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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

REVELATION

Introduction:
The Book of Revelation is beyond doubt the most fascinating, the most difficult to interpret, and
the most poetical of all the books in the Bible. All the lines of biblical prophecy seem to converge in it,
bringing the whole of the Old Testament to an apotheosis of divine purpose.
C. S. Lewis once spoke on the subject: “Is Theology Poetry?” His answer is found in his collection
The Weight of Glory. The Book of Revelation answers the question in the positive, if we understand
correctly what is meant by poetry. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “poetry,” rather incompletely,
as: “metrical writing.” When we say that Revelation is a book of poetry, we do not suggest that it draws
away from reality into a realm of illusions. To the contrary! If we characterize poetry as the taking of
pictures in the color of reality, we may conclude that theology is, in fact, poetry of the highest order and the
Book of Revelation is a prime example of it. Revelation depicts the reality of God, the reality of the
existence of man, and the reality of the flow of history more precisely in its use of poetic illustrations than
human realism could ever achieve. The seals of God’s book, the breaking of which call up the horsemen and
their horses, the trumpets sounded by the angels, and the bowls of God’s wrath, represent more clearly the
essence of events to come than any objective analysis could. In a sense, poetry is more realistic and is reality
itself.
The essence of the Book of Revelation is a picture of the struggle between good and evil, between
God and Satan, resulting in the ultimate victory of Jesus Christ.
Although the greater part of the book deals with a period in world history, which the Lord Jesus
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calls the “great tribulation, the theme of the book is not the revelation of the Antichrist. It is, as the opening
words of the first chapter state: “The revelation of Jesus Christ.”
The section that deals with “the great tribulation” can easily be divided into three sections, each of
which is subdivided into seven parts. We read about seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of God’s
wrath. In my considered opinion, we are not dealing with three consecutive periods in world history, but
with one that is pictured three times. It is as if John points his camera three times at the same scene, each
time using a different filter. Admittedly, the figure of speech “camera” is an anachronism in this context. The
appearance of the Antichrist upon the world scene and the years of the great tribulation, as represented under
the pictures of the seals of a book that are opened, depict the acts of men. The Antichrist is a human being,
who pretends to be the savior of the world. The retake of the same scene, depicted as the sounding of seven
trumpets, describe the activities of demons during that period. The Antichrist called upon the devil and his
horde to help him establish his reign over the earth. The demons come to his help but they do not leave when
they are no longer needed. The third take, depicted as the pouring out of seven bowls of God’s wrath,
indicates that God’s rage over human depravity is demonstrated in this great tribulation. In brief, Man does
it; Satan inspires it; and God allows it as a punishment for man’s sin.

Authorship:
Scholars have debated who the author, who calls himself John, may have been. Some believe him to
be an elder of a church in Asia Minor, but the oldest testimony of the church fathers points to John, the
apostle. The Pulpit Commentary states: “Clear external testimony begins with Justin Martyr about the
middle of the second century; he refers to ‘John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied in a
Revelation made to him that the believers in our Christ should spend a thousand years in Jerusalem’ …
Irenaeus, in the latter half of the second century, knew the book well, quoted it largely, and plainly attributed
it to the John who leaned on Jesus’ breast …; he also appeals to genuine and ancient copies, as well as to
others in which the text had already become corrupt … Explicit statements that the Apostle John wrote the
Apocalypse are also found in Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, and many later Fathers.”

Outline of the Book:

The major lines of the book are clearly visible: there are three main divisions. After an introduction
of eight verses, there are seven letters, which the Lord of glory dictates to John for the seven churches in
Asia Minor. This covers Ch. 1:9 – Ch. 3:22. The greater part of the book, from Ch. 4:1 – Ch. 19:21 deals
with a description of the struggle between God and Satan. This is the part most difficult to interpret. But the

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Matt. 24:21 (NKJV)

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

lines that depict the development of the struggle are easily discerned. We see three series of seven: seven
seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of God’s wrath. The last three chapters, Ch. 20:1 – Ch. 22:20,
describe the renewal of all things after the war is over. We will follow this outline:

I. Introduction - Ch. 1:1-8

II. The Seven Letters - Ch. 1:9-3:22
III. The Struggle Between God and Satan - Ch. 4:1-19:21
1. The Seven Seals - Ch. 4:1-8:15
2. The Seven Trumpets - Ch. 8:16- 15:4
3. The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath - Ch. 15:5-19:21
IV. The Renewal of All Things - Ch. 20:1-22:21

I. Introduction - Ch. 1:1-8

We distinguish here between the heading and the opening.

A. The Heading - Ch. 1:1-3

The message of Revelation cannot be understood if we do not give serious consideration to the
meaning of the opening words. It has been said about the books of the Bible that the key for each of them
hangs at the door. The revelation of this book is “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is not, as some assume,
merely a description of the end times. It is not a revelation of events but of a person, Jesus Christ. This is the
theme of the book and the meaning of all the events described in it. Jesus did not write the book but the book
is about Him.
The second part of the opening sentence seems to contradict this. It sounds as if God, the Father,
merely allowed His Son to take a peek at future events in order to know what was going to happen. What is
meant, however, is that the Father gave the Son the gift to reveal Himself in the events of the future. This is
confirmed by the whole composition of the book.
The intriguing feature in all this is that it emphasizes Jesus’ humanity. It evinces the same principle
as in Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only
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what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” The revelation is the
Father’s gift to the Son, who became man in order to save mankind. The future events have, of course, their
bearing upon the revelation. The book is meant “to show his servants what must soon take place.” This refers
to political, social, and economic events. These events are not the content of the reality; they are merely the
vehicles. This is the reason the events are expressed in images. The events the people experience on earth,
that which we call “the facts,” are actually images, expression of another reality.
The word “revelation,” therefore, has a much deeper meaning than only of showing what will
happen. The Bible uses the word to describe God’s intervention in man’s thinking, logic, and understanding.
It means a supernatural transfer of data to our understanding, not contrary to logic but circumventing logic.
God’s revelation projects the actual content and meaning of events to the screen of our brain, without the
means of images and symbols. The Holy Spirit used this principle in causing the pregnancy of the Virgin
Mary. God impregnates our intelligence and understanding outside the common means of communication.
We find this illustrated in various ways in Scripture. When the leaders of Israel refused to accept
Jesus’ message, we read: “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
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you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.’ ”
Upon Peter’s confession of faith, “Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was
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not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’ ”
And in His last prayer for His disciples, hours before going to the cross, Jesus stated: “I have
revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they

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John 5:19
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Matt. 11:25
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Matt. 16:17

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

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have obeyed your word.” Paul testifies about his understanding of the Gospel: “I did not receive it from any
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man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” Every one of these instances
concerns an act of God. None of this came about by human initiative or was achieved by human means. That
is why these experiences are always accompanied by a blessing for man. We will never be able to understand
the Book of Revelation without God’s revelation to us and without a personal fellowship with the Lord. We
will only recognize Jesus Christ in this book if we know Him already.
It is “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him.” As was stated, this emphasizes the
human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. This statement could hardly be formulated this way if it pertained to
a manifestation of the Second Person of the Trinity. This emphasis throws a new light on the content of the
book. In a way, it is an answer to David’s question: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of
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man that you care for him?” In the Book of Revelation, we see him: “crowned … with glory and honor,”
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and “everything under his feet.”
It had been God’s plan from the very beginning that man would bear on his shoulder the
government of creation. It is only a man who can open the seals of the scroll of God’s ordinances. A man is
seated on the throne of heaven, because this man healed the break with God by dying for the sins of His
fellowmen.
We must look at facts that are described in this book in that light. The important part is not the
manifestation of the Antichrist, or a report on what the devil does on the earth, but the acts of Jesus Christ
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on, what Isaiah calls “the day of vengeance of our God.” For us, who live in “the year of the LORD’s
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favor,” it is often difficult to imagine what life would be under the different circumstances of another
dispensation. Also, the fact that the devil is named as the executor of many of the acts described in this book,
complicates matters. The question arises: Who is responsible for all the horror of the events. We must hold
to the truth that God is not the author of evil. The fact that seven angels pour the bowls of God’s wrath out
over the earth does not mean that God creates evil. The basic elements of God’s wrath are intrinsically good.
Those who have turned themselves against God and all that tries to separate God’s creation from the
Creator, experience this wrath as harmful. Our planet, for instance, could not exist without the law of
gravity, but to the person who falls, that same law becomes his enemy. So it is with the laws that govern
God’s righteousness. The full responsibility for all evil lies with those who have broken the bond with God.
The purpose of the revelation of Jesus Christ is “to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Although this allows man to take a peek into the future, we maintain that the primary purpose of this
revelation is not the satisfaction of man’s curiosity but the disclosure of the glory of our Lord.
It is hard for us to imagine what it must have meant for John to become a partaker in the glory of
his Lord. His reaction at the end of this chapter explains some of this. In a preface to his translation of the
Book of Revelation, J. B. Phillips writes that he was under the impression that John actually wrote while in
a Holy Spirit induced “a trance.” It must have been an awesome experience for the apostle. There is an angel
who plays a role in the transmission of the message, but he seldom comes to the foreground. At the end of
the book, he declines the worship John wants to give to him, saying: “I am a fellow servant with you and
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with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book.”

B. The Greeting – Ch. 1:4-8

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John 17:6
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Gal. 1:12
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Ps. 8:4
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Ps. 8:5,6
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Isa. 61:2
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Isa. 61:2
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Rev. 22:8,9

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

We who are the recipients of this book, who hear the Word of God and obey it, may also partake in
this glory. John pronounces blessed those who hear the words of this prophecy and take them to heart. The
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word he uses is makarios, which is the same word used in Christ’s Beatitudes. We should actually read
the words “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy” as “O, the blessedness of him who
reads…!” John’s blessing is more than a benign wish that has no practical effect. It is a triumphant shout that
opens this book for us. The same kind of shout Jesus utter when He said: “Blessed rather are those who hear
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the word of God and obey it.”
This reminds us what our attitude toward the Word of God ought to be. We must take it very
seriously. We must realize that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
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mouth of the LORD.” The opposite reaction to God’s Word is illustrated in the acts of King Jehoiakim
who burned the scroll with the prophecies of Jeremiah that were read to him. We read: “Whenever Jehudi
had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into
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the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.”
It sounds strange to us, who live about 2000 years after John wrote, to read: “take to heart what is
written in it, because the time is near.” If we understand this to mean that John thought that Christ’s physical
return to earth was about to occur, we can only conclude that the apostle was wrong. Then we can hardly
maintain that this book is part of the inspired Word of God that is infallible. On the other hand, it is difficult
to assume that John would have spoken of a time 2000 years in the future, as a time that was near. We may
find an answer to this impasse if we consider Jesus’ words to the Jews of His day: “Your father Abraham
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rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Since our Lord used the past tense, we cannot
understand this to mean that Abraham witnessed Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection, looking down
from heaven. During his life on earth, Abraham experienced these greatest of all events in world history in
the birth, death, and resurrection of his son Isaac. These events in Abraham’s life were pictures of the facts of
salvation, from which they derived their content and meaning. Because Abraham’s experiences would have
had no meaning in themselves if Jesus Christ had not became man, and had not died, and risen from the dead.
But because the events in Abraham’s life were pointers to what God was going to do in this world, Jesus
could say: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day.” So it is with the Lord’s return and the revelation
of His glory which will take place on our planet. Christians have anticipated this event for almost 2000
years. But in every century, there have been occurrences in the lives of individuals that derived their meaning
from the expectation of the revelation of Jesus Christ. As Abraham saw Christ’s day 2000 years before He
came, so is the time near for us. It is important for us to understand the meaning of our experiences.
If we interpret the book of Revelation as having meaning only for the end of the world, we put
severe limitations on its contents. John, undoubtedly, took his own time, the reign of the emperors Nero and
Domitian, as a point of reference when he wrote. For those who lived through the Nazi regime of Hitler, or
Stalin’s Gulags, or the cultural revolution of Mao Dze Dung, the contents of this book has been of great
relevance. They understood that “the time is near.”
On the other hand, we are also wrong if we believe that Revelation only means to offer comfort in a
subjective way in times of persecution. The book deals with facts that will take place on earth, concrete facts
in world history. The millennium is not merely a symbolic concept to convey to us the thought that God is
still on the throne. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were, undoubtedly types of the Antichrist, as were Antiochus
Epiphanes, Nero, and Domitian. But if no real Antichrist would ever appear upon the world scene, there
could not be a type of him either. There would have been no day of Christ for Abraham, if Christ had not
come. At every time in world history “the time is near” for every person alive. The shadows will only fade
away on the world’s last night, when the light appears and reality dawns upon us. One day will be the last
day. When that will be, I do not know.

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Matt. 5:3 ff.
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Luke 11:28
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Deut. 8:3
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Jer. 36:23
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John 8:56 (NKJV)

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

The second part of the introduction consists in John’s greetings to the reader. Verses 4-7 are the
words of a human being, of a man to his fellowmen, of a brother to brothers. No one was so well suited to
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describe the revelation of Jesus Christ as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Part of the doctrine of
Inspiration of the Bible is the fact that the Holy Spirit prepares the writer of a particular book for the task of
writing down the Word of God. The apostle John is a convincing proof of this doctrine.
We may interpret the seven churches in the province of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea to be symbolic for the whole of the body of Christ on earth. The
number seven is, clearly, an image of divine perfection. Although I always feel some hesitation toward
interpretation of Scripture that focuses on numerals, there is no denying the spiritual meaning of these
figures. What Jesus said to these seven churches, He says to the whole church throughout the ages.
The content of the blessing is representative of the content of the whole book. The revelation of
Jesus Christ is the revelation of Him, “who is, and who was, and who is to come.” These words are a
projection of eternity upon time. Eternity is, of course, more than the past, present, and future. But this is the
way we, who are bound by time and space, would imagine eternity to be.
The words are also a reference to and an elaboration upon the name YHWH, “I AM WHO I AM.”
What is so amazing to us is not so much the three phases of time: past, present, and future but the
immutability of God’s character as it is being projected upon time. For us, time is the indicator of change,
which cannot be reconciled with immutability. Past, present, and future are, for us, pointers to growth and
change. Yet, according to the author of Hebrews: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
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forever.” This part of John’s greeting, therefore, emphasizes the divine character of our Lord.
“Grace and peace” are the Greek and Hebrew forms of greeting, expressed as charis and shalom.
They express in an international fashion the blessing God gives to all who seek fellowship with Him.
The Holy Spirit is presented here as a seven-fold unity. This does not mean, of course, that there
would be seven individual Spirits in God. But the figure seven is used to express divine perfection.
Next, the human nature of Jesus Christ is emphasized in the words: “the faithful witness,” who
reveals to us the secrets of the invisible God. In his first epistle, the apostle John calls the Holy Spirit a
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witness to God’s truth. We read: “And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” What is
probably meant in that context is the Spirit’s testimony in the heart of the believer. It is the witness of the
Spirit that makes us aware of the truth. When Jesus is called “the faithful witness,” the term is used as a
complement to the “I am” statements in John’s Gospel. He is the objective source of truth, which the Holy
Spirit applies subjectively in our life. This testimony is at the core of the Gospel. It became flesh and blood
in the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. Those facts are a testimony to God’s acting in this
world.
The three things John states about Jesus give us a complete picture of the purpose and content of
the incarnation. The testimony of Jesus Christ stands for the whole of God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus.
He is the Word that became flesh, who pitched His tent among us, as is revealed in His character, His acts,
and His words. He is God’s intervention in fallen creation. He is the man whom the Father called to bring
back under the authority of the throne everything that had fallen away from God. His is the essence of
humanity. God always intended man to have this position of restoring what Satan had dragged away from
God in his fall. I am convinced that this was God’s prime purpose in the creation of Adam. Adam should
have restored to God’s authority what Satan had embezzled. Jesus Christ accomplished that which Adam had
failed to achieve. We rarely understand how deeply man fell when he committed his first sin. Instead of
dedicating his life to the service of God, Adam not only did not take upon himself the responsibility of
restoring what Satan had taken, but he joined the enemy in his rebellion. Jesus’ position as “the ruler of the
kings of the earth” is not a reign over like-minded ones but it is a putting down of an insurrection.
At the same time, this is a prophecy about the rehabilitation of man. The key to this understanding is
in the words: “the firstborn from the dead.” I do not know how the resurrection rates in God’s overall plan
for His creation, but as a human being who is born in this sinful world, and who lives in the shadow of

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John 13:23
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Heb. 13:8
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I John 5:6

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

death, the resurrection is the most glorious event I can imagine. It is almost too good to be true. That is why
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the disciples, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, shouted to one another: “It is true! The Lord has risen!”
The hymn “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be
a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen”
represents one of the most wonderful songs of adoration that can be found in all of Scripture. I remember
how this was sung in the revival meetings I attended in Wuppertal, Germany, shortly after the end of World
War II. The hymn demonstrates in an incomparable way what our Lord has done for us and what the contents
of our worship ought to be. It is regrettable that the older reading of the verse is lost in more modern
translations. I strongly prefer the reading: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own
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blood…”
Both spiritually and grammatically the emphasis is upon the last part of the hymn: “to him be glory
and power for ever and ever! Amen.” These words are akin to the doxology of Psalm One Hundred Fifty, the
ultimate hymn of praise. We do well to pay attention to these rules of grammar. For us, however, the
emotional emphasis is upon the first part of this verse, upon the love, redemption, and restoration. Thus
heaven and earth are united in this verse. The adoration belongs to heaven; the redemption and rehabilitation
belong to earth. Love forms the bridge between the two. Love is the source and the reason for what happens.
Redemption is the way that shows how it happens. The kingdom and the priesthood are the result. This is the
victory that was intended. But the ultimate goal, the “raison d’être,” that which gives meaning and purpose
to all is the eternal glory and power of God. God’s glory and power would have existed immutably, even if
the universe were wrapped in darkness. The fact that adoration wells up from our souls does not add or
detract any from the absolute character of God, but it makes us more human. No one will ever be able to
look at this mystery without being changed and renewed by it.
Verse seven expresses in one sentence the whole content of the book. But, in a way, we can say the
same about the 6th verse. This verse shows the way in which Jesus’ revelation comes to us. “He is coming
with the clouds,” says it all. There is also a sharp contrast between both verses. The first speaks of the
blessedness of those who worship Him, the second of the despair of those who reject Him. It is, of course,
true that “every eye will see Him,” including both the saved and the lost, but the emphasis seems to be on
“those who pierced him.” Those are, first of all, the ones who were responsible for His physical death, the
Jews and the Romans, but also all who reject Him as Lord over their lives. The Second Coming will awaken
in every human being a sense of reality regarding sin and the rejection of Jesus Christ.
This verse is the first of a series of paraphrases of Old Testament prophecies. This is an adaptation
of Zechariah’s prophecy about the one they have pierced: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced,
and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a
firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the
plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the
house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of
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Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.”
By changing the mourning of the different clans into the mourning of all the people of the earth,
John places the prophecy in its right light. The Holy Spirit convicts people of the sin of unbelief. The lament
is not so much about Jesus Christ as about themselves because they did not believe in Him as their Messiah.
Part of the revelation of Jesus Christ will be that the whole world will recognize that mankind as a whole is
responsible for the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. In the same way as the conviction of their crime came to
Joseph’s brothers when they stood before him, so will all human beings face reality on the day of Jesus’
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coming. The prophecy Jesus spoke before the Sanhedrin laid the legal basis for His crucifixion. The
members of the Sanhedrin who pronounced the death sentence at that time must, meanwhile, have come to
the realization that they were wrong. The words: “I am the Alpha and the Omega” occur three times in the

20
Luke 24:34
21
NKJV
22
Zech. 12:10-14
23
See Matt. 26:64-66; Mark 14:62-64

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Book of Revelation. In the KJV (and NKJV) the words also occur in 1:11, but they are not found in more
modern versions. The expression in this verse is generally understood as referring to God, the Father. It
seems, however, more logical to assume that the two Greek letters, Alpha and Omega, refer to the Second
Person of the Trinity, to the Word of God. In the context of other verses it seems that the expression refers to
the beginning and end of all things. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the beginning and end of all things
because He is the Creator of all. All things owe their existence to Him.
The apostle Paul expresses this beautifully in his Epistle to the Colossians: “He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him
and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the
church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the
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supremacy.”
He is also the beginning of the new creation because He is “the firstborn from among the dead.”
The end points to the goal of creation and recreation. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians mentions
this, saying: “For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’ Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put
under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has
done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may
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be all in all.” This is the meaning of the letter O (Omega): Jesus is the glorification of God, the Father.
The words: “who is, and who was, and who is to come” are found twice in this introduction to the book. As
we saw above, they constitute a projection of eternity upon time; they are also a reference to the meaning of
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the Name YHWH. When God revealed Himself to Moses, He called Himself “I AM WHO I AM.” John
states in the prologue of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
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Word was God.”
We could say that the content of the whole book of Revelation can be summed up in the statement:
“He comes!” This projection from eternity upon time is worked out in the events that mark the end of times.
The two characteristics of God that are emphasized in this verse are His eternity and His omnipotence. The
message of Revelation, therefore, is: “He has all power in heaven and on earth and He comes.”

C. The Vision of the Risen Lord – Ch. 1:9-20

This section, particularly verses 12-20, is to me one of the highlights in the Bible. I have committed
this portion to memory. We must understand that John was not taken out of reality into a dream world, but
that he was taken out of the illusion that sin has spun around us and awakened to a reality that is more real
than what we commonly call reality. The prophet Zechariah describes a similar experience as he received one
of his visions and said: “Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened
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from his sleep.” Entering into the presence of God is as a waking up out of a dream.
John describes his circumstances as a captive on the island of Patmos. Without uttering any
complaint about his condition, he identifies himself with others who suffer persecution because of their faith
in Christ. He knows that he is not alone and he feels a common bond with suffering fellow believers. Three
keywords are important: “suffering,” “kingdom,” and “patient endurance.” He shares these with other
believers. We do not know exactly what the word “suffering” stands for in this context. John wrote this
during the reign of the godless emperor Domitian, who was the one who demanded divine adulation for
himself. Over against this, John places the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which gives him the courage and
perseverance to hang on. Persecution stands for the circumstances, kingdom for the vision, and endurance

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See 21:6; 22:13. The words “I am the First and the Last” are also found in 1:17; 2:8 and 22:13.
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Col. 1:15-18
26
I Cor.15:27,28
27
Ex. 3:14
28
John 1:1
29
Zech. 4:1

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

for the result of the two preceding entities. All persecution is demonically inspired. Ever since the days of
Cain, those who refused to eat from the tree of life have persecuted those who ate from it. A human being,
created in the image of God, which allows him to freely choose to have fellowship with God, endeavors to
destroy that image in his fellowman by trying to force him to do what he does not want to do. In a way that is
beyond our comprehension, God uses this demonic plan to purify and complete His image in His children.
Jesus reserved His most precious beatitudes for those who are persecuted because of righteousness.
He said: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you
because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
30
persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Peter states that persecution forms the ideal soil for the
growth of God’s grace within us. We read: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you
may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and
honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” And: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of
unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for
doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before
31
God.” And Paul writes to the Romans: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we
32
know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
John acknowledges that he had received his share in suffering for Jesus’ sake. But he also states that
the Lord had given him grace to persevere. What matters in suffering is not our strength of character but the
measure of our surrender to Jesus Christ. Perseverance is His; we may dip in to that and draw from it as
much as we need.
In connection with John’s words, we think of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, who saw the
33
statue that was crushed by a stone, which turned into a mountain that filled the whole earth. John must
have had this stone before his eyes in the period of persecution by the Roman Empire. He concluded from
this that it was not worth it to give in to this mixture of iron and clay to experience only temporary relief
from suffering. Those who await an eternal kingdom cannot take temporary kingdoms too seriously.
John describes his vision with the words “I was in the Spirit.” We don’t know what is exactly meant
by the expression, whether it means being in trance, or being filled with the Holy Spirit. John’s experience
probably differed from Ezekiel’s who states that he was physically transported and felt his visions as a
34
physical reality. The apostle Paul states about his vision that he didn’t know “whether it was in the body or
35
out of the body.” John seems to say here that the experience was not a physical one. Whether his spirit left
the body or not is not clear.
What is meant with the expression “The Lord’s Day” cannot be determined clearly either. It may be
Sunday, the day on which the Lord’s resurrection is commemorated. It could also refer to the Sabbath as the
Old Testament day of rest. John may also point to the contents of his book, as the day on which God’s
judgments are put into effect.
John’s statement that he turned around to see the voice that was speaking to him seems to
constitute a physical act. This turning around is presented as a kind of conversion. Even though John was in
prison “on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus,” he had to change
his attitude before he could see what the Lord wanted to show him. If this is really what John experienced, it
shows that we can be in prison because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus and yet live with our
backs turned to God. We may have to look at John’s “death and resurrection,” as described in vs. 17, in this
light.

30
Matt. 5:10-12
31
I Peter 1:6-7; 2:19,20
32
Rom. 5:3,4
33
See Dan. 2:1-49
34
See Ezek. 2:2; 3:12,14
35
II Cor. 12:2,3

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

It is clear that the seven churches in Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia and Laodicea, stand for more than seven local churches. These seven symbolize the body of
Christ on earth. It could be that John was particularly ordered to focus on these churches because he was
responsible for that district.
Some commentators see these churches as representing seven phases of church history. It is a
sobering thought that in the region where these churches flourished then, at present almost every trace of
Christianity is wiped out. It has been stated that in present-day Turkey one cannot find more than a few dozen
Christians.
John’s encounter with Christ must have been an indescribable experience for him. He had known
Jesus intimately as a human being on earth. But here he meets Him on a level and in a manner for which he
was not prepared physically or emotionally.
First of all, John sees Jesus standing among seven golden lampstands. We must ask the question
whether these lampstands are an image of the seven churches, or whether the churches are a picture of the
lampstands? Where do we find the reality, in heaven or on earth? It is a glorious discovery to understand that
reality belongs to Christ and that what we see on earth are merely shadows. We often distort matters by
turning them upside down and by believing that what we see with our mortal eyes is the ultimate reality. The
essence of every church on earth is the golden lampstand, that shining lamp that is kept burning by the Holy
Spirit in the presence of the Son of Man. Essential in every church is the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the
fellowship and love of people who are saved.
The clothing John describes reveals Jesus’ inner glory. As in Jesus’ transfiguration, His glory
became visible in the transformation of His clothes. Matthew describes this: “His face shone like the sun,
36
and his clothes became as white as the light.” John does not give us a detailed description of the clothes
Jesus wore. He states the length and mentions the golden sash as an expression of simplicity and majesty. In
this case clothes do not make the man, but the man makes the clothes!
In saying these things we are speaking after an earthly fashion. We live in a world in which there is a
contrast between inner beauty and its outer manifestations. As a result of sin, content and form are often
each other’s opposites. In heaven, such is no longer the case. In the Incarnation, Jesus became in outward
appearance like sinful man, but inwardly He was perfect and without sin. In heaven form and content are
identical. John sees Jesus as He is. That is what overwhelmed him so much. He had known about Jesus’
glory, but He had never seen this glory manifested in this way. The glory he describes is definitely divine.
Yet, John also states clearly that he sees Jesus as a human being. It is impossible for us to sound the depth of
this mystery. In Jesus the goal of God’s creation has been reached. God and His creation have become one as
37
a pledge toward that day in which God will be “all in all.” The glory of God John sees is human!
John describes Jesus in terms of absolute purity and holiness, as “white fire.” As in Isaiah’s vision,
38
God’s holiness and glory are identical. The voice of Jesus is like the sound of a mighty waterfall that
breaks through the sound barrier of human hearing. The Word He speaks is compared to a sharp
double-edged sword. The writer of Hebrews uses the same image for the Word of God: “For the word of
God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
39
joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The sword stands for the result of
God’s Word. The Word is both creative and curative; it dissects man’s motives. The image emphasizes the
majesty and the power of Jesus’ Word.
In between the images of the “rushing waters” and the “sharp double-edged sword” we find the
“seven stars,” representing the pastors or the “angels” of the seven churches. They are in the hollow of Jesus’
hand, surrounded by His Word in all its majesty and power. It is important to realize that God’s Word is both
creative and re-creative. If it is true what some theologians believe that there is a gap between the first two
verses of the Book of Genesis, that Satan’s fall into sin occurred between those two verses and that God
restored His creation by the agency of His Word, then we find this fact both at the beginning and at the end of
the Bible. The creation of heaven and earth was an act of God’s majesty; the creation of light and the

36
Matt. 17:2
37
See I Cor. 15:28
38
See Isa. 6:3
39
Heb. 4:12

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

separation of land and water was an act of God’s holiness, brought about by the analytical penetration of the
two-edged sword of the Word. God created these “stars,” these righteous ones by His Word and He also
sanctifies and glorifies them by His Word. We read their description in the Book of Daniel: “Those who are
wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars
40
for ever and ever.” Obviously, the criterion for a pastor of a church is his testimony that leads people to
repentance and to faith in Christ.
The most overwhelming feature in Jesus’ manifestation of Himself to John was the blinding light:
“like the sun shining in all its brilliance.” As it is impossible for a human being to stare into the sun without
damaging his eyesight, so it is impossible for us to behold God’s glory. Physically, emotionally, and
spiritually we are unfitted for this. John collapses completely and falls at Jesus’ feet “as though dead.” We
have little notion of what glory actually is.
John’s collapse reminds us of the reactions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Daniel, particularly,
describes how the experience left him completely drained of all energy and how he only regained his
composure by a supernatural intervention: “So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength
left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell
into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
He said, ‘Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and
41
stand up, for I have now been sent to you.’ And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.”
Evidently, the result of this kind of swoon is fear. For the inhabitants of heaven who have no
experience of the effect of the Fall, such a reaction must be incomprehensible. Even for us who know a
certain measure of intimacy with God, it may be difficult to understand that we might react to glory in this
manner. Even if we are not afraid in our spirit, like Adam was after he sinned, our body reacts in a way we
cannot control. We are physically unable to take what we accept spiritually.
Jesus puts His right hand upon the disciple He loves. This was a purposeful touch, otherwise John
could not have stated so specifically that it was Jesus’ right hand. For most people the right hand is the more
important of the two. Twice in this section, Jesus’ right hand is mentioned; first as the hand in which He
holds the seven stars and then as the hand which He puts on John’s shoulder. It is the hand that holds the stars
that touches John. Thus John is taken into that protective custody of which his Gospel speaks: “I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given
42
them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” “Nothing will be able to
43
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If God is for us, who can be against us?”
John must have been conscious of this as Jesus laid His hand on him. This imposition of the hand is
accompanied by words of Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead. Jesus places Himself next to His beloved
friend to tell him that He went through this same kind of death and came out victoriously. Thus, John’s
resurrection was linked to Jesus’, which made it real.
Jesus’ words express, first of all, His love. “Do not be afraid” fully satisfies John’s emotional
needs. As we saw, fear was the actual reason for John’s collapse. Healing begins when Jesus speaks to him
and touches him. God’s Word of love has healing power.
Then Jesus indicates that the legal basis for restoration is in His incarnation, His death, and His
resurrection. Because this occurred in our world and before God, man has the legal right to live. The apostle
44
Paul calls Jesus: “The last Adam” and “the second man.” This may be the explanation of Jesus’ words: “I
am the First and the Last.” As the last Adam, He brought closure to the fall of man that began with the first
45
Adam. In His death “He had provided purification for sins.” As the second man, He rose from the dead and

40
Daniel 12:3
41
Dan.10:8-11
42
John 10:28,29
43
Rom. 8:39,31
44
I Cor. 15:45,47
45
Heb. 1:3

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

became the head of a new creation. Jesus had the right to say to John: “Do not be afraid.” He had paid for
these words. As always, His Word is creation; it creates in John the peace that is needed to live.
As with all human beings, John owed his resurrection to the fact that Jesus is who He is. We may
classify Jesus’ words under the category of “I AM” as we find it in John’s Gospel. “I AM” represents the
46
Name YHWH, with which God revealed Himself to Moses. Inasmuch as we exist because Jesus is who He
is, so we will be raised from the dead because He rose from the dead and is the Living One. Jesus’ revelation
of Himself is overwhelming: “I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am
alive for ever and ever!” The way Jesus says this indicates that He Himself is still amazed about it. It is as if
the resurrection has never lost its surprise and glow for Him.
The NIV unfortunately omits the little word “behold,” or “see,” which is found in the Greek text.
This word is an invitation to John to confirm by sensory perception the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. In John’s
own words: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
47
which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” “The
48
Lord is risen indeed.” There is proof of it. It is the ultimate reality.
Jesus’ possession of the keys of death and Hades is the direct result of His resurrection. The writer
49
of the Epistle to the Hebrews states that the devil “holds the power of death.” This evidently means that
Satan used to have the keys of Hades. When Jesus died and entered the realm of the dead, He took those keys
away from him. Satan must have thought that this Lamb of God, laden with the sins of the world, was an
easy prey for him, but the manifestation of Jesus’ own sinless nature must have been to him like a blinding
50
light. If Gehennah is the place where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched,” then Jesus
Christ must have been the only person who could not be touched by the fire because in Him there was no
worm. What happened outside the tomb, that the guards fled and the stone was rolled away, happened in a
spiritual sense inside the kingdom of death. Satan dropped his keys and took to his heels. Jesus picked up the
keys, opened the gate, and walked out, taking others with Him. As David prophesied in one of the psalms:
51
“When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train.”
The command John receives to write what he sees covers in broad lines the contents of this book.
The Book of Revelation deals with the heavenly reality in the past, the present, and the future. It
demonstrates also the principle of inspiration of the Word of God. It is the Word that links things in heaven
with things on earth. What will take place only covers one third of the whole. If we approach the Book of
Revelation with the idea that it deals primarily with what will happen during the end time, we are on the
wrong track.
“What you have seen” is the glory of the risen Lord. “What is now” is the lampstands, the stars, and
the throne of God and Him that is seated on it. These are of vital importance to the church of the past and of
the present. It is indispensable for the members of the body of Christ to constantly keep their eyes fixed on
the glory of the body. The church will only be able to shine in this dark world if it sees itself as a burning
lampstand at the side of the Lord who holds her pastors as stars in His hand.
Jesus calls the existence of the lampstand and the stars a “mystery.” This corresponds with Paul’s
words in his Epistle to the Ephesians, where he states: “That is, the mystery made known to me by revelation,
as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the
mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the
Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs
52
together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
The mystery of the church is the born-again person, the new creation, in which all social differences and
46
See Ex. 3:14
47
I John 1:1
48
Luke 24:34 (KJV)
49
Heb. 2:14
50
Mark 9:48
51
Ps. 68:18
52
Eph. 3:3-6

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

gender differences have fallen away. As Paul writes to the Colossians: “Do not lie to each other, since you
have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in
knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised,
53
barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” And to the Galatians he writes: “There is
54
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” David states in
55
one of the psalms: “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him.” The prophet Zechariah saw this
mystery take shape in the vision of the gold lampstand and the two olive trees that fed their fuel organically
56
to the lamps. In Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus used parables to teach about the church, He said to His
disciples: “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to
57
them.”
The person who has died with Christ and is raised again in His resurrection forms a vital part of the
Kingdom. In letting our light shine in fellowship with one another, we are instruments that are used to bring
this fallen world back under the authority of God, till God will be “all in all.” Our prayer is: “Your kingdom
58
come!” When we think of the devil, we should never forget Paul’s words that “the God of peace will soon
59
crush Satan under [y]our feet.”

