A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 17–22

By James D. Quiggle

The commentary is based on the fact the Revelation of Jesus Christ is not apocalyptic, it is not the work of John the apostle, it is a prophecy of yet-future events revealed to John by Jesus Christ. John wrote exactly what he saw and heard. Jesus is the author, John was the scribe and publisher. This volume is the third and final volume in the series. The earlier volumes are Revelation 1–7, Revelation 8–16.

This commentary on Revelation 17-22 interprets the judgment of Babylon as a literal judgment, the second advent as the literal feet-on-ground return of Jesus Christ, the thousand year rule of the Davidic-Messianic Kingdom on earth as literal, and the Great White Throne, the Lake of Fire, the new heaven and earth, and the new Jerusalem on the new earth as literal events.

The theological point of view is Reformed and Dispensational. The futurist model is applied. The interpretation rigorously and consistently applies the Historical-Grammatical hermeneutic to every verse, every doctrine, every symbol, every figure of speech. Symbols and figures of speech are interpreted by other biblical usage to reveal literal truths. To interpret this 66th book of the Bible I have applied what the Holy Spirit has revealed in the preceding 65 books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James D. Quiggle
• Release date: Nov 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463829431

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

Book preview

Revelation 17–22

BOOKS BY JAMES D. QUIGGLE

DOCTRINAL SERIES

Biblical History

Adam and Eve, a Biography and Theology

Angelology, a True History of Angels

Essays

Biblical Essays

Biblical Essays II

Biblical Essays III

Biblical Essays IV

Marriage and Family

Marriage and Family: A Biblical Perspective

Biblical Homosexuality

A Biblical Response to Same-gender Marriage

Doctrinal and Practical Christianity

First Steps, Becoming a Follower of Jesus Christ

A Christian Catechism (with Christopher McCuin)

Why and How to do Bible Study

Thirty-Six Essentials of the Christian Faith

The Literal Hermeneutic, Explained and Illustrated

The Old Ten In the New Covenant

Christian Living and Doctrine

Spiritual Gifts

Why Christians Should Not Tithe

Dispensational Theology

A Primer On Dispensationalism

Understanding Dispensational Theology

Covenants and Dispensations in the Scripture

Dispensational Eschatology, An Explanation and Defense of the Doctrine

Rapture: A Bible Study on the Rapture of the New Testament Church

Antichrist, His Genealogy, Kingdom, and Religion

God and Man

God’s Choices, Doctrines of Foreordination, Election, Predestination

God Became Incarnate

Life, Death, Eternity

Did Jesus Go To Hell?

Small Group Bible Studies

Elementary Bible Principles (with Linda M. Quiggle)

Counted Worthy (with Linda M. Quiggle)

COMMENTARY SERIES

The Old Testament

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Judges

A Private Commentary on the Book of Ruth

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Esther

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Song of Solomon

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Daniel

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Jonah

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Habakkuk

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Haggai

The New Testament

The Gospels

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Matthew’s Gospel

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Mark’s Gospel

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Luke 1–12

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Luke 13–24

A Private Commentary on the Bible: John 1–12

A Private Commentary on the Bible: John 13–21

Four Voices, One Testimony

Jesus Said I Am

The Parables and Miracles of Jesus Christ

The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ

The Christmas Story, As Told By God

Pauline Letters

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Galatians

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Ephesians

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Philippians

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Colossians

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Thessalonians

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Pastoral Letters

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Philemon

General Letters

A Private Commentary on the Book of Hebrews

A Private Commentary on the Bible: James

A Private Commentary on the Bible: 1 Peter

A Private Commentary on the Bible: 2 Peter

A Private Commentary on the Bible: John’s Epistles

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Jude

Revelation

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 1–7

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 8–16

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 17–22

REFERENCE SERIES

Dictionary of Doctrinal Words

Translation of Select Bible Books

Old and New Testament Chronology (With David Hollingsworth)

(Also in individual volumes: Old Testament Chronology; New Testament Chronology)

TRACTS

A Human Person: Is the Unborn Life a Person?

Biblical Marriage

How Can I Know I am A Christian?

Now That I am A Christian

Thirty-Six Essentials of the Christian Faith

What is a Pastor? / Why is My Pastor Eating the Sheep?

Principles and Precepts of the Literal Hermeneutic

(All tracts are in digital format and cost $0.99)

Formats

Print, Digital, Epub, PDF. Search James D. Quiggle or book title.

