revelation used as being bleak and destructive; a 'death-product'. Instead, he wanted to champion a public-spirited individualism (which he identified with the historical Jesus supplemented by an ill-defined cosmic consciousness) against its two natural enemies. One of these he called "the sovereignty of the intellect"<ref>''Apocalypse'' p. xxiii</ref> which he saw in a technology-based totalitarian society. The other enemy he styled "vulgarity"<ref>''Apocalypse'' p. 6</ref> and that was what he found in Revelation. "It is very nice if you are poor and not humble ... to bring your enemies down to utter destruction, while you yourself rise up to grandeur. And nowhere does this happen so splendiferously than in Revelation."<ref>''Apocalypse'' p. 11</ref> Lawrence did not consider how these two types of Christianity (good and bad in his view) might be related other than as opposites. He noted the difference meant that the John who wrote a gospel could not be the same John who wrote Revelation.
 + 
 +His specific aesthetic objections to Revelation were that its imagery was unnatural and that phrases like "the wrath of the Lamb" were "ridiculous." He saw Revelation as comprising two discordant halves. In the first, there was a scheme of cosmic renewal in "great Chaldean sky-spaces", which he quite liked. After that, Lawrence thought, the book became preoccupied with the birth of the baby messiah and "flamboyant hate and simple lust ... for the end of the world." Lawrence coined the term "Patmossers" to describe those Christians who could only be happy in paradise if they knew their enemies were suffering in hell.<ref name="Lawrence1995">{{cite book|author=D. H. Lawrence|title=Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umOIicD8H9oC&pg=PA112|year=1995|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-018781-6|page=112}}</ref>
 + 
 +=== Academic ===
 +{{Further|higher criticism|apocalyptic literature}}
 +Modern biblical scholarship attempts to understand Revelation in its 1st-century historical context within the genre of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature.<ref name="Martin 2009"/> This approach considers the text as an address to seven historical communities in Asia Minor. Under this interpretation, assertions that "the time is near" are to be taken literally by those communities. Consequently, the work is viewed as a warning to not conform to contemporary Greco-Roman society which John "unveils" as beastly, demonic, and subject to divine judgment.<ref name="Martin 2009">[[Dale Martin]] 2009 (lecture). {{YouTube|XJ9Gt_R5a-k|"24. Apocalyptic and Accommodation"}}. [[Yale University]]. Accessed 22 July 2013. [http://www.cosmolearning.com/video-lectures/apocalyptic-and-accommodation-6817/ Lecture 24 (transcript)]</ref>
 + 
 +New Testament narrative criticism also places Revelation in its first century historical context but approaches the book from a literary perspective.<ref>David L. Barr, Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 1998); Barr, "Narrative Technique in the Book of Revelation". In Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, ed. Danna Nolan Fewell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 376–88</ref> For example, narrative critics examine characters and characterization, literary devices, settings, plot, themes, point of view, implied reader, implied author, and other constitutive features of narratives in their analysis of the book.
 + 
 +Although the acceptance of Revelation into the [[Biblical canon|canon]] has, from the beginning, been controversial, it has been essentially similar to the career of other texts.<ref name="Martin 2009b">{{cite web|url=https://cosmolearning.org/video-lectures/from-stories-to-canon-6796/|title=Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon |publisher= CosmoLearning Religious Studies}}</ref> The eventual exclusion of other contemporary apocalyptic literature from the canon may throw light on the unfolding historical processes of what was officially considered orthodox, what was [[heterodox]], and what was even heretical.<ref name="Martin 2009b"/> Interpretation of meanings and imagery are anchored in what the historical author intended and what his contemporary audience inferred; a message to Christians not to assimilate into the Roman imperial culture was John's central message.<ref name="Martin 2009"/> Thus, the letter (written in the apocalyptic genre) is pastoral in nature (its purpose is offering hope to the downtrodden),<ref name="Ehrman Apoc"/> and the symbolism of Revelation is to be understood entirely within its historical, literary, and social context.<ref name="Ehrman Apoc"/> Critics study the conventions of apocalyptic literature and events of the 1st century to make sense of what the author may have intended.<ref name="Ehrman Apoc">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE2oaGa2fJU| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/sE2oaGa2fJU| archive-date=2021-10-28|title=Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist|last=Bart D. Ehrman|date=9 June 2016|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
 + 
 +Scholar [[Barbara Whitlock]] pointed out a similarity between the consistent destruction of thirds depicted in the Book of Revelation (a third of mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone, a third of the trees and green grass, a third of the sea creatures and a third of the ships at sea, etc.) and the [[Persian mythology|Iranian mythology]] evil character [[Zahhak]] or Dahāg, depicted in the [[Avesta]], the earliest religious texts of [[Zoroastrianism]]. Dahāg is mentioned as wreaking much evil in the world until at last chained up and imprisoned on the mythical Mt. Damāvand. The Middle Persian sources prophesy that at the end of the world, Dahāg will at last burst his bonds and ravage the world, consuming one in three humans and livestock, until the ancient hero [[Garshasp|Kirsāsp]] returns to life to kill Dahāg. Whitlock wrote: "Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Roman Empire's main rival, was part of the intellectual environment in which Christianity came into being, just as were Judaism, the Greek-Roman religion, and the worship of Isis and Mithras. A Zoroastrian influence is completely plausible".<ref>Dr. Barbara Whitlock, "Tracing out the convoluted sources of Christianity" in George D. Barnes (ed.), "Collected New Essays in Comparative Religion"</ref>
 + 
 +== Old Testament origins ==
 +Much of Revelation employs ancient sources, primarily but not exclusively from the Old Testament. For example, Howard-Brook and Gwyther<ref>Wes Howard-Brook & Anthony Gwyther ''Unveiling Empire'' New York: Orbis (1999) p. 76</ref> regard the [[Book of Enoch]] as an equally significant but contextually different source. "Enoch's journey has no close parallel in the Hebrew scriptures."
 + 
 +Academics showed little interest in this topic until recently.<ref>S Moyise p. 13 reports no work whatsoever done between 1912 and 1984</ref> An anonymous Scottish commentary of 1871<ref>Anon ''An exposition of the Apocalypse on a new principle of literal interpretation'' Aberdeen: Brown (1871)</ref> prefaces Revelation 4 with the Little Apocalypse of Mark 13, places Malachi 4:5 ("Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord") within Revelation 11 and writes Revelation 12:7 side by side with the role of "the Satan" in the [[Book of Job]]. The message is that everything in Revelation will happen in its previously appointed time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chapman|first=Charles T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPAiFCpfNUEC&q=The+message+is+that+everything+in+Revelation+will+happen+in+its+previously+appointed+time&pg=PA12|title=The Message of the Book of Revelation|date=1995|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-2111-0|language=en}}</ref>
 + 
 +[[Steve Moyise]] uses the index of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament to show that "Revelation contains more Old Testament [[allusion]]s than any other New Testament book, but it does not record a single quotation."<ref>S. Moyise ''The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation'' Sheffield: [[Sheffield Academic Press]] (1995) p. 31</ref> Perhaps significantly, Revelation chooses different sources than other New Testament books. Revelation concentrates on Isaiah, Psalms, and Ezekiel, while neglecting, comparatively speaking, the books of the Pentateuch that are the dominant sources for other New Testament writers.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}}
 + 
 +Yet, with Revelation, the problems might be judged more fundamental. The author seems to be using his sources in a completely different way to the originals. For example, the author borrows the 'new temple' imagery of Ezekiel 40–48 but uses it to describe a New Jerusalem which, quite pointedly, no longer needs a temple because it is God's dwelling. [[Ian Boxall]]<ref>Ian Boxall The Revelation of St John London: Continuum & Peabody MA: Hendrickson (2006) p. 254</ref> writes that Revelation "is no montage of biblical quotations (that is not John's way) but a wealth of allusions and evocations rewoven into something new and creative." In trying to identify this "something new", Boxall argues that Ezekiel provides the 'backbone' for Revelation. He sets out a comparative table listing the chapters of Revelation in sequence and linking most of them to the structurally corresponding chapter in Ezekiel. The interesting point is that the order is not the same. John, on this theory, rearranges Ezekiel to suit his own purposes.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}}
 + 
 +Some commentators argue that it is these purposes – and not the structure – that really matter. [[Gregory Beale|G. K. Beale]] believes that, however much John makes use of Ezekiel, his ultimate purpose is to present Revelation as a fulfillment of [[Daniel 7]].<ref>G. K. Beale John's use of the Old Testament in Revelation Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press (1998) p. 109</ref> [[Richard Bauckham]] has argued that John presents an early view of the Trinity through his descriptions of the visions and his identifying Jesus and the Holy Spirit with YHWH.{{sfn|Bauckham|1993|p=}} Brandon Smith has expanded on both of their proposals while proposing a "trinitarian reading" of Revelation, arguing that John uses Old Testament language and allusions from various sources to describe a multiplicity of persons in YHWH without sacrificing monotheism, which would later be codified in the trinitarian doctrine of [[Nicene Christianity]].<ref>Brandon D. Smith, "The Identification of Jesus with YHWH in the Book of Revelation, Criswell Theological Review (2016)</ref>
 + 
 +== Figures in Revelation ==
 +In order of appearance:
 +{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
 +# The author of John ([[John of Patmos]] or [[John the Apostle]])
 +# The [[angel]] who reveals the Revelation of Jesus Christ
 +# The One who sits on the [[Throne of God#Revelation|Throne]]
 +# Twenty-four crowned [[Elder (Christianity)|elders]]
 +# Four [[Living creatures (Bible)|living creatures]]
 +# The [[Lion of Judah]] who is the seven horned Lamb with seven eyes
 +# [[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]
 +# The souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, each given a white robe
 +# Four angels holding the four winds of the Earth
 +# The seal-bearer angel (144,000 of Israel sealed)
 +# A great multitude from every nation
 +# [[Seven trumpets|Seven angelic trumpeters]]
 +# The star called [[Wormwood (star)|Wormwood]]
 +# Angel of Woe
 +# [[Scorpion]]-tailed [[Locust]]s
 +# [[Abaddon]]
 +# Four angels bound to the great river [[Euphrates]]
 +# Two hundred million lion-headed [[cavalry]]
 +# The mighty angel of Seven [[thunder]]s
 +# The [[Two witnesses]]
 +# [[The Beast (Revelation)|Beast of the Sea]] having seven heads and ten horns
 +# [[Woman of the Apocalypse|The Woman]] and her child
 +# The [[Dragon]], fiery red with seven heads
 +# [[Michael (archangel)|Saint Michael the Archangel]]
 +# Lamb-horned [[The Beast (Revelation)#Beast from the earth|Beast of the Earth]]
 +# [[The Beast (Revelation)#Image of the beast|Image of the Beast]] of the sea
 +# Messages of the three angels
 +# The angelic reapers and the grapes of wrath
 +# Seven plague angels
 +# Seven bowls of wrath
 +# The [[False Prophet]]
 +# The [[Whore of Babylon]]
 +# The rider on a white horse
 +# The first resurrection and the thousand years
 +# [[Gog and Magog]]
 +# Death and [[Hades]]
 +{{Div col end}}
 + 
 +== See also ==
 +{{Portal|Christianity}}
 + 
 +{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
 +* [[Alpha and Omega]]
 +* [[The Apocalypse (2000 film)|''The Apocalypse'']] – 2000 film
 +* [[Apocalypse of John – dated astronomically]]
 +* [[Apocalypse of Peter]]
 +* [[Apocalypse of Zerubbabel]]
 +* [[Apocalypticism]]
 +* [[Arethas of Caesarea]]
 +* [[Biblical cosmology]]
 +* [[Biblical numerology]]
 +* [[Book of Ezekiel]]
 +* [[Christian eschatological differences]]
 +* [[Day-year principle]]
 +* [[English Apocalypse manuscripts]]
 +* [[Horae Apocalypticae]]
 +* [[Maccabees]]
 +* [[Masada]]
 +* [[The New Earth]]
 +* [[Number of the beast|Number of the Beast]]
 +* [[Patmos]]
 +* [[Textual variants in the New Testament#Book of Revelation|Textual variants in the Book of Revelation]]
 +* [[Vespasian]]
 +* [[Woman of the Apocalypse]]
 +{{Div col end}}
 + 
 +== Notes ==
 +{{Notelist}}
 + 
 +== References ==
 +{{reflist|30em}}
 +<!-- this verifies what precisely? academic boosterism? self-published?{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Kim Mark|title=How John Wrote the Book of Revelation: From Concept to Publication|date=2015|publisher=Kim Mark Lewis|location=Lorton, VA|isbn=978-1-943325-00-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ajYCgAAQBAJ}}-->