II. The Seven Letters - Ch. 1:9-3:22

A. To Ephesus 2:1-7
The apostle Paul planted the church of Ephesus, approximately thirty years before the Book of
Revelation was written. We find the record in Acts Chapter Nineteen. During his second missionary journey,
Paul went back and forth between Europe and Asia Minor and so he came to Ephesus, which at that time was
an important harbor. The church began with a dozen disciples of John the Baptist. After Paul’s prayer and
60
imposition of hands, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was followed by a great spiritual revival in
which the city was cleansed of demonic spirits. People came for deliverance of their bad conscience, for
61
forgiveness of sin, and to burn their magic books. Paul spent approximately two years and three months in
62
this celebration of a spiritual springtime. Luke records: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.”
We are reminded of the festive beginning of the church when we read the letter that Jesus dictated to John, in
which He speaks of their “first love.”
Jesus presents Himself to the church of Ephesus as the One “who holds the seven stars in his right
hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.” It is the Lord of the church who speaks to His church.
As we saw before, the stars and the lampstands represent a heavenly reality of which the conditions on earth
are a shadow. The copy on earth is here compared with the reality in heaven. The question that comes up in
this comparison is whether the church on earth is what she is supposed to be. Does the supernatural light of
the lampstand shine through the people on earth? Are the church leaders like shining stars? This comparison
between that which is on earth and what is in heaven does not only serve the purpose of providing a means of
moral and spiritual improvement, it is also the “umbilical cord,” the lifeline of the church. The body of
53
Col. 3:9-11
54
Gal. 3:28
55
Ps. 25:14 (NKJV)
56
See Zech. 4:1-6
57
Matt 13:11
58
Matt. 6:10
59
Rom. 16:20
60
See Acts 19:1-7
61
Acts 19:18,19
62
Acts 19:11

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Christ on earth only functions well when it constantly compares itself to its original. The wind and the Holy
Spirit both always stream from a maximum to a minimum.
The full emphasis in this first letter is upon the essence of the church as a testimony to the light.
The church in Ephesus consisted of a human organization filled by the Holy Spirit. As such, the church
functions as two-in-one, as a combination of body and soul. Without the supernatural element the
organization on earth would be nothing but a dead body. This is what Jesus meant when He said: “You are
the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your
63
light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Standing before the Lord there is always a form of judgment. This judgment is instantaneous and
we always initiate it. What I mean is, that, if we are placed as a copy next to the original, our own mouth will
condemn us. Thus Isaiah condemned himself when he saw the Lord and cried: “Woe to me! I am ruined! For
I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the
64
LORD Almighty.”
In this case, however, it is the Lord who speaks first. He begins by mentioning three positive
features in their character: 1. Their intolerance toward the wicked, 2. Their spiritual discernment, 3. Their
perseverance. Their zeal for truth is impressive. There has been, however, a change in motivation. Their zeal
used to be based upon their love for the Lord. That is no longer the case. How can a building remain standing
when that foundation shifts or is replaced with something else? Why do we sometimes keep on doing the
same thing but change the reason for doing it?
The words “first love” are often interpreted as an indicator of time. That interpretation suggests that
love between human beings, husband and wife for instance, is always of a better quality in the beginning than
in the end. It is true that love, which is fresh and spontaneous in the beginning, can, in some instances, turn
cold and sour. Both often love grows deeper and more precious as the years go by. If I must choose between
the puppy love of young people who hardly know whom they love and the mature love of the older ones, I
prefer the latter. This brings me to believe that Jesus does not mean here that the Ephesian Christians had to
return to “being in love” as they were before. Loving God is always a matter of priority. The law states:
65
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Jesus
66
adds to this: “and with all your mind.”
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary states: “G. Campbell Morgan relates this passage to Paul’s words
of warning to the Corinthian church: ‘For I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ’… The elements of first love
then are simplicity and purity… The love of the Church to Christ is typified by the love of the wife for the
husband. What then is the love of Christ to the Church? Unselfish love, love in which there was no single
thought of self. What then is the Church’s love for Christ? The response of love to the mystery of love, the
submission of love to perfect love. First love is the love of espousal. Its notes are simplicity, and purity,
marital love, the response of love to love, the subjection of a great love to a great love, the submission of a
self-denying love to a love that denies self. First love is the abandonment of all for a love that has abandoned
all.”
God must occupy the first and overriding place in our love. This is the “first love” God demands
for Himself. The Ephesians demonstrated this love spontaneously when they came and confessed their sins
67
and burned their books of sorcery. They rejoiced in their newfound freedom and redemption. This kind of
love only cools down when the relationship with God becomes blocked because of a lack of spiritual purity
and confession of sin.

63
Matt. 5:14-16
64
Isa. 6:5
65
Deut. 6:5
66
Mark 12:30
67
See Acts 19:18,19

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

We see the relationship between the shining testimony of the stars and the lampstand and this first
love. The Holy Spirit who caused the lampstand to burn is the Spirit of love. The lamps are not kept burning
by some impersonal kind of fuel but by the third Person of the Holy Trinity. The best proof that the Spirit of
God is a Person is in the fact that He is the Spirit of love. Love is the proof of personality “par excellence.”
We forsake our first love when the influence of the Holy Spirit over our life diminishes.
In connection with this “first love” there are two important words the Lord uses: “forsaken” and
“fallen.” The word “forsaking” implies that a certain amount of energy and time is needed to keep things
going. This concurs with the definition of love as given in Deuteronomy, requiring “all your heart and all
68
your soul and all your strength.” Our love for God will diminish and deteriorate if we do not work on it.
In this respect also, the rule is: “Use it or lose it.” We need only to neglect God’s love in order to lose it. We
are in a position where we fall if we do not hang on. We only climb up to greater heights if we confess our
sins, ask for forgiveness on a daily basis, and deny Satan every inch of our life. If we do not do this, we fall.
We must, however, not simply write off the Ephesians as people who only routinely followed the
letter of the law and not the spirit of it. Jesus testifies about them: “You have not grown weary.” This proves
that they were not completely shut off from the source of life. A person who only leans on his own strength
will, eventually, grow weary. Only those who wait upon the Lord do not grow weary. We quote Isaiah’s
beautiful words: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow
tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
69
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Ephesus’ problem was evidently not a simple matter. There is a fine line between the right and the wrong
motives. Yet, the difference between love and not-love is immense. It is the difference between a living
church and a dead one, between the presence of the Holy Spirit and His absence, between the light of the
lampstand and darkness. It is like the difference between the temple of King Jeroboam in Bethel and the
temple in Jerusalem. When the apostle Paul writes: “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached
70
is not something that man made up,” he refers to the light of the lampstand: God’s revelation.
There are many churches from which the supernatural element has disappeared. The reason for the
removal of the lampstand is always the forsaking of the first love. One commentary on Revelation
understands the “first love” to refer to the relationship among the believers in the church in the early stages
of the life of the church. It is, of course, true that love for Jesus finds its expression in love for fellowmen
and especially fellow believers. Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel: “Whatever you did for one of the least of
71
these brothers of mine, you did for me.” But we know that the basis for all mutual love is the love of the
Lord. One can only love his neighbor as himself if he loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.
We, therefore, stick to our interpretation that the “first love” is the love of priority, not of chronology. The
“first love” is the love that lets God come first.
Returning to the first love requires an act of repentance. In order to put God again in the center of
our life we must confess our lack of love as a sin, as well as all other sins that evolved as a result of the
broken relationship.
Jesus had used the words “He who has an ear, let him hear” in the Gospels in connection with the
72
parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. The words are based upon Isaiah’s prophecy, where God says: “Be
ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving … make their ears dull …
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be
73
healed.” That whole prophecy is actually quoted in the same chapter of Matthew where the parables are
74
found. In Isaiah’s prophecy the connotation is negative but in the context in which Jesus uses them it is a
68
See Deut. 6:5
69
Isa. 40:29-31
70
Gal. 1:11
71
Matt. 25:40
72
See Matt. 13:9,43
73
Isa. 6:9,10
74
See Matt. 13:14,15

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

positive exhortation. The ear meant here is not the organ on both sides of the human head; there we find two.
It is the single ear of the heart; the organ with which the soul listens. God gives us the ability to understand
spiritual matters. He gave us an organ and we must use it. We are responsible for our own spiritual insight.
Again, it is a matter of “use it or lose it.” The ear compliments the lampstand; the two go together and
function together.
Each of these seven epistles finishes with the words: “To him who overcomes …” God places us in
this world for the purpose of gaining the victory, and so making it possible for the Kingdom of Heaven to
come. In the letter to the church of Laodicea, the Lord connects our victory with His own victory (“To him
who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
Father on his throne”). The victory Jesus refers to is His own death and resurrection. The victory Jesus wants
us to achieve begins with our identification with His death. The final result is that the church on earth will be
conformed to the church in heaven. The image must again resemble the original. For us, this means,
primarily, a removal of all negative elements. Only by dying to self through identification with the death of
Jesus Christ in our stead can the resurrection power of our Lord be realized in our life. The Lord does not
demand that we raise ourselves from the dead by any superhuman effort, but that, by means of a constant and
complete surrender of ourselves, we allow the Holy Spirit to make His resurrection a reality in our lives.
The promise connected to this victory is wonderful and glorious. Jesus puts us back in paradise in
front of the tree of life. We may stretch out our hand, eat of its fruit and live eternally. History repeats itself
although not on the same level. This is not the Garden of Eden on earth but the paradise of God. The garden
in which Adam found himself was a shadow; this is the reality. If I understand this correctly, the conditions
in paradise were a picture of a sublime choice man could make. Adam stood between two trees: the tree of
life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eating from the tree of life would have meant an
unconditional, loving surrender to God. We all know what happened when the first two human beings ate
from the tree of knowledge. The fact that the tree of life is found in the paradise of God means that we will
be able to constantly surrender ourselves to God in love. Evidently, this surrender is not “once for all,” it
stands to be repeated. The first surrender may be a crisis experience for us more than the following ones, but
real love always keeps on surrendering. Jesus Himself gives us the example in that, when the last victory is
won, He will submit Himself to the Father. The apostle Paul writes: “When he has done this, then the Son
75
himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” The fact
that the tree of life that is found in the New Jerusalem bears fruit every month makes us understand that
eternal life is not an automatic process. We will live eternally because we eat eternally.

B. To Smyrna 2:8-11
This is the shortest letter of the seven. The Lord has only positive things to say about this church.
They pass through a difficult period of persecution and poverty. It is a moving feature of this epistle that
Jesus introduced Himself as: “the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” Thus the Lord
identifies Himself with them. When He says: “I know your affliction and your poverty…” He does not mean
that He knows because He is omniscient, but that He knows experientially. He went through this Himself.
There is no pain or want that Jesus did not first suffer Himself. As the writer of Hebrews states: “For we do
not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
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tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.” The implication is that sin is not related to our
circumstances.
If Jesus, being “the First and the Last,” as we saw before, points to what Jesus did with human sin,
which came into the world by way of Adam’s disobedience, then this introduction must have been a great
encouragement to the brothers in Smyrna. They must have realized that the circumstances in which they
found themselves were abnormal. The powers that unleashed this persecution were enemies that had already
been defeated. Their demonstration of might was illegal. The very fact that all power in heaven and on earth
legally belongs to Christ made this repression bearable for them. The devil will have to give account for all
tyranny. Persecution and poverty are, by their very nature, incompatible with the Christian life. The redeemed
of the Lord are kings. Persecution and poverty form a denial of this royal dignity. The sole consolation we
have in those circumstances is that fact that our Lord went ahead of us in all this.

75
I Cor. 15:28
76
Heb. 4:15

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Jesus states, though, that the Christians in Smyrna are actually rich. They posses the true riches of
which material possessions are merely an image and sometimes they are not even that. Earthy possessions in
themselves have no value. In the conclusion of the parable of the rich fool who died on the day of his
retirement, Jesus says: “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich
77
toward God.”
Part of their persecution was psychological. The brothers were being slandered. Jesus mentioned
this kind of hardship in His Sermon on the Mount. He said: “Blessed are you when people insult you,
78
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” This last of the beatitudes deals
with calumny for Christ’s sake. In the case of Smyrna, this may refer to the controversy about circumcision
79
as we find it reported in the history of the early church in the Book of Acts and the Epistle to the Galatians.
The Christians of Smyrna were accused of not being genuine Christians because they had not obtained
salvation in Christ by way of becoming first members of the people of Israel through circumcision. Jesus has
words of sharp condemnation for such accusers and He calls them: “a synagogue of Satan.” He also denies
those people the right to call themselves “Jews,” since their hearts had never been circumcised. This means
that these uncircumcised pagans in Smyrna worshipped by the Spirit of God, gloried in Christ Jesus, and put
80
no confidence in the flesh, to quote the words of the apostle Paul. In his Epistle to the Romans Paul
defined circumcision as follows: “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely
outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the
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heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.”
From a human viewpoint, the consolation Christ offers these people is rather bleak. He announces
things that most people would try to avoid at all cost: suffering, persecution, imprisonment, and ultimately,
death. If all our efforts are geared to keep out of harm’s way, which is our natural tendency, then the Lord
has nothing to say to us.
Yet, Jesus’ words are meant to be an encouragement. In the first place, they place the condition of
the believers in Smyrna in the right light. A good deal of our human problems stem from the fact that we
have the wrong perspective. We believe that death is the worst that can ever happen to us. C. S. Lewis depicts
this problem superbly in the last volume of his series The Chronicles of Narnia, entitled The Last Battle.
There is the door of a stable behind which Tash (the prince of demons) is said to devour his victims. For
those who waited for Aslan, the door turned out to be the entrance to the glorious realm of light of a new
country.
The Lord does not take away suffering but He takes away fear. Jesus also mentions that the real
reason for persecution is testing. This is not the intention of the devil in putting people in prison. He means
to destroy but God allows the fire to burn in order to purify. In stating this, our Lord again draws a parallel
between Himself and the believers. At the onset of His earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit led Him into the
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desert to be tempted by the devil. He went before us through death and through the life that would lead to
death.
This whole letter stands in the shadow of death. But death is not the final defeat; it is the ultimate
sacrifice we bring to God. About this death the psalmist says: “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the
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death of his saints.” This death is a victory over Satan. Those who are willing to give their lives for the
Lord have overcome the devil. The real death is the second death. The first death is merely the laying off of
the mortal body as a step to take possession of the resurrection body. The second death is eternal
decomposition, the total separation from God, and the eradication of His image in man. That horror will
never befall us. The second death cannot harm us. We are immune to it. We will live as He lives.
77
Luke 12:21
78
Matt. 5:11
79
See Acts 15 and the whole of Galatians
80
See Phil. 3:3
81
Rom. 2:28,29
82
See Matt. 4:1
83
Ps. 116:15

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C. To Pergamum 2:12-17
The most prominent feature of this letter is the confrontation with the Word of God. Jesus
introduces Himself to the brothers in Pergamum as the One “who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” As
we saw already, the image emphasizes the psychoanalytical quality of the Word of God in our lives. We read
in Hebrews: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates
even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing
in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to
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whom we must give account.”
There are several factors in the church in Pergamum that needs to be examined if we want to
understand what the Lord’s reproof of them means. There was in Pergamum, what Jesus calls Himself: “the
throne of Satan.” The city was a center of idolatry. It was also one of the oldest places of emperor worship.
This means that there was intense demonic activity in that place for which the believers were not properly
prepared. The tone of the epistle leads us to believe, however, that more was lacking than spiritual
discernment. The Word of God separates the spirit from the soul, that which is spiritual from what is carnal.
Some of the sins of the believers in Pergamum were nothing but manifestations of “the flesh.”
We may see in this a parallel with the condition of Israel in the days of Haggai. When the Israelites
were forced to cease the rebuilding of the temple because of outside pressure, they availed themselves of the
85
opportunity to build houses for themselves, which they embellished elaborately. The persecution that
resulted in the death of Antipas may have furnished these people with an excuse, not only to cease witnessing
of their faith, but also to pay a little more attention to “the flesh.” Satan, evidently, had found kinks in the
Christians’ armor and he directed his commandoes against this.
In the story of Balaam, sin came in through the backdoor when the front door turned out to be
closed. For the person who knows himself to be weak, it can be frightening to be confronted with demonic
powers. In order to oppose the devil one needs more than the assurance of forgiveness of sin, although this
assurance is, of course, essential. The sword that comes from Jesus’ mouth is double-edged. It serves not
only to penetrate the human soul but also to attack the enemy. In the verse of Hebrews, quoted above, it
serves as God’s lancet in our lives; in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, the same sword is directed against the
enemy. In recommending the Christian to arm himself with God’s armor, Paul writes: “Take the helmet of
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salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Jesus not only knew where the believers in Pergamum lived, He Himself had chosen their place. In
this He not only intended to put them to the test in order to purify them, but also for them to be His
representatives who would be instrumental to dethrone Satan in that city. God uses human beings to crush
87
Satan. Paul writes in Romans: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” And in
Revelation we read: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they
88
did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” It is true, however, about most believers what
Corrie ten Boom once said about missionaries: “Many have given their all to the Lord, but they have not
taken all from the Lord.” Once the sword has done its work in our lives, God wants us to take the sword and
use it.
Balak’s hope had been that Balaam would curse Israel and that he would thus be able to defend
himself and his nation against them. This plan failed in that, when Balaam opened his mouth, only blessing
poured forth. Evidently, Balaam advised Balak to invite Israel to a feast of sacrifice for Baal Peor, by which
the men of Israel became involved in sexual immorality and idolatry. Thus the protection of God’s blessing
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over Israel would be undone. We read the story of Balaam in the Book of Numbers. When Israel raided

84
Heb. 4:12,13
85
See Hag. 1:2,3
86
Eph. 6:17
87
Rom. 16:20
88
Rev. 12:11
89
See Num. Ch. 22-25; 31:1-16

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Midian, some of the men spared the lives of the women. Moses protested against this. We read: “ ‘Have you
allowed all the women to live?’ he asked them. ‘They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and
were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague
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struck the LORD’s people.’ ” This seems to be the only verse in the Pentateuch that explains Balaam’s role
in enticing Israel to sin. It is to this verse that our Lord refers in this letter to Pergamum.
God’s protection does no longer cover us when we allow ourselves to get involved with the enemy.
There are some features in the story of Balaam that are difficult for us to understand as Christians in modern
times. We consider Balaam more to be like a spiritualist medium than an Old Testament prophet. In Balaam,
however, two opposing features seem to run together. We do not know how such a thing is possible. Balaam
may merely have been a person with para-normal abilities. He had access to the supernatural, but the moral
integrity needed to make him a man of God was lacking. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul
speaks of people: “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” He advises Timothy: “Have nothing to
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do with them.” Balaam seems to have had the power, but not the form. This allowed Satan to exercise his
power over the man. Balaam had never died to himself; he was covetous. The only thing that interested him
was the price Balak would pay for his prophecy. He was willing to murder, to commit idolatry, and to
destroy for that. Supernatural power that does not remain in the hands of Jesus Christ will turn itself against
our own life. In his second epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul writes: “But we have this treasure in
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jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” It is dangerous if the
treasure is not kept in a jar of clay. What Paul writes does not speak of our humility but of our protection.
Jesus speaks of “the teaching of Balaam.” This suggests that, not only had Balaam fallen into the
trap Satan had set for him, but he had also elevated his own failure to a philosophy of life. Some people
today lump all spiritual powers together, as if it makes no difference whether the power originates in God or
in the devil. We call this: “tolerance.” It is possible that the Nicolaitans practiced some kind of tolerance.
They shook hands with those who were of other religious persuasions. People who are bent on maintaining
their independence from God often appear to be tolerant and considerate. A confrontation with the Word of
God will reveal the real motives. Jesus says to the Nicolaitans in Pergamum that the Holy Spirit will apply
the Word of God in their lives, not as creative, healing, and renewing, but as judging, reproving, and
destroying. When a person stands naked before the living God, in whose image he was created, all pretenses
will fall away.
There appears to be progression in the promises Jesus gives to those who overcome. Eating of the
hidden manna is the third step on the way of becoming like Christ in His perfection. Spiritual life begins with
93
eating from the tree of life, which represents loving surrender to God. Then follows life out of death in the
94
resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is followed by the daily experience of being fed supernaturally. Jesus
expounds on this way of life in the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel in His great sermon about the bread of
life. Manna was the daily food the Israelites fed upon in the desert, which they acquired not by means of their
own effort; they did not grow it themselves, it was God’s gift to them. It “grew” in a desert in which nothing
can grow. The greatest emphasis is upon the intimacy of a relationship with God. This fellowship consists of
“eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking His blood.” In John’s Gospel Jesus says: “I tell you the truth, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and
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drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” One immediate result of the
victory in which He places us is the complete identification with His sacrifice on the cross as a daily
experience.
It is difficult to determine what is the meaning of the white stone. No two commentators agree on
this. The Adam Clarke’s Commentary states: “It is supposed that by the white stone is meant pardon or

90
Num. 31: 15,16
91
II Tim. 3:5
92
II Cor. 4:7
93
Rev. 2:7
94
Rev. 2:11
95
John 6:53,54

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

acquittance, and the evidence of it; and that there is an allusion here to the custom observed by judges in
ancient times, who were accustomed to give their suffrages by white and black pebbles; those who gave the
former were for absolving the culprit, those who gave the latter were for his condemnation.” Some believe
that white stones were used as “tickets” for some gatherings to which people were invited. Vincent’s Word
Studies of the New Testament observes: “It is impossible to fix the meaning of the symbol with any
certainty. The following are some of the principal views: The Urim and Thummim concealed within the
High Priest’s breastplate of judgment. This is advocated by Trench, who supposes that the Urim was a
peculiarly rare stone, possibly the diamond, and engraven with the ineffable name of God. The new name he
regards as the new name of God or of Christ (Rev 3:12); some revelation of the glory of God which can be
communicated to His people only in the higher state of being, and which they only can understand who have
actually received.” This explanation includes the figure of the “new name,” which evidently stands for the
renewal of the whole man through the process of dying and resurrection.

D. To Thyatira 2:18-29
To this church Jesus introduces Himself in His three-fold position as the Son of God, with eyes like
blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze. In appearing to John in the previous chapter, Jesus presented
Himself as a “Son of Man,” here as “Son of God.”
The most important feature of this letter is again judgment. “I am he who searches hearts and
minds.” The Greeks reads literally: “I am he which searches the reins (kidneys) and hearts.” In a way this
letter covers the same ground as the one to Pergamum, but it goes one step further. Jezebel was farther along
on the road to destruction than Balaam. This is the reason the Lord reveals Himself in His divine majesty and
glory. Only a confrontation with God’s glory will bring conviction of sin. Jesus’ eyes are like blazing fire.
When the mirrors of God’s soul shoot fire, man falls under judgment. In this the wrath of God is being
96
revealed. Few people realize that “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Yet, the Christians in Thyatira fare better than, for instance, the ones in Ephesus. Jesus testifies
about them that they possess love, and faith, and perseverance, and that they have grown in these things since
their conversion. We read: “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that
you are now doing more than you did at first.” He does not reproach them that they commit sin but that they
tolerate sin. The problem presents itself that the Lord seems to favor a church split, but at the same time, He
threatens those who commit sin with punishment, not as outsiders but as members of the body of Christ.
We do not know precisely what the sin of Jezebel was. It is not clear whether it was a matter of
idolatry or that the sexual immorality was in fact a physical affair. It may have been a combination of the
two. Idol worship in the temples was often accompanied by ritual sexual intercourse. Jesus, evidently,
expected the church to use her spiritual authority to cut off the offenders from the fellowship of the body
and to deliver them over to the powers of darkness, as Paul suggests in his first epistle to the Corinthians.
Paul wrote: “Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed
judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord
Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so
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that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.” Inasmuch as the church
98
had not used her prerogative to bind and loose, the Lord considers the sin to be part of the church. Jesus
respects and upholds the authority He has given to us.
It is also clear from this letter that it is dangerous to meddle in the occult. The believers in Thyatira
were so preoccupied with their study of the strategy of the enemy that they fell into his snares. We are not
called to analyze Satan but to crush him. Jesus Himself hardly ever allowed the evil spirits that possessed
people to speak.
99
According to the Book of Kings, Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. She
was responsible for the fact that Israel ultimately perished in idolatry of the worst kind. There can be no
doubt about it but that Queen Jezebel had completely dedicated herself to Satan. Both in Samaria as in

96
Heb. 10:31
97
I Cor. 5:3-5
98
See Matt. 18:18
99
I Kings 16:31

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Thyatira, she must be considered to be a “fifth column” in the service of the devil to destroy the work of
God. Yet, Jesus does not treat her as a demon but as a human being. He gives her an opportunity for
repentance. This means that she was still the object of God’s love. Her immorality stands for more than
sexual license only. Jezebel represents the person who has abandoned his first love, who has given the love
that is God’s due to someone else. We can hardly imagine how much God suffers from our infidelity.
Every sin has its own built-in punishment. The same bed on which Jezebel commits her adultery
will become her sickbed. The sin man commits will turn against him. All things only work for good for
those who love God.
Outwardly, there is a great similarity between the brothers in Smyrna and the erring ones in
Thyatira. They both pass through a great tribulation. In the first instance it is an attack by the enemy that the
Lord permits in order to test and purify His children; in the other case it is a punishment for sin. Whether this
tribulation in Thyatira consists of sickness, followed by death, is not clear. Jezebel will become sick herself
but it is not stated that her followers will meet the same fate. “I will strike her children dead” may not refer
to physical death. Things are rarely black and white in everyday life. Yet, we ought to be able to distinguish
clearly between one kind of tribulation and another. We will only understand the difference in the light of the
Lord. C. S. Lewis says: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in our circumstances, but He
shouts to us in our pain.” It is important for us to know what God is saying to us.
To those who have remained faithful to the Lord, Jesus says: “I will not impose any other burden on
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you.” Those words are borrowed from the letter the council in Jerusalem wrote to the church in Antioch.
The words: “Hold on to what you have” refer to their faith in the forgiveness of sin by the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and a life of holiness through the filling of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else and
nothing more is necessary. Added to this, the Lord holds out to them the promise of His coming. It is
remarkable that His coming is presented both as a threat and as a promise. In the letter to Pergamum, we
read: “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of
my mouth,” and here for those who love Him and await His coming: “Only hold on to what you have until I
come.” The foundation of our life as Christians is the forgiveness of our sins through the unmerited favor of
God, which is called “grace.” Our fellowship and all our spiritual authority are based upon this. In order to
maintain the right perspective, we must constantly return to this basis, intellectually and emotionally, for our
spiritual purification. We must never forget what we were and how we began; otherwise we get the wrong
picture of what we are now.
The conclusion of the letter sounds strange to our modern ears. First of all, it is difficult for us to
place ourselves in the dispensation of wrath, because we still live in the time of grace. We tend to think that
the love of God makes it impossible for people to be punished for their sin.
We must also understand who is meant by “the nations.” The Greek word ethnos usually means, by
implication, “pagan.” The KJV renders it “gentiles,” or “heathen.” Who are these pagans? They are obviously
not merely non-Jews, but people who persevere in their rebellion against God and who reject the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ words are a quotation from the Second Psalm: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash
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them to pieces like pottery.” The words pertain to the authority of the Christian to demolish strongholds
that are erected against the work of the Holy Spirit and to end demonic resistance. This authority is based
upon our sharing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is also referred to in the above-mentioned psalm.
That is, probably, also the meaning of “the morning star.” In the end of this book, Jesus Himself is called:
102
“the bright Morning Star.” The brightness of the star reminds us of what the Book of Proverbs says about
the future of the believer: “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till
103
the full light of day.” The meaning of this promise of the Lord is that we will become part of Jesus
Himself; we will share His authority and His resurrection.

100
See Acts 15:28 (KJV)
101
Ps. 2:8,9
102
Rev. 22:16
103
Prov. 4:18

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The letter to the church in Thyatira teaches us that it is dangerous to use the gifts that are given to
us to merely study and analyze the Evil One. The purpose is that we conquer and destroy him.

E. To Sardis 3:1-6

Better than in any of the other letters, we see in this one the difference between “the flesh” and the
spirit. This church had the reputation of being a living church, but they were spiritually dead. Outwardly,
they looked very good, but the essential element was lacking. Jesus presents Himself to them as the One who
possesses the seven spirits of God, which is the Holy Spirit. This description of the Holy Spirit is not found
in the picture John paints of the risen Lord when he first sees Him. He does mention the seven spirits before
the throne in his greeting, and in Chapter Four, the Spirit of God is represented under the image of seven
blazing lamps. It is clear that the Holy Spirit is part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is full of the Holy
Spirit and He communicates with the church by means of the Holy Spirit.
The believers in Sardis, however, do not have the Spirit of God. They had obviously received the
Spirit before, since their names were written in the book of life. But they do not enjoy the fullness of the
Spirit. Their clothes are soiled and thus the Spirit had departed from them. They had fallen asleep and they
departed from the grace they had originally received.
We could use this epistle and tell Calvin that, obviously, not all saints persevere. God is faithful
and eternally immutable, but if we receive the pardon of our sins and then fall asleep, our life is endangered.
It is as dangerous as falling asleep with fire in our hands.
There is a step we must make after conversion by which we burn our bridges behind us and make
our relationship with God irrevocable. The church in Sardis had the reputation of being alive, but they were
dead.
The fact that Jesus mentions the seven starts in this context suggests a relationship between the
condition of the leader of the church and the state of the church. Spiritual death had entered the church via its
leader.
Jesus says to these people: “I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” The
measure they had used to evaluate their own deeds was not the measure of the glory of God but their own
human standard. They had compared themselves with other churches and other pastors of churches, and they
had come to the conclusion that they were not doing too poorly. Whoso looks at himself in someone else’
mirror always sees a flattering image. Thus they acquired the reputation of being alive. Now, we know that it
is humanly impossible to measure up to the glory of God. In order for our deeds to be complete in the sight
of God, we must be perfect like God is perfect, and no one is sufficient to that. Therefore, God expects us to
fall down before Him and confess our impotence to Him in order for His Holy Spirit to fill us. Only the
Holy Spirit of God can perform deeds that are complete in the sight of God. We can only entertain the
illusion that we are not doing too poorly if we lose sight of the glory of God. Loss of that vision produces
all kinds of distorted images for us, which leads us along the wrong paths in life. It is important for us to be
able to say about God what David said about him: “I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my
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right hand, I will not be shaken.”
The sad part of not being filled with the Holy Spirit is that the chain of God’s grace is broken.
Those around us who, in the words of the Book of Proverbs, are “being led away to death,” and “those
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staggering toward slaughter” will not be held back and rescued by the love of God if they do not see it
shining through our lives. The rich man, who suffered the pains of hell in Jesus’ parable, came to the
realization that he had never bothered about his five brothers who were also on their way to hell. The traffic
goes in two directions: when we fall asleep we will not be bothered by the fate of others; and we will
disregard the warning the Book of Proverbs gives us: “If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does
not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each
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person according to what he has done?” These who say: “But we knew nothing about this” are liars. It
always boils down to the same thing that if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will recognize the need of

104
Acts 2:25
105
See Prov. 24:11
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Prov. 24:12

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his life. And a lack of love for one’s neighbor can always be traced back to a lack of love for God. The
beginning and the end is always the “first love.”
Dr. Robert Jaffray, a missionary with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in China, Singapore,
and Indonesia, had a burden for the lost people of the Far East. His vision in the early decades of the
twentieth century accounts for the fact that the Gospel penetrated the island of Bali, the jungles of Borneo,
Celebes, and New Guinea. That is the kind of neighborly love the Lord expects from us. The Second Coming
of Jesus will take us by surprise if the Lord finds us busy with all kinds of futile self-interests. Jesus always
calls us back to the beginning, to the moment our eyes were opened to reality and we realized that God had
forgiven our sins in the death of His Son. To forget this reality will soil us morally.
Walking with Jesus, dressed in white, does not mean that we have become perfect by means of a
superhuman effort. This is effected by the application of our pardon to our daily life. At a later point in this
Book of Revelation, John speaks about people who “have washed their robes and made them white in the
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blood of the Lamb.”
The Lord gives three simple instructions to repair the damage: “remember,” “obey,” and “repent.”
The NIV’s “obey” is the translation of the Greek tereo, which means: “to guard,” or “hold fast.” We find the
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same word in Jesus’ words: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard.” The apostle Paul says basically the same
things in his Epistle to the Galatians: “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very
eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you
receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning
with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for
nothing-if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because
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you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” It is always salutary for us to remember
the beginning. This first reaction when we met the Lord and gave up what we were doing, surrendering
ourselves to what we heard, must always be repeated. Although we may not fall back into the same sins,
there is always some deterioration, some weakening or confusion from which we must be delivered through
confession and forgiveness. Sometimes we have to rid ourselves of some theological baggage that hinders
our vision of the Lord, such as was the case with the church in Galatia, who, after their conversion and being
filled by the Holy Spirit, began to adhere to the doctrine of circumcision.
Our first impressions at the time of our conversion are often quite correct. How do we keep that?
In C. S. Lewis’ book The Silver Chair, the children are ordered to repeat the signs for themselves, every
morning and evening. Things go wrong for them, however, because they forget to do this and, consequently,
they do not recognize the signs when they see them. Repeating the signs in Lewis’ book corresponds to our
being occupied with the Word of God. We obey the message as we have received it by daily reading the
written Word of God. Moses could not have been more right when he said: “They are not just idle words for
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you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
The Lord Jesus Himself gives us the example in His knowing and handling of the Bible. He shows us what it
means to keep it and obey it. Our reaction to the hearing of the Word of God must be that we orientate our
life in accordance with it; that we do away with disobedience and allow ourselves to be cleansed from all
spiritual pollution.
The Lord links the warning in this letter to His return. The words: “I will come like a thief” are
borrowed from the Gospels. We read in Matthew’s Gospel: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not
know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what
time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken
into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect
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him.” Paul refers to the same picture in his Epistle to the Thessalonians, where he says: “Now, brothers,

107
Rev. 7:14
108
John 14:15 (NKJV)
109
Gal. 3:1-5
110
Deut. 32:47
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Matt. 24:42-44

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about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will
come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them
suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in
darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.
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We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” Sin tends to dim our vision and make us lose sight of
the right perspective. We often act as if the circumstances of the present will remain eternally the same and
as if the things God loaned to us for our use are our private possessions. For those whose minds have been
dulled by sin, the coming of the Lord Jesus will be the ultimate embarrassment. For those who are longing
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for the coming of the Lord it is the fulfillment of all hope. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
The words: “He who overcomes” can be, in a sense, misleading. The victory is like Jacob’s victory
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at Peniel, when he wrestled with the angel and begged for his favor. He who struggles with his own
conscience and loses is a winner. Here also, those are the victors who have washed their garments and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is to say, they asked for forgiveness of their sins and received it.
The names of those who have allowed themselves to be cleansed are written in heaven. This
registration is first mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus says: “However, do not rejoice that the
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spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” I don’t know if it is possible for
a name that has been thus entered in the books of heaven to be erased again. We could ask why the Lord
would make this statement if that were not possible. This may sound strange, but I believe that the question
whether a person can lose his salvation does not have much practical importance. Those that ask the
question, usually try to sail very close to the wind. Those who know themselves to be eternally safe will also
persevere. After all, perseverance is not what we do, but what we know God will do for us.
The words “[I] will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels” also have their
antecedent in the Gospel. We read in Matthew: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also
acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him
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before my Father in heaven.” From these quotations we may conclude that overcoming also consists of
confessing the Lord Jesus before our fellowmen. If we tell other people that we know Jesus Christ, Jesus
will say to the Father that He knows us. I try to imagine what it will be when the Lord takes my hand and
places me before the throne of glory, before Him who had the appearance of jasper and carnelian and that He
will say: “Father, this is My brother, John Schultz.” The angels in heaven will demonstrate the same joy as on
the day of my conversion.