A Private Commentary

on the Bible

Revelation 17–22

James D. Quiggle

Copyright Page

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 17–22

Copyright 2022, James D. Quiggle

Translation of the Book of Revelation by James D. Quiggle

All scriptures unless otherwise marked are the translation of James D. Quiggle.

Some Bible versions cited or quoted were sourced from PC Study Bible®, version 5, release 5.2. Copyright© 1988–2008, by BibleSoft, Inc.

American Standard Version (ASV). Public Domain.

Authorized (King James) Version (KJV). Public Domain.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

New King James Version® (NKJV). Copyright © 1982, 1983 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Copyright © 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, A Division of Good News Publishers, 1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, USA. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living TRANSLATION (NLT) ® Copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

This digital edition of A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation 17–22, contains the same material as the print version.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Revelation Seventeen

Revelation Eighteen

Revelation Nineteen

Revelation Twenty

Revelation Twenty-One

Revelation Twenty-Two

Appendix One: Pertinent Scriptures

Appendix Two: Duration of the Tribulation

Appendix Three: The Tribes of Israel

Appendix Four: What is She’ôl?

Appendix Five: Am I Certain I am A Christian?

Appendix Six: Now That I Am A Christian

Sources

Preface

In the summer of 1987, having taught the Bible to adult believers in several local churches for about twelve years (a military career took me many places), I decided to teach the Book of Revelation. That first time took me about forty Sundays. Between 1987 and 2005 I taught the book two more times, each time taking about forty-five Sundays.

In the eight years between 1987 and 2005, I had taught several other Old Testament and New Testament books. I had begun printing my notes at (what used to be known as) Kinkos, having them spiral bound, then giving them as study aids to my students in my local church Bible classes. I edited my Sunday School lessons on the Revelation into a book I thought fit for publication. I began sending query letters to this and that Christian publisher.

In 2006 The Epistle of Jesus to the Church, A Commentary on the Revelation, was accepted for publication. The commentary used the NKJV translation. The book was published in January 2007. I own the copyright for the commentary text. The publisher owns the distribution rights for The Epistle of Jesus to the Church.

Now we are fifteen years later, and as I begin this commentary anew 2021 is about to become 2022. In 2012 I began translating the Old and New Testament books for commentaries I was writing and publishing. From 2012 to 2022 I translated all of the New Testament. (The JQT New Testament will be published in 2023). After I had translated the Revelation, a desire formed to rewrite my commentary on the Revelation using my own translation.

A new commentary based on my translation was desirable for two reasons. One, I have some differences with the Textus Receptus, which is the basis for the NKJV; nothing that affects an essential doctrine, but textual, vocabulary, and grammatical differences. Those differences made a commentary based on my translation desirable. I also wanted to provide a commentary on the Revelation that would fit the book-buying budget of my primary audience: you. Those desires are fulfilled in this commentary.

There is another reason. Since 2007 I have grown as an expositor and as a writer. Currently I have 70 publications: nonfiction commentary on Bible books and doctrines. I believe I can do better on the Revelation now than in 2006.

All translations translate some the scriptures the same, because those verses cannot reasonably be translated otherwise. In other places, there are textual differences among the ancient manuscripts, as well as the vocabulary used by translators to translate this or that Hebrew or Greek word. All words have semantic range (slight differences in meaning) and synonyms are part of that semantic range. So my translation of the Revelation is the same in some places, and different in other places, from other translations.

The same issues affect the exposition of the scriptures. In some places there is only one plausible interpretation. In other places textual, vocabulary, and grammatical differences may affect the exposition of the text. Also, the Holy Spirit gives the interpreter insight and perception as the Spirit chooses. So my interpretation of the Revelation is the same as others in some places and different from others in other places.

Similarities and differences in exposition due to text, vocabulary, and grammar, as well as my greater experience in understanding and explaining the Scripture, and guidance from the Holy Spirit, affect the relationship between this present commentary and The Epistle of Jesus. Some places will be the same or similar, others different. I have used some of that text in this present commentary, where appropriate to my understanding of Scripture, and my translation of the biblical text. My greater experience in the Scripture and as a writer have made this commentary an original work that is better than the first, or so I believe. You have in your hands an original work, as much as any commentary may be said to be an original work.

The commentary is structured as three volumes, Revelation 1–7, Revelation 8–16, Revelation 17–22, for pragmatic reasons: one volume, even two volumes, would be too many pages.