 + 
 +== Bibliography ==
 +{{refbegin}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Ammannati
 +|first = Renato
 +|title = Rivelazione e Storia. Ermeneutica dell'Apocalisse
 +|publisher = Transeuropa
 +|year = 2010
 +}}
 +* Barr, David, L. (1998). ''Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation.'' Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, {{ISBN|978-1-59815-033-9}}.
 +* Bass, Ralph E., Jr. (2004). ''Back to the Future: A Study in the Book of Revelation'', Greenville, South Carolina: Living Hope Press, {{ISBN|0-9759547-0-9}}.
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Bauckham
 +|first = Richard
 +|title = The Theology of the Book of Revelation
 +|publisher = Cambridge University Press
 +|year = 1993
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=So0hIAMtTs0C
 +|isbn = 978-0-521-35691-6
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last1 = Beale
 +|first1 = G.K.
 +|last2 = McDonough
 +|first2 = Sean M.
 +|chapter = Revelation
 +|editor1-last = Beale
 +|editor1-first = G. K.
 +|editor2-last = Carson
 +|editor2-first = D. A.
 +|title = Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
 +|publisher = Baker Academic
 +|year = 2007
 +|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e69R5GYemBgC&q=%22No+other+book+of+the+NT+is+as+permeated+by+the+OT+as+is+Revelation%22&pg=PA1081
 +|isbn = 978-0-8010-2693-5
 +}}
 +* [[Gregory Beale|Beale G.K.]] (1999). ''The Book of Revelation'', [[New International Greek Testament Commentary|NIGTC]], Grand Rapids: Cambridge. {{ISBN|0-8028-2174-X}}
 +* [[Wilhelm Bousset|Bousset W.]], ''Die Offenbarung Johannis'', Göttingen 1896<sup>5</sup>, 1906<sup>6</sup>.
 +* Boxall, Ian, (2006). ''The Revelation of Saint John'' (Black's New Testament Commentary) London: Continuum, and Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson. {{ISBN|0-8264-7135-8}} U.S. edition: {{ISBN|1-56563-202-8}}
 +* Boxall, Ian (2002). ''Revelation: Vision and Insight – An Introduction to the Apocalypse'', London: SPCK {{ISBN|0-281-05362-6}}
 +* {{Cite book | last = Brown | first = Raymond E. | author-link = Raymond E. Brown | title = Introduction to the New Testament | publisher = Anchor Bible | year = 1997 | isbn = 978-0-385-24767-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/introductiontone00brow_0 }}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Burkett
 +|first = Delbert
 +|title = An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity
 +|publisher = Cambridge University Press
 +|year = 2000
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EcsQknxV-xQC&q=%22Revelation%22%22usually+classified+as+an+apocalypse%22&pg=PA502
 +|isbn = 978-0-521-00720-7
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Collins
 +|first = Adela Yarbro
 +|title = Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse
 +|publisher = Westminster John Knox Press
 +|year = 1984
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw9e2DfVxiEC
 +|isbn = 978-0-664-24521-4
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|editor1-last = Couch
 +|editor1-first = Mal
 +|title = A Bible Handbook to Revelation
 +|publisher = Kregel Academic
 +|year = 2001
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg0S-XE7jzUC
 +|isbn = 978-0-8254-9393-5
 +}}
 +*{{cite encyclopedia
 + |editor-last1 = Cross
 + |editor-first1 = F.L.
 + |editor-last2 = Livingstone
 + |editor-first2 = E.A.
 + | title = Revelation, Book of
 + | encyclopedia = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 rev. ed.)
 + | date = 2005
 + | publisher = Oxford University Press
 + | url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001/acref-9780192802903-e-5853
 +|doi = 10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001
 + |isbn = 978-0-19-280290-3
 + }}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Crutchfield
 +|first = Larry V.
 +|chapter = Revelation in the New Testament Canon
 +|editor1-last = Couch
 +|editor1-first = Mal
 +|title = A Bible Handbook to Revelation
 +|publisher = Kregel Academic
 +|year = 2001
 +|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg0S-XE7jzUC
 +|isbn = 978-0-8254-9393-5
 +}}
 +* {{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |title=The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-515462-7 }}
 +* Ford, J. Massyngberde (1975). ''Revelation'', The [[Anchor Bible]], New York: Doubleday {{ISBN|0-385-00895-3}}.
 +* Gentry, Kenneth L., Jr. (1998). ''Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation'', Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, {{ISBN|0-915815-43-5}}.
 +* Gentry, Kenneth L., Jr. (2002). ''The Beast of Revelation'', Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, {{ISBN|0-915815-41-9}}.
 +* [[Scott Hahn|Hahn, Scott]] (1999). ''The Lamb's Supper: Mass as Heaven on Earth'', Darton, Longman, Todd, {{ISBN|0-8146-5818-0}}
 +* Harrington Wilfrid J. (1993). ''Sacra Pagina: Revelation'', Michael Glazier, {{ISBN|978-0-8146-5818-5}}
 +* Hernández, Juan (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=8C1YlHaGpooC&pg=PA1&dq=#v=onepage&q=&f=false ''Scribal habits and theological influences in the Apocalypse''], Tübingen
 +*{{Cite book
 +|first = Anthony A.
 +|last = Hoekema
 +| publisher = Eerdmans
 +| year = 1979
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c2yT_7xw35sC&q=calvin+%22book+of+revelation%22&pg=PA297
 +|title = The Bible and the future
 +| isbn = 978-0-8028-3516-1
 +}}
 +* Hudson, Gary W. (2006). ''Revelation: Awakening The Christ Within'', Vesica Press, {{ISBN|0-9778517-2-9}}
 +* Jennings, Charles A. (2001). ''The Book of Revelation From An Israelite and Historicist Interpretation'', Truth in History Publications. {{ISBN|978-0-9792565-8-5}}.
 +* Kiddle M. (1941). ''The Revelation of St. John'' (The Moffat New Testament Commentary), New York – London
 +* Kirsch, Thomas (2006). ''A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization''. New York: HarperOne
 +* {{cite book |last=Koester |first=Craig R. |year=2015 |title=Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctvBAAAQBAJ |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |series=[[Anchor Bible Series|The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries]] |volume=38A |isbn=9780300216912}}
 +* {{cite journal |last=Lietaert Peerbolte |first=Bert Jan |date=September 2021 |title=The Book of Revelation: Plagues as Part of the Eschatological Human Condition |journal=[[Journal for the Study of the New Testament]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=75–92 |doi=10.1177/0142064X211025496
 +|doi-access=free |issn=1745-5294 |s2cid=237332665 }}
 +* [[Ernst Lohmeyer|Lohmeyer, Ernst]] (1953). ''Die Offenbarung des Johannes'', Tübingen
 +*{{cite journal
 +|last=Lohse
 +|first=D. E.
 +|year=1988
 +|title=Wie christlich ist die Offenbarung des Johannes?
 +|journal=New Testament Studies
 +|volume=34
 +|issue=3
 +|pages=321–338
 +|doi=10.1017/S0028688500020130
 +}}
 +* [[Lodowicke Muggleton|Muggleton, Lodowicke]] (2010). ''Works on the Book of Revelation'' London {{ISBN|978-1-907466-04-5}}
 +* Müller, U.B. (1995). ''Die Offenbarung des Johannes'', Güttersloh
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last1 = McDonald
 +|first1 = Lee Martin
 +|last2 = Sanders
 +|first2 = James A.
 +|title = The Canon Debate
 +|publisher = Hendrickson Publishers
 +|year = 2002
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = McKim
 +|first = Donald K.
 +|title = The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition
 +|publisher = Westminster John Knox Press
 +|year = 2014
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BUaTAwAAQBAJ&q=%22apocalypse%22%22the+final+revealing+of+divine+mysteries%22&pg=PA16
 +|isbn = 978-0-664-23835-3
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Mounce
 +|first = Robert H.
 +|title = The Book of Revelation
 +|publisher = Eerdmans
 +|year = 1998
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=06VR1JzzLNsC&q=%22lack+of+consensus+about+the+structure+of+Revelation%22&pg=PA32
 +|isbn = 978-0-8028-2537-7
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Pate
 +|first = C. Marvin
 +|title = Four Views on the Book of Revelation
 +|publisher = Zondervan
 +|year = 2010
 +}}
 +* [[Elaine Pagels|Pagels, Elaine]] (2012). ''Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation'', Viking Adult, {{ISBN|0-670-02334-5}} Prigent P., ''L'Apocalypse'', Paris 1981.
 +* {{Cite book |last=Weor |first=Samael Aun |author-link=Samael Aun Weor | title=The Aquarian Message: Gnostic Kabbalah and Tarot in the Apocalypse of St. John | publisher=Thelema Press | orig-year=1960 | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-9745916-5-0}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Pattemore
 +|first = Stephen
 +|title = The People of God in the Apocalypse
 +|publisher = Cambridge University Press
 +|year = 2004
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yDmP0I52XHYC&q=%22used+the+book%27s+imperial+imagery+for+self-promotion%22&pg=PT35
 +|isbn = 978-1-4412-3655-5
 +}}
 +* {{cite book
 +| last = Perkins
 +| first = Pheme
 +| title = Reading the New Testament: An Introduction
 +| publisher = Paulist Press
 +| year = 2012
 +| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=It58APyHyPsC&q=%22This+gospel+makes+use+of+Mark%22&pg=PA19
 +| isbn = 978-0-8091-4786-1
 +}}
 +* Roloff J. (1987). ''Die Offenbarung des Johannes''
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last1 = Senior
 +|first1 = Donald
 +|last2 = Getty
 +|first2 = Mary Ann
 +|title = The Catholic Study Bible
 +|publisher = Oxford University Press
 +|year = 1990
 +}}
 +* [[Massey H. Shepherd|Shepherd, Massey H.]] (2004). ''The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse'', James Clarke, {{ISBN|0-227-17005-9}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Schnelle
 +|first = Udo
 +|title = Theology of the New Testament [tr.2009]
 +|publisher = Baker Academic
 +|year = 2007
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KvMrnO6Q9O0C
 +|isbn = 978-0-8010-3604-0
 +}}
 +* {{cite book
 +|last=Stonehouse
 +|first=Ned B.
 +|date=n.d.
 +|orig-year=c. 1929
 +|title=The Apocalypse in the Ancient Church. A Study in the History of the New Testament Canon
 +|location=Goes
 +|publisher=Oosterbaan & Le Cointre
 +|postscript=[Major discussion of the controversy surrounding the acceptance/rejection of Revelation into the New Testament canon.]
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last1 = Stuckenbruck
 +|first1 = Loren T.
 +|chapter = Revelation
 +|editor1-last = Dunn
 +|editor1-first = James D. G.
 +|editor2-last = Rogerson
 +|editor2-first = John William
 +|title = Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible
 +|publisher = Eerdmans
 +|year = 2003
 +|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA1535
 +|page = 1535
 +|isbn = 978-0-8028-3711-0
 +}}
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Stephens
 +|first = Mark B.
 +|title = Annihilation or Renewal?: The Meaning and Function of New Creation in the Book of Revelation
 +|publisher = Mohr Siebeck
 +|year = 2011
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8VZLDaO4aHYC&q=%22traditional+portrait+of+social+setting+became+the+subject+of+sustained+criticism+and+revision%22&pg=PA144
 +|isbn = 978-3-16-150838-7
 +}}
 +* Sweet, J. P. M. (1979, Updated 1990). ''Revelation'', London: SCM Press, and Philadelphia: Trinity Press International. {{ISBN|0-334-02311-4}}.
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Tenney
 +|first = Merrill C.
 +|title = Interpreting Revelation
 +|publisher = Eerdmans
 +|year = 1988
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xAfI_-YTLE8C&q=%22The+book+of+revelation+contains+a+large+number+of+repeated+phrases%22&pg=PA32
 +|isbn = 978-0-8028-0421-1
 +}}
 +* Vitali, Francesco (2008). ''Piccolo Dizionario dell'Apocalisse'', TAU Editrice, Todi
 +*{{Cite book
 +|last = Wall
 +|first = Robert W.
 +|title = Revelation
 +|publisher = Baker Books
 +|year = 2011
 +|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yDmP0I52XHYC&q=%22used+the+book%27s+imperial+imagery+for+self-promotion%22&pg=PT35
 +|isbn = 978-1-4412-3655-5
 +}}
 +* Wikenhauser A., ''Offenbarung des Johannes'', Regensburg 1947, 1959.
 +* Witherington III, Ben (2003). ''Revelation'', The New Cambridge Bible Commentary, New York: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-00068-0}}.
 +* [[Theodor Zahn|Zahn Th.]], ''Die Offenbarung des Johannes'', t. 1–2, Leipzig 1924–1926.
 +{{refend}}
 + 
 +== External links ==
 +{{Commons category|Book of Revelation}}
 +{{wikiquote}}
 +{{Wikisource|Revelation (Bible)|Revelation}}
 +* [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/revelation.html Early Christian Writings:] Apocalypse of John: text, introduction, context
 +* [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/500324/Revelation-to-John "Revelation to John."] ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online.
 +* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01594b.htm Apocalypse, Book of] – Article from the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''
 +* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html Understanding the Book of Revelation] – Article by L. Michael White from PBS ''Frontline'' program "Apocalypse!"
 +*[http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4086 ''The Marvelous Address: The Revelation of the Beloved (Disciple)''] is an 18th-century manuscript about the book of Revelation written in [[Garshuni]] (Arabic written in Syriac script).
 +* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=248&letter=R ''Jewish Encyclopedia'']
 +* {{librivox book | dtitle=Bible: Revelation| stitle=NT 27: Revelation}} Various versions
 + 
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