F. To Philadelphia 3:7-13

This letter, together with the one to Smyrna, is the most positive of all seven letters. Jesus had
nothing negative to say about the brothers in Philadelphia, maybe with the exception of the fact that they had
“little strength.”
Jesus introduces Himself in the opening words as the One “who is holy and true, who holds the key
of David.” This title is again a demonstration of how completely human Jesus is. Holiness is the most
indefinable of God’s attributes. As human beings, we can only come up with negative definitions such as
“without sin,” “uncontaminated.” In that sense, holiness is God’s most “un-human” characteristic. The
seraphs in Isaiah’s vision equated holiness with glory. We read: “And they were calling to one another:
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‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ ” Maybe we can define
holiness as the sum of God’s infinite perfections, as the whole of God’s eternal attributes. Jesus is holy
because He is God.

112
I Thess. 5:1-5
113
Rev 22:20
114
See Hosea 12:4
115
Luke 10:20
116
Matt. 10:32,33. See also Luke 12:8,9
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Isa. 6:3

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Furthermore, “holy” is used for everything that belongs to God. This is the original meaning of the
Hebrew word. The words qadowsh and qadash have the meaning of “being set apart,” as in the verse: “And
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God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” In that sense of the word, we as human beings can be
called “holy,” inasmuch as we are God’s property. From a linguistic point of view, the word “holy” clarifies
nothing, because only God is holy and “holy” means: “that which is God’s.” This does not say anything, and
yet, it says it all!
The same thing can be said about “true.” But “truth” and “true” are concepts that are closer to home
for us. We use the word “true,” however, exclusively for events and words. A person speaks the truth when
he relates what really happened. Incongruity between words and facts, we call “a lie.” In daily life, we use the
concept of truth exclusively within this framework. We seldom realize that truth is an absolute. Truth
evinces itself for us in a comparison between word and fact. The measuring stick in the comparison is the
fact. In reality, however, truth comes only truly to light in a comparison with God. He is the ultimate
measure, the absolute standard. God, therefore, is the only Person who can say: “I am the truth.” This makes
“truth” for us, who bear the image of God, a moral factor. We are only true inasmuch as we, as copies,
resemble the original.
Jesus speaks as the Second Person of the Trinity when He says: “I am the truth!” He is the truth
because He is the source, the measure, and the content of truth.
The expression “the key of David” is most interesting. Jesus’ words are the quotation of a rather
mysterious verse in Isaiah, a prophecy about Eliakim son of Hilkiah, which reads: “I will place on his
shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can
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open.” “The key of David,” which is obviously the same as “the key to the house of David,” is the power
of the resurrection from the dead. It stands for Jesus’ authority over death and Hades. In the most literal
sense of the word, it is the key to victory over everything that has risen up in rebellion to God. Death is both
the first and the last enemy.
Now, what does David have to do with this? The prophet Samuel called David “a man after [God’s]
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own heart.” To a superficial Bible student, this seems to mean that God thought David to be a nice boy.
We often little understand that God compares everything and everybody with Himself. God saw in David an
image of His own Son Jesus. Our value consists in the fact that we reflect God’s reality. If we resemble
God’s image and our acts reflect God’s deeds, we have eternal value. King Saul of old, to whom Samuel
addressed his prophecy about David, had no notion that the royal dignity God had bestowed upon him was
ultimately meant to conquer death. David, however, must have had an inkling of this, because he wrote in
one of his Psalms: “Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see
decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal
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pleasures at your right hand.” David had the key! Later on in Revelation, Jesus calls Himself: “the Root
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and the Offspring of David.” It is amazing to see how God has linked David’s name to His own divine
character. David himself must have been amazed most of all. God honors the person who honors Him. It
always comes back to the fact that God created man in order to rule over all of creation and that He clothed
him with glory and honor for this purpose. If Adam had not tried to take a “shortcut” to this glory, which
became his downfall, all of this would have been the most natural for us. Now we can only look with respect
and amazement to this key of David.
In connection with this, we should not neglect to hear Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew’s Gospel:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
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whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Here Jesus defines holding the key as being able
to bind and loose. In the parallel passage in John’s Gospel, we read: “And with that he breathed on them and

118
Gen. 2:3
119
Isa. 22:22
120
See I Sam. 13:14
121
Ps. 16:10,11
122
Rev. 22:16
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Matt. 16:19

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said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
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they are not forgiven.” There, the key is the Person of the Holy Spirit and the authority connected to that
is described as the power to forgive or not to forgive sin. When Jesus reveals that He has the key of David,
He demonstrates that He is a human being in the fullest sense of the word. Jesus uses this key to open the
door of forgiveness. This key fits on all the doors of forgiveness, resurrection, and redemption from the
bonds of the devil. Jesus’ key-position in this, “the year of the Lord’s favor,” is the power to save. We must
understand that the power to bind or loose, to forgive or not to forgive, does not mean that we can keep
people who want to repent of their sins from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. We loosen the bonds of those
who were bound by the devil. The door we close is the door we slam shut in the face of Satan.
The door Jesus opens for the believers in Philadelphia is not only the door of freedom for
themselves, but also the opportunity to bring in others by means of their testimony. We could say that the
Lord has left the key in the lock.
Jesus does not necessarily compliment the Philippians for the fact that they possess little strength. If
that strength is their own, it has little or no value and the strength of God is never little. “Little strength”
means that they did not take full advantage of God’s omnipotence. The Philippians may have given their all
to God, but they had not taken His all for themselves. The church in Philippi was not as good as she could
have been but there are no sins among them that the Lord has to mention.
Jesus states two things about them that are compliments: they have kept His Word and they have
not denied His Name. This means that they went through tribulation, and they did not yield to the temptation
to take the easy way out, as Peter had done. It also means that they had not trusted their own strength to
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withstand the devil. They had not stated, like Peter, that they were ready to die with Christ. But when they
were pressed hard, “they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their
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distress.” Such experiences make us the more appreciate the grace of God. The realization that we could
have perished but that the Lord intervened, builds up faith. In the words of Jeremiah’s Lamentations:
“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new
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every morning; great is your faithfulness.” As the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I can do
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everything through him who gives me strength.” And to the Corinthians he wrote: “That is why, for
Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am
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weak, then I am strong.”
Jesus says to the Philippians: “You have kept my word.” “Blessed rather are those who hear the
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word of God and obey it.” There are many blessings bestowed in the Gospel upon those who receive the
Word of God and obey it. Those who take the Word of God seriously become partakers of the divine nature.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes the stunning statement: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are
gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came-and the Scripture cannot be broken- what
about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse
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me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?” These are the people who, in the Parable of the
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Sower, are compared to the good soil that receives the seed and produces fruit.
In Jesus’ last conversation with His disciple, just before going to the cross, He emphasized the
importance of obeying the Word, stating that it is the basis for the coming of the Holy Spirit. We read in
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John 20:22,23
125
See Matt. 26:35
126
See Ps. 107:6,19,28
127
Lam. 3:22,23
128
Phil. 4:13
129
II Cor. 12:10
130
Luke 11:28
131
John 10:34-36
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See Matt. 13:23

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John’s Gospel: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it
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neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” Obedience
to the Word of God will make us realize God’s eternal love for us. We read again in John’s Gospel: “
‘Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by
my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.’ Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘But, Lord,
why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’ Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will
obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who
does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father
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who sent me.’ ” The image of the vine and the branches represents the person who knows fellowship with
God because he obeys God’s Word. It is our obedience to the Word of God that forms the limitations and
limitlessness of our prayers. As Jesus said: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever
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you wish, and it will be given you.” It safeguards our remaining in the love of God. “As the Father has
loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my
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love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” And it generates in us love for
137
our fellowmen. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” Truly: “Blessed … are those
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who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Jesus promises the believers in Philippi some sensational conversions of Jews who, initially,
rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This seems to be the conclusion we may draw from verse nine: “I will
make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars-I will
make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” Those people were
probably Jews in the physical sense of the word, who were Judaists, who persecuted Christians as Saul of
Tarsus had done. Jesus states that they belong to the synagogue of Satan and that their claim to be Jews is
false. We are reminded of Paul’s words in Romans: “No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not
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from men, but from God.” And in Philippians: “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship
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by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.” That makes us
who believe in Jesus a Jew. I am related to the Lion of Judah because I have been born again through Jesus
of Nazareth. My heart has been circumcised and I await the return of Him who is the hope of Israel, the light
of the world. How much more Jewish can one be!
These pseudo Jews would recognize that Jesus loved the brothers in Philippi. Paul says that Jews
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demand miraculous signs, but he continues: “we preach Christ crucified.” Whether these Jews were
convinced by a supernatural demonstration or whether they understood that the death of Christ was the seal
of God’s love, we do not know. Maybe both! Maybe the “little strength” of the Philippians turned into a
mighty power when they read the letter that is addressed to them in this book. Their faith may have broken
through the limitations of their little strength and they were swept away by God’s omnipotence. Outsiders
saw this and were attracted to the demonstration of God’s love among these people and the strength of their
fellowship with one another. That must have been what happened.

133
John 14:15-17
134
John 14:21-24
135
John 15:7
136
John 15:9,10
137
John 15:12
138
Luke 11:28
139
Rom. 2:29
140
Phil. 3:3
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See I Cor. 1:22,23

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

As people who subscribe to the dispensational theology, what do we do with Verse Ten? Does this
mean that part of the church will go through the Great Tribulation and part will be taken up in the rapture?
This verse could cause as many problems to the theology of the rapture as verse five could to the doctrine of
eternal security. We observe, though, that in either verse, the Lord does not mention an alternative. The
positive message is that those who wait upon the Lord will be kept from temptation. This throws a new light
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on the prayer: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
To those Christians who lived two millennia ago, Jesus says: “I am coming soon.” If we take these
words to pertain to the Second Coming, the word “soon” seems out of place. It remains true, of course, that
we ought all to live as if Jesus died yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is coming back tomorrow. It
remains a problem, though, that these people all died before the Lord’s return. For a believer, death has the
same effect as the Second Coming in the sense that it frees us from physical suffering and from the power
and the presence of sin. Whether we will sense the resurrection of the body, which is one of the main events
that will take place at the Second Coming, as something missing, I do not know. In a way all Christians who
have died up to the present time are like the Old Testament believers of whom the writer of Hebrews states:
“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had
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planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” The solution
may be in the fact that the Lord considers all believers to be like one body. Thus the Second Coming cannot
take place without one member, not without us. In the same way as the Old Testament believers did not
receive what God had promised to them in their lifetime, so most New Testament Christians die before the
promised Second Coming occurs. Yet, Jesus said about Abraham: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the
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thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” I do not believe this to mean that Abraham looked
from above with joy when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but that Abraham, in the various episodes of his life
on earth, experienced the reality of redemption and incarnated this reality, as, for instance, in his faith in
God’s call and promises and in his sacrifice of Isaac. Is it possible that we can also, in like manner,
experience and exhibit facets of the Parousia in our days on earth? That would in no way take away anything
of this historic value of the future event.
Accepting Christ as the Lord of our life forms the basis for all God’s blessings upon us. Without
such a basis, blessings would have no effect. Speaking about this basis, Jesus says twice: “Whoever has will
be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from
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him.” The first time Jesus makes this statement, He speaks about seeing the Kingdom of Heaven and
understanding its secret. The second time, the context is our responsibility in connection with the return of
the Lord. The foundation in both cases is the same. If our life is surrendered to the Lord, we will understand
and act accordingly. In this sense we must understand the words: “Hold on to what you have.”
What does the crown mean? The image of God within us is the royal dignity of our humanity. As
the flower is folded in the bud and the tree in the seed, so God, at the time of creation, has put in us the
crown. In the life of the person who is not born again, this seed does not germinate. Even after the Holy
Spirit has transformed our lives, this crown can be lost. Why would Jesus otherwise say: “Hold on to what
you have, so that no one will take your crown.” If the danger were not real, the warning would be redundant.
In The Parable of the Sower, we see that there are factors that can stunt and hinder the growth and fruit
bearing of the seed. These same factors can be applied without modification to our obtaining of the crown.
Jesus uses two parables to illustrate the factors which lead to the obtaining of the crown. In Luke’s Gospel is
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the story of the ten slaves who each receive one mina. Everyone receives the same, which exemplifies the
grace of God. We find the second parable in Matthew’s Gospel, where the talents are given according to the
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person’s ability. This speaks of the spiritual gifts God gives. The enemy can take the crown away. As the

142
Matt. 6:13
143
Heb. 11:39,40
144
John 8:56
145
Matt. 13:12; 25:29
146
See Luke 19:11-27
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See Matt. 25:14-30

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birds eat the seed that falls on the wayside, so the devil can rob us of our crown. We can apply the points of
The Parable of the Sower step by step to this situation. There is refusal to be broken, the worries of this life,
and the deceitfulness of wealth. All these can cancel out the crowning of our salvation. The only legal way to
lose our crown is to cast our crowns before the throne of God and exclaim: “You are worthy, our Lord and
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God, to receive glory and honor and power.”
In this warning, Jesus emphasizes the fact that these people already have a crown. The point is not
to obtain one but not to lose the one we have.
Jesus makes the conqueror a part of God’s temple, that is part of the spiritual house of worship.
The victory mentioned here is, undoubtedly, the same as the ones mentioned in the previous letters. In
connection with Sardis, we stated that the victory was as the victory of Jacob at Peniel. That is the only
victory possible. It means receiving a blessing by pleading for grace. It is the victory of the tax collector in
the temple of whom we read: “He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have
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mercy on me, a sinner.’ ” At that moment, the tax collector became a pillar in God’s temple. The temple
is built with this kind of people.
Jesus’ promise: “I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new
name” involves more than an engraving in stone. He promises that we will bear the Name of God. That
means that God will make us partake in what He is. Other creatures will look at us and call us by the Name
of God. They will say: “He is God.” This sounds so unbelievable that I cannot grasp it. It also sounds so
dangerous that I feel I could lose my sanctification because of it. But that does not make it less true. The
name of the New Jerusalem is the name of the church, the fellowship of believers. It makes us realize that
this tremendous transformation is not merely a personal matter; it is an experience that befalls us as members
of the body of Christ. The name of the New Jerusalem is also the Name of God’s glory. Toward the end of
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this book, we read about the New Jerusalem: “It shone with the glory of God.” The streets of gold, the
foundations of the city, the walls and the gates are nothing else but images of God’s glory.
The last name Jesus mentions is the secret Name Jesus received Himself from the Father. John says
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about this: “He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.” This must be the name of
the only real human being, the one who has gained the real victory. It represents the summit of what the man
of God can achieve. This new identity, Jesus is willing to share with us.

G. To Laodicea 3:14-22

This last letter is the saddest of all in the series. The condition of this church expresses, at the same
time, the church’s dismal condition and the Lord’s deep compassion and eternal love.
As in the other epistles, the introductory words are important because they reveal the points of
comparison between the character of the Lord and of the church on earth. Jesus calls Himself: “the Amen,
the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.” The “Amen” stands for the confirmation of all
God’s promises. The apostle Paul gives the following explanation: “For no matter how many promises God
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has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
Jesus is proof of God’s reliability.
All of the trouble in which the church of Laodicea finds herself, all of her spiritual poverty, can be
traced back to her lack of vision of God’s trustworthiness. The words: “the faithful and true witness” are
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repeated from the introduction of this book. John the Baptist said the same things about Jesus. We read:
“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks

148
Rev. 4: 11
149
Luke 18:13
150
Rev. 21:11
151
Rev. 19:12
152
II Cor. 1:20
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Rev. 1:5

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as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and
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heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.”
In that sense, Jesus is the bridge between that which is natural and supernatural.
In the context of the Book of Revelation, this means, undoubtedly, that it is Jesus who is the giver
of the revelation. The emphasis is on Jesus’ words, His instructions as we read them in the Gospels. The NIV
reads: “the ruler of God’s creation.” It renders the Greek word arche, “ruler.” Most translations read:
“beginning.” The expression “The Beginning of the creation of God” corresponds probably to: “the firstborn
from the dead” in the first chapter. It is also true that the physical creation owes its existence to the Word.
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“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” But the
emphasis in this section seems to be more on the restoration of fallen mankind. What matters here is life out
of death in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was what was lacking in the church of Laodicea. They were
spiritually dead. There was a total lack of the joy of new life. Jesus is the faithful and true witness, but they
were not. He was dead and is alive for ever and ever; they are still dead.
The question arises why Jesus still addresses them as a church. The lampstand has, undoubtedly,
already been removed from their midst. The Holy Spirit has left them. There is no supernatural element in
their midst to be found. Yet, the people in Laodicea boast in their riches. The church may have had a glorious
past. They were proud of their heritage, but the personal relationship with God which their parents
possessed, which is the foundation of their heritage, was foreign to them. It is possible that Jesus addresses
them as a church because of their parents’ faithfulness.
The sin of which Jesus accuses these people is the sin of indifference. They demonstrated neither
love nor hatred; they had become so tolerant that it was repulsive. They must have been “hot,” though, about
matters that pertained to themselves. They were as the Israelites in the first chapter of Haggai’s prophecy,
who had some pious excuses for not rebuilding the temple, but who were busy with their own, well-paneled,
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houses. The point in Jesus’ reproach is that they were lukewarm in connection with the Lord and the
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Kingdom. “Would that you were cold or hot!” The Lord, probably, respects “honest atheists,” people who
cannot bring themselves to entrust themselves to a spiritual reality they cannot see. But for those who have
seen and tasted that the Lord is good and then “draw in their horns” He does not show any respect.
Indifference toward God always demonstrates itself in indifference toward fellowmen. Loving God
with all that is in us always goes together with loving our neighbor as ourselves. The tepidness of Laodicea
cannot have meant anything else but apathy toward their neighbors. When Jesus lived on earth, He
demonstrated deep compassion with the lot of men, often being moved to tears by their suffering. The
Laodiceans are condemned on an earthly level, in the relationship from man to man. God expects us to be
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what Jesus was during His life on earth, consumed with zeal for God’s house.
Jesus’ loathing of the Laodiceans is as deep as is His love for them. But love does not change the
harshness of judgment. Love takes the punishment of sin upon itself, but it does not weaken the horror and
the repulsion of sin. Love only covers sin if there is confession and asking for forgiveness.
The Greek has twice the word hoti, “because” in the text, once in verse sixteen and once in
seventeen. The NIV omits this in the second instance. The first “because” is followed by Jesus’ repugnance
for the attitude of these people. We must be well advanced in our Phariseeism if God feels loathing toward
us. The second “because” is followed by a three-fold warning.
The opinion of the people in Laodicea about themselves was: “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and
do not need a thing.” This could have meant a very positive and profound confession of faith. It is quite
possible for a materially poor person to be rich in God. These are the only riches that ultimately count. But
such a confession can only be based on faith. Unless we have come to the point where, in the surrender of
ourselves, we learn to dip into God’s riches, our riches are an illusion. There are Christians who are richer
than they themselves know, and there are others who are much poorer than they think themselves to be. The

154
John 3:31-33
155
John 1:3
156
See Hag. 1:2,3,9
157
Rev. 3:15 (RSV)
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See John 2:17

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latter are by far the most to be pitied. It is probable that the riches mentioned here are material wealth. It is
possible that these people were blinded by the fact that they had accumulated possessions. Riches always
creates an illusion of power. But, as in the Parable of the Sower, the thorns and thistles choke the seed of the
Word of God. It is also possible that the Laodiceans intended to lay hands on God’s spiritual riches, without
meeting God’s conditions of surrender and love.
A person without God has little notion of his real condition. Some of the Stone Age tribes we
worked with on the mission field called themselves “the real people,” a notion that seemed ridiculous in our
Western eyes. The Papua Jali tribes people called themselves “Lords of the earth.” We must remember,
however, that few of us escape from the trap of having inflated opinions about our own race. Not only do we
consider ourselves to be more than we are, but often we believe that we are the opposite of what we really
are.
The Laodiceans thought themselves to be rich, while in reality, they were “wretched, pitiful, poor,
blind and naked.” How terrible to live with such an illusion! What a shock it must be when, all of a sudden,
our eyes are opened to our real condition. Jesus advises these people to buy gold from Him. It is not stated
how much they would have to pay. We think of Isaiah’s invitation: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to
the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
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without cost.” We also see the picture of the human being who is bankrupt and has to sell himself into
slavery in order to stay alive. The gold is ours, if we give ourselves to the Lord. Our poverty will be a thing
of the past, our nakedness will be covered, and our eyes will be opened.
The words “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” seem to stand outside the context of this
letter. But a closer look makes clear that this is not the case. In the first place, Jesus says that He loves these
people. We see here the same mixed emotions as evinced in the Gospel, where Jesus meets with opposition
by the Pharisees and Sadducees. We read in Mark’s Gospel: “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply
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distressed at their stubborn hearts.” We find the same distress here. If Jesus had not loved the people in
Loadicea, He would have let them be. But now He sends them hardship and persecution in order to shake
them up from their illusion and bring them to a condition of genuine repentance and conversion. This verse
is a clear indication of the relationship between God’s love for us and our being tested. There are lessons we
can only learn when our lives are put under pressure. C. S. Lewis says: “God shouts to us in our pain.”
Verse 20 is a classic picture of conversion. The Lord stands at the door of our heart and knocks to
be let in. He does not break down the door. The Lord respects our personality much more than we respect
ourselves. He never coerces us. Whether the door is opened or not depends on us. This also indicates that the
initiative does not belong to us but to Him. If we invited Him in, it is only possible because He has knocked
and He is obviously eager to be let in.
At Adam’s creation, God expected that man would himself take the initiative and approach the tree
of life in order to eat the fruit thereof. That would have initiated the same feast of love and fellowship as the
one Jesus mentions here. Adam’s choice of the tree of knowledge did not annul God’s feast. God’s table has
remained spread. The difference is that now man can no longer take the initiative of love. The chasm caused
by sin is unbridgeable for us. If God does not take the initiative for us, we are lost for eternity. God’s great
act of reconciliation is, of course, the atonement by the blood of Jesus Christ. The approach here consists in
the application of atonement upon the life of the individual. This knock on the door is the ultimate
expression of God’s love. We often look upon this as the image of a stranger who comes in as a guest. As if
it would take an act of kindness on our side to let in the visitor. We must not forget that Jesus Himself made
the door on which He knocks. He is the creator and owner of the heart in which He wants to enter. We
understand the emotional tension a little better if we reverse the image and we let the prodigal son knock on
the door of his father’s house. The same emotions are present here. The difference is that it is the Father who
does the knocking.
The words “If anyone hears my voice” do not merely reflect the act of hearing but they imply paying
attention, acting upon what is heard, and obeying. Conversion is always an act of obedience. We are
powerless to change ourselves. But we can pay attention to the voice of God and let Him in, so that He can
renew our life. The key to the door of our heart is in our own hand. It is within our power to open or to keep
closed. Jesus’ entering into our life is not an act of “irresistible grace.” Obedience is the choice to subject
our will to the will of God. Jesus will only come in if we want Him to.
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Isa. 55:1
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Mark 3:5

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Who can adequately describe the scene of the Lord of glory entering the human heart? He is clothed
in holiness, love, and life. He will sit at our table and eat with us, as if that is the most common thing in the
world. Eating is, in fact, a daily activity. The Lord says that, from that moment on, He wants to do the
everyday things with us together. If we learn to do the common things together will Him, the extraordinary
will appear also.
In my conversations with persons who are willing to ask Jesus as their Savior into their lives, I
often use this verse. At that point, the overriding factor is usually emotional. It is believed that if Jesus’
entering into our heart is emotionally measurable, conversion has taken place. This verse, however, gives us
Jesus’ promise as the only certainty. “I will come in.” If it penetrates our minds that this Word of God is
reliable, even if our feelings are miles removed from the event, then we have made our first experience of
faith. This lays a firm foundation for what is to come.
The sole remedy for the unreality of sin in which the people in Laodicea lived, is this dinner with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing of a lukewarm lack of love and illusions of grandeur is found in doing the
mundane things of daily life together with the Lord. What is meant here is, of course, not merely the
consumption of food in the physical sense of the word. After all, natural food is merely an image of the
spiritual reality with which we must feed ourselves. “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word
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that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” We must not separate the image from the reality. If we learn
to eat and drink with Jesus, we will also be able to pray and sing praises with Him. The latter, somehow,
seems easier than the former.
What constitutes victory for the Laodiceans other than the opening of the door? Here also, no
superhuman effort to oppose the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune is required. It is simply a matter of
acknowledging our own impotence. We invite the Lord into our lives because we realize that we cannot
cope alone. It is this admission of defeat that the Lord calls victory. This is the only way to the throne. In this
manner, Jesus Himself gained the victory; He conquered by dying. This paradox is the secret to all real power
and authority.
By drawing a line from His victory to ours, the Lord indicates what is the real meaning of our
opening the door. It begins with our death. It is not finished until we have died completely. Only then victory
is complete. This places us, together with the Son, at the side of the Father, in the center of all power in
heaven and on earth.

H. The Conclusion
It is interesting to make a comparison of the seven epistles. Everyone follows the same pattern.
They are all addressed “to the angel of the church.” It is clear from the context that this “angel” is not a
supernatural being. He is a member of the church, because he shares in the praise and rebuke. We agree with
most commentators that this “angel” is probably the pastor of the local church.
– Jesus reveals Himself in each of the letters with one specific characteristic, as part of the image
with which He showed Himself to John. This revelation relates to particular good or bad points that are
found in the local church. Every local church discloses part of the total picture. No one local church presents
the whole picture. Each one is a member of the body, not the whole body itself.
– Every letter begins with the words “I know…” In the letter to Smyrna, we read: “I know your
afflictions…” in the one to Pergamum: “I know where you live…” in some of the other epistles we read: “I
know your deeds.”
– This is followed by criticism in a positive or negative sense; first for the good, then for that which
is lacking. In the letter to Smyrna, we find no negative criticism; neither in the one to Philadelphia, unless we
consider the words: “I know that you have little strength” to be a critical remark. Nothing good is mentioned
in the letter to Sardis and Laodicea. But Sardis had some individuals that did not come into judgment. The
church as a whole, however, did not meet the standards.
– This is followed by promises to those who are victorious and a warning to pay attention to the
voice of the Holy Spirit. The mention of the ear is a reference to Isaiah’s prophecy, in which God tells Isaiah
to say to the people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make
the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with

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Deut. 8:3

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162
their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” We find references
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to Isaiah’s prophecy also in the Gospel of Matthew.
There is a sevenfold promise of recompense to those who gain the victory:
1) Eating from the tree of life (Ephesus);
2) Not being hurt at all by the second death (Smyrna);
3) Receiving of the hidden manna and also a white stone with a new name written on it (Pergamum);
4) Receiving authority to rule and break the nations, as well as the morning star (Thyatira);
5) Being dressed in white, a guarantee that their name is written in the book of life, and confessing their
name before the Father (Sardis);
6) Being made a pillar in God’s temple with a permanent guarantee and inscription of the Name of God, the
name of the New Jerusalem, and Jesus’ new Name (Philadelphia);
7) Sitting with Jesus upon God’s throne.
Thus ends this section of the book of Revelation.

III. The Struggle Between God and Satan - Ch. 4:1-19:21

A. The Seven Seals Ch. 4:1-8:15
1. Before the throne of God 4:1-5:14
a. The praise before God’s throne 4:1-11

John introduces himself again at this point in the imagery of the book. This is the second time our
attention is drawn to his person; the first in the introduction when he pronounces a blessing and describes his
circumstances, and now in this spectacular transit from earth to heaven. The focus is not upon the important
role he plays, but rather serves to put in perspective what follows.
John says: “There before me was a door standing open in heaven.” Isaiah had once exclaimed: “Oh,
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that you would rend the heavens and come down.” That happened when “The Word became flesh and
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made his dwelling among us.” After His victory over death, our Lord Jesus Christ returned as King of
glory to His glory in heaven. David saw this door from afar and he sang: “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be
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lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” This is the reason John sees this open
door in heaven by which he can enter. A door is opened for us in heaven by means of the key of David. No
one can close this door.
The same voice that had dictated the seven letters to John, the voice of Jesus, invites him now to
come in. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul describes a similar experience when he
states: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in
the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows. And I know that this man-whether in the body or
apart from the body I do not know, but God knows- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible
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things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Paul, however, acknowledges that he could not talk about
it. Fortunately, John does not have this limitation imposed upon him.
John must have been a very balanced person. This is evident from his openness toward Jesus’ love
and from his exceptionally deep insight into the significance of Jesus’ coming into the world. And here,
when he proves to be far ahead of Paul, when he can speak without emotional and psychological hindrances
about what he has seen and heard.

162
Isa. 6:9,10
163
See Matt. 13:9,14,15
164
Isa. 64:1
165
John 1:14
166
Ps. 24:7,9
167
II Cor. 12:2-4

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It is interesting to compare the experiences of Ezekiel, Paul, and John. Ezekiel’s visions were
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experiences that affected him physically. The Holy Spirit took him up bodily. Paul admits to being
confused at this point. He acknowledges not to know whether it was in the body or apart from the body. John
does not leave us with any doubt. He enters into a trance and his body remains in Patmos while his spirit
enters through the eternal gates of glory. He must have regretted deeply the fact that, shortly after this, he had
to return to earth. Now he has entered for good.
David asked the question: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy
place?” He answers it himself, saying: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his
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soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” In the remainder of that same psalm the ascension of the Lord
is prophetically depicted. The lesson implied in this is that the righteousness needed for this moral climbing
of the mountain is acquired through the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. We obtain this purity by means
of His death and resurrection. This topic is the actual theme of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, in which we
read: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a
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righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.” That
which we receive as a free gift, God imputes to us as a greater achievement than the climbing of Mount
Everest on earth.
For John, the going up occurs by his “being in the Spirit.” God’s Spirit picks him up and places him
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on a rock that is higher than he is. As David had prayed: “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” The
purpose of John’s ascension is to acquire knowledge and insight of the future.
The word “must” indicates that the coming events are inevitable. The same law governed the events
that caused Jesus’ suffering and death. When Peter reaches for his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus
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says to him: “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
Evidently, God owes it to His own righteousness to give Satan every opportunity to plead his cause. All
events that occur in this world, ultimately, relate to the question concerning who has the right to sit on the
throne of the universe. The events that are described in Revelation will deny Satan the grounds to say that
God had not given him a chance.
As John enters heaven, the subject of the cosmic struggle immediately comes into focus. He sees a
throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. These words have eternal value. In the center of the universe
stands a throne, the symbol of all power, and on the throne someone is seated. The word “someone” is a
personal noun. The one who sits there is not an impersonal, nebulous unit, but a Person, the ultimate in
personhood. I consider this verse to be the nucleus of all verses in the Bible. This is the peak of all
mountaintops.
What John sees is, of course, indescribable in human words. What it says is merely an attempt to
approach reality. We do not know how close he actually gets to it. But even from a distance the impression
is overwhelming. John is the only one of all the prophets who makes an effort to describe the person of God.
Isaiah does not go beyond stating that “the Lord [was] seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of
173
his robe filled the temple.” Ezekiel mentions “an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded
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by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal…” and then he limits himself to the
figures surrounding it. John compares God with jasper and carnelian, precious stones of millions of carats.
A Dutch translation uses the word “diamond.” This may not be a correct rendering but it sounds very
attractive. The diamond is the queen of precious stones. I will never forget a diamond I once saw, years ago,
at a dealer’s in Amsterdam; it was then priced $1200. No stone is so full of light and life as the diamond. I
cannot image a better picture of God’s glory. The diamond is alive with light. God’s glory is brilliant. We do
168
See Ezek. 3:12,14
169
Ps. 24:3,4
170
Rom. 9:30,31
171
Ps. 61:2
172
Matt. 26:54
173
Isa. 6:1
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Ezek. 1:4

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not know whether it was before this experience or afterward that John wrote: “God is light; in him there is
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no darkness at all.”
The display of color in the description of God’s character is overwhelming. The precious stones not
only break up the white light into a spectrum of other colors but the jasper and carnelian, together with the
rainbow, form a perfect unity with the One who created all color. We could just as well say: “God is color!”
How gray and grubby do we, as sinful human beings, appear in comparison with Him who is the source of
all color.
The colors represent God’s character. The precious stones reflect God’s holiness. The rainbow
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symbolizes His faithfulness in the covenant God made with Noah. The carnelian probably speaks of
God’s love.
This is the only place in Scripture where God is described in such detail. Toward the end of this
book, John mentions once more the presence of God, the Father, seated on a throne, but then he states:
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“Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.”
After this our gaze is diverted from the center to the perimeter. The remainder of this chapter deals
with that which occurs around the throne. One cannot look too long at this glory. It is even a miracle that
John was able to see this and tell us about it. He is probably the only human being who survived such an
experience and was able to speak about it.
In the immediate vicinity of the throne, we see twenty-four other thrones on which elders are seated.
We will probably never know with certainty who these elders are until we find ourselves before God’s
throne. Scholars have seen in them the twelve representatives of the Old Testament and the twelve
representatives of the New Testament: the patriarchs and the apostles. This sounds plausible, if we
understand that these creatures are not a picture of Israel and the church on earth; they are the reality. What
we see on earth is the shadow of heavenly things. We may see in these persons the self revelation of God,
which is, after all, the essence of Israel and of the church. God wants to reveal Himself through Israel and the
church to the world and to all creatures in the heavenly places. These people share in God’s holiness,
exemplified by their white garments. They depict His majesty in that they wear a crown on their heads. God
is surrounded by righteous ones who bear His image.
Here we have to reach ahead to the end of this chapter in order to see what these elders do before
the throne of God, so that we may gain insight into their identity. The Bible teaches that in all of God’s
creation, only man wears a crown. God created Adam to reign. This meant, probably, that it was Adam’s task
to bring back all of creation from the influence of Satan and his demons under the authority of God. This is
the reason we read in one of the psalms: “What is man that you are mindful of him…? You … crowned him
with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his
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feet.” The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes the exclusiveness of man’s position by stating:
“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place
179
where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him…’ ” This statement helps us to
understand that we are looking here at human beings, not at angels. Furthermore, we may conclude that we
180
are looking at redeemed human beings. They were sinful from the time of conception and birth and they
experienced the grace of forgiveness in Jesus, either in the form of the Old Testament sacrifice, or in the
reality of the blood of the Lamb of God. I cannot imagine another reason man places the crown he wears
before the throne of God. What would be a more fitting act of gratitude than to give back to God the glory
and honor He gave us?
We could call this the paradox of worship. The question is, is God right when He gives a crown to
the person who conquers. As human beings, we often emphasize, of course, the fact of unmerited grace. We