Chapter 1 is John’s introduction. Some Christians will value chapters 2 and 3 as the most important parts of the Revelation. Chapters 4–5 are a prelude to the Tribulation. Chapter 6 is an overview of the entire tribulation period. Chapter 7 is God protecting his saved people from his judgments against the world. The judgments of the Tribulation properly begin with chapter 8 and end with chapter 16. Chronologically, chapters 17 and 18 are part of the Tribulation judgments, as a consequence of the golden basin judgments in chapter 16. Then comes the return of the king, chapter 19, his Kingdom and the final judgment, chapter 20, and a new heavens and earth, Revelation 21–22.

My hope is to have and sustain your interest through all three volumes. May you find this commentary useful to yourself and your ministry to others.

The theological point of view in these commentaries on the Revelation is well described by a label given to me by others. I am a Dispensational Calvinist. I hold to all the Reformed doctrines where Reformed theology follows the Historical-Grammatical Hermeneutic (HGH), aka the Literal hermeneutic. Where Reformed theology abandons the HGH for an allegorical hermeneutic (eschatology, ecclesiology), I am Dispensational.

Introduction

Welcome to volume 3 of 3 in A Private Commentary on the Bible: Revelation. I had intended to write the commentary in two volumes, but midway through what is now volume 2 I realized a third volume would be required. Volume 1 covers Revelation 1–7, volume 2 covers Revelation 8–16, and this volume covers Revelation 17–22. This introduction is repeated from volume 1 for those who have not read volumes 1 or 2.

Things To Know

There are some things the reader of the Revelation should know. The most important thing to know is the apostle John is not the author of the Revelation. He was the scribe who put it on papyrus (or other suitable media), he was not the author of the literature.

As John himself says in 1:1, this book is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show to his servants what things must suddenly begin to be. John’s relation to the Revelation is the same as Tertius’ relationship to Paul’s letter to the Romans, 16:22, and Silvanus’ relationship to Peter’s first letter, 1 Peter 5:12.

Revelation 1:1, Jesus Christ made known to his servant John the revelation which God gave to Jesus Christ.

John is the scribe who wrote what Jesus told him, and described what Jesus showed to him. In describing and writing John was superintended by the Holy Spirit. John wrote exactly what he heard and described exactly what he saw, exactly as the Holy Spirit guided him. For example. John did not see helicopters at 9:3 (one aberrant interpretation), he saw large insects that resembled locusts.

The Holy Spirit never gave a prophet visions outside of that prophet’s particular historical-cultural experiences. Every prediction, every figure of speech, every symbol, every word was within the prophet's ability to comprehend what he saw or heard—not to interpret, but to accurately record what he was given.

The interpretation of prophecy, therefore, is found in the biblical text—what the Bible as a whole teaches. Some prophecies have been fulfilled, and the history of that fulfillment is the explanation. Where fulfillment is yet-future, as in revelation 4–22, an explanation must be limited to an interpretation of the text.

To guess or speculate beyond the witness of the biblical text (what the Bible as a whole teaches) as to how yet-future, as yet unfilled prophecy will be fulfilled, is not merely foolish, but arrogance, and an insult to the Holy Spirit who gave the prophecy.

A simple, and current example. The mark of the beast, Revelation 13:16–17, is in the biblical text a permission to buy or sell, and nothing else may be discovered within that text. The manner of the mark (its form or appearance), or the means by which permission is accomplished (how something may be bought or sold during the reign of the beast) is not within the text, and can be known only by those experiencing the fulfillment. The only thing we know about the appearance of the Mark is its placement on the forehead or right hand. Not in or under the skin, but on the skin.

To explain the biblical text is the responsibility of the Bible teacher. If any person tells you this or that detail as to how yet-future, as yet unfilled prophecy will be fulfilled in the future, that one is a false prophet.

Another thing to know about the Revelation is the book is prophecy, not apocalyptic. Revelation 1:3, Blessed the one reading and those hearing the words of the prophecy.

An apocalyptic kind of book has been variously defined: a book full of symbols created by the writer to communicate a supposed prophetic message to the reader; a symbolic writing which is designed to unveil, for the benefit of its readers, divine truths which hitherto have remained hidden and secret . . . literature within and beyond the Bible [Smalley, 27]; history masquerading as prophecy; literature of a prophetic nature that deals with disaster or end of the world scenarios.