Revision as of 15:25, 27 May 2022

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop

Featured:

Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Books of the New Testament Template:John [[File:BibleSPaoloFol331vFrontRev.jpg|thumb|Frontispiece, Book of Revelation, Bible of San Paolo fuori le Mura, 9th century]] [[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 236.png|thumb|The Vision of John on Patmos by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1860.]]

The book of RevelationTemplate:Efn is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: Template:Transl, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon.Template:Efn It occupies a central place in Christian eschatology.

The author names himself as "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as Papias of Hierapolis, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Melito of Sardis, Clement of Alexandria, and the author of the Muratorian fragment identify John the Apostle as the "John" of Revelation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Modern scholarship generally takes a different view,Template:Sfn with many considering that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet.Template:Sfn Modern theological scholars characterize the Book of Revelation's author as "John of Patmos". The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), which evidence tends to confirm.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic.Template:Sfn It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing a letter to the "Seven Churches of Asia". He then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon, the Serpent, and the Beast, which culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus.

The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. Historicist interpretations see Revelation as containing a broad view of history while preterist interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the Apostolic Age (1st century), or, at the latest, the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Futurists, meanwhile, believe that Revelation describes future events with the seven churches growing into the body of believers throughout the age, and a reemergence or continuous rule of a Greco-Roman system with modern capabilities described by John in ways familiar to him; and idealist or symbolic interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Contents

Composition and setting

[[File:Johannes op Patmos Saint John on Patmos Berlin, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Gemaldegalerie HR.jpg|thumb|St. John the Evangelist on Patmos by Hieronymous Bosch, Template:Circa]]

Title, authorship, and date

[[File:ApocalypseStSeverFol026vJohnRecievesRev.jpg|thumb|St. John receives his Revelation, Saint-Sever Beatus, 11th century]]

Main article{{#if:John of Patmos|s}}: Authorship of the Johannine works{{#if:John of Patmos 
 |{{#if:|, | and }}John of Patmos}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{3}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{4}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{6}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{7}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{8}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{9}}}]]}}{{#if:
|, and [[{{{10}}}|{{{10}}}]]}}{{#if: | (too many parameters in {{main}})}}

The name Revelation comes from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: Template:Lang (Template:Transl), which means "unveiling" or "revelation". The author names himself as "John", but modern scholars consider it unlikely that the author of Revelation also wrote the Gospel of John.Template:Sfn He was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addresses his letter.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The book is commonly dated to about AD 95, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the emperor Domitian.Template:Sfn The beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor Nero (reigned AD 54–68), but this does not require that Revelation was written in the 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that Nero would return.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Genre

Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.Template:Sfn "Apocalypse" means the revealing of divine mysteries;Template:Sfn John is to write down what is revealed (what he sees in his vision) and send it to the seven churches.Template:Sfn The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, which is addressed to all seven.Template:Sfn While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times, more than any other New Testament book.Template:Sfn

Sources

The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the exact number of allusions or the allusions themselves.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, yet almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the references stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms, and Isaiah, with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential. Because these references appear as allusions rather than as quotes, it is difficult to know whether the author used the Hebrew or the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, but he was clearly often influenced by the Greek.Template:Sfn

Setting

Conventional understanding has been that the Book of Revelation was written to comfort beleaguered Christians as they underwent persecution at the hands of an emperor.