175
I John 1:5
176
See Gen. 9:8-17
177
Rev. 20:11
178
Ps. 8:5,6
179
Heb. 2:5,6
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See Ps. 51:5

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do as if God plays some kind of comedy and does as if we merit a crown, whilst in reality we do not merit it
at all. We cannot fathom God’s motives, but I believe that this crown is an expression of God’s justice and
the giving back of it to Him is not a sham. Otherwise, the giving back of it to God would also be an empty
gesture. We would only give back to Him what does not really belong to us. But if this glory and majesty has
really become an integral part of our being, then the giving up of it represents an emptying of our soul and
spirit that can be compared to the emptying of Himself that Jesus underwent in His incarnation. On the other
hand, nothing is so securely our own as that which we constantly give up. Inasmuch as we place the crown
before God’s throne, it will be planted more firmly on our heads. It is precisely in giving up his crown that a
person proves he is worthy of it.
This exemplifies the principle that eternal life consists in the losing of our life. Only the presence of
God can bring a creature to the place where he is willing to do this. God’s presence will inspire this constant
surrender of love. What man does in this is nothing else but following God’s example. God constantly gives
Himself away; that is the secret of His fullness. The devil is the epitome of self preservation, which leads to
his perdition. God proves His love in the giving of Himself. That makes Him eternal and immutable. That is
why He is worthy “to receive glory and honor and power…” Or maybe we should say that God constantly
gives of Himself because He is eternal.
In this ode of praise, God is worshipped as the creator. He is the source of all that exists. There is
no separation between God’s creative power and His love. He is at the same time God and Father. The fact
that the elders place their crowns before the throne and speak the words they say is proof of this.
The throne is full of sound and energy. John describes this as a severe thunderstorm: “flashes of
lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.” He tries to put the emotions he experiences in human words. A
thunderstorm is always a very imposing spectacle. Luther made a vow to enter the monastery during a
thunderstorm. Even if we are not afraid of thunder, we are always overwhelmed by it. Standing in the
presence of God is like the experience of a continuous cloudburst.
The Holy Spirit is depicted here as a separate being, as seven blazing lamps. It is difficult for us to
grasp how all these details fit together. We must try to catch all the particulars John describes for us in one
single glance. The number seven was already used in regard to the Holy Spirit in the beginning of this book:
“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come and from the seven spirits
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before his throne.” This cannot mean, of course, that the Holy Spirit would consist of seven separate
parts, or that there would be seven different Spirits. We cannot but interpret the number seven here to
symbolize perfection. The godhead does not consist in a “nine-ity”: Father, Son, and Seven Spirits!
John also sees before the throne “what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” The washbasin
that stood in front of the tabernacle is sometimes referred to as “the sea,” as is the laver in front of
182
Solomon’s temple. These were probably shadows of this sea that is seen before God’s throne. This
perfect unpolluted water is the source of all cleanliness and purity for all who appear before the throne. In
the light of this observation, that is in connection with the necessity for purification, we note that John states
at the end of his book: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
183
passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
The first feature we notice in the four living creatures is their place. John sees them “in the center,
around the throne.” It is apparently difficult for him to determine where, exactly, they are positioned. John’s
confusion may be caused by the speed with which these creatures move. For some reason, we always think
of something solemn and serious, something static and immovable, when we think of the presence of God.
God is more alive than any of us; therefore, it is logical that He Himself and those who surround Him are
moving constantly. It is quite possible that John’s observation that these creatures “were covered with eyes,
in front and in back” has something to do with the speed with which they move. This does not mean that the
“abnormal number of eyes” would be an optical illusion, caused by the speed of the movement, but it could
be that there seemed to be more than there really are. Our own two eyes allow us to see our world
three-dimensionally. This determines the awareness of the surrounding in which we live and also our inner
consciousness and the dimensions of our spirit. An increase in our number of eyes (suppose that our brain
could handle such a thing) would then mean an expansion of our consciousness. These living creatures must
181
See Rev. 1:4
182
See Ex.30:17-21 and I Kings 7:23-26
183
Rev. 21:1

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live in a multi-dimensional state of awareness. This enables them to surround the throne of God and to
praise Him. Their condition is a prerequisite for their praise.
We can hardly read this chapter without thinking of the similar vision Ezekiel describes in the first
chapter of his prophecy. There are, however, as many differences as there are similarities between the two
visions. Ezekiel sees four creatures with four faces and four wings. John counts six wings and one face for
each of the creatures. The difference may be, at least partly, explained by the speed of their movement. It is
also true that, in our human observations, we do not all see the same things for reasons within ourselves. No
one is completely objective. It cannot be doubted but that Ezekiel and John saw the same creatures. Ezekiel
saw the eyes all around in the wheels that were the means of transportation for the throne and all that
belonged to it. It is quite possible that these living creatures have the power to transmit their abundance of
vision to other living creatures with which they are connected. The fact that such things are supernatural and
beyond our understanding does not diminish their reality. We hardly understand how matter functions in our
own dimension. How then can we judge about the behavior of atoms in a multi-dimensional situation? We
must remind ourselves that we are not looking at mechanisms, but at living creatures. These are living
beings, who have a greater consciousness and intelligence and a greater form of awareness than we do. If
they praise God, they do it because they want to and they understand something of His glory. They are not
programmed to praise.
In the description of the heads of the living creatures, John only uses the word “face” for the one
who is like a man. Ezekiel states about all four of the creatures: “In appearance their form was that of a
man.” Obviously, there is something in the look of these creatures that is difficult to describe. There is also a
strong suggestion of a symbolic significance. This does not mean that they would not be real creatures with
184
physical characteristics. They seem to represent all of the creation of the sixth day. As far as creation is
concerned, they all belong to the same category. We may call them the antitype of that which we know here
on earth.
185
The words of praise of these living creatures remind us of Isaiah’s vision. It is quite possible
that these are the same creatures Isaiah saw. Isaiah calls them “seraphs,” which means “fiery creatures.” Their
cry: “Holy, holy, holy,” has rung unchanged throughout the ages. The Lord God Almighty speaks of God’s
absolute authority over those in heaven and on earth. Isaiah adds to this the words of the seraphs: “the whole
earth is full of his glory.” This is, obviously, a prophetic reference to the time when all will be brought back
under God’s rule. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover
186
the sea.” “Who was, and is, and is to come” says the same. These words not only express God’s eternity
but also His character, as well as the Second Coming and the restoration of all of creation.
It is difficult to define holiness. God’s holiness is the sum of all God’s eternal perfections. It is the
quality that makes God, God.
It is interesting to observe how John uses different notions of time. This is not always clear in
various translations. Evidently, most translators try to keep their text grammatically correct. But for
everything pertaining to the four living creatures, John uses the past tense, and for the acts of the twenty-four
elders, the future tense. This may be an effort to express the difficulty of translating eternity in terms of time.
As earthbound human beings, we have no other way to give expression to eternity than to state that past,
present, and future cannot span it, and that even our chronology cannot be applied.
Twice John uses the words: “Him who sits on the throne and lives for ever and ever.” This
determines the relationship between God and all of creation. God sits on the throne and He is the only one
who possesses incorruptibility and eternal life. Our life originates with Him.
It is impossible to do justice to the overwhelming majesty of this scene. It is He from whose
187
presence earth and sky flee. The importance of the revelation of this scene is in the struggle that goes on
throughout the ages between God and Satan. The contestation is about who has the right to sit on the throne
of the universe. Here, creation, and particularly redeemed creation confirms: “You are worthy, our Lord and
God…” This last verse answers, at least partly, the question C. S. Lewis poses in his book The Problem of

184
See Gen. 1:24-28
185
See Isa. 6:2,3
186
See Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14
187
See ch. 20:11

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Pain. It appears that pain and suffering are ultimately unavoidable parts of creation. It would have been
impossible for God to create persons with a free will, without leaving open a door to wrong choices that
involve suffering. Lewis correctly formulates that the question is not whether God would make a creation
with or without suffering, but whether God would create or not. Lewis came to the conclusion that the fact
that it is a perfect God who creates, provides the answer to the question. An Italian lady journalist, Orianna
Falaci, has pushed human arrogance to the limit by seeing herself standing before the throne of God and
asking: “How is that again, should I apologize to you or do you owe me one?” The answer is contained in
the person of Him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever. It is of this God that creation
testifies that He is worthy, precisely because He has created.
This does not explain everything to us who still live in the midst of this sinful world and who
experience the suffering of it. But when we arrive at the point where we can add up the whole sum and draw
the balance, we will agree with the apostle Paul who wrote: “I consider that our present sufferings are not
188
worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
It is difficult to leave this scene of glory behind us. We will never be able to say too much about it.

b. The Lamb, the Book, and the Psalm 5:1-14

This chapter is probably the one most pregnant with meaning in the whole of God’s revelation in
creation. It is of the utmost importance in the battle between God and Satan.
We begin with the scroll, which contains God’s plan and strategy for the ending of the war. But it
contains more than that; it also includes the strategy of the enemy! From a human point of view, this is
impossible. We must begin by stating that the devil is no robot who could not possibly deviate from the
programmed recording. Satan has perfect freedom of action, like all of God’s creatures. With greater
accuracy than the most accurate computer, God has put on paper what His opponent will do. This does not
mean that God dictates to Satan what to do. Because of His omniscience, He establishes as fact that which
will happen. This does not make God morally responsible for Satan’s acts. The devil is to be blamed for all
the plagues and suffering this world is subjected to. It seems that what happens in this world is only what
Satan wishes. But this scene shows us that God had already registered everything in advance. The very fact
that such is the case means a devastating defeat for the Evil One. What chance of winning does he have if his
secret code is in the hands of his opponent? He cannot do anything that would be hidden from God.
The context of this chapter also demonstrates that the last battle cannot begin before a human being
opens the seals of the book. How horrible it must be for Satan to fight such an adversary! All the secrets are
on the side of God. The Almighty is the All-knowing One but the devil is not omniscient, although he is very
intelligent. The scroll is sealed and Satan must be dying of impatience to know what will happen. God’s
enemy thinks, of course, that he can take the initiative in the last battle. The discovery to be used as a pawn in
a chess game is a defeat in itself.
For a moment it seems, though, as if Satan has yet the last word. No one in all of creation, among
the redeemed in heaven, among those living on earth, or those in the kingdom of death, is found worthy to
open the seals of the book. God has made the disclosure of His secrets subject to the condition of man. This
is, undoubtedly, proof of the fact that God created Adam after the fall of Lucifer, and that the order to reign
over God’s creation included the mandate to bring our planet, back from the influence of darkness, under the
sovereignty of God. In bringing Adam over to his side, Satan scored an important victory. In his struggle for
the soul of Job, the devil even presupposed that all of humanity was on his side. Here again, it seems as if he
has won his case.
No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth dared to respond to the challenge: “Who is
worthy?” In the presence of God, every human being will experience “instant judgment” on himself. The
Bible shows us other instances in which people condemn themselves. In the story of the woman caught in
adultery, all the men leave the scene when Jesus pricks their conscience by saying: “If any of you is without
189
sin, let him be the first one to throw a stone at her.” When Isaiah received his vision of the Lord in the
temple, he cried: “Woe to me! I am ruined!” After that, however, he discovered that the lamb that was
sacrificed on the altar made him worthy to respond to God’s call for volunteers, and he could say: “Here I

188
Rom. 8:18
189
See John 8:7-9

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190
am, send me.” In a sense, millions of people could have answered: “Here I am” when the angel
challenged: “Who is worthy?” Every human being who has allowed himself to be washed in the blood of the
Lamb is made worthy. This is imputed worthiness.
But if the devil had had the brazen courage to cry out: “You see! All creatures are in my power,”
millions could have silenced him. But that cannot be done in the presence of Him who is the original
conqueror. It would be hard to imagine, though, that the nagging doubt of our own worthiness, which so
often silences us on earth, would also be present in heaven.
John bursts out in tears when it dawns on him that it could be possible to come to a stalemate in the
battle between God and Satan. That would mean that no victory of light over darkness would be possible;
that iniquity would never be eliminated. He realizes how far-reaching is the havoc caused by sin in heaven,
on earth, and under the earth.
This breaks his heart. When the Word of God comes to us so that we pass it on the others, it will
never leave us personally untouched. God will take care that we will be personally involved, body and soul.
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Isaiah and Amos cried out when they received the message of judgment. Jeremiah wept over the fall of
Jerusalem. Ezekiel lay paralyzed on his side for 390+40 days. Hosea experienced Israel’s unfaithfulness in
his own marriage. God’s Word carries a very high price. John fulfills here the conditions of the second
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beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
I wonder if we will ever weep in heaven; I believe we will. When I was a boy of thirteen, the Nazis
imprisoned my father. When he was released and I met him at the corner of our street, I burst out in tears.
Why then would I not weep for joy when all the repressed fears and anxieties of life on earth will be released
in heaven, when I will see Jesus and He embraces me? Those, however, will be different tears from the ones
John sheds here.
It strikes us how forgetful a human being can be. Why did John think not of Jesus himself? If
anyone knew that Jesus is victor, it would be the disciple whom Jesus loved. He had stood at the foot of the
193
cross when the Lord cried out: “It is finished!” He was also the first one who saw the burial cloth and
strips of linen that had been on Jesus’ body lying in the empty tomb, and believed that Jesus had risen from
194
the dead. Yet, for a moment, this memory fades till it leads to a jubilant and unshakable certainty.
We can imagine that, for a moment, it became deadly quiet when the strong angel cried out: “Who
is worthy?” Then all eyes focused on Jesus Christ, and from the mouths of millions first came the whisper:
“Jesus is worthy!” This swelled into a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and
people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on
the earth.”
John is wakened from his sadness by one of the elders who comforts him with the words: “Do not
weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.” John’s sorrow was, in a way, a
reflection of God’s, as is recorded by Ezekiel: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall
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and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”
And in his being comforted, he portrays the comfort of God, as Isaiah states: “The LORD looked and was
displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to
196
intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.”
Jesus is God’s man; He is the only man after God’s own heart. He is complete man in the fullest
sense of the word. No one is so human as our Lord Jesus. We are all inferior to Him, not only in our
abilities, but also in our humanity. We have believed the satanic lie that being human equals being weak.
190
Isa. 6:5-9
191
Isa. 6:11; Amos 7:2,5
192
Matt. 5:4
193
John 19:30
194
John 20:6,7
195
Ezek. 22:30
196
Isa. 59:15b,16

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This is a reversal of reality. The man of God is strong; he is a lion! Jesus is the only human being, who, in the
face of the destruction and degradation caused by the devil, roared, attacked, and conquered. Amos’ words:
197
“The LORD roars from Zion” are not only an image of God’s wrath and rage about sin, but they mark
also the beginning of victory over sin. Jacob had this in mind when he blessed his son Judah, saying: “You
are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a
lioness--who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between
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his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” Judah’s coat of arms
was a lion. Jacob pointed to “Shiloh,” the one to whom belongs authority, who is worthy to reign.
It is interesting to note that, in the New Testament, both the devil and the Lord Jesus are represented
with the emblem of a lion. Peter paints Satan as a lion because of the gluttonous appetite with which he
199
devours human souls. Jesus is depicted here as a lion because of His great strength and courage. This
heroism is the valor of Gethsemane and Golgotha. As Paul states: “the weakness of God is stronger than
200
man’s strength.” Jesus won the victory with his hands and feet nailed to a cross and with a body that was
totally exhausted, with a soul that had passed the limits of despair. In one of the airs of Bach’s St. Matthew’s
Passion, the alto sings: “It is finished! The hero of Judah conquers with great power!” The way in which
victory was won goes completely against the grain of human nature. Jesus, first of all, gained the victory
over Himself, and he who gains victory over himself is stronger than he who conquers a city.
Jesus is also called here “the root of David.” The expression is repeated in the last chapter of this
201
book: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David.” The fruit does not carry the root, but the root produces
the fruit. We can, therefore, say that, in a sense, David is Jesus’ offspring as “the man after God’s own
heart.” That is implied in what is said here.
John sees something quite different from what he expected. When we hear the word “lion,” we
expect to see a big strong animal, roaring and tearing apart his prey. What John sees is “a Lamb, looking as if
it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” A lamb by itself would have been enough of a
surprise; “a lamb, looking as if it had been slain” removes every trace of fear. But we are easily deceived; this
is the form in which God’s victory presents itself to us. I think of that magnificent masterpiece, The
Adoration of the Lamb by the brothers van Eyck, which I saw in the St. Bavo Cathedral in Gent, Belgium.
All of world history, everything in the universe, revolves around this Lamb. The expression comes from
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Isaiah’s prophecy: “he was led like a lamb to the slaughter… so he did not open his mouth.”
This refers to Jesus’ going to the cross. On the cross, He was slaughtered like a lamb. This only
happened once. Looking like a lamb, however, speaks of the constant attitude Jesus adopts before the Father
and all of creation. It refers, not only to the victory won, but also to the way in which it was won.
There is a sense in which Jesus still carries the sin of the world. This is the attitude of Jesus as
intercessor before the Father in our behalf. As John Wesley’s hymn states: “Five bleeding wounds He has,
they pour effectual prayer. Forgive them, Lord, forgive they cry. Nor let the ransomed sinner die.” Jesus’
attitude reflects the two sides of this victory. It indicates that the power of sin is broken by His complete
203
identification with us, and He took our sins upon Himself and became sin for us.
This has its effect on us if we recognize the fact of our sin and truly lay our sins upon Him. The
sinner in the Old Testament placed his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal and confessed that he had
sinned and that this animal took his place. That which happened to the lamb, in a way, happened to himself.
In this mutual identification between Jesus and us, we find the essence of victory. For Satan and his gang, the
killing of the Lamb means the complete victory of God’s weakness over their strength. This is the spot where
the water breaks through the dike; it is through this gap that God’s omnipotence rushes in.
197
Amos 1:2
198
Gen. 49:9,10
199
See I Peter 5:8
200
I Cor. 1:25
201
See Rev. 22:16
202
Isa. 53:7b
203
See II Cor. 5:21

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The Lamb stands in the center of the throne, at the core of God’s supreme authority. He has seven
horns and seven eyes, symbols of the power, the knowledge, and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The words
“sent out into all the earth” remind us of verses in Second Chronicles: “For the eyes of the LORD range
204
throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him,” and Zechariah: “Then
the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, ‘[The four horsemen] are the ones the LORD has sent to
go throughout the earth.’ And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle
trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.’ Then the angel of
the LORD said, ‘LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of
Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?’ ” The first verse speaks of the ministry of the
Holy Spirit to those whose hearts are fully committed to the Lord. The second verse refers to God’s act by
which creation, which was completely ruined, is brought back to life again by the Spirit of God. Jesus came
205 206
to destroy the devil’s work. The dry bones will live again; the tree stump will produce shoots,
207
branches and fruit again. The dead will rise from their graves. “For the earth will be filled with the
208
knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” The seven horns illustrate Jesus’
209
words after His resurrection: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
The fact that we see the lion as the slain Lamb of God indicates that God mocks our illusions of
grandeur. God’s derision hit Satan more than anything else. The horns of the Lamb are more powerful than
all the antlers of bucks and the horns, of goats, rams, and steer together.
There was a moment at the bank of the Jordan River that the man, Jesus of Nazareth, in His baptism
by John the Baptist, openly demonstrated that He was willing to accept the burden God wanted to lay upon
Him. He had come into the world as the Messiah and He had said to the Father: “Sacrifice and offering you
did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased
210
… ‘Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.’ ” At that
moment, He already took in principle the sins of the world upon Himself. Then He took the first step; here
He takes the last. He accepts the authority to carry the matter through to the end. It is the same Lamb who
carried away the sins of the world, who delivers the last blow to the author of sin. In this, He fulfills, first of
all, the role that God had wanted man to take upon himself at his creation. Adam had been fully equipped to
take the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Here is, finally, a man who does what God
had wanted man to do from eternity, who is what God wants him to be. Such is the importance of this
moment.
The writing on the scroll is, for the greater part, the content of the Book of Revelation. When Jesus
gave to John the revelation of Himself, He revealed Himself, more than anywhere else, in this moment of
history. He shows, not primarily, what is going to happen in this world but how it will happen. Everything
hinges on the fact that he has come and taken the scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. It
is God who writes down what will happen and the Lamb who makes it happen by opening the seals one by
one.
The Lamb’s acceptance of the scroll is immediately celebrated with the singing of a psalm or
cantata, which is especially composed to celebrate this occasion. Corrie ten Boom thought that Bach would
direct the choir of angels in heaven. I want to say a heartfelt “amen” to this! The four living creatures, whose
task it is to sing God’s glory, throw themselves before the throne in worship before Jesus. The elders, who
had placed their crown before the throne of God, come here with musical instruments and incense. The harp
music represents the artistry of the human being, the creativity of beauty with which he can worship God.
The last psalm of the Book of Psalms states: “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with

204
II Chron. 16:9a
205
I John 3:8
206
See Ezek. 38:1-16
207
See Isa. 11:1
208
Hab. 2:14
209
Matt. 28:18
210
Heb. 10:5-7

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the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him
211
with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.” We may add to this orchestra a long list
of organs, pianos, violins, and clarinets, because all true art glorifies God. That is the reason for which
sound and rhythm were created.
Together with the harps, the elders bring golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints. Evidently, the prayers of redeemed people on earth are of vital importance in the fulfillment of God’s
plan. Here, they are brought before God as the incense of adoration to the Lamb. Later on in this book, they
212
appear to play an important part in the destruction of all demonic resistance on earth. As Amos stated:
213
“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Here,
the saints confirm Amos’ words. It is impossible to worship the Lamb without acquiescing the atonement of
our sins.
214
It was the prayers of Elijah that brought about the great drought in the days of King Ahab.
215
Daniel’s prayer was the most important factor for the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. Without his prayer,
the Babylonian Captivity might never have ended. We may conclude from this that, without our prayers, the
216
Kingdom of God will not be revealed. This is the reason Jesus teaches to pray: “your kingdom come,”
217
and we pray: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
How wonderfully fulfilling it is that, as human beings, we play such a pivotal role in God’s plan!
This is self-realization in the fullest sense of the word. As such we participate in the singing of the cantata
that was especially composed for this occasion. What a cantata! We have not heard the music of it yet, but
we know the libretto.
It is amazing to see how the Book of Revelation is saturated with quotations of Old Testament
prophecies. There are references to almost every Old Testament prophetic book. It is almost impossible that
John would have such Scripture knowledge to be able to quote all from memory and to borrow so many
words from the Psalms and the Prophets in his book. The expression “new song” comes from the Book of
218
Psalm: “Sing to the LORD a new song.” The same psalm from which these words are quoted also
indicates that the saints are involved in carrying out the plan of God. We read: “To carry out the sentence
219
written against them. This is the glory of all his saints.”
The content of this hymn indicates that the singers are in complete agreement with what is
happening on the basis of what Jesus has done for the salvation of fallen mankind. In the previous chapter,
220
the elders had sung to God the Father: “You are worthy,” here they address these same words, together
with the living creatures, to the Lamb. In the first hymn, the basis was the creation; in the second it is
redemption. Redemption consists of two parts: purchase and exaltation. With His own blood, Jesus bought
people from every tribe and language in the world. It cost Him all He had. Like the merchant of pearls who
found the perfect pearl and sold everything he had to buy it, so Jesus gave up all He possessed to purchase
221
us. He paid with His body, His very life. He was slaughtered. He bought us for God. Through this

211
Ps. 150:3-5
212
See ch. 8:3,4
213
Amos 3:7
214
See James 5:17,18
215
See Dan. 9
216
Matt. 6:10
217
Rev. 22:21
218
Ps. 149:1
219
Ps. 149:9
220
ch. 4:11
221
See Matt. 13:45

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purchase, that which He bought became God’s property. This is the actual meaning of the word “holy,” “set
apart for God.” As Paul says to the Corinthians and to us: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought
222
at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
The result of this is our exultation. God purchased us in order to make us into His Kingdom, that is
kings and priests. The Kingdom of God is “us.”
The hymn distinguishes “every tribe and language and people and nation.” This gives room to the
anthropologist, the linguist, the ethnologist, and the politician. It is the task of everyone who works in this
world to make this purchase by the Lamb as efficient and effective as possible. When they serve science, they
serve God. This verse sets the limits to every discipline and, at the same time, it opens eternal horizons.
223
The purpose of redemption is the coming of the Kingdom, which is “God all in all.” That fulfills
man’s destination. It makes man a priest with royal authority. The priesthood places man in the ministry
between God and everything else; the royalty provides authority over demonic powers and all the rest of
creation. Man was never created for the purpose of ruling over his fellowmen; that is the result of the fall.
When the psalmist sings: “you put everything under his feet,” he specifies: “all flocks and herds, and the
224
beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” Jesus
bought us for the price of His blood in order to restore the image of God within us.
This chapter ends with the praise of millions of angels, of the living creatures, and the elders who
blend their voices in a mighty chant of praise to the Lamb, followed by the praise of “every creature in
heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them.” Every knee bows for Him
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who is Lord over all to the glory of God the Father.
The praise of the angels and the elders constitutes, in the first place, a being in agreement with the
plan of God. They all concur with what God is doing. This is very important. Satan accuses God but His own
creatures justify God. They declare God to be just.
The words of the chorus do not impart honor and glory and power to the Lamb; He already
possesses these and would possess them even without the hymn of praise. The song constitutes recognition
of the fact and the confirmation of its correctness. Every testimony to an absolute norm is an affirmation of
God’s holy character. The evidence of an absolute norm consists in the proof of its relationship between
certain facts and the character of God. Doing this glorifies God, but at the same time, it elevates the creature
who does this. It is overwhelming to us to realize that we are made in such a way that we can do this. The
essence of praise is the affirmation of facts.
One of the mysteries of worship is also that we, as mere creatures, can give something to God. This
is no illusion. I do not know how a human being can add anything to omnipotence or glory to perfect
holiness, but our adoration is not a travesty. Isn’t it wonderful that we are able to do such a thing? This
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reminds us of Hannah’s sacrifice to God of little Samuel. Worship never consists in words only. It is a
giving of concrete things that God had entrusted to our care: our body, our children, our riches, our gifts,
and the works of our hands.
John states in verse 13 that every creature joins in the chorus. How this fits into our present
situation in which all its demons and the greater part of humanity curse God, I do not know. John may be
reaching here toward the end of times (something that cannot be done in eternity), or it may mean that the
hymn can already be heard now in all strata of creation, without necessarily encompassing all. Whatever the
case may be, this adoration signifies a climax.
It is the third and last verse that is sung. The first verse was intoned by the living creatures and the
elders, the second by all the angels in heaven, and the third by the whole universe. It is difficult to completely
comprehend the ecstasy of this event. “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor
and glory and power, for ever and ever!” To this the living creatures sound a resounding “Amen!” and the

222
I Cor. 6:19,20
223
See I Cor. 15:28
224
See Ps. 8:6b-8
225
See Phil. 2:10
226
See I Sam. 1:11;2:24-28

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elders fall down prostrate before the throne in adoration. The message of the Book of Revelation is not,
primarily, the coming of the Antichrist and the “Great Tribulation.” The adoration of Him who sits on the
throne and of the Lamb, of the Father and the Son, occupy the center. Revelation is a book of adoration.

2. The Opening of the Book 6:1-8:1

a. The First Seal 6:1,2

At this point the difficult section of the book begins. If we interpret what is described as historical
events, we get bogged down in all kinds of contradictions. Yet, it seems that John follows a certain
chronology. Later, when the events recorded are historically behind us and we have passed the end of times,
if ever we have an opportunity to read the Book of Revelation again, everything will, no doubt, make perfect
sense to us. We will probably do more justice to Revelation now, if we treat it as a symphonic poem. The
theme is treated like a spiral. The same events are repeated on different levels.
Some commentators believe that the Seven Seals, the Seven Trumpets, and the Seven Golden Bowls
actually represent the same scenes. Some believe that the Book of Revelation opens up like a fan, from the
middle outward. Others see in it only an effort by John to provide comfort to persecuted Christians by
showing to them that God is still seated on the throne of the universe, and that the book makes no reference
to any future events.
We see in the Old Testament that prophecies are hardly ever given in pure chronological order. We
not only observe what may be called “the telescopic aspect of prophecy,” by which certain events, that are in
reality separated from each other by centuries, are depicted as following one another closely, but we also see
that, in some cases, the order of events is reversed. It seems to us that the picture of a spiral in connection
with these three series of seven in John’s Revelation is a very fitting one. There is a repetition of facts, but
the perspective is different in each of the series. It is as if the same scenes are filmed three times but with
different filters on the lens of the camera. The emphasis in the image of the Seven Seals is on what man does
to himself. The Antichrist is a man and the war he initiates is human warfare. The Seven Trumpets reveal the
demonic aspect in the events. Man calls upon the devil to achieve his goal. Satan and his demons come in to
help but they do not leave when man’s goal is reached. They are there to stay. The third level, represented by
the Seven Golden Bowls, demonstrates that what God allows to happen, the ascension of the Antichrist, and
the involvement of Satan, is the expression of God’s wrath over His creation that has severed the bond of
fellowship with Him.
The transition of one cycle into the next is also important. We are under the impression that the
Seventh Seal actually consists of the Seven Trumpets and that the content of the Seventh Trumpet is the
Seven Golden Bowls of God’s Wrath. How all these fit together, we do not profess to know. We know from
other parts of Scripture that, in the last phase of world history, Satan will reveal himself in a human being
called the Antichrist. The appearance and reign of this human being will mean the Great Tribulation of all
who confess the Name of Jesus Christ. Jesus will overcome this Antichrist at His coming and He will
establish the Kingdom of God. This is, in brief, the outline of events as we can expect them to occur. We
may disagree about some of the details but Evangelical Christians are generally in agreement concerning the
main line of events. The Seals, the Trumpets, and the Bowls fit, in one way or another, in the framework of
events. All this may sound vague, but it is a starting point for our interpretation.
Now for the Seven Seals! Some commentators believe that the breaking of the seals is not the same
as the opening of the scroll. The events that occur would then not reveal the content of the scroll but serve as
an introduction to the actual content. That seems to be too literal an interpretation of the picture. If we want
to be literal, we can say that as each of the seals are broken, the content of the scroll unfolds before us. It
may be important to note that, as the NKJV states, “the Lamb opened one of the seals.” The NIV reads: “The
Lamb opened the first of the seven seals,” which is not a literal rendering of the Greek text. This may indicate
that the seal was not necessarily the first in chronology.
As the first seal is broken, we can read what God had written on the scroll. Part of the plan is being
revealed. We proceed under the assumption that most of the events are the works of the devil. The mystery of
evil, of which God is not the author, is being revealed. As one of the living creatures calls upon the first
horse and its rider with a voice like a thunderclap, it does not mean that God created this scene or put it
together. It is the shining of the limelight upon the plans of Satan.
The situation may be compared to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Jesus had not invented the plot, but He
was aware of it because the Father had revealed it to Him. During His transfiguration, we read: “Two men,
Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which

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he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” When Jesus says to Judas: “What you are about to do,
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do quickly” He does not command him to betray, but He leaves him room to put into effect the devil’s
plan.
The four horses here do not come out of God’s stable. Some commentators, however, see in the
first horse and its rider one who proclaims the Gospel to all nations, corresponding to Jesus’ words in
Matthew’s Gospel: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to
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all nations, and then the end will come.” Such interpretation denies all connection with the rest of this
chapter. The pictures speak of war, hunger, and death. Outwardly, the first rider resembles the One in
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Chapter 19 of this book: Jesus Christ, the Word of God. But this rider does not possess the awesome
glory of God. He is an imitation, the Antichrist. The devil’s plan is to introduce someone as the Christ,
someone who acts as if he is the savior of the world. Jesus warns us against this person. We read in
Matthew’s Gospel: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am
the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not
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alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” And the apostle Paul reveals this
person’s intention. We read in Second Thessalonians: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day
will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that
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he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” We encounter him again in the
thirteenth chapter of this book, where he is depicted as a beast with ten horns, coming out of the sea. His
intent is world dominion. It is not clear from these verses where exactly he fits into the events of the end
times, but he is obviously the central figure.

b. The Second Seal 6:3,4

Like the first horse and its rider, the following horses and their riders are also imitations of the real
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thing. They mimic God’s riders, whom the Lord sent out to go throughout the earth. They prepared the
earth for the restoration of God’s revelation. These riders, however, bring destruction. They are the logical
follow-up of the Antichrist. The horseman on the fiery red horse is called “war.”
Only God can give peace. Without Him the world falls apart like a body that decomposes when life
has gone from it. Peace rules the earth on the basis of righteousness. In explaining the person of
Melchizedek, the author of Hebrews states: “First, his name means ‘king of righteousness’; then also, ‘king
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of Salem’ means ‘king of peace.’ ” This is the correct order: “first … righteousness; then … peace.”
When peace fails it means that the foundation of righteousness has been destroyed. This war begins
spontaneously. It is not so that war breaks out and that, following that, peace takes to flight. It is because
peace has been removed that war follows naturally. If light ceases to shine, darkness is the result. It does not
begin from the top either; it is not those in power who declare war and then the masses follow. The battle
begins on the lowest level; men are made to slay each other. As we said, this is the normal outcome of the
absence of the Spirit of God and His righteousness. The opening of the second seal reveals the true condition
of man. He swallows up his brother; he is a murderer and a cannibal.

c. The Third Seal 6:5,6

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Luke 9:30,31
228
John 13:27
229
Matt. 24:14
230
See Rev. 19:11-13
231
Matt. 24:4-6
232
II Thess. 2:3,4
233
See Zech. 1:8-11
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Heb. 7:2

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The black horse and its rider represent famine. The rider holds a pair of scales in his hand. This
indicates that food is scarce and must be weighed for equal distribution. It stands for food rationing, maybe
even honest rationing. We are, however, familiar with some kinds of “honest distribution of wealth” under
communism. All of this has the appearance of righteousness and honesty. The truth remains, as George
Orwell, author of the allegory Animal Farm, states: “All sheep are equal but some are more equal than
others.” The voice that comes from the throne unmasks the travesty. The Antichrist emphasizes the justice of
the system but God stresses the desperation of the needy. This shows God’s pity with the hungry. He weighs
and calculates and determines that there is not enough to go around. People had to pay one denarius, that is
one day’s wage of a laborer, for basic food. The Good News Bible renders this: “A liter of wheat for a day’s
wage.” TLB reads: “A loaf of bread for $20.” Scholars are divided about the meaning of the olive oil and the
wine. Some believe it means that those items are not affected by the inflation, others think that the rich will
not experience that times are bad. Others again see this as an expression for the scarceness of the items.
These are so rare that no one will be able to afford them. It reminds us of the shortage of coffee during
World War II, when coffee was sold on the “black market” by the bean.
This famine is, of course, the result of war, that is of the disappearance of justice from the face of
the earth. Not only will the battles fought result in scarceness of food but human corruption, a lack of
compassion and neighborly love makes people die of hunger. Countries like India and Biafra have a history
of this where people died, not because no food was available, but because those who were in charge of its
distribution were not concerned enough to pass it on. It makes little difference whether we are dealing with
capitalistic or communistic systems. If people were good, both systems would work equally well.

