Recap

So far in Revelation, we've read through the messages to the seven churches, the courtroom scene, and started the three sets of seven divine judgements. Revelation, attributed to John, reveals the spiritual battles behind earthly struggles, asking: will you choose light or darkness? Addressed to seven churches, it presents Jesus as ruler of kings, cleansing believers through his blood, and uniting Daniel 7’s imagery of God and the Son of Man.

John described seven lampstands symbolising churches and stars for their angels, with Jesus commissioning him to deliver messages. Ephesus needed renewal, Smyrna was encouraged to stay faithful, Pergamum and Thyatira faced corruption, Sardis needed revival, Philadelphia was promised protection, and Laodicea was urged to recognise spiritual poverty. These messages reminded believers of the spiritual battle and called for repentance.

After addressing the churches, John saw heaven’s throne, with twenty-four elders symbolising humanity’s restored role as co-rulers with God. Living creatures worshipped God alongside the elders.

John noticed a scroll of judgement sealed seven times and wept when none could open it. An elder declared the Lion of Judah worthy, but John saw a slaughtered lamb with seven horns, symbolising authority. The lamb’s blood redeemed people from all nations, making them a kingdom of priests. Worship of the lamb spread to angels and all creation.

The lamb began opening the seals, initiating the first of three cycles of seven judgements. The first four seals summoned the four horsemen, bringing war, conflict, famine, and death, reflecting ongoing struggles faced by every generation. The fifth seal revealed martyred believers crying out for justice, reassured by God to wait for his plan to unfold.

The sixth seal unleashed apocalyptic imagery of earthquakes, darkened skies, and cosmic upheaval, mirroring Day of the Lord passages from Isaiah and Joel. All people, great and small, hid in fear, acknowledging the arrival of God’s wrath and final judgement.

Between the sixth and seventh seals, John sees believers marked with God’s seal, echoing Ezekiel 9. He hears the 12 tribes of Israel counted, symbolising completeness, but sees a vast, multi-national crowd in white robes, purified by the lamb’s blood.

The seventh seal brings silence, interpreted as awe, worship, or shock. An angel offers incense, representing believers’ prayers, before casting altar fire to the earth, signalling the Day of the Lord.

This then led to the seven trumpets, which drew heavily on the imagery of the plagues of Egypt. Like the seven seals, these trumpets represent things that believers throughout history will have experienced, though in a more abstract way. The original plagues of Egypt were a warning to Pharaoh to repent from what he was doing and let the Israelites go, but he ignored them. Each generation faces its own ‘trumpets’: moments of divine warning, whether they be natural calamities, societal upheavals, war, or the consequences of idolatry and injustice.

Revelation 10-11

Just like we had a gap between the sixth and seventh seal, we now have a gap between the sixth and seventh trumpet. John sees an angel that has the same imagery attributed to God. He comes on clouds (Psalm 68:33-34, Psalm 104:3, Isaiah 19:1, Revelation 1:7), he has a rainbow over his head (Genesis 9:13-17, Ezekiel 1:28, Revelation 4:3), and a face that shines like the sun (Numbers 6:25, Psalm 67:1, Revelation 1:16).

This angel is being equated with Jesus and God, drawing on the Old Testament language of the Angel of the Lord, who is distinct from God yet equated with him (Genesis 16:7-14, Exodus 3:2-6, Judges 2:1-4). Jesus fills that same category of the Angel of the Lord, who is both equal to God and distinct from him.

This angel carries authority over the seven thunders, which he tells John to seal up. This is a reference to Daniel 12:4-7, where there are some things that are shared with Daniel that are to be reserved for the end times. We also see thunder used as a reference to judgement in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 7:10, 12:17, Isaiah 29:6, Psalm 77:17-18).

With the seals, we had judgement, chaos, and destruction in seals one to six, then a pause, and finally a bout of judgement with seal seven. In the same way, we’ve had judgement, chaos, and destruction with trumpets one to six, and now further judgement that is reserved for the end of time. And here the angel says that the seventh trumpet is for when ‘the mystery of God will be fulfilled’ (Revelation 10:7).

In this, we start to see, for both the seals and the trumpets, that there is destruction and chaos that is common to every generation. This then points to final judgement at the the end when God’s plan is fulfilled. This is something that God has been revealing bit by bit through his prophets.

John is then handed the scroll by the angel and told to eat it. It will be bitter to his stomach and sweet to his mouth. This draws on the imagery of Ezekiel 2-3, where Ezekiel is given a scroll to eat that would be sweet as it brought hope, but at the same time the message led to bitterness in Ezekiel because there was judgement for those who ignored it, and many did.