This is not the only interpretation. Domitian may not have been a despot imposing an imperial cult, and there may not have been any systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians in his time.Template:Sfn Revelation may instead have been composed in the context of a conflict within the Christian community of Asia Minor over whether to engage with, or withdraw from, the far larger non-Christian community: Revelation chastises those Christians who wanted to reach an accommodation with the Roman cult of empire.Template:Sfn This is not to say that Christians in Roman Asia were not suffering for withdrawal from, and defiance against, the wider Roman society, which imposed very real penalties; Revelation offered a victory over this reality by offering an apocalyptic hope. In the words of professor Adela Collins, "What ought to be was experienced as a present reality."Template:Sfn

Canonical history

Template:See Revelation was among the last books accepted into the Christian biblical canon, and to the present day some churches that derive from the Church of the East reject it.Template:Sfn<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> Eastern Christians became skeptical of the book as doubts concerning its authorship and unusual styleTemplate:Sfn were reinforced by aversion to its acceptance by Montanists and other groups considered to be heretical.Template:Sfn This distrust of the Book of Revelation persisted in the East through the 15th century.<ref>Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou (editor) Commentary on the Apocalypse by Andrew of Caesarea (CUA Press 2011 Template:ISBN), pp. 3–6</ref>

Dionysius (AD 248), bishop of Alexandria and disciple of Origen, wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer. He regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle (Eusebius, Church History VII.25).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Eusebius, in his Church History (Template:C.) mentioned that the Apocalypse of John was accepted as a canonical book and rejected at the same time:

Template:Quote

The Apocalypse of John is counted as both accepted (Kirsopp. Lake translation: "Recognized") and disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. The disputation can perhaps be attributed to Origen.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Origen seems to have accepted it in his writings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 348) does not name it among the canonical books (Catechesis IV.33–36).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Athanasius (AD 367) in his Letter 39,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Augustine of Hippo (Template:C.) in his book On Christian Doctrine (Book II, Chapter 8),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Tyrannius Rufinus (c. AD 400) in his Commentary on the Apostles' Creed,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pope Innocent I (AD 405) in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.bible-researcher.com/innocent.html | {{#if: Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture | [{{{archiveurl}}} Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.bible-researcher.com/innocent.html | {{#if: Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture | Letter of Innocent I on the Canon of Scripture }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> and John of Damascus (about AD 730) in his work An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV:7)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> listed "the Revelation of John the Evangelist" as a canonical book.

Synods

The Council of Laodicea (AD 363) omits it as a canonical book.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Template:Lang, which is a work written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, contains a list of books of scripture presented as having been reckoned as canonical by the Council of Rome (AD 382). This list mentions it as a part of the New Testament canon.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm | {{#if: Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation) |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: Pearse 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: Pearse
     | Pearse{{#if: Roger | , Roger }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: Pearse
     | Pearse{{#if: Roger | , Roger }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Pearse 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: Pearse| 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: Pearse 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation) | [{{{archiveurl}}} Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation)] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm | {{#if: Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation) | Tertullian : Decretum Gelasianum (English translation) }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: Pearse
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Pearse 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

The Synod of Hippo (in AD 393),<ref>Template:Citation</ref> followed by the Council of Carthage (397), the Council of Carthage (419), the Council of Florence (1442)<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/FLORENCE.HTM | {{#if: Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel | [{{{archiveurl}}} Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/FLORENCE.HTM | {{#if: Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel | Eccumenical Council of Florence and Council of Basel }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> and the Council of Trent (1546)<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT4.htm | {{#if: Paul III Council of Trent-4 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Paul III Council of Trent-4 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Paul III Council of Trent-4] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT4.htm | {{#if: Paul III Council of Trent-4 | Paul III Council of Trent-4 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> classified it as a canonical book.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3816.htm | {{#if: Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) | [{{{archiveurl}}} Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419)] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3816.htm | {{#if: Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) | Church Fathers: Council of Carthage (A.D. 419) }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

The Apostolic Canons, approved by the Eastern Orthodox Council in Trullo in 692, but rejected by Pope Sergius I, omit it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Protestant Reformation

Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530),Template:Sfn Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not a book of the Bible",<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary.Template:Sfn Template:As of Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church,<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it.

Texts and manuscripts

There are approximately 300 Greek manuscripts of Revelation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> While it is not extant in Codex Vaticanus (4th century), it is extant in the other great uncial codices: Sinaiticus (4th century), Alexandrinus (5th century), and Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century). In addition, there are numerous papyri, especially Template:Papyrus link and Template:Papyrus link (both 3rd century); minuscules (8th to 10th century); and fragmentary quotations in the Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries and the 6th-century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas.Template:Sfn

Structure and content

[[File:Beatus-tafel.jpg|thumb|The Apocalypse of St. Sever, Template:Circa]]

Image:BritLibAddMS35166ApocalypseFolio003rAngelApeardToJohn.jpg
The Angel Appears to John, 13th-century manuscript, British Library, London

[[File:B Escorial a.jpg|thumb|The angel gives John the letter to the churches of Asia, Beatus Escorial, Template:Circa]]

Literary structure

Divisions in the book seem to be marked by the repetition of key phrases, by the arrangement of subject matter into blocks, and associated with its Christological passages,Template:Sfn and much use is made of significant numbers, especially the number seven, which represented perfection according to ancient numerology.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, there is a "complete lack of consensus" among scholars about the structure of Revelation.Template:Sfn The following is therefore an outline of the book's contents rather than of its structure.

Outline

Main article{{#if:|s}}: Events of Revelation{{#if: 
 |{{#if:|, | and }}[[{{{2}}}|{{{2}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{3}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{4}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{6}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{7}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{8}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{9}}}]]}}{{#if:
|, and [[{{{10}}}|{{{10}}}]]}}{{#if: | (too many parameters in {{main}})}}
Template:See also

thumb|Revelation 6.2: "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." White Rider from Tolkovy Apocalyps, Moscow, 17th century [[File:B Osma 92v.jpg|thumb|Apocalypse 7, the 144,000 elect. Beatus d'Osma, 11th century]] [[File:B Escorial 94v.jpg|thumb|The Fourth Angel sounds his trumpet, Apocalypse 8, Beatus Escorial, Template:Circa]] thumb|Apocalypse 12, the Woman and the Dragon. Beatus d'Osma, 11th century thumb|A seven-headed leopard-like beast, Apocalypse 13, Beatus Escorial [[File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - The Sunday at Home 1880 - Revelation 22-17.jpg|thumb|An 1880 Baxter process colour plate illustrating Revelation 22:17 by Joseph Martin Kronheim]] [[File:B Escorial 120.jpg|thumb|"Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (14:15), Escorial Beatus ]] [[File:Brooklyn Museum - The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12 1-4) - William Blake.jpg|thumb|right|The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Rev. 12 1–4), William Blake, 1803–1805, Brooklyn Museum]]

