The Hope (2): Understanding Symbolism

By Chris Theobald    1st June 2002    0 responses

We saw in part one, “Something to look forward to!” that apocalypses are sent to build up and encourage the people of God. But what does it all mean? Revelation is full of symbolism that would have been understood by the Christians who first read it, but we who lack the rich background of apocalyptic writing that they had may not so easily understand it. It is worth noting that in Daniel explanations are given as to the meanings of some of the visions, but they are to us initially frightening and confusing.

Numbers

Numbers in apocalypses are generally symbolic throughout Revelation, the 144,000 in Chapter 7 who will be saved does not mean that only 144,000 will be saved; notice that in verse 9 there “was a great multitude that no-one could count”. This does not mean that the 144,000 should be ignored; the number 12 is symbolically perfect, 144 is 12 times 12. The number of people saved, whatever it will be, will be perfect because it will be the number of people made perfect in Jesus (us).

Generally speaking timings given are also symbolic; the 1000 years mentioned on many occasions in Revelation 20 may be taken simply to mean “a (very) long time”. In Revelation 11:13 it says

Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The number seven is also a symbol of perfection in apocalyptic writing, which may lead to the conclusion that a perfect number of people will die, a seemingly oxymoronic idea, but looking at the next part, the survivors of the earthquake all turn to God. This passage is taken from one of the scary bits where the Lamb (Jesus) is breaking the seals on the book that is God’s plan for the world. The purpose of all of these is to give people a chance to repent before God finally comes.

The entirety of Revelation seems in fact to be an account of how God will spin out humanity’s last chance for as long as he can before finally calling time to an end. This is a God who loves the world and wants them to come to him, not a figure that should cause us to fear.

The fact that the letter is addressed to seven churches is also significant; some have suggested that this is because these were sites of postal distribution in the areas. However there is no evidence to support this. What is most likely is that these were the main churches in the area – the letter is meant for all churches in all times but is addressed to seven to show that it is the revelation of God’s perfect plan for us, as his church, who may approach him in perfection through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Ten is also a symbolic number – the beasts in chapters 12-17 have ten horns. In Daniel an explanation is given of what the horns might mean:

“He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom’.”  Daniel 7:23-24.

This explanation applies to Revelation – it is also probably symbolic of a number, which only God knows, of empires or rulers that will rise and speak out against him. Notice that in Daniel the explanation in v24 includes the statement that after these kings one will arise that will overthrow their regime and God will triumph over them.

Another example of the use of ten is in Revelation 2:10:

you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Here ten days means “a short while”, which may mean our whole lives

“For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:18.

If God told us exactly how long persecution would last our reliance on him during that time would be jeopardised as we would all have tally charts in our heads counting down the days and being ineffective as witnesses for him.

The Number of the Beast

Now we come to the number that causes most confusion: why is the beast in Revelation 13:18 666?

This is a number which is the product of a game popular at the time in which the letters of the alphabet were assigned numbers; the sum of these numbers gave you your number. There are examples of this in Roman graffiti, such as “I love the girl whose number is 545” (yes they had that problem too!) So this number is the total of the letters of the name of the beast; candidates for the beasts are generally Roman Emperors, usually Nero, although there is still no definite conclusion. John has used this because it is someone known to the churches but John also wants to avoid being accused of causing rebellion. The symbolic significance of 666 is that it falls short of 777 which would be perfection. In context it is interesting to note that if the same game is played with Joshua (a Hebrew name of which the Greek version is Jesus) the result is 888, more than perfect!

Beasts and Satan

Generally any beasts in an apocalypse as we have seen in Daniel represent a kingdom or power which will rise up, or has risen up against God. Notice however that in all cases God is ultimately victorious, and has control over the beasts. Jesus has conquered death and Hades (he says in chapter 1 that he holds the keys to them) which means that he has dominion over them. Note also that Satan was an angel of God, therefore created by and subordinate to him (Isaiah 14:12-15).

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.
And (Revelation 12:10)

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
(See also Daniel 8:9-12 and 23-25).

The passage in Revelation where the lamb is breaking the seals on the book of life (Revelation 6) is also symbolic of God’s control over evil. When the plan is opened, forces such as death destruction and disease are released onto the earth. Remember that Satan has been hurled down here as a result of the victory of Jesus on the cross over death, which is the heart of God’s plan. It means our “accuser” is no longer in heaven, which means that judgment is not a process that we should fear.

Notice that the result of evil is that people react against it ultimately and turn to God, it is turned on its head by God who released it in his plan to see us turn to him. When we are able to understand the symbolism, we are able to find the hope.

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By Chris Theobald

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