The Revelation is none of these. The book is genuinely descriptive of the circumstances in the seven local churches (1–3), genuinely descriptive of the scenes in heaven (4–5), and its prophecy is genuinely prophetic about future events (6–22). There are no secret divine truths to be revealed. The prophetic portion in 6–19 reveals the outworking of the Old Testament Day of the Lord leading to the coming Messiah-King and his Kingdom. The Revelation is not about the end of the world, but about the world being prepared for Jesus Christ ruling as King and Savior in his Davidic-Messianic-Millennial Kingdom.

The Scripture supporting the Davidic-Messianic-Millennial Kingdom are impressive: 2 Samuel 7:13, 16; Psalm 2:2, 7; Isaiah 2:9; 11:25; 65; Isaiah 65:20; Psalm 72; Zechariah 8; 14; Matthew 5:5; 19:28; 25:31; Luke 21:31; Acts 1:6; Revelation 5:10; 20.

The Old Testament Day of the Lord precedes Davidic-Messianic-Millennial Kingdom—the Day of the Lord are the events—the Tribulation—that lead to the second advent and the kingdom.

Chapter 20 begins with Kingdom and ends with prophecy of the destruction of the current heavens and earth, 20:11 (the earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them), and the eternal judgment of the unsaved. Chapters 21–22 prophetically describe a new heaven and earth.

In common parlance, apocalyptic is a word used to describe a body of literature widely diffused in Judaism from 200 BC until AD 100. Worldly apocalyptic literature is pseudonymous, pseudo-predictive (the writer places himself at some point in the past and by means of symbols rewrites history under the guise of prophecy), and pessimistic. Worldly apocalyptic literature deals with the final catastrophic period of world history when God, after mortal combat with the powers of evil, emerges victorious [Mounce, 64].

That is not the Book of the Revelation. The Revelation describes what will happen. There is no mortal combat with the powers of evil. Satan is a defeated sinner, and he knows it. He is simply seeking a chance to be worshiped. God never allows Satan direct worship, but always and only through an idol or a person. He is the unseen power behind the Beast and False Prophet.

The word apocalyptic comes from the Greek apokálupsis, a revealing, that forms the title of the book: "the apokálupsis of Jesus Christ. One might title the book, The Revealing of the Prophecy God gave to Jesus Christ.

There is a crucial difference between Jewish apocalyptic literature and the Revelation. That difference happens to be the main one, namely, truth, genuineness, reality. God and the idols should not be considered together, for God alone is God, and the idols and all the gods are non-existent. Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, John received their visions from God; the other Jewish writers composed their own or drew from false sources [Lenski, 15].

Today some commentators (as I discovered when I wrote a commentary on Daniel) believe apocalyptic literature is history masquerading as prophecy. In that view, the Revelation should be interpreted according to the Preterist model: so-called prophecy about events already fulfilled in history. This commentary interprets the prophecy according to the Futurist model.

The Revelation was given directly by God and reveals divine realities of the past, present, and future. The Revelation is a book of prophecy in this sense: The value of recognizing the prophetic nature of the book underscores that John is not merely producing his own epistle (like Paul or Peter) but is the prophetic channel of a message directly from God and Christ [Osborne, 13].

In this book there is less of the human element than in any other book of Scripture. Its revelations are not first passed through a human mind, and moulded by its habits of thinking and forms of speech to the degree that the apostolic epistles are. It is a simple report of the divine words or the divine symbols which John saw and heard . . . In its very style, and its whole form, as well as in its matter, it is as far beyond all human productions as the living tree or man is beyond the imitations of the painter or sculptor [Ramsey, 35].

This view of the book—prophecy given by Jesus Christ to John the apostle—relieves the interpreter from trying to figure out what John was trying to say, or how what John wrote fits into the historical context of his immediate readers. The scriptures explain themselves, and the Revelation is a word given by God that is grounded in the Scripture.

If we would understand this sixty-sixth book of the Bible, then we must know the other sixty-five. There are more than two hundred ninety allusions to the Old Testament Scripture in the four hundred four verses of the Revelation. Scroggie [Unfolding, 3:370] lists about 290 references … traceable to the Old Testament, from twenty-four of the thirty-nine books. References come from each of the three divisions of the Old Testament and the writer almost exclusively uses the Septuagint.

The Revelation also shows a familiarity with New Testament writings, such as Matthew and Luke, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and possibly Galatians, 1 Peter, and James. The use of figures of speech, metaphors, and symbols are the result of a thoroughgoing understanding of how the Bible communicates its message. To understand this book one must have an understanding of the other books of the Bible.