Outline of the book of Revelation:Template:According to

  1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ
    1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated to John through prophetic visions. (1:1–9)
    2. John is instructed by the "one like a son of man" to write all that he hears and sees, from the prophetic visions, to Seven churches of Asia. (1:10–13)
    3. The appearance of the "one like a son of man" is given, and he reveals what the seven stars and seven lampstands represent. (1:14–20)
  2. Messages for seven churches of Asia
    1. Ephesus: From this church, he "who overcomes is granted to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (2:1–7)
      1. Praised for not bearing those who are evil, testing those who say they are apostles and are not, and finding them to be liars; hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans; having persevered and possessing patience.
      2. Admonished to "do the first works" and to repent for having left their "first love."
    2. Smyrna: From this church, those who are faithful until death, will be given "the crown of life." He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. (2:8–11)
      1. Praised for being "rich" while impoverished and in tribulation.
      2. Admonished not to fear the "synagogue of Satan", nor fear a ten-day tribulation of being thrown into prison.
    3. Pergamum: From this church, he who overcomes will be given the hidden manna to eat and a white stone with a secret name on it." (2:12–17)
      1. Praised for holding "fast to My name", not denying "My faith" even in the days of Antipas, "My faithful martyr."
      2. Admonished to repent for having held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel; eating things sacrificed to idols, committing sexual immorality, and holding the "doctrine of the Nicolaitans."
    4. Thyatira: From this church, he who overcomes until the end, will be given power over the nations in order to dash them to pieces with a rod of iron; he will also be given the "morning star." (2:18–29)
      1. Praised for their works, love, service, faith, and patience.
      2. Admonished to repent for allowing a "prophetess" to promote sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
    5. Sardis: From this church, he who overcomes will be clothed in white garments, and his name will not be blotted out from the Book of Life; his name will also be confessed before the Father and his angels. (3:1–6)
      1. Admonished to be watchful and to strengthen since their works have not been perfect before God.
    6. Philadelphia: From this church, he who overcomes will be made a pillar in the temple of God having the name of God, the name of the city of God, "New Jerusalem", and the Son of God's new name. (3:7–13)
      1. Praised for having some strength, keeping "My word", and having not denied "My name."
      2. Reminded to hold fast what they have, that no one may take their crown.
    7. Laodicea: From this church, he who overcomes will be granted the opportunity to sit with the Son of God on his throne. (3:14–22)
      1. Admonished to be zealous and repent from being "lukewarm"; they are instructed to buy the "gold refined in the fire", that they may be rich; to buy "white garments", that they may be clothed, so that the shame of their nakedness would not be revealed; to anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they may see.
  3. Before the Throne of God
    1. The Throne of God appears, surrounded by twenty four thrones with twenty-four elders seated in them. (4:1–5)
    2. The four living creatures are introduced. (4:6–11)
    3. A scroll, with seven seals, is presented and it is declared that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, from the "Root of David", is the only one worthy to open this scroll. (5:1–5)
    4. When the "Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes" took the scroll, the creatures of heaven fell down before the Lamb to give him praise, joined by myriads of angels and the creatures of the earth. (5:6–14)
  4. Seven Seals are opened
    1. First Seal: A white horse appears, whose crowned rider has a bow with which to conquer. (6:1–2)
    2. Second Seal: A red horse appears, whose rider is granted a "great sword" to take peace from the earth. (6:3–4)
    3. Third Seal: A black horse appears, whose rider has "a pair of balances in his hand", where a voice then says, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine." (6:5–6)
    4. Fourth Seal: A pale horse appears, whose rider is Death, and Hades follows him. Death is granted a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (6:7–8)
    5. Fifth Seal: "Under the altar", appeared the souls of martyrs for the "word of God", who cry out for vengeance. They are given white robes and told to rest until the martyrdom of their brothers is completed. (6:9–11)
    6. Sixth Seal: (6:12–17)
      1. There occurs a great earthquake where "the sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon like blood" (6:12).
      2. The stars of heaven fall to the earth and the sky recedes like a scroll being rolled up (6:13–14).
      3. Every mountain and island is moved out of place (6:14).
      4. The people of earth retreat to caves in the mountains (6:15).
      5. The survivors call upon the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, so as to hide them from the "wrath of the Lamb" (6:16).
    7. Interlude: The 144,000 Hebrews are sealed.
      1. 144,000 from the Twelve Tribes of Israel are sealed as servants of God on their foreheads (7:1–8)
      2. A great multitude stand before the Throne of God, who come out of the Great Tribulation, clothed with robes made "white in the blood of the Lamb" and having palm branches in their hands. (7:9–17)
    8. Seventh Seal: Introduces the seven trumpets (8:1–5)
      1. "Silence in heaven for about half an hour" (8:1).
      2. Seven angels are each given trumpets (8:2).
      3. An eighth angel takes a "golden censer", filled with fire from the heavenly altar, and throws it to the earth (8:3–5). What follows are "peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake" (8:5).
      4. After the eighth angel has devastated the earth, the seven angels introduced in verse 2 prepare to sound their trumpets (8:6).
  5. Seven trumpets are sounded (Seen in Chapters 8, 9, and 12).
    1. First Trumpet: Hail and fire, mingled with blood, are thrown to the earth burning up a third of the trees and green grass. (8:6–7)
    2. Second Trumpet: Something that resembles a great mountain, burning with fire, falls from the sky and lands in the ocean. It kills a third of the sea creatures and destroys a third of the ships at sea. (8:8–9)
    3. Third Trumpet: A great star, named Wormwood, falls from heaven and poisons a third of the rivers and springs of water. (8:10–11)
    4. Fourth Trumpet: A third of the sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened creating complete darkness for a third of the day and the night. (8:12–13)
    5. Fifth Trumpet: The First Woe (9:1–12)
      1. A "star" falls from the sky (9:1).
      2. This "star" is given "the key to the bottomless pit" (9:1).
      3. The "star" then opens the bottomless pit. When this happens, "smoke [rises] from [the Abyss] like smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky [are] darkened by the smoke from the Abyss" (9:2).
      4. From out of the smoke, locusts who are "given power like that of scorpions of the earth" (9:3), who are commanded not to harm anyone or anything except for people who were not given the "seal of God" on their foreheads (from chapter 7) (9:4).
      5. The "locusts" are described as having a human appearance (faces and hair) but with lion's teeth, and wearing "breastplates of iron"; the sound of their wings resembles "the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle" (9:7–9).
    6. Sixth Trumpet: The Second Woe (9:13–21)
      1. The four angels bound to the great river Euphrates are released to prepare two hundred million horsemen.
      2. These armies kill a third of mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone.
    7. Interlude: The little scroll. (10:1–11)
      1. An angel appears, with one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, having an opened little book in his hand.
      2. Upon the cry of the angel, seven thunders utter mysteries and secrets that are not to be written down by John.
      3. John is instructed to eat the little scroll that happens to be sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach, and to prophesy.
      4. John is given a measuring rod to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.
      5. Outside the temple, at the court of the holy city, it is trod by the nations for forty-two months (Template:Frac years).
      6. Two witnesses prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. (11:1–14)
    8. Seventh Trumpet: The Third Woe that leads into the seven bowls (11:15–19)
      1. The temple of God opens in heaven, where the ark of his covenant can be seen. There are lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
  6. The Seven Spiritual Figures. (Events leading into the Third Woe)
    1. A Woman "clothed with a white robe, with the sun at her back, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" is in pregnancy with a male child. (12:1–2)
    2. A great Dragon (with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads) drags a third of the stars of Heaven with his tail, and throws them to the Earth. (12:3–4). The Dragon waits for the birth of the child so he can devour it. However, sometime after the child is born, he is caught up to God's throne while the Woman flees into the wilderness into her place prepared of God that they should feed her there for 1,260 days (Template:Frac years). (12:5–6). War breaks out in heaven between Michael and the Dragon, identified as that old Serpent, the Devil, or Satan (12:9). After a great fight, the Dragon and his angels are cast out of Heaven for good, followed by praises of victory for God's kingdom. (12:7–12). The Dragon engages to persecute the Woman, but she is given aid to evade him. Her evasiveness enrages the Dragon, prompting him to wage war against the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (12:13–17)
    3. A Beast (with seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns on his horns and on his heads names of blasphemy) emerges from the Sea, having one mortally wounded head that is then healed. The people of the world wonder and follow the Beast. The Dragon grants him power and authority for forty-two months. (13:1–5)
    4. The Beast of the Sea blasphemes God's name (along with God's tabernacle and his kingdom and all who dwell in Heaven), wages war against the Saints, and overcomes them. (13:6–10)
    5. Then, a Beast emerges from the Earth having two horns like a lamb, speaking like a dragon. He directs people to make an image of the Beast of the Sea who was wounded yet lives, breathing life into it, and forcing all people to bear "the mark of the Beast", "666". Events leading into the Third Woe:
    6. The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with the 144,000 "first fruits" who are redeemed from Earth and victorious over the Beast and his mark and image. (14:1–5)
      1. The proclamations of three angels. (14:6–13)
      2. One like the Son of Man reaps the earth. (14:14–16)
      3. A second angel reaps "the vine of the Earth" and throws it into "the great winepress of the wrath of God... and blood came out of the winepress... up to one thousand six hundred stadia." (14:17–20)
      4. The temple of the tabernacle, in Heaven, is opened (15:1–5), beginning the "Seven Bowls" revelation.
      5. Seven angels are given a golden bowl, from the Four Living Creatures, that contains the seven last plagues bearing the wrath of God. (15:6–8)
  7. Seven bowls are poured onto Earth:
    1. First Bowl: A "foul and malignant sore" afflicts the followers of the Beast. (16:1–2)
    2. Second Bowl: The Sea turns to blood and everything within it dies. (16:3)
    3. Third Bowl: All fresh water turns to blood. (16:4–7)
    4. Fourth Bowl: The Sun scorches the Earth with intense heat and even burns some people with fire. (16:8–9)
    5. Fifth Bowl: There is total darkness and great pain in the Beast's kingdom. (16:10–11)
    6. Sixth Bowl: The Great River Euphrates is dried up and preparations are made for the kings of the East and the final battle at Armageddon between the forces of good and evil. (16:12–16)
    7. Seventh Bowl: A great earthquake and heavy hailstorm: "every island fled away and the mountains were not found." (16:17–21)
  8. Aftermath: Vision of John given by "an angel who had the seven bowls"
    1. The great Harlot who sits on a scarlet Beast (with seven heads and ten horns and names of blasphemy all over its body) and by many waters: Babylon the Great. The angel showing John the vision of the Harlot and the scarlet Beast reveals their identities and fates (17:1–18)
    2. New Babylon is destroyed. (18:1–8)
    3. The people of the Earth (the kings, merchants, sailors, etc.) mourn New Babylon's destruction. (18:9–19)
    4. The permanence of New Babylon's destruction. (18:20–24)
  9. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
    1. A great multitude praises God. (19:1–6)
    2. The marriage Supper of the Lamb. (19:7–10)
  10. The Judgment of the two Beasts, the Dragon, and the Dead (19:11–20:15)
    1. The Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire. (19:11–21)
    2. The Dragon is imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit for a thousand years. (20:1–3)
    3. The resurrected martyrs live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. (20:4–6)
    4. After the Thousand Years
      1. The Dragon is released and goes out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and gathers them for battle at the holy city. The Dragon makes war against the people of God, but is defeated. (20:7–9)
      2. The Dragon is cast into the Lake of Fire with the Beast and the False Prophet. (20:10)
      3. The Last Judgment: the wicked, along with Death and Hades, are cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death. (20:11–15)
  11. The New Heaven and Earth, and New Jerusalem
    1. A "new heaven" and "new earth" replace the old heaven and old earth. There is no more suffering or death. (21:1–8)
    2. God comes to dwell with humanity in the New Jerusalem. (21:2–8)
    3. Description of the New Jerusalem. (21:9–27)
    4. The River of Life and the Tree of Life appear for the healing of the nations and peoples. The curse of sin is ended. (22:1–5)
  12. Conclusion
    1. Christ's reassurance that his coming is imminent. Final admonitions. (22:6–21)

Interpretations

Template:Christian Eschatology Revelation has a wide variety of interpretations, ranging from the simple historical interpretation, to a prophetic view on what will happen in the future by way of the Will of God and the Woman's victory on Satan ("symbolic interpretation"), to different end time scenarios ("futurist interpretation"),<ref>Robert J. Karris (ed.) The Collegeville Bible Commentary Liturgical Press, 1992 p. 1296.</ref><ref>Ken Bowers, Hiding in plain sight, Cedar Fort, 2000 p. 175.</ref> to the views of critics who deny any spiritual value to Revelation at all,<ref>Carl Gustav Jung in his autobiography Memories Dream Reflections said "I will not discuss the transparent prophecies of the Book of Revelation because no one believes in them and the whole subject is felt to be an embarrassing one."</ref> ascribing it to a human-inherited archetype.