Next, John is handed a measuring rod and told to measure the temple. This measuring is similar to Ezekiel 40-48, where Ezekiel measures out the space for the new future temple. The outer court is given over to the nations to trample, but the temple itself will be protected.

Because Revelation was likely written after the destruction of the temple, and it draws on Ezekiel 40-48, which looked forward to a perfect future temple, it would seem this isn’t talking about a literal temple. It may be referring to the believers who are God’s new temple. The outer courts being trampled by the nations may be a reference to the persecution of believers, but God will ensure the true temple, his presence inside believers, is never crushed.

We then get some time frames given: forty-two months and 1,260 days. Both of these equate, more or less, to three and a half years and are likely to be seen as the same time period. This is likely a reference to Daniel 7:25 and Daniel 12:7, which mention a time, times and half a time.

Three and a half is obviously half of seven, which is the number of perfection. In Daniel, it was a reference to the authority of empires being cut short after a time. Here in Revelation 11, it shows that there will be a time of persecution, but eventually it will be cut short.

During this time, the angel will grant two witnesses to prophesy. There’s obviously a lot of debate about who these witnesses are, but the angel goes on to describe them as two olive trees. This is a reference to Zechariah 4:1-6. There, the two olive trees refer to the union of the word of the Lord and Zerubbabel, who represented God’s people. Therefore, in Revelation, the two witnesses represent the union of the word of the Lord and God’s people. In other words, the church.

The church will have the authority to perform great miracles and prophesy. After they have done these things, a beast will rise from Tartarus, where the spiritual rebels were held captive, and wage war against the church and seemingly kill it. But just as Jesus died and rose to life, the church might seem dead for a time, but then will be raised to life again. This then leads to more Day of the Lord judgement language and the seventh trumpet being blown.

At that, a voice declares that the kingdom of the world has now been restored to the kingdom of the Lord, over which Jesus will reign forever. This sparks the elders to praise God again, referencing Psalm 2 as they talk about both Jesus and his servants overcoming the world. This leads to more judgement and the temple itself being opened to reveal the ark of the covenant. The very presence of God will no longer be locked away, but accessible.

In these passages, we get a clearer sense of the general destruction and chaos that every generation will face, followed by a final judgement and destruction. This general destruction will happen for a period but will be cut short. In the same way, the church will be active with power and miracles to witness to the world, and there will be times when the church will be crushed and look dead. But it will come back to life.

For readers throughout time, this serves as encouragement. This time of suffering will eventually be cut short, and if the church ever looks like it’s been snuffed out, it will come back to life.

Psalm 41

This psalm is attributed to King David and falls into the category of lament psalm. It has all the features we have come to expect from a lament psalm: a complaint, a request for God to intervene, and a declaration of trust.

Psalm 41 is also significant because it is the last psalm of the first book in Psalms. The larger collection of Psalms is broken down into five smaller books. It’s not clear why the division between each book is made; some argue it is to reflect the Torah, which also has five books.

Either way, we can tell where one book ends and another begins by the doxologies that end each section. A doxology is a liturgical hymn or declaration of praise that is used to end a service, prayer, or passage.

The structure of the psalm is a chiasm in which the passage reflects itself.

a) Psalm 41:1-3 - A declaration of trust in God

b) Psalm 41:4 - A prayer for mercy and healing

c) Psalm 41:5-9 - Lament over suffering

b) Psalm 41:10 - A prayer for mercy and healing

a) Psalm 41:11-12 - A declaration of trust in God

d) Psalm 41:13 - Concluding doxology to the first book of the Psalms

The psalm opens with a declaration of trust in God. The Lord protects those who care for the poor. He keeps them alive, protects them from their enemies, and heals their illnesses.

This declaration of trust then leads the psalmist to bring his request to God: have mercy on me and heal me. We can gather from the psalm that the psalmist is inflicted with some sort of illness due to the number of references to health.

The psalmist then moves forward to bring his complaint about the suffering they have faced due to their illness. In this example, the worst thing isn’t the illness itself but how much the psalmist’s enemies are enjoying their affliction.

While the psalmist is there, presumably wasting away, their enemies are rejoicing and telling everyone about it. They are waiting for the psalmist to die, and even the psalmist’s friends have turned on them.

Having shared their complaint with God, the psalmist once again asks God to intervene: have mercy on me and raise me up. And the psalmist returns once more to a declaration of trust. The psalmist knows that God will delight in him, not in his enemies. God will be the one to protect them.

Finally, this psalm, and the first book of the wider collection, ends with a blessing to the Lord. In this psalm, we can easily see the different stages of biblical lament and how each one is important to processing difficult situations and emotions.