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 opened the seals, initiating the first of three cycles of seven judgements. The first four seals brought the horsemen, war, conflict, famine, and death. The fifth revealed martyred believers awaiting God's plan, and the sixth unleashed apocalyptic upheaval, signalling final judgement.

Between the sixth and seventh seals, John sees believers marked with God’s seal and a vast, multi-national crowd in white robes, purified by the lamb’s blood. The seventh seal brought silence, interpreted as awe, worship, or shock. An angel offered incense, representing believers’ prayers, before casting altar fire to the earth, signalling the Day of the Lord.

The seven trumpets echoed elements of Egypt's plagues. They represented divine warnings throughout history be that calamities, upheavals, war, or the consequences of idolatry. Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, an angel announced the seventh will reveal God’s mystery and final judgement.

John measured the temple, symbolising believers as God’s true temple. We got references to three and a half years, which is half of seven. As seven signifies completeness, three, and a half was shorthand for saying a period of time that will be cut short.

Two witnesses representing the church prophesied with power but were seemingly defeated by a beast. Like Jesus, the church will rise again, leading to the seventh trumpet declaring Jesus’ eternal reign and God’s presence fully revealed.

Revelation 12-13

We take a break from the sets of seven judgements to look at some signs and symbols. First, a sign appears in heaven of “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth.” (Revelation 12:1-2)

As we’ll see in a bit, this woman gives birth to “a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5). This son is clearly meant to be Jesus. This has caused some debate over who this woman is to represent. There are some who argue that, as this woman is to give birth to Jesus, then it must be talking about Mary. This is perhaps a too simplified interpretation.

Others then assume that it is the church and while we see later that the other children of this woman are later described as “those who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17), the church did not birth Jesus, Jesus birthed the church.

The next logical step is to say the woman is Israel. In the Old Testament, we often see Israel depicted as a woman in labour (Isaiah 26:17-18; Micah 4:9-10), and here in Revelation, this woman has a crown of twelve stars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. We can perhaps go one further then, merging the church and Israel to suggest this woman represents the people of God. That started off with the people of Israel but was expanded beyond them to include all believers.

But then we get a second sign in heaven, “a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.” (Revelation 12:3). Throughout the Old Testament, we saw many references to leviathan who was a sea dragon that embodied chaos (see Psalm 74:13-14; Isaiah 27:1). We also saw many times kingdoms and empires being described as like dragons (see Ezekiel 29:3; Jeremiah 51:34).

But here in Revelation, that dragon is named. He is described as “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:8). This is the dragon that is behind the smaller dragons of individual kingdoms and empires that have ruled and continue to rule.

The dragon cast a third of the stars down to heaven. Some have assumed that a third of all angels joined Satan. Instead, it is drawing on Daniel 8:9-10 where a beast launches an attack on heaven, trampling the stars (common imagery for spiritual beings) under foot. This dragon is waging war against heaven.

It then positions itself to eat the child of the woman, but this child who was born to rule all nations is swept up sit by God on his throne. Meanwhile, the woman is taken to wilderness for 1,260 days. Three and a half years. A period that will be cut short.

This leads to an outright war in heaven, between the angel Michael and the forces of God, and the dragon and his angels. The dragon and his army are defeated and cast out of heaven to earth, we he then sought to deceive those on earth.

In this, we have the forces of evil rebelling against God’s plan and, while they are defeated, are still able to cause trouble. But then heaven declares the salvation of Jesus. The accuser and been defeated and conquered by heaven’s ‘comrades’. Believers who conquer by the blood of the Lamb. Some believers have been willing to give their own life for the testimony of Jesus. So let the heavens rejoice and the earth weep, for destruction and wrath will come soon.

Back to the dragon. It is now on earth and starts to persecute God’s people. They were protected for a time and nourished and the dragon tried to drown her, but creation itself swallowed up the flood and saved her. So the dragon turns to wage war on the church instead.

This leads to a beast rising out of the sea. This is a reference to Daniel 7, that saw four beasts rising out of the sea. There, they represented different empires that would rise up and oppress the world. Here, the beast rises up and serves the dragon. It is allowed to wield authority and blaspheme for a period that will be cut short. The beast wars against believers and defeats them, ruling over nations, and the nations, in turn, worshipped it.