Liturgical

Paschal liturgical

This interpretation, which has found expression among both Catholic and Protestant theologians, considers the liturgical worship, particularly the Easter rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. This perspective is explained in The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse (new edition, 2004) by Massey H. Shepherd, an Episcopal scholar, and in Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (1999), in which he states that Revelation in form is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple's destruction (AD 70) had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean.<ref>Scott Hahn, The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, Template:ISBN. New York: Doubleday, 1999.</ref>

They believe the Book of Revelation provides insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth. The idea of the Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is also explored by British Methodist Geoffrey Wainwright in his book Eucharist and Eschatology (Oxford University Press, 1980). According to Pope Benedict XVI some of the images of Revelation should be understood in the context of the dramatic suffering and persecution of the churches of Asia in the 1st century.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060823.html | {{#if: John, the Seer of Patmos |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: John, the Seer of Patmos | [{{{archiveurl}}} John, the Seer of Patmos] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060823.html | {{#if: John, the Seer of Patmos | John, the Seer of Patmos }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: Libreria Editrice Vaticana 

 | . Libreria Editrice Vaticana{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

Accordingly, they argue, the Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 | {{#if: Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: Catholic Online 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | Catholic Online
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | Catholic Online
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Catholic Online 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: Catholic Online| 

   {{#if: 23 August 2006
   |  (23 August 2006)
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: Catholic Online 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online | [{{{archiveurl}}} Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 | {{#if: Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online | Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil – International – Catholic Online }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: Catholic.org 

 | . Catholic.org{{#if: Catholic Online
   | 
   | {{#if: 23 August 2006 || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Catholic Online 

 ||{{#if: 23 August 2006
   |  (23 August 2006)
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

Oriental Orthodox

In the Coptic Orthodox Church the whole Book of Revelation is read during Apocalypse Night or Good Friday.<ref>"Night of the Apocalypse", published by Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, accessed 23 May 2018</ref>

Eschatological

Most Christian interpretations fall into one or more of the following categories:

Eastern Orthodox

[[File:Apokalipsis XVI.jpg|thumb|An Orthodox icon of the Apocalypse of St. John, 16th century]] Eastern Orthodoxy treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events (events occurring at the same time) and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadow. It rejects attempts to determine, before the fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref>

Book of Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is not read during services by the Byzantine Rite Churches although in the Western Rite Orthodox Parishes, which are under the same bishops as the Byzantine Rite, it is read.

Protestant

Main article{{#if:|s}}: Historicist interpretations of the Book of Revelation{{#if: 
 |{{#if:|, | and }}[[{{{2}}}|{{{2}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{3}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{4}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{6}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{7}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{8}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{9}}}]]}}{{#if:
|, and [[{{{10}}}|{{{10}}}]]}}{{#if: | (too many parameters in {{main}})}}
Seventh-day Adventist
Main article{{#if:|s}}: Historicism (Christianity)#Seventh-day Adventists{{#if: 
 |{{#if:|, | and }}[[{{{2}}}|{{{2}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{3}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{4}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{6}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{7}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{8}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{9}}}]]}}{{#if:
|, and [[{{{10}}}|{{{10}}}]]}}{{#if: | (too many parameters in {{main}})}}

Similar to the early Protestants, Adventists maintain a historicist interpretation of the Bible's predictions of the apocalypse.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Seventh-day Adventists believe the Book of Revelation is especially relevant to believers in the days preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ. "The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.adventist.org/fileadmin/adventist.org/files/articles/official-statements/28Beliefs-Web.pdf | {{#if: Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs | [{{{archiveurl}}} Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.adventist.org/fileadmin/adventist.org/files/articles/official-statements/28Beliefs-Web.pdf | {{#if: Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs | Seventh-day Adventist 28 Fundamental Beliefs }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 

 | . General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://biblia.com/books/nkjv/Re14.12 | {{#if: Revelation 14:12 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Revelation 14:12 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Revelation 14:12] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://biblia.com/books/nkjv/Re14.12 | {{#if: Revelation 14:12 | Revelation 14:12 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: Logos Research Systems 

 | . Logos Research Systems{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> As participatory agents in the work of salvation for all humankind, "This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent."<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/church/the-remnant-and-its-mission/ | {{#if: The Remnant and its Mission |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: The Remnant and its Mission | [{{{archiveurl}}} The Remnant and its Mission] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/church/the-remnant-and-its-mission/ | {{#if: The Remnant and its Mission | The Remnant and its Mission }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 

 | . General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God's messages and go forth as his agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/19.422 | {{#if: Councils to the Church |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Councils to the Church | [{{{archiveurl}}} Councils to the Church] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/19.422 | {{#if: Councils to the Church | Councils to the Church }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: White Estate 

 | . White Estate{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

Bahá'í Faith

By reasoning analogous with Millerite historicism, Bahá'u'lláh's doctrine of progressive revelation, a modified historicist method of interpreting prophecy, is identified in the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.mille.org/scholarship/papers/collinswip.html | {{#if: The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy | [{{{archiveurl}}} The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.mille.org/scholarship/papers/collinswip.html | {{#if: The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy | The Final Consummation: American Bahá'ís, Millerites and Biblical Time Prophecy }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son and chosen successor of Bahá'u'lláh, has given some interpretations about the 11th and 12th chapters of Revelation in Some Answered Questions.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/469123567 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | [{{{archiveurl}}} Some Answered Questions] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/469123567 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | Some Answered Questions }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref><ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/617897051 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | [{{{archiveurl}}} Some Answered Questions] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/617897051 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | Some Answered Questions }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> The 1,260 days spoken of in the forms: one thousand two hundred and sixty days,<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12:6&version=NKJV | {{#if: Holy Bible |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Holy Bible | [{{{archiveurl}}} Holy Bible] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12:6&version=NKJV | {{#if: Holy Bible | Holy Bible }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> forty-two months,<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+11:2&version=NKJV | {{#if: Holy Bible |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Holy Bible | [{{{archiveurl}}} Holy Bible] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+11:2&version=NKJV | {{#if: Holy Bible | Holy Bible }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> refers to the 1,260 years in the Islamic Calendar (AH 1260 or AD 1844). The "two witnesses" spoken of are Muhammad and Ali.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/saq-11.html | {{#if: Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/saq-11.html | {{#if: Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61 | Bahá'í Reference Library – Some Answered Questions, pp. 45–61 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> The red Dragon spoken of in Revelation 12:3 – "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads"<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> – are interpreted as symbolic of the seven provinces dominated by the Umayyads: Damascus, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, Andalusia, and Transoxania. The ten horns represent the ten names of the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty: Abu Sufyan, Muawiya, Yazid, Marwan, Abd al-Malik, Walid, Sulayman, Umar, Hisham, and Ibrahim. Some names were re-used, as in the case of Yazid II and Yazid III and the like, which were not counted for this interpretation.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/177218635 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | [{{{archiveurl}}} Some Answered Questions] }}}}
   | {{#if: http://www.bahai.org/r/177218635 | {{#if: Some Answered Questions | Some Answered Questions }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Book of Mormon states that John the Apostle is the author of Revelation and that he was foreordained by God to write it.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/14.18-27?lang=eng | {{#if: 1 Nephi 14:18–27 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: 1 Nephi 14:18–27 | [{{{archiveurl}}} 1 Nephi 14:18–27] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/14.18-27?lang=eng | {{#if: 1 Nephi 14:18–27 | 1 Nephi 14:18–27 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>Template:Primary source inline

Doctrine and Covenants, section 77, postulates answers to specific questions regarding the symbolism contained in the Book of Revelation.<ref name="lds.org">{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20.35?lang=eng | {{#if: Doctrine and Covenants 20:35 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Doctrine and Covenants 20:35 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Doctrine and Covenants 20:35] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20.35?lang=eng | {{#if: Doctrine and Covenants 20:35 | Doctrine and Covenants 20:35 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>Template:Primary source inline Topics include: the sea of glass, the four beasts and their appearance, the 24 elders, the book with seven seals, certain angels, the sealing of the 144,000, the little book eaten by John, and the two witnesses in Chapter 11.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the warning contained in Revelation 22:18–19<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/rev/22.18-19?lang=eng | {{#if: Revelation 22:18–19 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Revelation 22:18–19 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Revelation 22:18–19] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/rev/22.18-19?lang=eng | {{#if: Revelation 22:18–19 | Revelation 22:18–19 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>Template:Primary source inline does not refer to the biblical canon as a whole.<ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/04/no-man-shall-add-to-or-take-away?lang=eng&query=book+of+revelation | {{#if: No Man Shall Add to or Take Away |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: Hunter 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: Hunter
     | Hunter{{#if: Howard W. | , Howard W. }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: Hunter
     | Hunter{{#if: Howard W. | , Howard W. }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Hunter 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: Hunter| 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: Hunter 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: No Man Shall Add to or Take Away | [{{{archiveurl}}} No Man Shall Add to or Take Away] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/04/no-man-shall-add-to-or-take-away?lang=eng&query=book+of+revelation | {{#if: No Man Shall Add to or Take Away | No Man Shall Add to or Take Away }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: Hunter
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Hunter 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> Rather, an open and ongoing dialogue between God and the modern-day Prophet and Apostles of the LDS faith constitute an open canon of scripture.<ref name="lds.org"/><ref>{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1.9?lang=eng | {{#if: Articles of Faith 1:9 |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Articles of Faith 1:9 | [{{{archiveurl}}} Articles of Faith 1:9] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1.9?lang=eng | {{#if: Articles of Faith 1:9 | Articles of Faith 1:9 }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>