d. The Fourth Seal 6:7,8

This is the last seal in which the four living creatures are involved. It unfolds the last phase of
Satan’s plan. What happens here is again not the result of the devil’s initiative. For the last time we hear one
of the living creatures call out: “Come!” It is the same kind of command as Jesus gave to Judas when He
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said: “What you are about to do, do quickly.” It is as if God is becoming impatient and He can hardly wait
for this to be over. The horse and rider are called “pale.” The Greek word used is chloros, which may be
rendered “greenish.” The English word “chlorine” is derived from this. Vincent’s Word Studies of the New
Testament quotes a Greek scholar who states: “In Homer it indicates rather the absence than the presence of
definite color.” Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament states: “Homer used chloros … of the
ashen color of a face blanched by fear (pallid) and so the pale horse is a symbol of death and of terror.” This
green color is not the green of spring but of a sickly green of nausea, mildew, and corruption. The rider is
called “death” and his minions, that is Hades, the kingdom of death, follow him. They depict the final result
of the break with God. These were born the day man fell into sin. Here they come to finish the work they
then began. Their power, however, is limited. As God set limitations to Satan’s ability to harm Job, so He
does here. They cannot go any further than the killing of one fourth of the world population. The means at
their disposal are the sword, famine and plague, and wild animals. The first two are the result of what
preceded, the second and the third seal. It is what man does to himself. The plague and wild animals belong
to the spheres over which man was meant to rule, and over which he lost control when he broke with God.
For Christians, death has been conquered in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our Lord has the keys of death
and Hades. When Israel entered the promised land, the wild animals began to disappear.
As in the breaking of the second seal, the rider here receives power to kill. It is not stated to whom
this power belongs. In the Book of Revelation it is often presented as if the disasters are the result of God’s
direct intervention. We must hold to the truth, however, that destruction is ultimately always the work of the
devil. James states: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
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heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” But the situation is very complicated and it
is often difficult to discern a clear outline.

e. The Fifth Seal 6:9-11

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John 13:27
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James 1:17

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The breaking of the fifth seal opens the eyes of John for a situation that may have existed earlier but
of which he had not been aware. John sees under God’s altar “the souls of those who had been slain because
of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.” These are God’s martyrs. We are not told how
long these souls had been there. They may be from different periods in world history. These are probably
human beings who had given their lives for the sake of God and His righteousness throughout the ages. They
may represent “all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the
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blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah.” Those who opposed God had killed these people because they had
chosen the LORD’s side. In some cases their killing had been an act of personal revenge, like Cain’s killing
of Abel. In other instances it was done in an effort to confirm the rule of a king, as Joash’ killing of
Zechariah.
It is important to note that the blood of these martyrs had been shed on God’s altar. These were not
merely victims of human tyranny; they had offered their lives as a sacrifice to God and their blood had been
poured out at the foot of the altar that is in heaven. Because the soul is in the blood, their voices sound from
under the altar. Murders that seem senseless when looked upon from down below, become meaningful
sacrifices when looked upon from heaven above. The death of the apostle Paul seemed to be an act of Caesar
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Nero’s capricious despotism; Paul himself qualifies it as “being poured out like a drink offering.” He
who understands the “why” of things will be able to accept the “how” of it.
The cry for revenge that is voiced by these souls under the altar, rings in a new dispensation: the
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“Dies Irae,” the day of God’s vengeance, which is the day that follows “the year of the LORD’s favor.”
There is a reference to the Great Tribulation in these verses, but it seems that these martyrs are not
necessarily those who were killed during that period of world history. All the seals point to the time of the
Great Tribulation, when the rider on the white horse, the Antichrist, will appear. The martyrs of the Great
Tribulation will fill for God the measure of iniquity. It appears that God has postponed the time of final
judgment several times to, on the one hand, give people time for repentance, as was the case in Nineveh at
the time of Jonah’s preaching. On the other hand postponement served to take away from the devil any
ground he could use to accuse God of misusing His omnipotence. In the case of the Canaanites, God waited
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400 years before He executed judgment upon them through the descendants of Abraham. We see God’s
patience also in the Babylonian captivity, and later in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. These martyrs,
however, seem to lack some of God’s patience. They cry out: “How long…?”
Some commentators emphasize the difference between the grace of the Lord Jesus who pleaded for
pardon for those who crucified Him with Stephen who prayed for his executors, and this cry for vengeance
by these martyrs. I believe that the contrast is more in the time factor than in the spirit of grace. There is a
limit, both for sinners and martyrs that cannot be extended, without damaging righteousness. Humans can be
forgiven, but the devil cannot. When it is no longer possible to draw the line, when men have sold
themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, the measure of iniquity is full and the day of God’s
vengeance has come. We must not forget that there is such a thing as the Lord’s vengeance. As the writer of
the Epistle to the Hebrews states: “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again,
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‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The fact that these martyred souls were given white robes to wear may indicate that they were Old
Testament believers for whom atonement had come under the symbol of animal blood. Here they are clothed
with the reality of the blood of the Lamb. We meet the New Testament generation of saints in the next
chapter. Those experienced immediately the fullness of atonement by washing their robes in the real blood of
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the new covenant. We see those white robes again towards the end of the Book of Revelation where John

237
See Matt. 23:35
238
II Tim. 4:6
239
See Isa. 61:2
240
See Gen. 15:13-16
241
Heb. 10:30,31
242
See Rev. 7:14.

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states: “Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” According to my former theology teacher,
Dr. Stearns, this should read: “Fine linen stands for the justifications of the saints.” This indicates that
“righteous acts,” or “justification,” is the work of the Holy Spirit in human life.
The three instances in which white robes are mentioned give us an interesting history of
justification. 1) The robe is given to a person as a piece of clothing. 2) The purity of the robe is maintained
by man’s initiative. 3) The purpose of the wearing of the white robe is the perfect human being, created in
God’s image. As the Genesis account states: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
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created him; male and female he created them.”
In this relationship, Jesus Christ is the man, the bridegroom; we are the bride. C. S. Lewis, in his
book That Hideous Strength, lets one of his characters say: “What is above and beyond all things [God] is
so masculine that we are all feminine in relation to it.”

f. The Sixth Seal 6:12-7:17

It is not clear whether we should classify the seventh chapter under the heading of the sixth seal or
consider it to be an intermezzo. The sixth seal introduces, what seems to be, a cosmic catastrophe. There is a
tremendous earthquake, a total eclipse of the sun, and a most frightening meteor shower. According to
Emmanuel Veliskovsky, author of the book Worlds in Collision, such a catastrophe occurred when the
planet Venus entered our solar system as a comet. Not much is needed to destroy the fine balance of our
cosmos irreparably. One star or planet leaving its orbit would be enough to throw everything out of balance.
Old Testament prophets have foretold such events as outward manifestations of God’s wrath.
At the moment of its occurrence mankind recognizes the phenomena as demonstrations of God’s
anger. They want to hide themselves “from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb!” The prophet Amos prophesied two years before the great earthquake that occurred during the reign
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of King Uzziah. The eclipse of the sun and the turning red as blood of the moon was predicted by the
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prophet Joel in connection with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon mankind. In the following verse
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of Joel’s prophecy, we read: “And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” Joel’s
statement places this whole scene in John’s Revelation in a different perspective. Evidently, even at this
point, the door of grace is not yet closed.
The striking feature of these verses is that the ungodly recognize that the day of God’s vengeance
has broken upon them. Like the rich man in the story of “the Rich Man and Lazarus,” who immediately and
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correctly interpreted his own condition, so here. Nobody has to tell these people that judgment is upon
them. Those who are being accused by their own conscience announce the coming of judgment themselves.
Even more amazing than this understanding is the reaction of these people to these natural disasters.
They make no effort to flee them, but they run toward them. A normal response of a person to an earthquake
or any other natural disaster is to run to a place of safety. These people pray for the calamity to hit and cover
them! This proves that people know that there are things that are worse than natural catastrophes. It also
suggests that what happens in nature is a physical demonstration of a spiritual reality; in this case the wrath
of God and of the Lamb.
This forces us again to look at these seals. The flight of these people seems to be the same as the
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flight of earth and heaven from the presence of God at the end of this book. It begs the question whether
this sixth seal stands for the end of everything or the beginning. Some commentators identify this section

243
Rev. 19:8
244
Gen. 1:27
245
Amos 1:1
246
See Joel 2:28-31
247
Joel 2:32
248
See Luke 16:23-30
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See Rev.. 20:11.

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with what Jesus called: “the beginning of birth pains.” It may be that John sketches for us in these seals
the outlines of the whole picture and that the following trumpets and bowls fill in the details. In that case,
the sixth seal would, in fact, be both the beginning and the end.

3. Those who are sealed 7:1-8

These verses are probably among the most controversial and most abused ones in the whole Bible.
Several sects have claimed the 144.000 as their own. There are several problems caused by the highly
symbolic use of language. The first problem is the time. The question is whether it refers to a specific event
that takes place between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal. Are these people sealed when the cosmic
collapse has already started? The fact that John introduces four angels who maintain peace on the earth
makes us think that John, probably, takes a few steps back in time here. The question is: “How many steps?”
It seems that there are more than one or two. The seals of the scroll are broken one-by-one while this seal is
being applied to the forehead of these people. In the breaking of the seals of the book, the secret strategy of
the devil is being revealed. In the application of this seal, God’s secret with men is being confirmed. This is
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“the secret of the Lord.” As David sings: “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him.”
This seal symbolizes, first of all, an intimate relationship with the Lord. The seal is also the symbol
of the Holy Spirit, as Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm
in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,
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guaranteeing what is to come.” And in Ephesians, the apostle states: “And you also were included in
Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in
him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption
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of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory.” So the seal symbolizes the Holy Spirit.
The seal is also the proof of God’s ownership. God puts His seal on those who have surrendered
their lives to Him and who, consequently, are His. This is the actual meaning of the word “holy.” Holy is
“that which belongs to God.”
The real message of this section, therefore, is that in the midst of apostasy and dechristianization, in
the chaos of this world, there will be a group of people who belong to God, spirit, soul, and body; through
whom God can reveal Himself. Such a group has existed throughout the ages. From Abel, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Israel to Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God has been able to find a place to set His feet. This is
symbolized in the seal.
The seal also represents protection. Those who belong to God know: “A thousand may fall at your
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side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.”
Not many people interpret the number 144.000 literally. As far as we know, the Jehovah’s
Witnesses are the only ones who believe it stands for a specific number of people who will enter heaven.
These are, of course, all Jehovah’s Witnesses. The number is generally believed to stand for a combination
of 12x12.000. The number 12 suggests the manner in which God has revealed Himself on earth. There are
the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had chosen Israel to be “a
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kingdom of priests” unto Him in this world. John uses the same expression in Revelation. In opening
verses of this book, we read: “[He] has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-to
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him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” And later on: “You have made them to be a kingdom

250
See Matt. 24:8
251
Ps. 25:14 (NKJV)
252
II Cor. 1:21
253
Eph. 1:13,14
254
Ps. 91:7
255
Ex. 19:6
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Rev. 1:6

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and priests to serve our God.” We may say that the number 12 stands for the Kingdom of God. Twelve
square, multiplied by 1000 suggests an infinite and unlimited number. God needs a body of people who can
form a bridge between God and a lost world. The priest brings the sacrifice of atonement and praise and God
uses the priest’s hands to bless. In general, Israel has understood little of her own calling in this world and
the church of Jesus Christ has only sporadically performed her task and that only partially.
Many people take the name “Israel” literally in this section. It seems inconsistent, however, to take
the numbers symbolically but not the name of Israel. Unless God would perform a miracle of recreation and
would raise up children for Abraham out of stones, it would be a physical impossibility to gather 12.000
people from every tribe of Israel. This does not mean that Israel will not play a role during the time of the
Antichrist and the Great Tribulation, but we do not believe that we can base this upon these verses. We
believe that the name of Israel is primarily used here to indicate people who are victors because they “have
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struggled with God and with men and have overcome,” and have asked for God’s grace. They are the
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ones on whom the sun has risen at their Peniel. They are the ones who give a clear testimony of Jesus
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Christ in this world. Paul calls them “the Israel of God.” And, finally, they are the ones whose lives have
been sealed with the Holy Spirit.
A remarkable detail is that the tribe of Dan is missing in the list of tribes. The total number of tribes
is 12 because both Manasseh and Joseph are mentioned separately, but this total is maintained in an artificial
way. The tribe of Joseph consisted of Ephraim and Manasseh. The way it is written, Manasseh is actually
counted twice. The name Joseph, obviously, stands for Ephraim in this list. Hymenaeus explained the
problem of the omission of Dan as proof that the Antichrist came from that tribe, but this is mere
speculation. In the list of tribes in Ezekiel chapter 28, Dan is the first tribe mentioned in connection with the
redistribution of the land. The most logical explanation seems to be that John left out the name on purpose
to indicate that no literal Israel is intended.

4. The Great Multitude that No One could count 7:9-17

Some scholars believe that this multitude represents the result of the evangelization by the 144.000
converted Israelites in the previous section. If, however, we conclude that the 12 tribes are not to be
interpreted literally, this theory also falls between the cracks. In his book Revelation, George Eldon, suggests
that this group is the same as the one in the previous section, but that the perspective is different. It seems
that these people are the church of Jesus Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, “the Israel of God,” His people
through whom He reveals Himself in this world, a multitude no one can count, from every tribe and
language and people and nation. In the first part of this chapter, John sees them on earth in the midst of the
storms of the Great Tribulation; here they are in heaven before the throne of God.
This is the third time we meet them in this book: they are the souls under the altar (Ch. 6:9-11),
they are the 144.000 and the great multitude no one can count.
The mention that no one can count these people does not mean, of course, that God doesn’t know
their number. For God the concept of something innumerable does not exist. It can, therefore, not be meant
literally. John means that the human boundaries of that which is imaginable has been crossed. The definition
of their origin as “from every nation, tribe, people and language,” breaks through the limitation of the
confusion of Babel. In Jesus Christ, the walls of partition are torn down.
We will leave, for the moment, the question as to whether the church will go through the Great
Tribulation. Rather than losing ourselves in dispensational speculations, we must look at what happens in
these verses. An innumerable multitude from all over the world stands before the throne of God and
confesses in a loud voice that God is the source of their salvation.
The question immediately arises. What is meant by “salvation” in this context? The Greek word
soteria means: “rescue or safety.” According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words: “Soteria
denotes ‘deliverance, preservation, salvation.’ ‘Salvation’ is used in the NT (a) of material and temporal

257
ch. 5:10
258
See Gen. 32:28-29; Hosea 12:4
259
See Gen. 32:31
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Gal. 6:16

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deliverance from danger and apprehension, (1) national, … (2) personal, as from the sea, …(b) of the
spiritual and eternal deliverance granted immediately by God to those who accept His conditions of
repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone it is to be obtained, Acts 4:12, and upon confession of
Him as Lord, Rom 10:10; for this purpose the gospel is the saving instrument, Rom 1:16; Eph 1:13 … (c) of
the present experience of God’s power to deliver from the bondage of sin, e. g., Phil 2:12, where the special,
though not the entire, reference is to the maintenance of peace and harmony; 1 Peter 1:9; this present
experience on the part of believers is virtually equivalent to sanctification; for this purpose, God is able to
make them wise, 2 Tim 3:15; they are not to neglect it, Heb 2:3; (d) of the future deliverance of believers at
the Parousia of Christ for His saints, a salvation which is the object of their confident hope, e. g., Rom
13:11; 1 Thess 5:8, and v. 9, where ‘salvation’ is assured to them, as being deliverance from the wrath of
God destined to be executed upon the ungodly at the end of this age (see 1 Thess 1:10); 2 Thess 2:13; Heb
1:14; 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 3:15; (e) of the deliverance of the nation of Israel at the second advent of
Christ at the time of ‘the epiphany (or shining forth) of His Parousia’ 2 Thess 2:8; Luke 1:71; Rev 12:10; (f)
inclusively, to sum up all the blessings bestowed by God on men in Christ through the Holy Spirit, e. g., 2
Cor 6:2; Heb 5:9; 1 Peter 1:9,10; Jude 3; (g) occasionally, as standing virtually for the Savior, e. g., Luke
19:9; cf. John 4:22 (see SAVIOR); (h) in ascriptions of praise to God, Rev 7:10, and as that which it is His
prerogative to bestow, 19:1 (RV).”
The word is, evidently, as illusive to define as the word “holy.” Both are related to the character of
God. The rich suggestion is that man is saved from being lost by becoming conformed to the character of
God. Without the Lamb, salvation would be impossible. He is the way. This confession is made by trillions
of people who have broken through the curse of Babel in the greatest act of God’s justification we can
imagine. When people confess God as the source of salvation, they confess their own salvation. They confess
that they were lost when they were found. The person who has experienced salvation justifies God on the
basis of His plan of salvation, which consists of the Incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the
ascension.
In Chapter 4, the adoration of God was based on the fact that God is the Creator of all. In chapter 5,
the emphasis is upon the victory of Jesus Christ, which gave Him the dignity necessary to put God’s decree
into execution. In this chapter, the praise rises from those who were the objects of God’s salvation. Theirs is
the most subjective of all reactions. “Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!”
Their hymn brings that whole population of heaven to its feet: all the angels, the elders, and the four
living creatures. How many billons would that be? They all fall flat on their faces and burst out in a
seven-fold adoration. This is overwhelming to imagine. Their first word is “Amen.” This means a
confirmation, an oath, and an appeal to the truth as the perfect reference. Moral living beings call upon the
perfect standard by which all things are judged, which is the character of God. They come to the conclusion
that this character is just, true, and real. This is the perfect orientation, the full truth.
The text of their adoration is a poem. It exists in three groups of two words that belong together and
the seventh word stands by itself. The three phrases form three layers that are built up systematically from the
bottom to the top. In each group is one word that is a characteristic and another that shows the effect. The
order changes. It is the praise creation brings to its Creator. Its glory is a created Word, a translation of
God’s most outstanding quality: His Holiness. We are reminded of the hymn of the Seraphs in Isaiah: “Holy,
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holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Holiness and glory are
synonymous. Glory is the earthly translation of the heavenly concept of holiness. God is to be praised
because He is holy and glorious. Wisdom is His and thanks is ours, His creation. We thank Him for His
knowledge and insight and the practical application of it in creation. This pertains both to the forming and
the maintaining, as well as to the restoration, among which is the plan of salvation. The honor goes together
with the power. God’s position on the throne of heaven brings with it the honor of the throne. God’s
omnipotence evokes in us respect, fear, and adoration. We acknowledge that He who sits on the throne has
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the right to be there. “O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” God’s strength stands alone
at the top of all. God is not strong sometimes, but always, forever and ever! What His love wants to bring
about, His strength does not deny Him! The hymn ends with the same word that opens it: “Amen!” It is the
truth.

261
Isa. 6:3
262
Ps. 22:3 (NASU)

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The dialogue between John and one of the elders is a repeat of a similar conversation of Zechariah
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and the angel. There is similarity both in form and content. The prophet asks about the meaning of the
candlestick he sees. Here the elder arouses John’s curiosity by asking the question. The similarity is in the
testimony of the candlestick by shedding the light of the Holy Spirit and the multitude in white clothes.
The elder calls them: “they who have come out of the great tribulation.” If this refers to a specific
period in world history, the time in which the Antichrist reveals himself, the sheer number of people is a
tremendous victory for the Holy Spirit. But the reference, probably, surpasses all dispensations. What is said
about these people can be said about all who experience persecution because of their faith. No Christian is
excluded from this. The first result of persecution for a person who has surrendered his life to Jesus Christ is
that he takes his sanctification seriously. In Ch. 6:10,11, we saw that the martyrs were given white robes.
This represented the justification by which God imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ to those who
believe. In this chapter, man himself applies the blood of Christ to his life, by which the whiteness of the
robe God has given him is preserved. Without persecution we would all take sin lightly. It is important to
realize that we, as human beings, must take some initiative in this matter. God does not sanctify us against
our will and without our cooperation.
The result of our attitude in life is expressed in the word “therefore” that begins verse 15. This
reminds us of the description of salvation as given in the Psalms: “Blessed are those who dwell in your
264
house; they are ever praising you.” These are the ones who “serve him day and night in his temple.” The
temple is the place of God’s revelation of Himself and the place of fellowship with Him. It is a place of
safety where God spreads out His tent over us. He who accepts God’s revelation of Himself and lives in
fellowship with Him “dwells in the shelter of the Most High [and] will rest in the shadow of the
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Almighty.” Blessed is the man who lives in God’s shelter!
Tribulation is depicted here in terms of hunger, thirst, and scorching heat. Those elements are, of
course, an image of the whole picture. Man does not only suffer physically, but physical suffering is,
probably, the least of all sufferings. Injustice and suppression of personal freedom are harder to endure than
corporal privation.
Compensation is found in fellowship with the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He, who took our place and died
for us, will lead us to springs of living water. This beautiful poetry is a combination of Psalm 23 and Isaiah
49:10. The shepherd, the comforter, is the Lamb. We are being shepherded by Him who Himself was led as a
lamb to the slaughterer. If this was already sufficient restoration for the human soul in an earthly setting,
how much more in heaven! Our Lord leads us in our tribulation and persecution on earth. In heaven He will
await us at the springs of living water, and we will drink, and our thirst will be quenched in a refreshment
that will never end. The Lamb will no longer be led to the slaughterer. He is at the center of the throne, in the
core of omnipotence. And, comfort of all comforts, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” I am
sure that, when I get to heaven, I will experience a wholesome gully-washer, a freeing cry. God will take my
head between His hands, take out His handkerchief, and comfort me.
C. S. Lewis was asked the question: “Is theology poetry?” The answer is: “Of course!” All true
poetry is theology! And poetry is the highest expression of truth. We find the same wonderful comfort at the
end of this book when we partake of the New Jerusalem.

5. The Seventh Seal 8:1-5

It appears that the seventh seal is both the end and the beginning of a series. As was stated earlier,
we believe that the seven trumpets are included in this last seal. We can discern three parts in it: the silence,
the trumpets, and the sacrifice of incense.
John gives us no explanation as to the meaning of the silence. A perfect silence of one half hour is a
marvelous experience. Even a one-minute silence seems long to us; a half-hour silence must be like an
eternity. Lots of emotions can only be expressed in silence. Silence is sometimes more eloquent than sound.
The effect of silence lies in combination and contrast. Silence in itself does not express anything; it creates

263
See Zech. Ch. 4
264
Ps. 84:4
265
Ps. 91:1

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space for worship. As the psalmist states: “There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God.”
For the inhabitants of heaven and the redeemed human beings before the throne this silence must be the
highest form of fellowship and worship. For those without God, it is the silence that precedes the storm, the
menace that goes before the sounding of the seven trumpets.
If we understand this correctly, this silence is not a time of non-activity. While silence reigns, the
trumpets are handed out to those who will blow them and the sacrifice of incense is brought on the altar.
This silence is caused by the cessation of the voices of thunder from the throne. No praise of the four living
creatures is heard and the praise of the elders is interrupted, the saints remain quiet, but the action continues.
The bringing of the incense sacrifice is a very solemn sacrament. We read the guidelines concerning
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the golden altar and the sacrifice to be brought on it in the Book of Exodus. Here we see the reality the
shadow of which was expressed in the ritual on earth. Earlier, John had called the incense “the prayers of the
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saints.” Here it is stated that incense is offered together with the prayers of the saints. The two evidently
belong together. We may say that in heaven something is added to the prayers of human beings on earth. The
purpose of these prayers is, obviously, to spread a pleasing scent before the throne of God. As the apostle
Paul states: “We are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are
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perishing.”
In our human experience odor completes the picture. Our vision and our hearing allow us to
experience only part of reality. When we smell the scent of things it makes it real to us. God’s experiences
are, of course, never partial. It could be that the detail about the odor is given more for our benefit. We may
assume that God experiences our prayers as a reality, in the same way as the odor of things gives to us the
finishing touch to actuality. It is important to realize that the odor God smells is the aroma of Christ.
Our prayers have a two-fold effect: in heaven and on earth. The aroma ascends to God and the fire
of the altar is hurled upon the earth with the effect of peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and
an earthquake. What happens on earth and in heaven is the same thing, the same event. The difference is in
the dissimilarity of the soundboard. Even as, in Paul’s words, the aroma of Christ is for some people the
270
smell of death and to others the fragrance of life, so the prayers of the saints means the perfection of
loveliness in heaven and disaster and terror on earth.
The meaning is of the peals of thunder, the rumblings, the flashes of lightning, and the earthquake is
not explained for us. We may deduct this from the contents of the seven trumpets. These trumpets must also
be the immediate result of the prayers of the saints. In the same way as Israel’s return from the Babylonian
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Captivity was the direct result of Daniel’s prayer, so the trumpets are sounded as an answer to our
intercession.
We must note two things in regard to this. First of all, the prayers of the saint are received in heaven
in perfect silence. Secondly, it seems as if these prayers aggravate the situation on earth instead of making
things better. Appearance, however, can be deceitful. The ripening of an abscess will lead to its healing. Evil
often remains because of lack of prayer. Evil often stays dormant when people do not pray.

B. The Seven Trumpets Ch. 8:6-15:4

In the interpretation of the Seven Trumpets, we face the same mystery as with the Seven Seals. The
result of the sounding of the trumpets differs from the effect of the breaking of the seals, but we have the
impression that the events bear upon and in some way coincide with the conditions that are created by the
breaking of the seals. John describes the blowing of the first four trumpets in rapid succession. We will
group them together under one heading.

266
Ps. 65:1 (NASU)
267
See Ex. 30:1-10, 34-38
268
See Rev. 5:8
269
II Cor. 2:15
270
See II Cor. 2:16
271
See Dan. 9

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1. The First Four Trumpets 8:6-13

The blowing of the first four trumpets has more or less the same effect. In modern terms we could
describe this as a nuclear disaster. Whether we should take this to mean that this planet will meet its end in a
nuclear holocaust or whether we are looking at a material expression of a spiritual reality, I do not know.
Maybe the trumpets show us the other side of the seals. The fact that John, at some points, gives names to
certain phenomena would suggest that we are not looking at physical events, or at least, not exclusively. The
division of the effects of these plagues, or as they are called “woes,” is artificial. With the blowing of the
first trumpet, one third of the earth, one third of the trees is burned, as well as all the grass. The blowing of
the second trumpet affects one third of the oceans, one third of all the creatures that live in them, and one
third of all navigation on them. The third trumpet turns one third of all the drinking water bitter, causing the
death of millions of people. The fourth trumpet reduces the light of the sun as well as of all other heavenly
bodies by two thirds. It does seem as if these four trumpets depict four aspects of an enormous nuclear
explosion. We can understand this much better in our time than John in his day. If the above is true, then we
are looking here at a catastrophe of man’s own making. This is what mankind does to itself. It is not
something God pours out over this world. In that sense the trumpets are of the same kind as the seals; they
are not the cause but they reveal what happens in a world that has detached itself from God. We must,
therefore, not interpret the voice of the eagle that flies in midair as a threat to the population of the world,
but a cry of compassion. God’s heart bleeds for the world He created and that perishes before His eyes.

2. The Fifth Trumpet 9:1-12

This trumpet is called the first “woe” in verse 12 of this chapter. Evidently, the cry of the eagle is
meant literally. According to Marcus Loan, archbishop of Sydney, Australia, John, in this “woe,” probably
imitated the cry of the sea birds on the island of Patmos. The Greek reads: “Ouaí, ouaí, ouaí,” which sounds
like the cry of a bird.
The fifth trumpet reveals another aspect of the nuclear war, if that is what we are looking at here.
We see an attack by the cavalry. The image corresponds to a huge locust plague as the one described by
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Joel. John clearly brings out the demonic background of the event. The first four trumpets may reveal the
self-destruction of mankind; the fifth trumpet does not differ from this in principle. It is possible that the
locusts are an image of a tremendous world war, but the source of inspiration is the abyss. In this also, the
fifth trumpet does not differ from the four preceding ones. Satan is behind all acts of self-destruction. In this
case it is more obvious.
In the breaking of the seals, we saw the activity of the Antichrist, a man who called upon Satan to
establish him as ruler over the earth. The devil and his demons were obliging enough to come to his help.
But after helping the Antichrist to reach his goal, they do not withdraw. When Satan is called upon, he
always comes to stay. This we see emphasized in the sounding of these trumpets.
What John describes is, first of all, a spiritual reality that is at the back of the visible events that
occur on earth. The demons are released from the pit. This is the reason the nations mobilize and war breaks
out.
I think of what happened in Germany in the nineteenth century. In the village of Möttlingen, in the
Black Forest, a pastor by the name of Blumhardt, cast out a demon from a girl, named Gotliebin Dittus.
After the demon had left her, a great revival began among the people in the area. This indicated how much
the daily life of the people had been influenced by the presence of this demonic power. It had kept them from
turning to God.
It is not clear whether the falling of the star from heaven refers to the original fall of Lucifer or
whether this is another special interference of the devil in the things on earth. We read that this happened to
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Judas, prior to his betrayal of Jesus: “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.”
It is probably that, at this point in world history, Satan decides to personally take charge. It must be
remembered, however, that in spite of this diabolic initiative, the controls are in God’s hand. It is God’s
angel who blows the trumpet! In all his freedom of action, Satan dances, so to speak, to God’s piping.
272
See Joel 1:4
273
John 13:27

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As we stated before, this spiritual locusts plague follows the model of Joel’s prophecy. The
ecological balance is disturbed because the link between the Creator and creation is broken. Nature destroys
itself, like a dead body that decomposes. This is not about locusts and grass but about demons and human
beings. Only those who live in fellowship with God are immune to the sting of these scorpions. It is obvious
that it is not God who tortures people and causes pain. Man who rejects God and becomes self-seeking falls
into the hands of him who is a murderer of men from the beginning. For that reason people will try to
commit suicide but they will not succeed. The lesson of these verses, therefore, is probably that there will be
an unusual amount of demonic activity during this period. The locusts may be presented to us as an army,
but if this were merely a human war, Christians would not be safeguarded either. If we try to imagine this
horrible picture of the locust attack, we will have to admit that this nightmare can hardly be anything else but
a vision of demons. The name of the general who is the supreme commander, Abaddon, or Apollyon
emphasizes this.
Thus far the first “woe.” May God protect us from it! For those who dwell in the shelter of the
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Most High applies: “it will not come near you.”