Then another beast rises up, performing great miracles and pointing people to the first beast. It creates the image of the beast that causes all to worship the beast. Enslaving all it marks everyone with the name of the beast on their hand and forehead. No one can trade or sell without the mark of the beast, and the number of the beast is 666.

This has caused a lot of conspiracy and bizarre theories over the years, so let’s break down this complex imagery. First of all, the mark on the hands and the heads is meant to be an inversion of this who bear God’s name. In the Old Testament, we see the people of God metaphorically marked on the hand and head to show they are loyal to God (Exodus 13:9, 16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18).

In the same way here, there will be people who are marked showing their loyalty to the beast. Just as we don’t see God’s mark as a literal mark in the Old Testament, we can assume that the mark here isn’t a literal mark.

We then have the fact that John is clearly making references to empires around at his time. For example, there’s the fact that 666 can be got when you turn the letters of Nero (depending how you spell it) into numbers, add up to 666, or 616, as we’ll see in Revelation 13:18. There are also lots of other images of the beasts you could link back to Rome for those that want to take the time to study those.

For example, the fact that people can’t trade or sell without the mark of the beast may be a reference to the fact that coins had the emperors’ faces on them.

But the point is this: like Daniel 7, the beasts represent empires and power that rule and dominate. John is specifically colouring these beasts with imagery of the empires and power that are ruling at the time, but these beasts are meant to represent all empires and power.

And what we see in this passage is that these empires are not the ultimate enemy. They serve a greater enemy, the dragon. While it has been hinted throughout this letter, this passages drive home more explicitly that there is a spiritual battle against the forces of God and the forces of evil.

The powers and empires that believers throughout history are merely servants of the forces of evil, and there will be times where these servants will crush and destroy believers. But the battle is not finished yet.

Psalm 42

As we move into the second of five books in Psalms (Psalm 42-72) we start to see new authors introduced. This psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah. Korah was likely a Levite musician. His ‘sons’ here are either his direct sons or a group descended from him.

This psalm falls into the category of lament psalm, and is structured in two halves, with each half ending with the same refrain.

Psalm 42:1-4 - I desire God

Psalm 42:5 - Why are you downcast my soul

Psalm 42:6-10 - God feels close yet far

Psalm 42:11 - Why are you downcast my soul

The psalm opens with a desperate need of the soul. The psalmist needs God, just like a deer needs water. There is some Hebrew word play happening here. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh (נֶ֫פֶשׁ). 

Generally speaking, it means one’s whole being. But literally, it means throat. If this seems strange to you, think about the English saying, “I love you with all my heart”. When someone says this, they’re not actually speaking about the organ that pumps blood round their body. They mean all that they are.

In the same way, while the word nephesh literally means throat, it also means a person’s entire being. So the wordplay here is that the psalmist is saying their throat/whole being is thirsty for God.

The psalmist is grieved by their need for God. It leads them to tears. In search of hope, they remind themselves of good times in the past, when they would lead others in worship of God.

It’s at this point that the psalmist turns to themselves. They encourage themselves to continue to have hope. They will once again praise God, for he is their salvation.

Moving into the second section, the psalmist recognises that, despite this, they do still feel downcast. So they continue to remind themselves of God’s faithfulness. Of how God used to feel like a wave constantly washing over them. How God’s steadfast love used to be a constant reminder.

And then the psalmist comes back to their current emotions, allowing themselves to feel them for a moment. Currently, it feels like God had forgotten them. They feel wounded, as though they are wasting away without God.

Then once more the psalmist speaks to themselves, encouraging themselves to take hope. 

In this psalm, we see the value in allowing ourselves to feel the range of our emotions while not allowing ourselves to be swept up by them. 

Too often we fall into the trap of not wanting to feel our negative emotions, because we don’t want to or feel like we shouldn’t. Or we allow ourselves to get completely caught up by them.

Here the psalmist allows themself to feel their grief, but also balances it out with memories of God’s faithfulness, and ultimately commits themselves to continuing to hope in God.