Esoteric

Christian Gnostics are unlikely to be attracted to the teaching of Revelation because the doctrine of salvation through the sacrificed Lamb, which is central to Revelation, is repugnant to Gnostics. Christian Gnostics "believed in the Forgiveness of Sins, but in no vicarious sacrifice for sin ... they accepted Christ in the full realisation of the word; his life, not his death, was the keynote of their doctrine and their practice."<ref>R. Frances Swiney (Rosa Frances Emily Biggs) The Esoteric Teaching of the Gnostics London: Yellon, Williams & Co (1909) pp. 3, 4</ref>

James Morgan Pryse was an esoteric gnostic who saw Revelation as a western version of the Hindu theory of the Chakra. He began his work, "The purpose of this book is to show that the Apocalypse is a manual of spiritual development and not, as conventionally interpreted, a cryptic history or prophecy."<ref>James M. Pryse Apocalypse Unsealed London: Watkins (1910). The theory behind the book is given in Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) The Serpent Power Madras (Chennai): Ganesh & Co (1913). One version of how these beliefs might have travelled from India to the Middle East, Greece and Rome is given in the opening chapters of Rudolf Otto The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man London: Lutterworth (1938)</ref> Such diverse theories have failed to command widespread acceptance. However, Christopher Rowland argues: "there are always going to be loose threads which refuse to be woven into the fabric as a whole. The presence of the threads which stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the neat tapestry of our world-view does not usually totally undermine that view."<ref>Christopher Rowland Revelation London: Epworth (1993) p. 5</ref>

Radical discipleship

The radical discipleship interpretation asserts that the Book of Revelation is best understood as a handbook for radical discipleship; i. e., how to remain faithful to the spirit and teachings of Jesus and avoid simply assimilating to surrounding society. In this interpretation the primary agenda of the book is to expose as impostors the worldly powers that seek to oppose the ways of God and God's Kingdom.Template:Citation needed The chief temptation for Christians in the 1st century, and today, is to fail to hold fast to the non-violent teachings and example of Jesus and instead be lured into unquestioning adoption and assimilation of worldly, national or cultural values – imperialism, nationalism, and civil religion being the most dangerous and insidious.Template:Citation needed

This perspective (closely related to liberation theology) draws on the approach of Bible scholars such as Ched Myers, William Stringfellow, Richard Horsley, Daniel Berrigan, Wes Howard-Brook,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Joerg Rieger.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Various Christian anarchists, such as Jacques Ellul, have identified the State and political power as the Beast<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the events described, being their doings and results, the aforementioned 'wrath'.

Aesthetic and literary

[[File:Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch — Folio 185 crop.jpg|thumb|This artwork from Template:Lang illustrates Revelation 11:5-8: "And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed... And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city." (Template:C.)]]

Literary writers and theorists have contributed to a wide range of theories about the origins and purpose of the Book of Revelation. Some of these writers have no connection with established Christian faiths but, nevertheless, found in Revelation a source of inspiration. Revelation has been approached from Hindu philosophy and Jewish Midrash. Others have pointed to aspects of composition which have been ignored such as the similarities of prophetic inspiration to modern poetic inspiration, or the parallels with Greek drama. In recent years, theories have arisen which concentrate upon how readers and texts interact to create meaning and which are less interested in what the original author intended.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Charles Cutler Torrey taught Semitic languages at Yale University. His lasting contribution has been to show how prophets, such as the scribe of Revelation, are much more meaningful when treated as poets first and foremost. He thought this was a point often lost sight of because most English bibles render everything in prose.<ref>Charles C. Torrey The Apocalypse of John New Haven: Yale University Press (1958). Christopher R. North in his The Second Isaiah London: OUP (1964) p. 23 says of Torrey's earlier Isaiah theory, "Few scholars of any standing have accepted his theory." This is the general view of Torrey's theories. However, Christopher North goes on to cite Torrey on 20 major occasions and many more minor ones in the course of his book. So, Torrey must have had some influence and poetry is the key.</ref> Poetry was also the reason John never directly quoted the older prophets. Had he done so, he would have had to use their (Hebrew) poetry whereas he wanted to write his own. Torrey insisted Revelation had originally been written in Aramaic.<ref>Apocalypse of John p. 7</ref>

According to Torrey, "The Fourth Gospel was brought to Ephesus by a Christian fugitive from Palestine soon after the middle of the first century. It was written in Aramaic." Later, the Ephesians claimed this fugitive had actually been the beloved disciple himself. Subsequently, this John was banished by Nero and died on Patmos after writing Revelation. Torrey argued that until AD 80, when Christians were expelled from the synagogues,<ref>Apocalypse of John p. 37</ref> the Christian message was always first heard in the synagogue and, for cultural reasons, the evangelist would have spoken in Aramaic, else "he would have had no hearing."<ref>Apocalypse of John p. 8</ref> Torrey showed how the three major songs in Revelation (the new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb and the chorus at 19: 6–8) each fall naturally into four regular metrical lines plus a coda.<ref>Apocalypse of John p. 137</ref> Other dramatic moments in Revelation, such as 6:16 where the terrified people cry out to be hidden, behave in a similar way.<ref>Apocalypse of John p. 140</ref> The surviving Greek translation was a literal translation that aimed to comply with the warning at Revelation 22:18 that the text must not be "corrupted" in any way.

Christina Rossetti was a Victorian poet who believed the sensual excitement of the natural world found its meaningful purpose in death and in God.<ref>"Flowers preach to us if we will hear", begins her poem 'Consider the lilies of the field' Goblin Market London: Oxford University Press (1913) p. 87</ref> Her The Face of the Deep is a meditation upon the Apocalypse. In her view, what Revelation has to teach is patience.Template:Efn Patience is the closest to perfection the human condition allows.<ref>"Christians should resemble fire-flies, not glow-worms; their brightness drawing eyes upward, not downward." The Face of the Deep p. 26</ref> Her book, which is largely written in prose, frequently breaks into poetry or jubilation, much like Revelation itself. The relevance of John's visionsTemplate:Efn belongs to Christians of all times as a continuous present meditation. Such matters are eternal and outside of normal human reckoning. "That winter which will be the death of Time has no promise of termination. Winter that returns not to spring ... – who can bear it?"<ref>The Face of the Deep p. 301</ref> She dealt deftly with the vengeful aspects of John's message. "A few are charged to do judgment; everyone without exception is charged to show mercy."<ref>The Face of the Deep p. 292</ref> Her conclusion is that Christians should see John as "representative of all his brethren" so they should "hope as he hoped, love as he loved."<ref>The Face of the Deep p. 495</ref>

Recently, aesthetic and literary modes of interpretation have developed, which focus on Revelation as a work of art and imagination, viewing the imagery as symbolic depictions of timeless truths and the victory of good over evil. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza wrote Revelation: Vision of a Just World from the viewpoint of rhetoric.<ref>Elisabeth Schuessler Fiorenza Revelation: Vision of a Just World Edinburgh: T&T Clark (1993). The book seems to have started life as Invitation to the Book of Revelation Garden City: Doubleday (1981)</ref> Accordingly, Revelation's meaning is partially determined by the way John goes about saying things, partially by the context in which readers receive the message and partially by its appeal to something beyond logic.<ref name="Tina Pippin 1993 p. 105">Tina Pippin Death & Desire: The rhetoric of gender in the Apocalypse of John Louisville: Westminster-John Knox (1993) p. 105</ref>

Professor Schüssler Fiorenza believes that Revelation has particular relevance today as a liberating message to disadvantaged groups. John's book is a vision of a just world, not a vengeful threat of world-destruction. Her view that Revelation's message is not gender-based has caused dissent. She says humanity is to look behind the symbols rather than make a fetish out of them. In contrast, Tina Pippin states that John writes "horror literature" and "the misogyny which underlies the narrative is extreme."<ref name="Tina Pippin 1993 p. 105"/>

D. H. Lawrence took an opposing, pessimistic view of Revelation in the final book he wrote, Apocalypse.<ref>D H Lawrence Apocalypse London: Martin Secker (1932) published posthumously with an introduction (pp. v–xli) by Richard Aldington which is an integral part of the text.</ref> He saw the language which Revelation used as being bleak and destructive; a 'death-product'. Instead, he wanted to champion a public-spirited individualism (which he identified with the historical Jesus supplemented by an ill-defined cosmic consciousness) against its two natural enemies. One of these he called "the sovereignty of the intellect"<ref>Apocalypse p. xxiii</ref> which he saw in a technology-based totalitarian society. The other enemy he styled "vulgarity"<ref>Apocalypse p. 6</ref> and that was what he found in Revelation. "It is very nice if you are poor and not humble ... to bring your enemies down to utter destruction, while you yourself rise up to grandeur. And nowhere does this happen so splendiferously than in Revelation."<ref>Apocalypse p. 11</ref> Lawrence did not consider how these two types of Christianity (good and bad in his view) might be related other than as opposites. He noted the difference meant that the John who wrote a gospel could not be the same John who wrote Revelation.