3. The Sixth Trumpet 9:13-10:14

We discern three parts in this section: 1) the four angels at the Euphrates, 2) John eating the little
scroll, and 3) the two witnesses.

a. The Four Angels at the Euphrates River 9:13-21

Of the three parts in this first section, this is the one that is most clearly the direct result of the
blowing of the sixth trumpet. The other two are probably not immediately connected to this, although we
cannot state this with certainty. The explanation of the meaning of this first part is also more complicated
than it is of the following ones.
The mention of the River Euphrates suggests, according to some commentators, that this section
deals with political events in Iran and Iraq. There is the question whether these angels are God’s angels or
demons. If the star that fell from heaven in the first verse of this chapter is Lucifer, it may be that these
angels who are bound at the Euphrates are also demonic powers. Why, otherwise, would they be bound? The
effect of their being released does not sound like the work of God in this world either. The fact that the exact
time of their release had already been determined centuries earlier in world history points to the same
principle as that revealed in the seals. The devil acts and carries out his plan, but in all this he turns out to be
nothing but a pawn in a chess game. God is the one who determines the strategy. The angels mobilize an
army of 200,000,000. Is this a human army or are these demons? Most likely both!
It is not too clear why the voice is coming from the horns of the golden altar. As we saw earlier, the
prayers of the saints were sacrificed on this altar. At the horns of the altar atonement was made by the
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application of the blood of the sacrifice. There may be a connection between the place of atonement and
the prayers of the saints on the one hand and the release of the demons on the other. At first sight, it seems as
if the prayers of the saints have an opposite effect. Evidently, what happens here is a necessary step in the
direction of the finish line.
The result of the release of the four angels at the Euphrates is that one third of all mankind is killed.
The weapons of the 200.000.000-strong army cause this mass destruction. John describes their weapons as
“fire, smoke and sulfur.” It seems as if an army of tanks uses conventional or nuclear weapons. The
horsemen are not described in detail, but the horses are depicted in colors of fiery red, dark blue, and yellow
as sulfur, with heads of lions and tails like snakes that bite. The impression is of a mixture of human and
demonic forms. That is probably exactly the impression John wants to convey here. There is an army in our
visible world 200,000,000 strong, and there is an army of demons in the invisible heavenly places, probably
of the same strength. The special effect of the projection is achieved by superimposing the two images.
It could be that the seven trumpets do not show certain events in chronological order but that they
highlight seven facets of the same episode. The same can then be said about the seven seals, which each
emphasize a different aspect of the coming of the Antichrist. The main lesson of the seals, the trumpets, and
274
See Ps. 91:1,7
275
See Ex. 30:10; Lev. 16:18

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the bowls of wrath is that what happens on earth does not bypass God. He is not the author of this evil, but
He permits it in order to achieve His goal. It is Satan who does all these things; he is responsible, but God
opens the door for him. It may seem sometimes to us that God causes evil things to happen, but this
impression only occurs if we fail to see things in their proper perspective. That is what happens here: man
has opened himself up for this demonic invasion, but God’s purpose in it all is the conversion of mankind.
John is quite upset that this conversion does not occur. It is as if he says that if those things would
happen to him, he would have turned to God in fear and trembling to receive help and healing. It is
sometimes difficult for us as Christians to understand the perseverance of the unbeliever.
The place where these events take place is the place where the history of mankind began. It was in
the vicinity of the Euphrates River that Adam disobeyed God’s command for the first time. It is here that the
first blood was shed when God killed an animal to clothe with an animal skin man who had sinned. We may
assume that it was this act of God that bound the four angels so that His wrath over sin would not
immediately consume creation. At this point the restrictions are removed and all hell bursts loose over
mankind. Nazi Germany’s concentration camps, the Gulag Archipelago of the Soviet Union, China’s
Cultural Revolution, and the atomic bomb on Hiroshima are combined and multiplied in this demonic
madness. Yet, those who survive continue to bow to creatures that are lower than themselves. Man remains a
murderer and continues with his occult practices. He continues to rape his neighbor’s wife and to steal. What
began with a bite of a fruit out of disobedience has come to irreparable and complete maturity. The
cancerous growth is ripe.

b. John’s Eating of the Little Scroll 10:1-11

This section, obviously, is as much a part of the blowing of the sixth trumpet as the previous scene.
But the emphasis here is different. In Chapter 9, Satan demonstrated his power. What happened there came
out of the abyss. Here we see a manifestation of the power and glory of God. In the story, previously
mentioned, about the casting out of the demon from Gotliebin Dittus, Pastor Blumhardt exclaimed: “We
have seen long enough what the devil can do; we want to see now what Jesus can do!”
These verses are full of the glory of Jesus. It could very well be that the mighty angel John sees coming down
from heaven, robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head, whose face was like the sun, and his legs were
like fiery pillars, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We would assume, though, that John would have
276
recognized His Lord, as he did that morning at the Sea of Tiberias. In any case it is the Shechinah, the
glory of God, which is present. For a moment, this angel casts his shadow over the whole world. We assume
that this is what is meant with “He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.” And he
gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. The prophet Amos had said six centuries before: “The LORD roars
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from Zion.” In answer to the lion’s roar, the seven thunders speak. John states this as if, at this point, we
ought to be familiar with these thunders. He simple calls them “the seven thunders.” We learned earlier
278
about these thunderclaps that they came from the throne of God. And when the seventh seal is opened,
279
peals of thunder are heard on earth when the angel throws the fire of the altar upon earth.
We understand this to be the same thunder. Every time this is mentioned, only the sound is spoken
of and not the content of the words. Here, John is even specifically ordered to “seal up what the seven
thunders have said.” This is, evidently, a reference to Daniel’s experience. The angel that gave Daniel his
revelation, told him: “But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the
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end.” If we understand this correctly, the message of the seven thunders is the same mystery of God as the
one the angel mentions in verses 5-7. In the case of Daniel, the topic was the Great Tribulation at the end of
times. God’s mystery here turns out to be His punishment for the wicked: His wrath over His enemies. But

276
See John 21:7
277
Amos 1:2
278
See ch. 4:5
279
See ch. 8:5
280
Dan. 12:4

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when the mystery is revealed at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, it is the revelation of God’s glory. That
which is unspeakable joy to those who are saved is, at the same time, a panicky fright for those who are lost.
The oath the angel pronounces is very impressive. Here he stands with one foot on the earth and
another on the sea, with his hand raised to heaven, swearing by the Name of the Creator that there is an end
to God’s patience for those who live in sin. Throughout the ages people have interpreted God’s patience as a
sign of weakness. The picture of this strong, impressive creature, whose shadow covers the whole earth,
shows that God was not patient out of weakness. The apostle Peter explains God’s patience: “The Lord is
not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
281
perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
God’s servants, the prophets, know His mystery, as David sings in one of the Psalms: “The secret of
282
the LORD is with those who fear Him.” And Amos said: “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
283
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”
The angel does two things: He swears that the end is coming, and he gives a scroll to John. As we
stated above, the revelation of God’s secret has a different effect upon the believer and the unbeliever. We
284 285
pray for this revelation when we say: “Your kingdom come!” and: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” As far
as the unbeliever is concerned, if he takes this seriously, he considers the coming of God’s kingdom
something to be avoided. Man tends to believe that the circumstances in which he lives are permanent. The
angel’s oath shatters this illusion. The content of the secret, however, is not only that this world, as we know
it, will come to and end, but also that invisible things will become visible. We will see more of this in the
next chapter.
John is ordered to go to the angel and to ask him for the scroll. He identifies the voice that speaks
to him as the one he had heard before. This could refer to the conversation one of the elders had with him
286
previously, or, as is more likely, it may be the voice of Jesus Himself, who spoke to him at the beginning
287
of this book. It seems that, at this point, John finds himself back on earth, because the voice he hears
comes out of heaven.
288
The scene looks like a replay of Ezekiel’s vision. Ezekiel was also told to take a scroll and eat it.
In that case it is clearly stated that the prophet had to digest the scroll so that it became part of him. That is
obviously the primary meaning of the image. In his book Miracles, C. S. Lewis writes a little ditty at the
head of one of the chapters: “It is a funny thing, as funny as can be. What Miss B eats, turns into Miss B.”
We become what we eat, both in a physical and spiritual sense. Undoubtedly, the scroll represents the Word
of God in these passages. It is an interesting detail to see how one of the authors of Scripture, the apostle
John himself, has to eat what is partly his own work. God gives him some of his own medicine.
In a way, the fact that we have a written account of God’s acts in this book is a result of sin. If death
had not entered creation, it would not have been necessary to repeat these truth from generation to
generation. We would also not have suffered from a loss of memory, which makes it necessary to have the
facts in black and white.
The important lesson in this section is twofold: There is the testimony of the scroll, which is meant
for “peoples, nations, languages and kings,” and, secondly, the testimony has to be a living one. The message
has to be flesh and blood in those who open their mouth and proclaim it. God expects His children not only
to be good preachers of the Word but also to live it. We must “live the life.” Also during the Great
Tribulation the important thing will be that those who confess the Name of Jesus Christ demonstrate with

281
II Peter 3:9
282
Ps. 25:14 (NKJV)
283
Amos 3:7
284
Matt. 6:10
285
Rev. 22:20
286
See Rev. 7:13
287
See Rev. 1:10 ff; 4:1
288
See Ezek. 2:9-3:3

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their lives that they belong to Him. The apostle Paul commands us in the Epistle to the Philippians: “Do
everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God
without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold
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out the word of life-in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.”
If we digest the Word of God so that it becomes part of our being and nature, “our flesh and
blood,” it will purify our life and make our paths straight. The speaking of the Word will then follow
naturally. If we put the emphasis upon the speaking and prophesying to the neglect of lifestyle, we will enter
upon dangerous ground.
Both Ezekiel and John testify that the eating of the scroll was a pleasant experience. The taste was
sweet as honey. In one of his psalms, David sings about the ordinances of the Word of God: “They are more
290
precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.” Being
occupied with the Word of God is enjoyable and refreshing; it does us good. This remains true, even though,
with John, it turned sour, or bitter in his stomach. The latter is a picture of the result of the Word of God
causing pain and difficulty. It is a tall order to be “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a
crooked and depraved generation.” It would be worse, however, to be infected by evil and go along with
others on the road that leads to destruction.
It is amazing to realize the importance of the role played by a handful of people who read their
Bible and live in fellowship with God in a world in which hordes of demons and humans, 2.000.000.000
strong, rave and rage, and in which one third of all men perish.

c. The Two Witnesses 11:1-14

In the first two verses of this chapter, several lines of prophecy converge again. The basic prophecy
is found in chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel, in which the prophet follows an angel who takes the measurements of
an imaginary temple before the eyes of Ezekiel. “Imaginary” is not the proper word. The temple Ezekiel sees
is actually more real than any building that can be seen by human eyes. What Ezekiel saw was a
representation of God’s revelation of Himself on earth. It was a picture that could easily be understood by
the Old Testament Jew. It could not have been portrayed more clearly to the Israelites who had been taken
away into captivity. It represented the revival of a hope that had been shattered. It stood for resurrection from
the dead.
In the same manner John is brought back to the place of revelation. Three things are mentioned in
connection with the measuring that is carried out: the temple, the altar, and the worshippers. The NIV reads:
“Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.” The word “count” is
inserted arbitrarily. The Greek reads literally: “Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them
that worship therein.” The suggestion is that the measuring is done symbolically. One cannot take the
measuring of people literally. The point that is being made is that, during the time of destruction of the
foundations, there will still be a revelation of God on earth: the temple. The altar, the place of atonement,
will still be there, and there will be people who will accept this revelation and atonement and who will serve
and worship God. The exclusion of the outer court in the taking of these measurements has a profound
meaning. This is obviously a reference to the Great Tribulation, symbolized by the three and a half years,
291
called here: “42 months” and “1260 days,” and later “a time, times and half a time.” These words are
292
borrowed from Daniel’s prophecy.
It is interesting to note that the Antichrist’s physical penetration into the sanctuary does not actually
give him access into it. The apostle Paul predicts about this man: “He will oppose and will exalt himself
over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming

289
Phil. 2:14-16
290
Ps. 19:10
291
See Rev. 12:14 (also vs. 6)
292
Dan. 12:7

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293
himself to be God.” This, however, does not make him a partaker of the holiness of God. Those who
worship God are included in the measurement of the sanctuary; the rest remain outside.
Asaph foretold the penetration of the heathen into God’s sanctuary in one of his psalms: “O God,
the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem
294
to rubble.” Nothing of the kind ever happened during Asaph’s lifetime. As far as we know, the first
heathen desecration took place when King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the destruction of the temple. After that,
Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple by having swine sacrificed on the altar. Titus destroyed the last
known temple in 70 AD. Whether the Antichrist will have himself worshipped in an actual temple building,
or whether he will merely demand divine honor for himself, we do not know. We do not expect the
rebuilding of a temple. Satan’s man will not need brick and mortar to proclaim himself to be a god. The
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ultimate destruction and rebuilding of the temple occurred in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God’s revelation will continue even in the darkest period of world history. John uses in this context
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Zechariah’s vision of a lampstand and two olive trees. In Zechariah’s day, when the rebuilding of the
temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel was interrupted, the lampstand let its light shine in the darkness as
an organic and living testimony of the Holy Spirit. The essence of the message that rings through John’s
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words is “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” John sees two olive
trees and two lampstands. We do not know whether this doubling of the lampstands has any particular
meaning. The implication seems to be that John sees twice as much light as Zechariah. Earlier in this book,
298
the lampstands represent the church of Jesus Christ.
The two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth. This suggests that the content of their message is
repentance. They themselves are dressed in sackcloth and they preach in it. Their being in mourning is, in the
first place, proof of their own sorrow. They represent those of the Second Beatitude: “Blessed are those who
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mourn, for they will be comforted.” The condition of the world is such that it makes them weep. The fact
that the Lord promises to comfort them does not diminish their grief. Their wearing sackcloth is, at the same
time, an example for those who need conversion. These witnesses do not stand above the sinners as accusers;
they are fellow-sinners who stand next to their fellowmen. Their witness is the light of the lampstand, which
is fed directly by the oil from the olive tree. The light of the Holy Spirit shines through them at the darkest
hour of world history.
But the testimony of these men does not consist only in being a shining light and preaching a
powerful message, there is also power to perform miracles. John mentions three kinds of wonders, each of
which has a parallel in the Old Testament. There is the fire that killed Elijah’s enemies who wanted to harm
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him. During the greatest tribulation this world will ever witness, these two witnesses will enjoy God’s
personal protection. Nothing can harm them. Everyone who places himself under God’s protection
experiences this in some way. The Psalmist states: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest
301
in the shadow of the Almighty.” This does not mean a complete exemption from suffering. Ultimately,
the two witnesses are also killed. But this does not happen outside the will of God.
A second parallel with the life of Elijah is the power these two have to shut up the sky so that it will
not rain during the time of their prophesying. They can cause a worldwide drought. There is even a parallel
between Elijah’s three-and-a-half years and the period of the Great Tribulation. Elijah’s initiative was meant
293
II Thess. 2:4
294
Ps. 79:1
295
See John 2:19-21
296
See Zech. 4:1-6
297
Zech. 4:6
298
See Rev. 1:12, 20
299
Matt. 5:4
300
See II Kings 1:9-15
301
Ps. 91:1

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to give a demonstration of divine power, which could cause the nation of Israel to turn from their idolatry to
the service of the living God.
Their third mandate was Moses’ demonstration of power before Pharaoh, the “Egyptian Antichrist.”
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These witnesses will stand before the enemy and demand in the Name of God: “Let my people go.” God
demands that the enemy keep his hands off man who is created in His image. In a way, the testimony of the
two witnesses will be in vain. The Antichrist will not change and mankind will not repent. This testimony
will ultimately redouble judgment. Even the testimony of Jesus during His lifetime was ineffective; it bore
fruit only after His death and resurrection.
The mention of “the beast” in verse 7 is proof that John’s vision consists of cycles. The beast does
not appear until Chapter 13 of this book. His mention here indicates that what happens in this chapter
coincides with what is described later. We are not given a report of consecutive events, but different facets
of the same period are being highlighted. The same principles govern the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls
of wrath. The beast here is the same as in Chapter 13; the horseman on the white horse in Cchapter 6 is the
same as Apollyon in Chapter 9 verse 11.
It is the Antichrist who will murder the two witnesses of God. This will not be easy, as is evident
from the fact that he must overpower them in a well-planned attack. There will probably be a public
execution. In all this the two will follow the example of their Lord. Sodom and Egypt are not localities
where Jesus was crucified; they are conditions for a crucifixion.
It is important to note that the execution will not take place before the testimony of these two
witnesses is finished. Satan does not cut short the work of God. He cannot strike before God is finished. It
seems as if God discards His servants when He no longer needs them. Even Jesus was shocked when He
303
heard that John the Baptist, the greatest of those born of women before the coming of the Kingdom, had
been beheaded to pay a little girl for her dancing during a birthday party. This impression, though, distorts the
picture. First of all, God does not throw away anybody. It is the devil who is the cause of death. But death is
a necessary preparation for resurrection. God Himself went that way for us in Jesus Christ. We can hardly
say that Jesus’ death at Golgotha, which brought about the atonement for the whole world, was an act of
God’s rejection of His Son. When in life we find ourselves at a dead end, we ought to consider three things:
1) Is our work on earth finished? 2) Did Jesus go the same way? 3) Are we ready for the resurrection?
The place where all this happens is “in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called
Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” The first thing that strikes us in these words is the
poetry. The subject is not beautiful, but the manner of expression is sublime. This poetry causes us to ask if
we are looking at a physical, literal execution of two human beings in the city of Jerusalem, or whether this
reveals the principle that the enemy murders those who testify for God. Nowhere is Jerusalem depicted as
“the great city.” The picture of sexual deprivation that is exemplified in Sodom, never applied as such to
Jerusalem. “The great city, Sodom and Egypt” is too big for a literal Jerusalem. We believe rather that this
description fits the empire of the Antichrist. It stands, not so much for a certain local, as for the condition of
life outside God, as it is evinced everywhere.
After the execution a disgusting celebration erupts. People send each other presents and cards as if
celebrating Christmas: “Joy to the world; they are dead!” The torment to which the inhabitants of the earth
had been subjected was the torture of their own conscience. People now felt free from this suffering. Long
live liberty; the watchdog is killed!
What happened with the testimony of our Lord also happens with His witnesses. They fall in the
earth like a grain of wheat and die in order to bear fruit. The Spirit of God brings them back to life. It has
been suggested that the execution and the following exhibition of the dead bodies would be made visible to
the whole world by means of television. If that is true, God uses the media to His own advantage in reporting
this resurrection. The whole world will witness this resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit. The terror
of the watchmen at Jesus’ tomb, when the angel came from heaven to roll away the stone, will be little in
comparison with the reaction of the whole world to this event. The three-and-a-half day long flush of victory
will come to an abrupt end. The whole world will witness not only the resurrection, but also the ascension of
these two.
The two witnesses were murdered because of their testimony of Jesus Christ. This ought to have
been the end of the affair. How terrible it must be when a murder victim comes back to life and confronts his
302
Ex. 5:1
303
See Matt. 11:11

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murderers! For the guilty party the resurrection is the most terrible thing imaginable. This is the reason the
word “enemies” is used in this context.
Even if this section is not about the testimony and the murder of two individuals, the principle
remains the same. It becomes actually worse, because it means that the enemy who murders God’s witnesses
will end up defeated when death is reversed in the resurrection. That which Satan and his cohorts must have
experienced in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ will be multiplied infinitely in all who come to life
through the Spirit of God. The earth shakes and quakes under this event. Seven thousand people will be
killed in this earthquake which causes the collapse of a tenth of the city. This is the “second woe.” Earth was
not meant to be able to stand these shocks. For the first time some light breaks through in the heart of the
survivors. They realize that God sits on the throne and that He must be taken into account. There is, after all,
still hope for planet earth.

4. The Seventh Trumpet 11:15-15:4

The sounding of the seventh trumpet produces images that are even more difficult to interpret than
the preceding ones. We discern: 1) The heavenly hymn of praise; 2) The woman, the child, and the dragon; 3)
The beasts emerging from the sea and the earth; 4) The Lamb on Mount Zion; 5) The announcement of
judgment; 6) The gathering of the harvest; 7) The Song of Victory.

a. The Heavenly Hymn of Praise 11:15-19

We may consider these verses to be the climax of the book. In verse 7 of the previous chapter, the
importance of the blowing of the seventh trumpet had already been mentioned. The opening of God’s temple
in heaven and the revelation of the ark of the covenant constitute the focal point of world history. The
importance of this event is immediately recognized in heaven. We are not told whose are the loud voices that
sing antiphonally with the elders. This is the point in time that has been eagerly anticipated by all of creation.
The kingship over the earth, which God had entrusted to Lucifer, falls back to the Creator.
It is amazing to see that this is not something that happens automatically. The voices in heaven
proclaim: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” In practical
terms, this means that the devil is forced to hand back the mandate of this world, or that it is forcefully taken
away from him. It is clear that our Lord Jesus Christ has played a decisive role in this matter. At His
ascension, He obtained the position of King, with the mandate to subdue all rebellion against God. David
stated in the Psalms: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a
304
footstool for your feet.’ ” And the apostle Paul adds: “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies
305
under his feet.” Following this, he mentions that Christ will subject Himself to the Father, “so that God
306
may be all in all.” It is clear, however, that our Lord Jesus Christ will not lose His royal status in all this,
because our text states: “and he will reign for ever and ever.” We never lose what we give to God.
This hymn does not clearly state which phase of Jesus’ kingship is meant. But the implication is that
it will mean the end of rebellion. When the time has come at which the dead are judged, death will have to
surrender the ones he kept in captivity. This is the end of his power, his final reckoning. In the words of the
307
apostle Paul: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” This is the day of death’s dethroning. It is also the
day of God’s ultimate revelation of Himself. In the mighty prophecy of Psalm Two, David describes men’s
rebellion against God and God’s way of putting an end to it in His Son. God scoffs and mocks at the human
conspiracy against Him when He reveals His wrath. The Son puts an end to all rebellion by His resurrection
308
from the dead and His judgment over the rebels.

304
Ps. 110:1
305
I Cor. 15:25
306
See I Cor. 15:28
307
I Cor. 15:26
308
See Ps. 2:1-12

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Thus God’s plan with man is complete. God had created Adam to rule over His creation. When
Adam fell into sin, the plan was continued and carried out in Jesus Christ. It is a human being who restores
the Kingdom to God. We must remember this when we pray “Your Kingdom come!”
As a result of the announcement by the heralds, the twenty-four elders fall on their faces before the
309
throne of God in worship and gratitude. This is the fourth time John mentions the elders doing this. These
elders are not puppets whose strings are being pulled. These people wear royal crowns and they are seated on
thrones. On earth we would not expect to see such agility from older people who move with dignity. In a
biography of the life of George Mueller, it is stated that Mueller threw himself prostrate on the floor in
worship when he realized that God had answered his prayer in a very literal way.
The action of the elders emphasizes the profound emotion of the moment. We worship so little
because we realize so seldom what God does in our lives. It would have been impossible for these elders to
remain seated in solemn dignity because they fully understood the importance of the situation. They thank
God because He accepted the Kingdom. That which was lost that evening in Eden, when two naked people
stood before God, is found and restored here.
Evidently, there was a possibility that God would refuse to accept the reign. “You have taken your
great power” is the rendering of the Greek word lambano, which can be rendered “accept.” Praise be to God!
He accepted!
God is addressed here as: “Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was.” When we read that
God has taken His great power, this does, of course, not mean that at one point God would not have been all
powerful. But the fall of Lucifer constituted an attack on and a challenge to God’s omnipotence. God’s
holiness and love were also in danger of being compromised. God accepted the challenge. He responded to
the enemy and won the victory.
As we saw already, the words of the elders, “The nations were angry,” are a reference to the Second
Psalm. What began as a transgression by one single person has grown to total world revolution. In the words
of the apostle Paul: “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way
310
death came to all men, because all sinned….” Those individuals who laid down their arms and accepted
God’s offer of peace in Jesus Christ are not mentioned here. These verses deal with people who decided to
continue the war, those who see God’s right to rule the world as chains and fetters of oppression and as a
311
yoke that must be thrown off. This is the moment, which the prophet Isaiah called “the day of vengeance
312
of our God.” When Jesus read Isaiah’s text in the synagogue of Nazareth, He closed the scroll half way
through to indicate that “the year of the LORD’s favor” had arrived and “the day of vengeance of our God”
313
had not yet come. Here, the Lamb opens the scroll again.
The day of God’s vengeance consists of two parts: There is punishment for those who deserve
punishment and reward for those who love God.
The words “destroying those who destroy the earth” apply, first of all, to Satan and his demons. But
humans will also be involved in this. There are the Antichrist and his false prophet who are human and there
are others who have sold themselves to commit evil. God created the universe of which our planet is a part
and the devil wanted to destroy it. There is a Dutch poem in which God asks that man give back to Him the
beautiful things of this world, which He had given them to enjoy. “Give back to Me My trees and My
flowers.”
All this occurs at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This constitutes the end of the mystery of
God and the completion of His revelation. This is represented in the opening of the temple in heaven and the
becoming visible of the ark of the covenant. Actually, this already happened earlier on earth on the day Jesus
died. We read in Matthew’s Gospel: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to

309
See Rev. 4:10; 5:8, and 7:11
310
Rom. 5:12
311
See Ps. 72:3
312
Isa. 61:2
313
See Luke 4:16-20

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314
bottom.” The ark was no longer present in the Holy of Holiest on the day of Jesus’ death, but that does
not lessen the importance of the symbolic tearing of the curtain. The Holy of Holiest was still the place in
which no ordinary human being was allowed to enter. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews states:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body and since we have a great priest over the
house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
315
sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Thus is
conveyed to us by way of image the revelation of complete fellowship with God through the death of Jesus
Christ.
We can understand that what happens on earth is an image of what happens in heaven. What is more
difficult to grasp is the relationship, time-wise, between the heavenly occurrence and what takes place on
earth. The shadow appears before the actual event. Our problem is our concept of time. God’s revelation of
Himself is eternal. This is expressed at a point in time in the death of Jesus. But the Bible also states that the
316
Lamb was slain from the creation of the world. The fact that the temple is open and that the ark becomes
visible means that all obstacles for direct fellowship with God are removed. The author of Hebrews calls
317
these obstacles “The first tabernacle.”
The real obstacle for fellowship with God was, of course, sin. Adam broke the bond of fellowship
with God. He no longer enjoyed the walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. The fact that the ark
becomes visible, however, is a greater and richer revelation of God than what Adam ever experienced. There
is more involved than atonement of man’s sin; there is also the ripening of man.
The ark represented the holiness of God, expressed in the pure gold of which it was made and in the
fact that the two tablets of the law were kept inside. The ark is also an image of fellowship with the Lord of
glory. God had said to Moses: “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the
318
Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” The very fact that the
infinite eternal God said this about a surface of a few square feet is almost as unbelievable as the miracle of
319
the Incarnation, in which the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In essence the two are the same.
320
Jesus said to Philip: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” For those who know Jesus Christ,
heaven is already open and the ark is visible. All we need is for our eyesight to improve. God can hardly
reveal Himself more clearly to us than He has already done.
Yet, there is something extraordinary in this revelation, caused by the time element. God’s
revelation is eternal, but at the point where time and eternity intersect, there occur “flashes of lightning,
rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.” This is the fourth time in Revelation that
321
we find mention of flashes of lightening, peals of thunder, and an earthquake. The hailstorm is a new
element in this list of phenomena. At the first mention of the flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of
thunder there is a connection with the throne of God. They are manifestations of God’s glory and majesty.
In the fact that the ark becomes visible, we see God’s revelation as an invitation to fellowship with
Him on the basis of atonement. This speaks of God’s love, holiness, faithfulness, and grace. The flashes of
lightening and peals of thunder are images of God’s majesty. They give us an image of God’s greatness,
omnipotence, and glory. The flashes of lightning are also part of the revelation of the ark. But the ark is
named “the ark of His covenant,” the symbol of God’s friendship with man. God has made His covenant
with Abraham, with Israel, and with us in Jesus Christ. His calls us “friends” and the bond of our fellowship
314
Matt. 27:51
315
Heb. 10:19-22
316
See Rev. 13:8
317
See Heb. 9:8
318
Ex. 25:22
319
See John 1:14
320
John 14:9
321
See also Rev. 4:5; 8:5; 10:3

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is more intimate than that of a marriage relationship. Our friend is God, the Almighty, the God of lightning,
thunder, and hail.
322
According to the announcement by the angel, this is the fulfillment of God’s mystery. This
implies that there are certain things God has kept secret. It is true that God tells the man who cares, as A. W.
Tozer stated. But there are things God does not tell, or has not yet told us. Now, everything has been said.
The mystery of God allowing evil to exist, the hardening of the hearts of some people, the content of glory,
and all the other things of which we had only a vague inkling, will be totally clear. The revelation will be
complete and it will satisfy us completely on a spiritual, intellectual, and emotional level. It will also
transform us. As the apostle John states: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has
not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
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he is.” If the copy of this ark, which Moses made in the desert, transformed him temporarily so that he
324
reflected the glory of God, how much more will the ultimate revelation of the real ark make us real,
healthy, and glorious people!
325
We see here also that the revelation evokes the smell of death and the aroma of life. The flashes
of lightning and the peals of thunder are part of the throne of God; they are manifestations of His glory. The
earthquake and the hail are manifestations on earth of destruction; they are images of judgment.
“God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.” I do
not think we are presently ready for this yet. This temple and ark are the reality of which Moses and David
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had made copies on earth. This had been their model. This heavenly ark cannot have stood at the same
time in a tabernacle and in a temple. Yet Moses and David must have both seen the same object. Moses
expressed this in the erection of a tent and David, or Solomon, in a building of stone. The reality, however,
was not made of cloth or stone; it was a spiritual reality in which God revealed Himself in a special manner.
Moses and David experienced the same reality, but each in a different way, according to their own
circumstances. There is a variety of experiences as there is a variety of gifts, but it is the same Spirit. The
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apostle Paul states: “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.” The diversity is a
manifestation of God’s riches as well as of our individuality. There need be no change of circumstances or
personality to allow us to have fellowship with God.
What effect will this have on us when we see the temple open and the ark of the covenant become
visible? In Tolkien’s book Lord of the Rings, the author describes how two hobbits approach “the crack of
doom” in order to throw the ring into it. They do this under the very eye of Sauron. The presence of Sauron
fills them with an overwhelming sense of evil. In the opposite sense, the presence of God in the Old
Testament must have been tangible and verifiable by the senses. Jacob may have been an exception when he
328
awoke from his sleep at Bethel and said: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
The normal thing is that a person is aware of the fact that he is in the presence of God. At the dedication of
the temple by Solomon, the priests could not remain in the temple when the glory of the Lord filled the
building. We read: “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the
LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD
329 330
filled his temple.” And the apostle John testifies: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.”

322
See Rev. 10:7
323
I John 3:2
324
See Ex. 34:29,30
325
II Cor. 2:15
326
See Ex. 26:30; I Chr. 28:19
327
I Cor. 12:4
328
Gen. 28:16
329
I Kings 8:10,11
330
Rev. 1:17

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b. The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon 12:1-18

The first question that begs an answer is, of course, “Who is this woman?” Roman Catholic
theologians may see in her the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven. In a sense, this is true. But if we hold on to
this, to the exclusion of any other thought, we run into trouble in verse 17 where we read about “the rest of
her offspring.” If the child to whom she gave birth is Jesus, who are then the others? A more plausible view
is that the woman represents Israel out of which the Messiah came forth.
But then this Israel represents more than the Jewish people on earth, the offspring of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. The glory of this woman far surpasses anything Israel on earth ever was. This woman is
God’s ideal. She is Eve, not only in her uncorrupted state, but glorified. She is God’s perfect instrument of
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revelation. The picture of this birth reveals the essence of what it means “the Word became flesh.”
God must have had the birth of His Son before His eyes when He created Adam and Eve. We cannot
assume that God looked for an emergency solution when He spoke these words in Paradise: “I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you
332
will strike his heel.” This birth of Jesus Christ as it is depicted in John’s vision is what God had in mind
originally. Man’s fall into sin changed some of the details but not the basic structure.
Yet, we get the impression that what we witness here is more a symphonic poem than the
description of a historical fact. The facts of history are present but they are arranged with some poetical
liberty. The only feature in this picture that deviates from God’s ideal is the labor pains. It was only after Eve
had sinned that God said to her: “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give
333
birth to children.”
The scene here reminds us of Velishowky’s book Worlds in Collision, in which the author
expounds the theory that the planet Venus entered our solar system as a comet. The comet’s train must have
swept over the earth like the fiery tail of an enormous dragon. He believes that the mythological
representations of dragons can be traced back to this phenomenon.
The historical fact expressed in this vision is the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus Christ. Throughout
the ages, Satan has tried to prevent this from happening. Chronologically, the clock is turned back in this
picture. Evidently, in the blowing of the trumpet, the facts are not given in their actual sequence. It could be
that John retracts his steps in order to put the Great Tribulation in its proper perspective. Actually, John
reaches much farther back into history than to the birth of our Lord in Bethlehem. The dragon’s tail
sweeping a third of the stars out of the sky and flinging them to the earth may be seen as a representation of
the prehistoric fall of Lucifer and his minions. Jesus’ birth is also an expression in time and space of God’s
eternal revelation of Himself. In the same way as the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, so
the Word became flesh in eternity, before time was ever created.
What happens on earth is always a reflection of a heavenly reality. John sees this sign appearing in
heaven, but the meaning of it is the coming of the Messiah on earth. It is impossible to misunderstand the
meaning of the birth of “a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” This
prophecy can only be applied to Jesus Christ. The life of Christ between His birth and ascension is omitted in
this picture. The emphasis is on the instrument God uses to bring His Son into the world, that is the nation of
Israel. It is not clear if we must take this to mean the nation of Israel in the limited sense as Israel as we know
it. Considering the heavenly glory of this woman, we must rather think of God’s ideal, what the apostle Paul
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calls: “the Israel of God.”
A wider interpretation of this vision reveals that the devil resists God’s revelation in any form or
shape. With undying energy he opposes every human being in and through whom God’s revelation in this
world becomes visible. The culmination of this resistance will be in the time of 1260 days which is called
“The Great Tribulation.”
The seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on the heads of the dragon point in the direction of
certain world powers which he is able to manipulate in order to defy and darken God’s revelation. Although

331
See John 1:14
332
Gen. 3:15
333
Gen. 3:16
334
Gal. 6:16

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there are features in this vision that are difficult to interpret, the principle of God’s revelation and demonic
resistance is abundantly clear in this sign. John’s picture is very meaningful.
We ought not neglect to look at the literary form of this section. As far as poetry and powerful
imagery is concerned, this passage has no equal. John calls the appearance of the woman “a great and
wondrous sign.” Great and wondrous it is! It is great and wondrous in glory and significance, because it is a
sign of God. We cannot say the same about the appearance of the dragon. That is quite another sign.
It is again difficult to establish the chronological order of verses 7-12, especially as far as the
hurling down from heaven of Satan is concerned. In the same way as with the principle of God’s eternal
revelation of Himself in the appearance of the woman, so also in the war between Michael and the dragon,
we are looking at more than one single incident in the future. The devil fell from his high position as
archangel when sin appeared in his heart. This is expressed in Isaiah’s prophecy about “the King of Babylon”:
“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth,
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you who once laid low the nations!” This prophecy may actually refer to two falls, one before the
creation of men and one after the world had become populated. Ezekiel speaks about the same event in his
“Lament over the king of Tyre”: “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were
on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the
day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with
violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian
cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you
corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you
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before kings.”
Another fall occurred during the great “Spring Cleaning” Jesus performed in Galilee and Judea,
when He and His disciples cast out legions of demons. At that occasion, Jesus stated: “I saw Satan fall like
337
lightning from heaven.” Now again, Satan is defeated in this war with Michael and by those who confess
to the power of the blood of the Lamb. Whether this whole vision pertains to a specific event in history in
the past or the future, we do not know. It is quite possible that Satan never gave up his efforts to infiltrate
heaven and that he must be evicted more than once.
The name Michael is also mentioned in the Book of Daniel in connection with a struggle with
338
demonic powers. We are given the impression that the conflict is localized just within or close to the
atmosphere of our planet. It could be that Satan tries to break out of the space of his confinement and that
the struggle described in this chapter is meant to push him back. C. S. Lewis has based his trilogy of the
space series upon this assumption. In any case, a great clean up occurs in heaven with the result that there is a
greater concentration of demonic power on earth. This creates conditions that are favorable for the
appearance of the Antichrist on the scene.
This brings us to the same point as at the end of the previous chapter, where God’s temple in heaven
was opened and the ark of the covenant became visible.
A loud voice announces the arrival of the Kingdom of God and the coming of Christ in power,
which means salvation for mankind. The difference between this scene and the one at the end of the previous
chapter is the fact that there God revealed His secret in the opening of the temple, while here the Kingdom is
revealed in the victory in the lives of “our brothers.” “The accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before
our God day and night, has been hurled down.” This profound statement ought to penetrate deeply in our
hearts and minds. We do not know whose voice it is that calls us “brothers.” It may be an angel’s or the voice
of the Lord Himself. If it is an angel, the words are Jesus’ words. We are the brothers of Jesus and we are not
related to angels, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.
The victory mentioned here is a moral victory. It is not the victory of one angel over another angel
but of human beings over an angel. It is man, who is accused by Satan, who conquers Satan. The image of the
accuser is borrowed from Zechariah’s vision, in which the prophet sees the high priest Joshua, dressed in
filthy clothes, standing before God. There the angel of the Lord said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you,