Provenance

The earliest church fathers, such as Papias (AD 70–163), Justin Martyr (AD 100–165), and Irenaeus (b. AD 130) accepted John the apostle as the author [Roberts, ANF, 1:155.]

Irenaeus apparently never having heard a suggestion of any other author than the apostle, often quotes the Revelation as the work of John. In 4:20, § 11, he describes John the writer of the Revelation as the same who was leaning on Jesus’ bosom at supper, and asked him who should betray him. The testimony of Irenaeus as to the authorship of the Revelation is, perhaps, more important than that of any other writer: it mounts up into the preceding generation, and is virtually that of a contemporary of the apostle. For in 5:30, § 1, where he vindicates the true reading (666) of the number of the Beast, he cites in support of it, not only the old correct copies of the book, but also the oral testimony of the very persons who themselves had seen John face to face. It is obvious that Irenaeus’ reference for information on such a point to those contemporaries of John implies his undoubting belief that they, in common with himself, viewed John as the Writer of the book [McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, 8:318].

Interpretation

Another thing one must know about the Revelation is how to interpret the book. This commentary uses the Historical-Grammatical Hermeneutic (HGH), also known as the Literal hermeneutic. A few comments from my book The Literal Hermeneutic, Explained and Illustrated.

The author of the Revelation is Jesus Christ. In the Literal hermeneutic meaning is established by authorial intent. Authorial intent was defined in 1976 by E. D. Hirsch, an English professor at the University of Virginia, in Validity in Interpretation [Kaiser and Silva, 30–31].

Verbal meaning is whatever someone (usually the author) has willed to convey by a particular sequence of words and which can be shared by linguistic signs.

The author’s truth-intention provides the only genuinely discriminating norm for ascertaining valid or true interpretations from invalid and false ones.

The first objective of hermeneutics is to make clear the text’s verbal meaning, not its significance.

Meaning is that which is represented by the text and what an author meant to say by the linguistic signs represented.

Significance, by contrast, names a relationship between that meaning and a person, concept, situation, or any other possible number of things.

The meaning of a text cannot change, but significance can and does change. If meaning were not determinate, then there would be no fixed norm by which to judge whether a passage was being interpreted correctly.

The meaning of literal interpretation has been and still is subject to misinterpretation and caricature. Here is what literal interpretation means:

The literal hermeneutic understands the words and language used by the human authors of the Bible in the normal and plain sense of words and language as used in everyday conversation and writing.

Understanding words in their plain and normal sense means all words in all languages have a semantic content and range that reflects the historical-cultural background of the original writer and reader.

Understanding words in their plain and normal sense means that languages also communicate meaning through well-defined rules of vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.

Understanding words in their plain and normal sense means recognizing all language includes idioms, slang, figures of speech, and symbols specific to that language and the historical-cultural circumstances of original writer and reader, and that these must be interpreted for the modern reader in terms of his or her language.

Understanding idioms, slang, figures of speech, and symbols in the plain and normal sense of language means an idiom, slang, figure of speech, or symbol is based on something literal and is intended by the writer or speaker to communicate something literal. And the corollary: A symbol is not intended to communicate the literal thing on which it is based.

Understanding the biblical use of words, figures of speech, idioms, slang, and symbols means recognizing the biblical authors sometimes used and invested these parts of language with specific theological or spiritual meanings, and that the Holy Spirit maintained the consistency of those meanings among the several human authors.

If an interpretation invests an author’s words, figures of speech, idioms, slang, or symbols with a meaning other than the plain and normal meaning of their use in the language in which he is communicating, then it is not a literal interpretation, but is an allegorical or spiritual interpretation: an abstract distortion of the meaning of the text dependent on the interpreter’s imagination, not the biblical writer’s truth-intention.

Considering the above propositions, a literal hermeneutic determines the biblical author’s intended meaning (his truth-intention) through the normal and plain sense of the words and language he used. To discover the author’s truth-intention the literal method applies historical, cultural, contextual, grammatical, lexical, syntactical, theological, genre, and doctrinal analysis to the author’s text.

The Revelation contains many symbols and figures of speech.

The Bible was written in the every-day language of the people, which included figures of speech, symbols, etc.

A figure of speech is a comparison (by example or analogy) of one thing with another that clarifies some aspect of the thing being illustrated by the figure of speech.

A figure of speech does not teach doctrine. A figure of speech clarifies what is being taught for the purpose of helping the understanding.