His specific aesthetic objections to Revelation were that its imagery was unnatural and that phrases like "the wrath of the Lamb" were "ridiculous." He saw Revelation as comprising two discordant halves. In the first, there was a scheme of cosmic renewal in "great Chaldean sky-spaces", which he quite liked. After that, Lawrence thought, the book became preoccupied with the birth of the baby messiah and "flamboyant hate and simple lust ... for the end of the world." Lawrence coined the term "Patmossers" to describe those Christians who could only be happy in paradise if they knew their enemies were suffering in hell.<ref name="Lawrence1995">Template:Cite book</ref>

Academic

Template:Further Modern biblical scholarship attempts to understand Revelation in its 1st-century historical context within the genre of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature.<ref name="Martin 2009"/> This approach considers the text as an address to seven historical communities in Asia Minor. Under this interpretation, assertions that "the time is near" are to be taken literally by those communities. Consequently, the work is viewed as a warning to not conform to contemporary Greco-Roman society which John "unveils" as beastly, demonic, and subject to divine judgment.<ref name="Martin 2009">Dale Martin 2009 (lecture). Template:YouTube. Yale University. Accessed 22 July 2013. Lecture 24 (transcript)</ref>

New Testament narrative criticism also places Revelation in its first century historical context but approaches the book from a literary perspective.<ref>David L. Barr, Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Santa Rosa: Polebridge Press, 1998); Barr, "Narrative Technique in the Book of Revelation". In Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, ed. Danna Nolan Fewell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 376–88</ref> For example, narrative critics examine characters and characterization, literary devices, settings, plot, themes, point of view, implied reader, implied author, and other constitutive features of narratives in their analysis of the book.

Although the acceptance of Revelation into the canon has, from the beginning, been controversial, it has been essentially similar to the career of other texts.<ref name="Martin 2009b">{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://cosmolearning.org/video-lectures/from-stories-to-canon-6796/ | {{#if: Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: | 

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon | [{{{archiveurl}}} Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://cosmolearning.org/video-lectures/from-stories-to-canon-6796/ | {{#if: Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon | Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: CosmoLearning Religious Studies 

 | . CosmoLearning Religious Studies{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: 

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref> The eventual exclusion of other contemporary apocalyptic literature from the canon may throw light on the unfolding historical processes of what was officially considered orthodox, what was heterodox, and what was even heretical.<ref name="Martin 2009b"/> Interpretation of meanings and imagery are anchored in what the historical author intended and what his contemporary audience inferred; a message to Christians not to assimilate into the Roman imperial culture was John's central message.<ref name="Martin 2009"/> Thus, the letter (written in the apocalyptic genre) is pastoral in nature (its purpose is offering hope to the downtrodden),<ref name="Ehrman Apoc"/> and the symbolism of Revelation is to be understood entirely within its historical, literary, and social context.<ref name="Ehrman Apoc"/> Critics study the conventions of apocalyptic literature and events of the 1st century to make sense of what the author may have intended.<ref name="Ehrman Apoc">{{

  1. if: {{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE2oaGa2fJU | {{#if: Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist |1}}}} 
 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

  1. if: 
 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman 

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman
     | Bart D. Ehrman{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: Bart D. Ehrman
     | Bart D. Ehrman{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman 

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman| 

   {{#if: 9 June 2016
   |  (9 June 2016)
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman 

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}:

}}{{#if: 

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist | [{{{archiveurl}}} Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE2oaGa2fJU | {{#if: Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist | Bart Ehrman Discusses the Apocalypticist }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if: 

 |  ()

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if: 

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: 

 | . {{{publisher}}}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman
   | 
   | {{#if: 9 June 2016 || }}
 }}

}}{{#if: Bart D. Ehrman 

 ||{{#if: 9 June 2016
   |  (9 June 2016)
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if: 

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|{{{accessdate}}}{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if: 

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}Template:Cbignore</ref>

Scholar Barbara Whitlock pointed out a similarity between the consistent destruction of thirds depicted in the Book of Revelation (a third of mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone, a third of the trees and green grass, a third of the sea creatures and a third of the ships at sea, etc.) and the Iranian mythology evil character Zahhak or Dahāg, depicted in the Avesta, the earliest religious texts of Zoroastrianism. Dahāg is mentioned as wreaking much evil in the world until at last chained up and imprisoned on the mythical Mt. Damāvand. The Middle Persian sources prophesy that at the end of the world, Dahāg will at last burst his bonds and ravage the world, consuming one in three humans and livestock, until the ancient hero Kirsāsp returns to life to kill Dahāg. Whitlock wrote: "Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Roman Empire's main rival, was part of the intellectual environment in which Christianity came into being, just as were Judaism, the Greek-Roman religion, and the worship of Isis and Mithras. A Zoroastrian influence is completely plausible".<ref>Dr. Barbara Whitlock, "Tracing out the convoluted sources of Christianity" in George D. Barnes (ed.), "Collected New Essays in Comparative Religion"</ref>

Old Testament origins

Much of Revelation employs ancient sources, primarily but not exclusively from the Old Testament. For example, Howard-Brook and Gwyther<ref>Wes Howard-Brook & Anthony Gwyther Unveiling Empire New York: Orbis (1999) p. 76</ref> regard the Book of Enoch as an equally significant but contextually different source. "Enoch's journey has no close parallel in the Hebrew scriptures."

Academics showed little interest in this topic until recently.<ref>S Moyise p. 13 reports no work whatsoever done between 1912 and 1984</ref> An anonymous Scottish commentary of 1871<ref>Anon An exposition of the Apocalypse on a new principle of literal interpretation Aberdeen: Brown (1871)</ref> prefaces Revelation 4 with the Little Apocalypse of Mark 13, places Malachi 4:5 ("Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord") within Revelation 11 and writes Revelation 12:7 side by side with the role of "the Satan" in the Book of Job. The message is that everything in Revelation will happen in its previously appointed time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Steve Moyise uses the index of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament to show that "Revelation contains more Old Testament allusions than any other New Testament book, but it does not record a single quotation."<ref>S. Moyise The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press (1995) p. 31</ref> Perhaps significantly, Revelation chooses different sources than other New Testament books. Revelation concentrates on Isaiah, Psalms, and Ezekiel, while neglecting, comparatively speaking, the books of the Pentateuch that are the dominant sources for other New Testament writers.Template:Citation needed

Yet, with Revelation, the problems might be judged more fundamental. The author seems to be using his sources in a completely different way to the originals. For example, the author borrows the 'new temple' imagery of Ezekiel 40–48 but uses it to describe a New Jerusalem which, quite pointedly, no longer needs a temple because it is God's dwelling. Ian Boxall<ref>Ian Boxall The Revelation of St John London: Continuum & Peabody MA: Hendrickson (2006) p. 254</ref> writes that Revelation "is no montage of biblical quotations (that is not John's way) but a wealth of allusions and evocations rewoven into something new and creative." In trying to identify this "something new", Boxall argues that Ezekiel provides the 'backbone' for Revelation. He sets out a comparative table listing the chapters of Revelation in sequence and linking most of them to the structurally corresponding chapter in Ezekiel. The interesting point is that the order is not the same. John, on this theory, rearranges Ezekiel to suit his own purposes.Template:Citation needed

Some commentators argue that it is these purposes – and not the structure – that really matter. G. K. Beale believes that, however much John makes use of Ezekiel, his ultimate purpose is to present Revelation as a fulfillment of Daniel 7.<ref>G. K. Beale John's use of the Old Testament in Revelation Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press (1998) p. 109</ref> Richard Bauckham has argued that John presents an early view of the Trinity through his descriptions of the visions and his identifying Jesus and the Holy Spirit with YHWH.Template:Sfn Brandon Smith has expanded on both of their proposals while proposing a "trinitarian reading" of Revelation, arguing that John uses Old Testament language and allusions from various sources to describe a multiplicity of persons in YHWH without sacrificing monotheism, which would later be codified in the trinitarian doctrine of Nicene Christianity.<ref>Brandon D. Smith, "The Identification of Jesus with YHWH in the Book of Revelation, Criswell Theological Review (2016)</ref>

Figures in Revelation

In order of appearance: Template:Div col

  1. The author of John (John of Patmos or John the Apostle)
  2. The angel who reveals the Revelation of Jesus Christ
  3. The One who sits on the Throne
  4. Twenty-four crowned elders
  5. Four living creatures
  6. The Lion of Judah who is the seven horned Lamb with seven eyes
  7. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
  8. The souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, each given a white robe
  9. Four angels holding the four winds of the Earth
  10. The seal-bearer angel (144,000 of Israel sealed)
  11. A great multitude from every nation
  12. Seven angelic trumpeters
  13. The star called Wormwood
  14. Angel of Woe
  15. Scorpion-tailed Locusts
  16. Abaddon
  17. Four angels bound to the great river Euphrates
  18. Two hundred million lion-headed cavalry
  19. The mighty angel of Seven thunders
  20. The Two witnesses
  21. Beast of the Sea having seven heads and ten horns
  22. The Woman and her child
  23. The Dragon, fiery red with seven heads
  24. Saint Michael the Archangel
  25. Lamb-horned Beast of the Earth
  26. Image of the Beast of the sea
  27. Messages of the three angels
  28. The angelic reapers and the grapes of wrath
  29. Seven plague angels
  30. Seven bowls of wrath
  31. The False Prophet
  32. The Whore of Babylon
  33. The rider on a white horse
  34. The first resurrection and the thousand years
  35. Gog and Magog
  36. Death and Hades

Template:Div col end

See also

Template:Portal

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

External links

Template:Commons category Template:Wikiquote

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Revelation
<noinclude>


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Book of Revelation" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Retrieved from "http://artandpopularculture.com/Book_of_Revelation"
Views
Personal tools
Metas
Navigation