335
Isa. 14:12
336
Ezek. 28:14-17
337
Luke 10:18
338
See Dan. 10:20,21

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339
Satan!” Here it is not the angel of the Lord that speaks. The question of how God rebukes Satan is
answered in this chapter of Revelation. Satan is rebuked by the human beings he accuses. Man, who had
become the devil’s victim, whom he had tortured and trodden down in body and soul, arises here and crushes
his adversary.
In Zechariah’s vision we see that the devil does not bring in trumped up charges. Joshua was
dressed in filthy clothes. The fact that the soiling was Satan’s own doing does not change the fact. Only by
means of Jesus’ perfect obedience, by His payment for our guilt with His own life, we are again put on a
solid basis of legality. We plead guilty to the things of which Satan accuses us, but then we show him our
proof of payment: the blood of Jesus Christ. As it turns out the devil is very susceptible to this. There is a
story of an experience Martin Luther had with the devil who presented him with a list of his sins. Luther
ordered Satan to write across the page “atoned for by the blood of the Lamb.” This caused the devil to flee
immediately. Facing our accuser stand the Paracletos, the Holy Spirit, the advocate God has assigned to us.
But even the Holy Spirit would have no ground to stand on without the blood of Jesus Christ. Charles
Wesley states in one of his hymns: “His Spirit answers to the blood and tells me I am born of God.”
The section reminds us of the fact that sin remains a problem in the lives of God’s children. We are
forced to agree with Satan, however nonsensical this may sound. Pleading the blood of Christ does not
constitute a denial of the reality of our sin; it rather confirms it. The kingdom will come through us and will
silence the voice of the Evil One. That is the most surprising aspect of the kingdom. We can say that without
victory in our personal lives the kingdom could not come.
The hurling down of Satan constitutes a step further than refuting his accusations. The breaking
down of Satan’s power in my own life will ultimately result in the total collapse of his kingdom. There is a
parallel between God’s holiness and sin. God’s holiness does not tolerate sin and Satan cannot tolerate
holiness. The blood of Jesus does not only provide payment but also cleansing and rehabilitation.
Satan’s accusation “day and night” is proof of his indefatigable activity. He never ceases trying to
infiltrate and undermine. Holiness is also untiring. We read of the four living creatures, “day and night they
340
never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’ ”
It appears that the unset of the Great Tribulation will be, at least partly, the result of our victory
over the Evil One. This is confirmed by what we read elsewhere. In Chapter 8:3-5, we saw that one of the
results of the prayers of the saints that rise before the throne of God was an outburst of thunder, voices, and
flashes of lightning on earth. God, obviously, did not create us in order to preserve the status quo on earth,
but to force a breakthrough in the heavenly realms.
The victory is won in three phases: the basis is the blood of Christ, the application of the principle
is our confession, and the way in which this becomes effective is in our willingness to give our life for the
Lord. Without the death of Christ there would be no legal basis. “Without the shedding of blood there is no
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forgiveness.” Guilt is the bridgehead Satan uses in every human life. Christ’s payment delivers us from
guilt and its consequences. Thus the roles are reversed. We are no longer fleeing; Satan loses his grip on our
lives. The Bible puts this in the active mode: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” Not only
Jesus’ death is important but also what we do with it. If the Israelites had not applied the blood on their
doorposts in Egypt, they would have been unprotected from the angel of death. The cleansing of our life is
brought about by the application of the atonement. The hymn writer states: “There at the cross where my
Savior died, there to my heart was the blood applied.”
The word of our testimony is a natural and necessary consequence. It is natural because “out of the
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overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” It is impossible to experience a genuine cleansing of the heart
and remain silent about it. Peter and John stated before the Sanhedrin: “We cannot help speaking about what
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we have seen and heard.” It is also a psychological necessity; we need to see the confirmation of our own
testimony. It is much easier to forget and deny that which we never put in words. But a spoken word cannot

339
See Zech. 3:1-3
340
Rev. 4:8
341
Heb. 9:22
342
Luke 6:45
343
Acts 4:20

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be revoked without damage. God holds us to our word and so does the devil! Our testimony does not need to
be given in terms of flowery language. I heard the story of a simple man, who after listening to eloquent
words of people who stated that they had been saved, stood up and uttered the words: “Me too!”
The ultimate breakthrough is in the last clause of verse 11: “They did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.” This means either that they died for the cause of Christ, or they were willing to do
so. Such willingness means the end of Satan’s power over one’s life. The devil’s plan to exterminate the
Jewish people by means of Haman, and so extinguish God’s revelation in this world, shipwrecked at the
moment Queen Esther said: “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I
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perish.” Satan becomes powerless when we give ourselves over into death in Jesus Christ and when we
are willing to give our life for Him in a physical sense. After all, that is what He did for us! It is the fear of
345
death that makes us slaves of the devil. When that fear is conquered in Christ, the devil loses his power,
both in our personal lives, as well as around us. There are more important things than our life. David said to
346
God: “Your love is better than life.” And the girl in The Song of Solomon states: “Love is as strong as
347
death.” There is nothing wrong in loving life. There is, however, a point at which we have to choose
between God and ourselves. That is the moment at which he who loses his life will find it. May God keep me
from saying these things now and waver at the critical instant! I hope to be able to flee to the Lord at that
point.
The victory is a reason for exuberant joy in heaven and great sadness on earth. Maybe, we must not
see this as a purely geographical distinction. Those on earth who belong to heaven will be able to rejoice
also, even if they go through the Great Tribulation on earth. Evidently, what happens in the heavenly places
forms the basis for the event on earth, which we call the Great Tribulation. Satan is extremely infuriated by
his finale expulsion from heaven. More than ever he is determined to take his anger against God out on the
inhabitants of the earth. Woe to our poor planet! We have seen some of this anger demonstrated, for
instance, in the inhuman cruelties the Nazis committed in their concentration camps during World War II.
In the last verses of this chapter (Verses 13-18), we see how the dragon concentrates his rage upon
the woman. If we see in this woman “the Israel of God,” we could conclude that the church would go
through the Great Tribulation on earth. The deeper we enter into this problem, we must confess that,
ultimately, we do not know.
We understand that the woman and her children, those “who obey God’s commandments and hold
to the testimony of Jesus,” are the brunt of Satan’s anger. That description can hardly be applied to the nation
of Israel in its present condition. If these people are not the church of Jesus Christ, they strongly resemble it.
It is very difficult to distill anything that resembles a fact of history from this highly symbolic presentation.
We are given the impression of a severe testing under impossible circumstances in an inhospitable area. It
reminds us of Israel’s crossing of the desert on their way to the promised land, as well as of the temptation
of our Lord. That does not sound like the Great Tribulation during which the church would fall into the
devil’s clutches, but it does not resemble the rapture of the church either. Yet the duration of the Great
Tribulation of 3 ½ years, “a time, times, and half a time” is stated. But the place indicated is “out of the
serpent’s reach.” In spite of the fact that he makes furious efforts, the devil cannot reach her.
Certain elements of the image are clear enough. God allows deprivation and hardship but, at the
same time, the woman is kept under His protection. This reminds us of promises in the Psalms: “A thousand
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may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” And: “You prepare
349
a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Yet, the total picture is very difficult to understand.
There is a suggestion in it of Elijah’s experience when God protected him supernaturally from the power of

344
Esther 4:16
345
See Heb. 2:14,15
346
Ps. 63:3
347
Song of Solomon 8:6
348
Ps. 91:7
349
Ps. 23:5

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King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and kept him alive at the brook in the Kerith Ravine, and later in the house of
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the widow in Zarephath. It is a wonderful thing to be kept alive by the Lord “out of the serpent’s reach”
We assume that Verses 6 and 14 are identical. In Verse 6 we read that the woman fled and in vs. 14
that she was given wings. It is not always bad to flee. The battle in the heavenly places always begins with a
flight. In the Psalms, David calls God “our refuge and strength,” which implies that he flees to God for
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protection. Every victory over Satan begins with a fleeing from him. To accept the full armor of God,
after all, means that we put ourselves under God’s protection, which is the same as fleeing to Him.
We saw before that the desert represents those conditions in which human life is virtually
impossible, yet where humans survive. It also stands for a pilgrimage. Israel trekked through the desert to
enter and possess the Holy Land. The image shows some interesting symbolic complications in which the
dragon unsuccessfully tries to destroy the woman whilst nature itself comes to her succor. It is difficult to
interpret the meaning of all the details. It is also challenging to determine where to draw the line between
what happens to the woman and her offspring. Satan’s powerlessness becomes the reason for his boundless
rage that leads to the horrible manifestations of evil during the Great Tribulation. We are again reminded of
Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel: “ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
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Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Only those whose souls are
hidden in Jesus Christ can say “amen” to such things; otherwise, the torture of the body can damage the soul.

c. The Beasts Coming out of the Sea and out of the Earth 13:1-18

It seems as if Satan receives his inspiration during a walk along the beach. This can happen to the
best among men also. Hudson Taylor received his vision for The China Inland Mission during one of such
walks. The awesomeness of space and water, which makes the people of God aware of God’s presence, has
the opposite effect upon the devil.
Several of the elements that form the content of this chapter are borrowed from the Book of Daniel
353
and its seventh chapter. Daniel saw “the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.” John does not
mention a storm at sea, but we can imagine that this horrible creature comes out of an ocean that is as
smooth as a mirror.
It would be nice if we could simply skip this section of the Book of Revelation. As the opening of
the temple and the becoming visible of the ark of God forms the highlight of the book, so this event
represents the deepest point in the history of the universe. Both occurrences are part of the blowing of the
seventh trumpet. We may see in the sea a picture of the raging of the people of the world. In the Book of
Daniel, we read about the rise and fall of four kingdoms. In King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream he sees these
kingdoms in the form of a beautiful statue; Daniel sees the same in his vision of four monsters coming up
354
out of the sea. That which Nebuchadnezzar saw as splendid is horrible in God’s eyes.
What Daniel sees in the form of four beasts, John sees as one. The implication of this is, probably,
that the Antichrist, who is obviously the one pictured here, combines within himself all the features of the
Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman empires. The ten horns with the crowns probably correspond
to the ten toes in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. We will not lose ourselves in speculations as to whom the ten
horns can be applied. It is beyond doubt that there is a correlation between the seven heads of this monster
and the seven heads of the dragon. This beast is a human being to whom Satan gives his power, his throne,
and his authority. This is only possible if this man opened himself without reservations to the devil to place
himself at his disposal. Satan does not respect human personality. We suppose that this transfer of power and
authority will take on the form of demon possession. Yet, Satan will probably leave a great deal of freedom

350
See I Kings 17:2-16
351
See Ps. 46:1b
352
Matt. 10:28
353
Dan. 7:2
354
See Dan. ch. 2 and 7

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to this person in order to reach his goal. But, in the final reckoning, no love will be lost between the
Antichrist and his master. When push comes to shove, Satan will drop his man like a hot potato. All this is a
parody of the Incarnation. It is no incarnation at all, because the devil does not possess the power to create a
human body, not even for the Antichrist. All demon possession means a robbery of what belongs to God,
even this ultimate manifestation of godlessness.
One of the heads of the beast was deadly wounded, but the wound healed. This may be seen as a
parody of the killing of the Lamb of God. John introduced Jesus to us as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been
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slain.” It is impossible for us to predict how the healing of this deadly wound will manifest itself when
the Antichrist actually makes his appearance. It could look like an instance of divine healing. During World
War II, when the plot of Stauffelberg to assassinate Hitler failed, because the bomb exploded behind the leg
of the table, thus saving Hitler’s life, the Fuehrer piously attributed this to the intervention of “Providence.”
But at this point, the Antichrist will probably have given up all pretense of religion. Initially, he presents
himself as the Christ in order to seduce religious people. But here he indulges in blasphemy. Each of his
seven heads carries a blasphemous name, and he is given a mouth to speak proud and blasphemous words.
Blasphemy is the peak and end result of all sin. It is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Adam by disobedience
opened the door for sin to enter the world, but, as far as we know, he never blasphemed. In the Antichrist, sin
has reached its climax. Adolph Hitler never showed any inclination of obedience to God, but he never openly
used blasphemy. It is, however, possible to commit blasphemy and maintain an appearance of religion at the
356
same time. Otherwise, Jesus’ warning about sinning against the Holy Spirit would make no sense. Man
has arrived here at the deepest point in his fall, even without any pious outward appearance.
The mention of a period of 42 months brings us back to the time of the Great Tribulation. All this
happens during the time frame of 3½ years: the ministry of the two witnesses, the persecution of the woman,
and the revelation of the beast. If we do not assume that they all occur simultaneously, we would be looking
at a period of 14 years total. This again proves that, even in the description of the blowing of the trumpets,
John does not follow a chronological order of events, but that he highlights different facets of incidents that
occur simultaneously.
Three things characterize the rule of the Antichrist. He has the gift of demagogy. He makes
tremendous speeches in which he puts the blame on God in such a way that sweeps people off their feet. In
the days of Adolph Hitler people, understandably, often referred to Revelation chapter thirteen, trying to
identify him with the Antichrist. He may not have been it, but he definitely was one of his forerunners.
The second point is that the Antichrist succeeds in conquering the saints. Whether this means that he
overcomes resistance by mass executions or that he stops the mouth of the church in another fashion, we do
not know. In George Orwell’s book 1984, the main character has a conversion experience of sorts when he
hears a radio broadcast about one of “Big Brother’s” military victories. But that is not the kind of victory
over the saints the Antichrist wins, which is referred to here. Those whose names are written in the Book of
Life will never worship the beast. The saints will be shackled and slain; they will be defeated. This is the
lowest point of world history. Yet, there is a victory: Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life will not worship the beast! All inhabitants of the earth will worship the devil and the beast. Satan will be
worshipped because of his great sacrifice. Hear this nonsense! The devil’s great sacrifice! What a parody of
the love of God! “Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast.” Mankind has
fallen so deeply that they fall for this caricature. They realize all of a sudden what kind of “superman” they
have in their midst. He had achieved what those who sought God never achieved before. He dares to look
God straight in the face and tell Him off. “Such a person is worthy of praise,” they will say.
Ultimately, his military might is so absolute over the whole world that resistance is useless. “If you
cannot fight them, join them!” But the children of God, who have applied the blood of the Lamb at their
doorposts, who know that God has written down their names with non-erasable ink, will not fall for this
nonsense. The Antichrist will not corrupt people; he only snares those who are already corrupted. He gathers
his own harvest. He takes only what already belongs to him. It is as Aleksandr Solzenitsyn states in his book
The Gulag Archipelago, that it is not the prison that corrupts people. But people who already have
corruption in their hearts become worse. God “is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his

355
See ch. 5:6
356
See Matt. 12:31,32

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glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” Our warrantee is that our names are written in the
Book. Whether we will go through the Great Tribulation or not is not the important thing. Important is that
we have no reason to fear the Antichrist.
The text states that the Antichrist “was given authority over every tribe, people, language and
nation.” These words correspond to what we read in Ch. 7:9 – “After this I looked and there before me was a
great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the
throne and in front of the Lamb.” The wording suggests that the Antichrist does not have absolute power.
Evidently, some of every tribe, people, language and nation will slip through his fingers. These are those
whose names are written in the Book of Life. Jesus had already mentioned this book to His disciples when
“the seventy” returned after their victory over the devil and He said to them: “Do not rejoice that the spirits
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submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The last time we find this book
mentioned is on the last Day of Judgment, when John states: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. If anyone’s
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name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
The Greek grammar allows for two interpretations of the words “from the creation of the world.”
They can apply to “the Lamb that was slain,” or, to “all whose names have not been written in the book of
life.” The theological problem in the interpretation that states that the names were written in the book of life
before the creation of the world is that the human will and conversion become a farce. It is, of course, true
that God knows everything eternally, but the writing down of a name makes the matter irrevocable. One
would wonder if even God would be able to do such a thing in eternity if the conversion has not yet taken
place in time. We do not honor God if we state that God’s decree reduces man to a puppet. Man’s free will is
not subjected to God unless the person who possesses that will desires to surrender it. This is the reason we
do not hesitate to choose the interpretation that connects “from the creation of the world” to “the Lamb that
was slain.” That is still enough of a mystery, but it is an acceptable one. The Son has surrendered Himself in
eternity to the Father out of love. The blood that flowed on Golgotha was the blood of the eternal covenant.
This is what the author of Hebrews meant when he wrote: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of
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the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep…” That
the eternal God created a human body for this purpose and allowed the devil to introduce death into His
creation defies my wildest imagination! Augustine was correct when he spoke of “the blessed fall of Adam.”
Our understanding that our names are written in the book of the Lamb is the basis of our
knowledge of salvation. If we lack this knowledge, we become uncertain and paralyzed in our struggle
against the Evil One. We do well to mark the point in our life where we decided to surrender our life to God,
so that we can resist the temptations the devil wants to subject us to. I once heard the story of a farmer, who
had just been converted, who was plowing his field when he felt assailed by doubts about his salvation. He
stopped his plough and planted a stick in the ground, saying: “I am saved.” When Satan came back and tried
to make him doubt again, he pointed to the stick as a monument.
The people who find themselves assailed in the Great Tribulation need a foundation of faith that
allows them to see through the outward appearance of sham and falseness of the beast. They know whom
they have believed and they will not be put to shame, not even when they face the gallows or the firing squad,
when the beast is given power to conquer them. But woe to them who worship the beast! In connection with
this, the Holy Spirit says more than ever: “He who has an ear, let him hear.”
The Spirit first spoke those words through the mouth of Isaiah, when the people had grown too
accustomed to hearing the Word of God. God said to the prophet: “Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
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understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Jesus repeated this to His disciples, when He

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Jude 24
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Luke 10:20
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Rev. 20:12,15
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Heb. 13:20
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Isa. 6:10

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disclosed to them the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven at the critical moment of Israel’s history. The
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Holy Spirit says it to the church today, as He said it to the seven churches in Asia Minor. And during the
Great Tribulation, while the noise of the kettledrums and the beating on pot lids is going on in the adoration
of the beast, He will whisper it into the ears of the saints. The message is: Do not resist the Evil One; do not
try to pay him back in the same currency. Violence will boomerang. We will conquer him, not by might nor
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by power, but by the Spirit of God, as the Lord said to Zechariah. Gandhi of India had at least understood
this part of the Gospel. At this point and in this manner the endurance and faithfulness of the saints become
apparent.
In the last part of the chapter, another beast appears out of the earth. At a later point in this book, he
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is called “the false prophet.” He resembled the Lamb with his two horns, but he spoke like the dragon,
which is Satan. Again, we see a transfer of power. This false prophet possesses the same supernatural powers
as the Antichrist and the dragon. This fact will augment the astonishment of those who are not rooted in the
truth. This unholy trinity: the dragon, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, which evokes the image of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, will stir up in mankind a vague feeling that there must be something in
religion after all.
There are three things on the devil’s program: first the manifestation of the above mentioned
powers; secondly, the making of a statue that can speak; and third: the marking of the right hand and the
forehead of everyone in order to be able to participate in the flourishing economy. The first point of the
program is the manifestation of supernatural powers. We must not forget that this is the same period in
which God’s two witnesses, “the two olive trees and the two lampstands” are on earth, performing their
miracles of fire, drought, and plagues. There is a repeat of what we saw happen in Egypt in the days of
Moses. Moses performed miracles in the Name of God and Pharaoh’s magicians imitated him up to a certain
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point. The devil can give a good imitation of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The second supernatural phenomenon is the speaking statue. John describes this as supernatural, but
it is quite possible that we are dealing here with the perfection of a computer. In that case the required
worship would be a worship of human intelligence, as a breakthrough of technical achievement. The concept
of the statue comes from the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. We read in the Book of Daniel that
Nebuchadnezzar had a statue of gold erected that served the double purpose of symbolizing his royal power
and of being an idol. We must remember that always, when man elevates and glorifies himself, he does not
actually serve himself but Satan. The adoration of the speaking beast, this super computer, is actually the
worship of the dragon. It is quite possible that mankind will not conceive this in terms of metaphysical
dimensions but will see this merely as an expression of awe for the unbelievable achievements of the human
mind. Those who would be put to death because they refuse this worship would be accused of hindering the
advancement of science. In modern terms, holding on to mythological fables such as the Genesis record of
creation, would be enough reason to make people face the firing squad. Blessed will be in those days the
Shadrachs, Meshachs, and Abednegos, who refuse to worship the image, even if God decides not to save
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them! We suppose that at this point, the angel of the Lord will not descend to rescue those who become
the victims of the Antichrist. We read: “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer
them.” It will, however, be a temporary and empty victory for him. He who kills a child of God opens the
door of heaven for him. In C. S. Lewis’ book The Last Battle there is a stable in which the victims of Tash
are thrown. As it turns out the stable is infinitely larger on the inside than on the outside. It is also full of
light. It is the beginning of new life for those who belong to Aslan.
Much speculation has been made concerning the number 666, which stands for “the mark, which is
the name of the beast or the number of his name.” Everyone will be forced to identify him- or herself with

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See Matt. 13:11-17
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Rev. 2:7,11,17,29;3:6,13,22
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See Zech. 4:6
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Rev. 19:20
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See Ex. 7 and 8
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See Dan. 3:17,18

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this number in order to be able to buy or sell anything. It will be an identification necessary for a person to
stay alive, a kind of obligatory identity card. During World War II the Nazi government imposed such
identification upon the citizens of their conquered countries in order to be able to easily identify those who
were Jews. The three-digit number probably stands for the unholy trinity of the dragon, the beast from the
sea, and the beast from the earth. It is likely that the number stands for the letter value of the name of a
human being. Evidently the Hebrew value of the letters that spell the word Caesar Nero add up to 666. The
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia ridicules this interpretation (in my opinion, unjustly so) by
stating: “The number 666 given to the Beast (Rev 13:18), though presumably readily understood by the
writer’s immediate public, has proved a riddle capable of too many solutions to be now readily soluble at all.
The favorite explanation Neron Qecar (Nero Caesar), which suits numerically, becomes absurd when it
implies the attribution of seven heads and ten horns.”
The Fausset’s Bible Dictionary provides a more elaborate explanation, which is worth copying:
“‘The number of the beast’ is 666, i.e. 6, the world’s number, in units, tens, and hundreds. Six is next to the
sacred seven, which it mimics but falls short of; it is the number of the world given over to judgment. There
is a pause between the sixth and seventh seals, the sixth and seventh trumpets: for the judgments of the world
are completed in six; at the seventh the world kingdoms become Christ’s. As twelve is the number of the
church, so six, its half, symbolizes the world kingdoms broken. The radicals in Christ are CH, R, and ST (chi,
rho, and sigma); Antichrist’s monogram impersonates it, but falls short of it, Ch X St (chi, xi, and sigma)
(666). It is curious that the only unquestionable 666 (1 Kings 10:14; 2 Chron 9:13) in the Old Testament is
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the 666 talents of gold that came in yearly to Solomon, and were among the correcting influences that
misled him. Moreover, the only two Greek nouns in the New Testament, whose value numerically is exactly
666, are precisely the two expressing the grand corrupters of the church and sources of idolatry, ‘tradition’
(paradosis…), the corrupter of doctrine, ‘wealth’ or the pursuit of it (euporia …), only in Acts 19:25), the
corrupter of practice (Col 3:5). The children of Adonikam are 666 in Ezra 2:13, but 667 in Neh 7:18.
Adonijah, bearing the name of the Lord Jehovah, rose up against the Lord’s anointed, and so is a type of
Antichrist. The Hebrew letters of Balaam (type of the false prophet whose spiritual knowledge shall be
perverted to Satanic ends; Rev 2:14 favors this, also the fact that Antichrist mainly shall oppress Israel, Dan
8; 9; 11; 12) amount to 666. The Greek letters of Lateinos … Rome’s language in all official acts, amount
to 666. The forced unity marked by Rome’s ritual being everywhere in Latin is the premature counterfeit of
the true unity, only to be realized when Christ, God’s true Vicar on earth, shall appear, and all the earth shall
‘in a pure language serve the Lord with one consent’ (Zeph 3:9). The last Antichrist will be closely
connected with his predecessor (as the second beast is with the first in Rev 13), and will arrogate all Rome’s
claims besides those peculiar to himself.”
Less complicated, however, seems to apply the number to the person of Nero, whom John uses as a
type of the Antichrist. At the moment of John’s writing of the book, Nero had already become history. It is
part of the principle of biblical prophecy to take images of the past and project them upon the future.

d. The Lamb on Mount Zion 14:1-5

There stands the Lamb on Mount Zion, together with those who belong to Him. We are not told
how they arrived there. It could be that they had been there all the time and that John only saw them at this
moment. This is the same group we met already in Chapter Seven, when at the opening of the sixth seal, the
angel who comes from the direction of the rising sun, seals them with the seal of the living God. We are not
told whether this Mount Zion is the place on earth, or whether it is the real Zion of which David’s citadel on
earth was the shadow. To state this specifically would not have been necessary; we are here in God’s reality.
Above and amidst the corruption on earth, the total destruction of spiritual and moral values, stands the
Lamb of God with that part of mankind that has been redeemed from their sins by His payment. They are full
of the life, the holiness, and the attributes of the divine nature of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
They bear the Name of God on their foreheads. Their names are no longer “Tom, Dick, or Harry,” but
“Father, Son, and Spirit.” The holiness and sinless condition that is attributed to them is not their own
achievement. Originally, they were sinful human beings, who believed that the Lamb took their sins upon

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I suppose this is a typographical error in the text. It should probably read “corrupting.”

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Himself. These are people who are clothed with the righteousness of God in Jesus. “God made him who had
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no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The NIV’s “they kept themselves pure” is the rendering of the Greek ouk emolúntheesan
parthénoi, meaning literally “they are undefiled virgins.” This should, of course, not be taken in the sexual
sense of the word. Although the wording would make us believe that the crowd exists only of males, we may
safely assume that there will be at least as many females as males among the redeemed of the Lord. The
majority of these people will have been married during their life on earth. If there were any reference to
sexuality it would be to extra-marital affairs. We rather hold, however, that sexual relations in Scripture are
often seen as an image of our relationship with God. The virginity here is then a symbol of the pure love and
faithfulness of this relationship. It stands for the surrender of all our heart and all our soul and all our mind
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in love to God. Jesus adds to this “all your strength.” This pure consecration to God is called spiritual
virginity, which is the result of our redemption from sin. As the bride of the Lamb, we may not give
ourselves to anyone else. Paul expresses this when he writes to the Corinthians: “I am jealous for you with a
godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to
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him.”
This purity of the redeemed is also expressed in absolute obedience. “They follow the Lamb
wherever he goes.” We wonder if these words were written for heaven or for the earth. If absolute obedience
is that important in heaven, how much more on earth! These redeemed must have learned their obedience
while they still were on earth.
There is also great comfort for those on earth in the fact that we never have to go anywhere alone.
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The reward of obedience is “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” That is our choice
when we feel lonely and alone in this world. As the happiness of a wife is in the following of her husband, so
there is no greater happiness for us than in the following of the Lamb wherever He goes. Mark the emphasis
on the word “wherever.” This is unconditional obedience, under all circumstances, without prejudice or
reservations. “Lord Jesus, I want to follow you wherever you go!” It is therefore not our going somewhere,
but the Lamb’s going that is important. All I have to do is follow.
The fact that these people are called “firstfruits” proves that they are the church of Jesus Christ.
That is what James calls us: “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of
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firstfruits of all he created.” We are the firstfruits of the harvest to come; the first members of a new
creation that came into being by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit that began in
the heart of man at his new birth is here complete. These people can no longer tell a lie; they are blameless.
This is God’s work. We cannot work ourselves up to this state of existence. Jude tells us that only God “is
able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great
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joy.” Without this guarantee no creature would have a chance.
Now for the new song! Without the above, there would be no reason for this new song that John
hears at this point. David prophesied about this new song in one of his psalms: “Hallelujah. Sing to the
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LORD a new song.” That prophecy is being fulfilled here. John hears this as a voice from heaven.
The development of musical instrumentation in John’s time was at a lower level than it is at
present. In John’s description we find frequent references to “the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal
of thunder” in an effort to describe that which defies description. This is the perfect choir and orchestra,
giving a rendering of the perfect cantata. We have nothing on this earth that could compare with this concert.
When musicians on earth play a piece by Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven, they have to rehearse carefully and
painstakingly what those great composers have written. A spontaneous concert of improvisation by a choir
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II Cor. 5:21
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See Mark 12:30
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II Cor. 11:2
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Matt. 28:20
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James 1:18
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Jude vs. 24
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Ps. 149:1

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and orchestra of 144,000 who give a rendering of their own composition would be inconceivable on earth.
These people sing on the basis of their personal experience; it is the elation of their hearts: “Cantata
Domine!” “Exultata, Jubilata,” “Hallelujah!” One cannot copy this from someone else, or sing what
someone else has written. Only when one has this song in his heart and belongs to the choir, can one sing it
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with a clear and pure voice, because “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
As we saw earlier, these 144,000 represent a symbolic figure for those through whom God reveals
Himself in this world. It is probably the same as “great multitude that no one could count from every nation,
tribe, people and language.” If the number is again mentioned here, it means that the emphasis is upon the
revelation aspect. After all, this book is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” He reveals Himself in the
lives and in the praise of those He bought and who have given themselves to Him in obedience.

e. The Announcement of Judgment 14:6-13

There probably runs a line of separation between this section and the following. In the
announcement we see three angels appear. The first angel proclaims the Gospel, the second announces
judgment over Babylon, and the third issues a personal warning to those who follow the Antichrist.
This is the only place in Scripture in which we read that an angel, and not a human being, is charged
with the preaching of the Gospel. One televangelist saw in this angel who is flying in midair a symbol of
radio broadcasts beamed off a satellite. Whether such an interpretation is permissible from the point of view
of hermeneutics is debatable. But if the huge mountain that is thrown into the sea in Chapter Eight stands for
a nuclear explosion, the angel here could very well represent a satellite. In that case the proclamation of the
Gospel would still be in human hands. It may also be, however, that God breaks the rules at this point
because no human being who remained faithful to the Gospel can be found anymore. If the Antichrist
succeeds in silencing the saints to the point where no one can testify for God, the only testimony remaining
is their blood that will soak the ground.
The Gospel is called here “the eternal gospel.” Abraham, Moses, Paul, and we all hear the same
message. The Lamb was slain from the creation of the world. At this point the proclamation will reach every
nation, tribe, people and language. This would speak in favor of the satellite theory. If there comes a point in
world history at which the proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom as a testimony to all nations would no
longer be in the hands of man, the urgency would cease to be. Then we would no longer be responsible to
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bring back the King. This end, about which Jesus speaks in Matthew’s Gospel, seems to have arrived
here. Maybe we ought to pay more attention to the audio-visual possibilities than we have so far.
The core of the Gospel is the fear of God, His honor and our worship of Him. In our preaching of
the Gospel, we often put so much emphasis on the salvation of man that we create the impression that it is
about humans only. Our salvation is the shortest way to God’s glory, nothing less, nothing more! The goal is
God, not us. It is only possible to honor God if we are saved by the blood of Jesus. The Bible states
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emphatically that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” The only thing that is required
of man in this chapter is that he acknowledges God as creator, from whose hand he receives life. God does
not demand that we fully understand the way of salvation, but that we act according to the light we possess.
This will ultimately lead us to Jesus Christ.
The second angel announces the fall of Babylon. This theme is further developed in Chapters 17
and 18. The arrangement of material in this section proves again that the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls
of wrath fit into each other. It confirms the theory that the book of Revelation develops as a spiral. The
contents of the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh bowl are identical. The perspective may
differ, but not the facts. The destruction of the devil’s citadel relates to the prayers of the saints. We saw this
earlier, when the prayers of the saints rose before God as incense and thunderstorms and earthquakes
occurred on earth.
Apparently the third angel receives the most attention in this chapter. He sends a serious warning to
the address of those who follow the Antichrist. Man deceives himself when he thinks that association with
God’s enemy is harmless. He who chooses for the devil, or chooses for himself (which is the same), chooses
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See Matt. 12:34
377
See Matt. 24:14
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Prov. 1:7

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against God. The warning proves that man is responsible for his acts. No one is forced to follow the
Antichrist or to accept him as lord of his life. Even Satan cannot bend the will of man. God holds responsible
those who receive the sign of the beast and worship his image. This seems unfair. The pressures of the Great
Tribulation will require a superhuman effort to resist. Only those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will be
able not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Physical and psychological suffering are weapons against which we have little or no defense. The
point is that those who bear the sign of the beast and worship his image have decided, at one point in their
lives, not to surrender to God and serve Him. This does not always come in the form of a radical decision. In
C. S. Lewis’ book That Hideous Strength, there is a man named Mark, who never had placed his life upon a
solid foundation. When under pressure of the evil company N.I.C.E. he began to give in and when he began
to commit his first-ever criminal act, he hardly realized that he did it.
God is not unjust. This is not about people who never had a chance to understand what it was all
about. They knew what they were doing. Every single one of them was willing to let someone else die in
order to stay alive themselves. It is absolutely important for man to give his heart to God. When we do not,
we cause our own suffering. Our heart only finds its rest in God.
It almost sounds as if the Lamb and the holy angels find pleasure in torturing defenseless souls and
that they enjoy their “sweet revenge.” It remains true, however, that the Lamb was slain to keep human
beings from getting to this point. These people cause their own pain. Who is to blame when someone
commits a crime and afterwards suffers intense remorse? Can we say that God is to blame for creating man’s
conscience?
At this point, God’s children will have to give their all. This is the time of the endurance of the
saints. Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel: “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for
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the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” We understand this to refer to physical survival. Every
one of God’s children would be murdered if the Antichrist had enough time to carry out his plan. God will
shorten the time so that some believers will be alive when our Lord returns. Yet, it appears that most of the
saints will give their lives for the Kingdom. They are “the dead who die in the Lord.” This means that they
die in fellowship with Him and for His sake. The Holy Spirit does not mention these people here specifically.
Their lives will be like a monument of God’s righteousness in a crooked world.
It is as if the camera pans back and forth here over the scene of world history. If the 144,000 are the
same as the multitude no one can count and as the redeemed by the Lamb in this chapter, then we see them at
the same time as the suppressed, the martyrs and as the ones who are saved.
The scene looks like a multi-media presentation. This technique, if we may use that word here,
gives us an impression of eternity. We see people as God sees them. As elsewhere in the Bible, we see here
also God’s compassion with suffering mankind. Often, when the Holy Spirit announces severe suffering, this
is accompanied by expressions of deep commiseration. We see this, for instance, in connection with the
massacre of the infants of Bethlehem. Five hundred years before it happened, the Holy Spirit intoned a dirge
through the prophet Jeremiah. We read in Matthew’s Gospel: “Then what was said through the prophet
Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
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children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’ ” In the same manner here, the Holy
Spirit prepares comfort for those who will go through the Great Tribulation. Our suffering never leaves God
indifferent. God’s message to a suffering world ought not to leave us indifferent either.

f. The Gathering of the Harvest of the Word 14:14-20

The central figure in this vision is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the “Son of Man” who
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comes with the clouds of heaven. Daniel saw Him in this fashion in his first vision of future events. Jesus
identified Himself with this image in His defense before the Sanhedrin, when He said: “I say to all of you: In

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Matt. 24:22
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Matt. 2:17-18
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See Dan. 7:13,14

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the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds
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of heaven.”
The purpose of His coming here is to gather the harvest. The harvest appears to exist of two parts:
the wheat harvest and the wine harvest. We are given the impression that this involves recompense and
punishment. It expresses God’s favor and His wrath. It comes under the symbols of bread and wine.
What happens finds its origin in the temple that is in heaven. Two angels come out of the temple to
give the order for the harvest. So all this is still part of the blowing of the seventh trumpet. The harvest is a
picture of judgment, both in the positive and the negative sense. There is the harvesting of wheat as well as
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the burning of weeds. Grapes are crushed to make wine. This last part especially is an expression of the
wrath of God over man’s sin. Isaiah saw this in a similar vision as expressed here: “Who is this coming from
Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in
the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Why are your garments red,
like those of one treading the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was
with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments,
and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has
come. I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm
worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I
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made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.’ ”
Other parts of Scripture supply information that shows how redundant the negative aspect of this
figure is. Each of the two images is, in one way or another, connected to the work and the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He comes to us under the symbols of bread and wine. In Him, the bread is broken and the wine
is poured out. The judgment that ought to have fallen on us, fell on Him. He trod the winepress outside the
city walls, when He took our sins upon Himself in His own body and nailed them to the cross. “The
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punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” This judgment was carried out in the past; it is
finished. It is absolutely unnecessary for us to undergo this anew. That is why Jesus Himself says: “I tell you
the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned;
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he has crossed over from death to life.” Consequently, we may see in this announcement of judgment a
declaration of the grace of God. If anyone falls under God’s judgment it is because that person insists on
paying personally for his own sin.
The result of the atonement is overwhelming. The blood that comes out of the winepress covers
everything for miles and miles and is deep enough to completely envelop every human being. It rises as high
as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. TLB paraphrases this: “Blood flowed out in a stream
200 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.” If that is not enough to cover some people it is because they
stand too tall in their own eyes. If we bow our heads and bend our knees, we will be covered completely by
this blood.
John’s vision sheds a new light on some of Jesus’ parables. In Matthew’s Gospel, we find two
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parables about wheat that is being sown and harvested. In another parable in the same Gospel, we read
388
that the owner of a vineyard sends his servants to collect his share of the wine harvest. It is God who
harvests, not Satan. God reaps what He has sown. He holds people responsible and He calls them to account.
The harvest is the essence of the Kingdom of Heaven. The cry: “Take your sharp sickle and gather the
clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe” is the answer to the prayer: “Your
kingdom come!” As far as the wheat harvest is concerned, we see Jesus as the great reaper of the harvest. He