There are five unbreakable rules for interpreting symbols and figures of speech.

A figure of speech clarifies one aspect, not all aspects, of the thing being illustrated.

A figure of speech, symbol, etc., is not in and of itself literal.

A biblical symbol or figure is based on something literal and is intended to communicate something literal.

A symbol is not intended to communicate the literal thing on which it is based.

A symbol always communicates a literal meaning. A symbol always has a literal interpretive value.

As noted above [Scroggie, 3:370], there are about 290 references . . . traceable to the Old Testament, from twenty-four of the thirty-nine books. Symbols originating in the Old Testament should be understood as defined by their Old Testament use and then appropriately applied to their New Testament context.

Other considerations.

Scripture tends to define terms by use, therefore one must consider how words, figures, types, symbols, etc., are used throughout the Scripture.

Analogy of Scripture. This principle asks, "How does a passage fit into the total pattern of God’s revelation that was revealed prior to its writing? [Virkler, 121.]

Analogy of Faith. This principle asks, "How does a passage fit into the total pattern of God’s revelation that has been revealed at any time?" [Virkler, 122.]

The consequences of using the literal method are:

A text cannot mean what it never meant.

The meaning of the text is usually the meaning the original author intended.

The secondary meaning of a parable, type, allegory, symbol, figure of speech, myth, or fable, depends on the literal meaning.

Non-literal meanings are derived from the original literal language.

The literal hermeneutic, when properly used, discovers what the Bible has to say to the sinner and the saved.

Another aspect of interpreting prophetic scriptures is the human author’s historical-cultural environment. The Holy Spirit does not ask his human authors to write something beyond their understanding. That is not to say they were able to interpret all they had written, they did not. But what they wrote fit their understanding of the world. When John saw locusts in appearance like horses, he was not trying to describe some kind of modern technological equipment. He described what he saw, and what he saw fit into his historical-cultural environment: horses and locusts.

John knew what he saw in vision—the symbols, pictures, and images that were presented. He knew what he heard said and sung among the celestials. He knew enough, to record what he had seen and heard in plain intelligible language. But did he know to what particular events the symbols which he employed—the horsemen, the locusts, the beasts, the trumpets, the vials, etc., referred—what they were designed to represent, so that he could have written out a clear and full explication of them? I doubt it. It is not at all likely that he had such an understanding as this of what he was writing. [Enoch Pond, 1871]

Interpretive knowledge, or knowledge as to how the prophecy would be fulfilled, was not at all necessary on John’s part to accomplish the end for which John was given the Revelation. That end was to report how Jesus Christ addressed the state of the New Testament church during the times of the things that are, and to inform the New Testament church of the things about to be after these.

We need not restrict the explanation of the prophecy to what John and the seven churches may have understood, because Jesus gave the Revelation for his saints in every generation until his return. Those parts that continue to remain unknown or uncertain will be understood by those living in the moment of fulfillment, as was Isaiah 7:14 (cf. Matthew 1:22–23), and Isaiah 53 (cf. Acts 8:34 ff.).

Every reader is able to understand enough for faith and faithful living. The Scripture-based symbols allow the interpreter to find an objective meaning and the significance of the text. More than enough can be understood to form an explanation of the events leading up to and following the second advent of Christ, and an application for every Christian. But this must be stressed: an explanation of the Revelation is not the how of fulfillment, but what the symbols and figures of speech mean in biblical terms.

The Relevant And The Incidental

A word needs to be said about identifying the relevant and the incidental in prophecy. The careful Bible student should recognize that some details and facts of any prophecy are not relevant to an interpretation. Such incidentals are merely the cart and horse that carry the message. Such thinking should guide us throughout the Revelation.

The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel provides a good example. The statue Nebuchadnezzar saw is the statue of a man because the empires represented are man’s empires. The two arms and two legs are incidental, because they are a natural part of a man. To seal their fate as incidental they are not specifically called out as part of Daniel’s interpretation, and are therefore not essential to the prophecy.

Another example. At Revelation 8:7, all the green grass was burned. Some say this must be some kind of environmental disaster caused by humankind, But how this is to be fulfilled is speculation, not interpretation, which is to say, the origin of fire mixed with blood, what it is, and how it is to be fulfilled, can be known only in the fulfillment.

The Purpose Of The Revelation

The purpose of the book is threefold. First, the high priest and judge of the church, her God, Savior, and Master Jesus Christ, will judge his church, Revelation 2, 3. He will set forth the eternal principles and