382
Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62
383
See Matt. 13:30,40-43
384
Isa. 63:1-6
385
Isa. 53:5
386
John 5:24
387
Matt. 13:3-9; 24-30
388
Matt. 21:33-46

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389
said Himself: “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.” Now He harvests what He had
sown. He is the sower, the reaper, the grain that is sown, and the bread of life. No one is more qualified to
gather in the harvest than He is.
Yet, this whole harvest is set within the frame of judgment over sin. At that moment, the Antichrist
is ruling the world. It seems as if the field of this world is completely overgrown with weeds. But this vision
speaks about much more than about the measure of iniquity being full. God harvests wheat and grapes; He
makes bread and wine. The result is positive, not negative.
The angel who comes from the altar that is in the temple in heaven is an interesting character. He is
in charge of the fire, which probably refers to the fire on the altar. He is probably the same person who
390
previously presented the prayers of the saints together with the incense to God. His coming from the altar
connects the prayers of the saints with the gathering of the wine harvest. After all, we were the ones who
prayed: “Your kingdom come!”

g. The Hymn of the Victors 15:1-4

Again, the pieces fit together so snugly that it is almost impossible to say where the seventh trumpet
stops and the seven plagues begin. It is obvious that the transition takes place somewhere in this section.
These seven plagues mark the end of God’s wrath. This is also part of the end of God’s mystery, as was that
which occurred when the last trumpet was sounded and the temple in heaven was opened and the ark of the
391
covenant became visible.
John calls the appearing of the angels “another great and marvelous sign.” This does not mean that
the plagues that are described in the next chapter provide a reason for rejoicing. As we will notice when we
study that section, the plagues are probably the result of what man does to himself. The great and marvelous
part of it consists in the fact that God’s wrath will be finished.
Sometimes we act as if it would not be appropriate for a holy God to be indignant about sin.
Several years ago, a girl was raped by a group of boys in broad daylight in a park somewhere in the United
States. A group of people stood by and witnessed this without doing anything. This caused a public outcry. A
young African American boy, who was the only one indignant about this, jumped on his bike and warned the
police. He was later interviewed as a hero on television. God’s wrath about sin is, in fact, nothing else than
indignation over demonic and human brutality and injustice. It is, therefore, not wrong when we, as human
beings, are indignant. Why would we be and God would not?
God’s wrath, however, is more than mere resentment. It is the absolute reaction of perfect holiness
to all sin. The tension caused by the fall between God’s perfection on the one hand, both in holiness and
love, and sin on the other shouts for a solution. God’s wrath was completed at Golgotha. What we see
happen here is the fall-out. The fact that God’s wrath is completed and that consequently His holiness and
love have been rehabilitated is indeed “a great and marvelous sign.”
John describes a scene that resembles the condition of the people of Israel right after they had
crossed the Red Sea, when the dead bodies of Pharaoh and his army washed ashore. True poetry always
depicts reality. The interesting feature in this version of the event is that the order is reversed. In Egypt, the
ten plagues led to the exodus. Here it begins with the victory, which is followed by seven plagues. The battle
is fought from the standpoint of victory.
After their crossing of the Red Sea the Israelites, under the direction of Moses, sang the hymn: “I
392
will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.” The
people had thought they would die, either by the sword of the Egyptians, or by drowning in the sea. This
psalm expresses the praise of those who have experienced deliverance from their fear of death through the
393
death of Jesus Christ. Their slavery is over; the devil is hurled from his throne. That is the reason that

389
Matt. 13:37
390
Rev. 8:3-5
391
See Rev. 10:7;11:19
392
Ex. 15:1
393
See Heb. 2:14,15

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those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name stand here at
the edge of the sea of victory and sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.
The devil still acts in this world as if he is almighty. We can imagine what effect the singing of this
hymn must have upon him. He was there when Pharaoh drowned and he was witness of the crucifixion. We
can see his balloon emptying and his inflated image shrinking to nothing. “They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from
394
death.”
This hymn is a hymn of faith. It is being sung at the shore of the sea in which the Antichrist has not
yet drowned. In a way, the victors of the beast are the ones that drowned. Their victory consists in the fact
that they left their lives on the other side of the sea. They were slain, as was the Lamb, and so they become
the victors of the beast. The more we look at it, the more glorious this picture becomes.
In this hymn of praise, the enemy is not even mentioned. The topic is God’s great and marvelous
deeds and His holiness. This is evinced in the fact that those who were conceived and born in sin have come
to the point of surrendering their lives for their Lord, whom they love, and in the fact that those who died are
now risen from the dead. Like the Lamb that was slain, they now live for ever and ever. This is not stated in
so many words, but the hymn is based on those facts. Satan killed Jesus on the cross, which made him the
loser. Satan resembles a chess player who captures all the pieces of his opponent but loses the game.
Note the unity between the Lamb and the victors. They all sing the same song. They are like He is,
because He became like them. He was oppressed as they were and they are risen from the dead as He is. They
are victors, because He won the victory. It is the same hymn they sing. God’s deeds are, in fact, great and
marvelous and God is holy. All nations will recognize them and adore Him. Nothing is more encouraging
and comforting than this truth: that we will once stand at the shore of this sea, after we have gone through
the fire and the water. We will take up our harps, or sit behind our piano, and we will perform this song of
Moses and of the Lamb. We may already begin to hum it now!

C. The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath - Ch. 15:5-19:21

We can distinguish at least five parts in this section:

1. The Seven Plagues (15:5-16:21)
2. Judgment over Babylon announced, executed, and celebrated (17:1-19:5)
3. The Marriage of the Lamb (19:6-10)
4. The Victor (19:11-16)
5. The Victory (19:17-21)

1. The Seven Plagues (15:5-16:21)

What happens in this section is still the result of the blowing of the seventh trumpet. It is the
completion of the mystery of God. The seven angels that are the instruments of God’s wrath come out of the
temple. John calls it “the tabernacle of the Testimony.” This rather strange name seems to combine Moses’
tabernacle with the temple of Solomon. As we saw earlier, both the tabernacle and the temple represent the
same heavenly reality, which may be what John wants to indicate here. God’s revelation of Himself is eternal
and immutable. Yet, the Nomadic tribes of Israel saw Him as a fellow-inhabitant of tents and the kings of
Israel saw Him as Lord of the Temple. The coming out of the temple of the angels, therefore, is part of
God’s revelation of Himself. The angels are symbols of God’s holiness.
We read for the second time that the temple was opened. The first time this happened, the Ark of the
395
Covenant became visible. The second time it reveals God’s wrath. The first revelation was a revelation of
God’s holiness and grace in the forgiving of sin and restoring of fellowship. The second revelation is a
revelation of God’s holiness in the purification and removal of evil.
The clothing of the angels reveals God’s holiness in terms of white and gold. The total majesty of
God confronts the sin of man.
One of the four living creatures hands out the bowls of wrath to the angels. This living creature is
part of the throne of God. The very fact that God lives eternally stands in sharp contrast to the mortality of
394
Rev. 12: 11
395
See Rev. 11:19

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sinful man. As was the case at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, so here the temple is filled with the glory
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and power of God so that no one could enter the temple.
The pouring out of the bowls of wrath results in a total collapse of the whole world and its
inhabitants. It seems, however, that much of what happens is man’s own doing. The symbolism is so deep
that it is difficult to know what exactly takes place. There is a striking resemblance of the first four trumpets
to the first four bowls of wrath. The first trumpet brings down from heaven hail and fire, mixed with blood.
The first bowl causes cancer-like tumors on man and beast. The second trumpet produces a mountain of fire
that changes the sea into blood. The second bowl has the same effect. The third trumpet changes all the
earth’s drinking water into blood, as does the third bowl. Both put an effective halt to the provision of
drinking water for all of earth’s inhabitants. The fourth trumpet and the fourth bowl are both related to the
sun. The result of the blowing of the trumpet is darkness; the pouring out of the fourth bowl causes
scorching heat. All these phenomena could be explained in our day in terms of a nuclear catastrophe. There
could be an enormous pollution that disturbs the ecological balance and threatens the health of mankind: a
massive contamination of the atmosphere that blocks the sunlight and burns the ozone layer of the earth.
That would make the sun’s ultraviolet radiation very hazardous to human life.
It seems as if images of the same film are projected before our eyes for the second time but with
different filters. In Chapter Eight, the emphasis seems to be on the demonic background behind these
occurrences. This is especially obvious in Chapter Nine. Man had called up demons. Chapter sixteen
demonstrates that the events are the result of the fact that God has left man who has left Him. It is the
ultimate consequence of a broken relationship. God’s wrath is in fact built-in into creation. It takes effect
automatically when the conditions that determine the purpose of creation are disturbed. A lifeless body will
inevitably decompose.
If, however, we are looking here at a demonstration of nuclear power, it would be impossible for
the effects to be limited only to those who worship the beast, unless the church of Jesus Christ were no
longer present on earth at this time. This may be one of the stronger arguments in favor of an early rapture of
the church. It is also quite possible that the pouring out of the bowls of wrath is not done in the
chronological order in which it appears here, but that it represents God’s wrath over the various aspects of
human life. The break down of fellowship with God affects man in his health; it disturbs the ecology and the
balance of the cosmos in general.
At one point a strange character appears, who is called “the angel in charge of the waters.” Some
primitive tribes on earth believe that there is a spirit of the water and a spirit of the earth. Is it true that a
certain angel is charged with the provision of water for our planet? Maybe we could say that the water
testifies that God is right. It agrees that man is no longer worthy to drink water. That which used to be
397
symbolic of neighborly love, a cup of cold water, is no longer available for man.
Man’s need of water is the most elementary of all his wants, and this is what God takes away from
him. When man declares God to be dead, the fulfillment of his most elementary needs begins to decompose.
Water, which is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, becomes the symbol of man’s devastation. The drinking of
blood here may be more symbolic than physical. There seems to be a clear link between man’s spilling of
blood and the drinking of it, or, for that matter, the drinking of polluted water.
The Creator who made man in His own image and likeness is the One who gave man water to drink.
Creating and sustaining go together. But man severs the relationship with his Creator by murdering his
fellowmen. What happens here is the right retribution. Man receives what he deserves. Even the altar, the
symbol of atonement and reconciliation, the place where Jesus died, testifies of the righteousness of this
payback. The place where love and justice meet each other bears witness to God’s righteousness.
Why is it that God’s righteousness is so strongly emphasized here? Because man will, and always
has, blamed God for the outcome of his own evil deeds. We tend not to feel responsible for the evil that is in
the world, and at the same time, we make no efforts to distance ourselves from it. We commit evil and then
blame God for it. The devil likes to play us out against God in this. Job’s experience proves this. Satan
blamed God for what he did to Job himself, and he accuses us before God for the sins into which he leads us
himself. Yet, God holds us personally responsible, and all of creation testifies to the fact that He is right in
doing so.

396
See II Chr. 7:1-3
397
See Matt. 10:42; Mark 9:41

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It is good to hold on to God’s righteousness in a world that is disjointed and in which the standards
398
have been turned upside down. Abraham asked rightfully: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
God does not need to defend Himself; we do it for Him.
The fourth bowl changes the earth’s relation to the sun. The scorching heat may be caused by the
burning of the ozone layer of the earth or by the shortening of the earth’s distance to the sun. If we are
dealing with a nuclear catastrophe, the burning of the ozone layer of the earth may be the most logical
explanation. Such a disturbance of the balance would be enough of a clarification for the burns and
cancerous tumors mentioned in Verse 2.
The most important part of Verse 9 is the statement “they cursed the name of God, who had control
over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.” This proves that every human being knows of
the existence of God. It would make no sense to curse that which does not exist. This shows a different
picture from a condition which, at present, is prevalent in Western Europe. Many Europeans are atheists or
agnostics, saying that one cannot be certain about the existence of a God. In this verse, mankind has taken at
least one step closer to the truth. At least man takes God seriously enough to curse Him. But he still justifies
himself and does not turn to his Creator whom he ought to honor and worship. This pertains to the
fundamental relationship between creation and Creator. The acknowledgment of this relationship forms the
basis for all other things. A person who does not honor God is lost. Man’s lack of repentance is emphasized
twice in this section. In Verse 9 it pertains to a relationship, in Verse 10 to the giving up of sinful practices.
What those practices are is mentioned only in passing in Verse 6: persecution and murder of believers. In the
next two chapters, this will be further elaborated on.
The fifth bowl is poured out over the throne of the beast. The result is an Egyptian darkness. In the
physical sense this could also be the consequence of a nuclear phenomenon. A massive pollution of the
atmosphere can block out all sunlight and steep the whole world in darkness. This would increase the
intensity of the agony of the tumors. Not only is pain worse in darkness, but the matter that causes the
darkness can also increase the pain.
We have the impression, however, that more happens than a mere physical event. The bowl that is
poured out over the throne of the beast steeps his empire in darkness. All of a sudden the power of the
Antichrist is taken away from him; he is cut off from his source of power. The powers of darkness become
darkness themselves. The beast and its followers have become weak. Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled
399
here: “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” We have seen this happen with
the glory of the Nazi regime in Germany. This is what will happen with the glory and power of the
Antichrist. God’s wrath will leave the powerful powerless. Even in their weakened condition people will not
turn to the Lord. Yet, I know of several Nazis who became Christian.
We are not told here what will actually happen. We read in Chapter Thirteen that the dragon had
400
given his power to the beast. It could be that, according to plan, Satan takes back here what he had given
earlier. There will not be any love lost between Satan and the Antichrist. Yet, this is an act of God. But we
do not read that the devil is seized and imprisoned at this point and that his power is taken from him.
An argument against the theory that Satan had planned to take back from the Antichrist the power he
had given to him could be the fact that, in the next episode, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet each
produces an evil spirit in the form of a frog. This, however, does not necessarily mean a cooperative effort.
We now come to the sixth bowl of anger. A way is prepared for the coming of a huge army from the
east. The preparation for this event is symbolically represented as the drying up of the River Euphrates. This
great invasion is somehow related to the weakening of the empire of the Antichrist. The rest of the world is
mobilized through occult influences as a counter measure to this decline. The result is the last war this
planet will ever see: the battle of Armageddon. This name is probably derived from Har Megiddo, which
means “mountain of Megiddo.” Megiddo was the famous battlefield where some of Israel’s most important
401 402
battles were fought. Barak defeated Jabin at Megiddo. Saul and Jonathan perished there. King Josiah
398
See Gen.18:25
399
Isa. 14:10
400
See Rev. 13:2,3
401
See Judges ch. 4; 5:19
402
I Sam. 31:1-6

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403
was killed there when he fought Pharaoh Neco. So Megiddo was a place filled with historic markers. The
actual Megiddo is not a mountain, as John seems to indicate, but a valley. In view of the historic and
symbolic meaning of the name, it is not difficult to understand why John would elevate it to be a mountain.
It is an important principle of futuristic prophecy to reach back to examples from the past in order to
404
illustrate the future. Ezekiel did this in his prophecy about Gog. John’s reference to Megiddo does not
necessarily mean that the last battle on earth will be fought at that particular place. At this point the
similarity between the sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl is abundantly clear. Both mention the River
Euphrates and an advancing army. Chapter Nine fixed the number of troops at 100,000,000.
This is obviously the moment of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Vs. 15 mentions His coming
“like a thief,” meaning totally unexpectedly. Those are also the words of the apostle Paul in his epistle to the
405
Thessalonians: “For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The
suddenness of Jesus’ return is meant to be a warning to those who are not watchful. For those who are
expecting the Lord’s return, the moment will not be one of panic, but the fulfillment of a hope.
Watchfulness consists in holiness. In the life of each of us there are things for which we would be
ashamed if they were not covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Holiness does not equal being sinless;
it means: “being well covered.” There is a reference here to Jesus’ letter to the church in Laodicea, where He
said: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you
are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can
become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your
406
eyes, so you can see.”
407
Feeling of shame for physical nakedness is the direct result of a broken relationship with God.
There is no other logical explanation for a feeling of shame for being naked, yet we feel ashamed when we
are thus exposed. We can only conclude that this feeling of shame is symbolic for the experience of being
naked before God. Our feeling of shame before God, before each other, and especially before ourselves,
reveals that we know more about ourselves than we are willing to admit. We all know God’s standard of
holiness, and we know exactly where and how much we fall short. How good and kind it is of the Lord that
He is not willing to expose us. He is not interested in putting us to shame. We find an illustration of this
principle in the story of David’s ambassadors who were sent to the court of the king of Ammon and were
408
treated in a very humiliating fashion.
We read nowhere in the Bible that those who are redeemed return to the condition of innocence of
Adam and Eve before the fall. Even in a condition of being reconciled and enjoying undisturbed fellowship
with the Father, we will obviously always be covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Yet, this will
not mean that we have reason to be ashamed. True love is naked, and our relationship with God will be one
of perfect love. It could be that the image of clothing is maintained because, in our present condition, we
have no other images that would do justice to our future state.
If we understand this correctly, the situation that is created by the pouring out of the seventh bowl
409
of wrath is the same as that which resulted from the breaking of the sixth seal, and as the one described in
410
the latter part of Chapter Fourteen. The first result is the appearance of voices, flashes of lightning, and
thunderclaps, which manifestations emanate from the throne of God. We find them mentioned for the first

403
II Chr. 35:20-24
404
See Ezek. Chapters 38,39
405
I Thess. 5:2
406
Rev. 3:17,18
407
See Gen. 3:7,10,11
408
See I Chr. 19:1-5
409
See ch. 6:12-14
410
See ch. 14:6-20

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411 412
time in Chapter Four and later in Chapter Eight. In this last reference, the earthquake is also
413
mentioned. We see the same phenomena again in Chapter Eleven. So, they are related to the last seal, the
last trumpet, and the last bowl of wrath. This reinforces the impression we expressed earlier that we are
looking at the same facts in each of these scenes.
God’s speaking, which is what is articulated here, is polyphonic; God speaks with more than one
voice. It consists of a variety of voices, but John distinguishes particularly the voice that says: “It is done!”
This is not the same Greek word Jesus used while hanging on the cross. Then He cried in a loud voice:
414
Tetélestai! “It is finished!” Yet, the words are close enough to be considered similar. There is again a
straight line that connects judgment over the world with judgment over the Son. It is the same kind of
415
judgment that we saw in an earlier chapter. He underwent judgment in our place. Here judgment only hit
those who have not considered themselves to be included in Him.
Judgment is symbolically represented under the form of an earthquake. This does not mean that
there might not be a literal earthquake, but the meaning of it is spiritual. The prophet Amos announced
God’s judgment in the shadow of an earthquake that was so tremendous that people still remembered it two
416
hundred years later when Zechariah makes mention of that earthquake. There are also other similarities
between the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah and this chapter of Revelation. John establishes this by
mentioning that the great city split into three parts, without mentioning the name of the city; but it seems
almost as if he gives us a replay of Zechariah’s vision. This is probably also what Haggai referred to when he
announced: “ ‘I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with
417
glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.” The writer of Hebrews places this in the correct light in applying it
practically to the present by stating: “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape
when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who
warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will
shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be
418
shaken-that is, created things-so that what cannot be shaken may remain.”
It is difficult to determine what is meant to be symbolic and what should be taken literally.
“Babylon the Great,” which is the topic of the next two chapters and partly also of the third, is evidently not a
particular geographical location. But it is quite possible that a nuclear explosion on a cosmic scale causes
the earthquake. The fleeing of the islands, the disappearance of the mountains, and the unusually severe
hailstorm would point in that direction. We repeat that what man does to himself is a manifestation of God’s
wrath over sin.
In the center of the judgment stands the judgment over “Babylon the Great.” God directs a broad
beam of His strobe light upon her. The geographical place Babylon had no longer been in existence for
centuries. We find various facets of John’s prophecy, such as God’s burning wrath and the great earthquake,
419 420
in the prophecies about Babylon by Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
While Jerusalem splits into three parts, God thinks of “Babylon the Great.” The NIV reads: “God
remembered Babylon the Great.” The Greek reads literally: “Babylon [the] Great came in remembrance
before God,” as if God would have forgotten about her. What this probably means is that God allows His
411
See ch. 4:5
412
Rev. 8:5
413
Rev. 11:19
414
John 19:30
415
See Rev. 14:20
416
Cf. Amos 1:1 and Zech. 14:5
417
Hag. 2:7
418
Heb. 12:25-27
419
Isa. 13:9-13; ch. 14
420
Jer. Ch.50,51

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creature to take the initiative at this point. Redeemed mankind says to God: “What are you now going to do
with Babylon?” Those who remember Jeremiah’s prophecy will realize that this is the time of its fulfillment.

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2. Judgment over Babylon announced, executed, and celebrated (17:1-19:5)

a. Judgment over Babylon announced

In these verses, John is introduced to Babylon under the figure of a prostitute. We must ask
ourselves concerning what John actually saw, how much of it is metaphor and what means the image.
In a way, the heading over this section: “Judgment over Babylon” is misleading because no
judgment is pronounced at this time. The judgment here consists in the fact that the existence and character
of Babylon are revealed. John’s amazement when seeing this vision is proof of the fact that the matter was
not well known. The vision is a revelation of a mystery. Babylon exists, but most people are not aware of its
existence.
The name Babylon suggests, first of all, a city, the capital of the land in which Israel was held in
captivity. The relationship with Israel is an important feature in this image. We find the name Babylon
mentioned for the first time in Genesis in connection with the beginning of the power of Nimrod, who was
421
“a mighty hunter before the LORD.” In another chapter of Genesis, Babylon increases in prominence
422
because it is the city where the people wanted to construct “a tower that reaches to the heavens.” Babylon
became the symbol of the false security people try to build for themselves, apart from God, in order to
protect themselves against God. It became a monument of rebellion. That feature is probably the most
important one in this image. Babylon stands for man strengthening himself against God.
In connection with this truth, it is striking that the image does not represent a male figure but a
female one. This is not a man, armed to the teeth, but a woman, whose main characteristic is that she
surrenders herself to every man who comes across her path. That is probably not the way Babylon would
look upon herself; it is the way God sees her. Babylon thinks herself to be a man; God sees her as a woman
who is corrupted in what ought to be particularly feminine: her loveliness and grace. That is what makes a
woman honorable. This is probably the feature that amazed John the most. In his book That Hideous
Strength, C. S. Lewis remarks about our masculinity: “What is above and beyond all things is so masculine
that we are all feminine in relation to it.” If we reverse the image, we see that our true security and strength
is in our abandoning in love to Him who has a claim to our lives. Over against this prostitute stands the
bride of Christ.
There is a parallel between John’s vision and the one Zechariah saw of a woman in a measuring
basket. In Zechariah’s vision the emphasis was upon godlessness as it is evinced in commerce. The woman
who represents Babylon here has filled her measure to the brim. Her title of Prostitute suggests, first of all
sexual immorality, infidelity, and materialism. A whore practices her trade for the money. Prostitution is
often presented in the Bible as an image of infidelity in the relationship with God. It depicts a person who
abandons God in exchange for a relationship with demons. This, in the eyes of God, is adultery. As a pure
marriage relationship is an image of fellowship with God, so whoredom stands for a breaking up of that
fellowship.
The emphasis in this section is on one particular aspect of this rupture, which is abuse of power.
The ones who indulge in this prostitution are the kings of the earth. These kings do not see themselves as
rulers by the grace of God, but as omnipotent themselves. They do not rule “under God” but instead of God.
Power has corrupted their lives. Power has an intoxicating influence from which few people can escape. Not
only can kings and presidents become a prey, but everyone who occupies any position of responsibility in
this world is a potential victim. We all think from time to time that our life is our own. That is why Jesus
warns us: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the
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abundance of his possessions.” We must realize that we have our lives on loan from God. Power is a
strong wine that intoxicates whoever drinks of it.
John sees this woman in a desert. Everything is dry, withered, and dead for lack of water. This
depicts this world without fellowship with God. The beast upon which the woman is seated has the same
characteristics as the Antichrist in Chapter Thirteen. That is, of course, no coincidence because it is the same
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Gen. 10:9,10
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Gen. 11:4
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Luke 12:15

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beast. The Antichrist is the foundation that upholds the woman. That foundation is blasphemy. It stands in
sharp contrast to the worship and praise of God and of the Lamb, which is brought voluntarily by redeemed
humanity. God, the holy One, the glorious One, is here desecrated and soiled. This makes the adornment of
the woman such a parody. We see this if we compare this vulgarity of this jewel bedecked creature with the
bride of the Lamb and her ornaments, which are the glory of God. The golden cup in this woman’s hand
symbolizes her food and drink; she nourishes herself with pollution and murder. She is drunk with the blood
of the martyrs. The reference here is probably to the mass executions that take place during the Great
Tribulation. But the principle is much more general; we find it throughout world history in every age.
This is what amazes John the most. In the fifth chapter of Zechariah, it was the angel who seemed to
be amazed at seeing the woman in the measuring basket. It was difficult for a holy angel to imagine that a
person, created in the image of God, could fall so deeply. John’s amazement is different. He knows from his
own experience what sin is. That a human being can fall to such a depth is not new to him. What is new is the
analysis of that which, to the human eye, is impressive, great, and desirable. He must have had the picture of
the Roman Empire before his eyes, and he must have been impressed by its display of power. Seeing the
empire as God sees it was what was so shocking to him. He had never looked at the situation that way. In the
Book of Daniel, we find two representations of the empires of that time: King Nebuchadnezzar saw them as
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a statue with a golden head and feet of clay. God saw them as a bunch of wild animals. As human beings,
we never completely escape Nebuchadnezzar’s illusion. Seeing reality as God sees it is always shocking to
us. That fact is, again, hard to grasp for angels.
The explanation the angel gives to John is somewhat difficult to follow. The name of the woman,
“Babylon the Great, Mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth” is the clearest. The apostle
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Peter uses the name Babylon as an indication for Rome, the center of the world of his time. John
probably also thought of Rome as he tried to digest the meaning of this vision. In Verse 9, the seven heads of
the beast are called “seven hills.” The city of Rome was built on seven hills.
But the many-headed beast with the woman on its back is not a stationary statue. It is alive and it
moves. This influences the shape of the images so much that they change all the time. The beast is there all
the time, but he is not always visible in his original form. Sometimes we can see him as Babylon, sometimes
as Rome, or Berlin, or Moscow, or Beijing, or Washington. We saw this beast appear earlier in Chapter
Thirteen, where the supernatural healing of one of its heads was mentioned. That resembled a resurrection
from the dead, which left the world astonished and baffled. Some scholars interpret this as the revival of the
old Roman Empire. This interpretation is as difficult to sustain, as it is to refute. People have tried to apply
the picture to the European Common Market, the Roman Catholic Church, or the World Council of
Churches. We can easily lose our own head in trying to figure out the meaning of the heads of the beast. The
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same expressions and concepts are used here as in Daniel’s prophecy. The safest seems to be to leave the
details aside for the time being and concentrate on the principle. The city symbolizes man in his rebellion
against God. In that respect, cities and empires have risen and fallen throughout world history, but the
principle has always been the same. As C. S. Lewis states in his series The Chronicles of Narnia, there are
white witches and green witches, but they all do the same things.
An important facet of this image is the mutual hatred and inner divisions among the powers that
constitute the picture. The beast with its many heads and horn will, ultimately, turn against the woman,
attack, and destroy her. After all, prostitution is a parody of love in marriage. We can say that prostitution is
based upon hatred. A prostitute will hate the man with whom she is sexually involved. And the disrespect is
usually mutual. In relationship to the Evil One all love is surrogate. The demonstration of unity and oneness
of spirit is only temporal during the struggle against the common foe. We see here the Second Psalm being
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fulfilled before our eyes. The battle is “against the LORD and against his Anointed One.”
A theme that keeps on returning in The Book of Revelation is the victory of the Lamb over the
powers of darkness. It is the main theme of the book. We see this in the sixth seal. The seventh trumpet

424
Cf. Dan. ch. 2 and 7
425
See I Peter 5:13
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See Dan. chapters 2,7,8
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Ps. 2:2

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announces it in the various songs of praise. It is the subject of “the song of Moses the servant of God and the
song of the Lamb,” sung at the sea of glass.
The pouring out of the bowls of God’s wrath is proof of the fact that the initiative belongs to God
and not to Satan. That is, of course, also true in the breaking of the seven seals and the blowing of the seven
trumpets. The determining factor is the character of God; the victory is assured on the basis of who He is. He
is “Lord of lords and King of kings.” That is the guarantee of victory. As His character guarantees
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resurrection from the dead, so it guarantees final victory over evil. Light is always victorious over
darkness because it is light. This is also our glory because we have been included in this victory. We are “his
called, chosen and faithful followers.” Note the order!
The marvel, that which is so incomprehensible to us, is the fact that the powers of darkness fulfill
God’s Word in everything they do. During His suffering Jesus took comfort from this fact. When the
disciples wanted to resist His arrest, He said to them: “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that
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say it must happen in this way?” It may be our comfort also.

b. Judgment over Babylon executed 18:1-24

From the viewpoint of poetry, the scene that is depicted in this section is unparalleled. The great
city is destroyed in one hour. As a Dutchman who lived through the horror of the Second World War, I am
reminded of the Nazi bombardment of Rotterdam. We could also point to the dropping of the atomic bomb
over Hiroshima. Sorry to say, there are hundreds of incidents that could illustrate the event depicted here in
modern terms.
The emphasis in this chapter is different from that in the previous one. There we saw a prostitute
who evinced to the extreme the corruption of love, fidelity, and purity. Here the picture is one of greed,
dishonest profit, deceit, and egoism in the form of a prosperous city, the commercial center of the world. We
often fail to notice the display of godlessness that is so obvious in a booming economy. As in the previous
chapter the condemnation was not about sexuality, so this chapter does not condemn commerce as such. It
condemns people who have broken off their fellowship with God, who demonstrate their rebellion against
Him in sins of sex and greed.
We hear in this chapter the sound of three kinds of voices which sing about the fall of Babylon. In
Verses 1-8, the angel announces the fall of the city and warns God’s children. In verses 9-19, the kings of the
earth and the merchants of the earth intone a lament. In Verse 20, the saints, apostles, and prophets, those
who had been Babylon’s victims, burst out in shouts of victory.
John sees another angel, who was not involved in the pouring out of the bowls of wrath, coming to
announce the fall of Babylon. The picture is awesome to the extreme. The angel exudes light and power. The
way the future is here projected on the past suggests an element of eternity. That which has not yet occurred
is presented as an accomplished fact. The whole picture is steeped in terms of Old Testament prophecy. The
demons, evil spirits, and unclean detestable birds parallel the jackals, owls, wild goats, and hyenas of Isaiah’s
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prophecy over Babylon. The city is depicted as uninhabited. Corruption has already begun its work. Two
categories of people are mentioned: kings, who have abused their power, and merchants, who indulged in
excessive luxury. Both sins are depicted as a form of adultery.
The admonition to the people of God to leave Babylon is an indication that an eternal principle is
meant here. If we would look at this from a dispensational viewpoint and try to place this event into the
diagram, somewhere between the rapture and the beginning of the millennium, none of this would make
much sense. Leaving the city becomes a picture of the sanctified or separate life; it represents separating
ourselves from sin. This warning is valid for all places and all times. We must flee Babylon as Lot fled
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Sodom. The angel’s words are a direct quote of Jeremiah’s prophecy: “Flee from Babylon! Run for your
lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will pay her what she

428
See Matt. 22:32
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Matt. 26:54
430
See Isa. 13:21,22
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See Gen. 19:15-26

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deserves.” Jeremiah’s words seem rather to refer to Israel’s return from captivity. The general rule is that
he who drinks Babylon’s wine and enriches himself in Babylon’s commerce will also share in Babylon’s
destruction. If the desire for power, prestige, and influence goes to our head, we lose that which gives
content and value to life in fellowship with God. One cannot, at the same time, be a citizen of Babylon and
Jerusalem.
Verses 5-8 clearly express that justice and righteousness mean receiving what is due. Every sin
must be paid for to satisfy the demands of God’s justice. When the measure is full, payment is due. There
have been several instances in the history of the world when the measure of iniquity was full in God’s sight.
There was the flood in the days of Noah, the building of the tower of Babel, the conquest of Canaan, and the
captivity of the Jews. The words “her sins are piled up to heaven” are a reference to the motto of the builders
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of the tower of Babel: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens.”
Here the builders have reached their goal!
Recompense and vengeance are principles that are consistent with human dignity. C. S. Lewis has
written several essays about the dehumanizing aspect of imprisonment for corrective purposes. The modern
philosophy does not want to punish a criminal, but to correct him. This means that the individual is forced to
become what he does not want to be. It is more worthy of human dignity to take responsibility for one’s acts
and bear the consequences than to be forced to become better. Thus God treats Babylon, its kings and
merchants, with respect.
We should not interpret “pay her back double for what she has done” to mean that Babylon receives
more in punishment than she deserves. We find a double comparison: “Give back to her as she has given,”
and “Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.” The measure used is the
same as the measure returned. What is doubled is the pain Babylon already possesses. Even the very
incarnation of sin and injustice does not produce unadulterated satisfaction. Babylon knew its own bitter
aftertaste. That is what is doubled. God also demonstrates His grace in that the punishment is swift: total
destruction comes in one single day.
Babylon lived with an illusion; she thought that her prosperity would last forever. A Dutch
seventeenth century poet wrote two poems about the city of Amsterdam. One describes Amsterdam as the
one who bears a crown as the empress of Europe. The other one complains: “Where are the oak trees in
Amsterdam? O, miserable purse that never had enough! What fragrance your place lacks!” The seventeenth
century is usually called “Holland’s golden age.” I believe, however, Holland’s golden age was the century
before it became a rich country, the sixteenth century, when the Dutch were burned at the stake for
embracing the Reformation. It was certainly not the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when people
enriched themselves through slave trade and colonialism. We seldom see ourselves as we are.
The principle is again evinced that victory rests upon the character of God. The explanation of the
judgment is: “For mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” This does not only mean that God is strong
enough to carry out His threats, but also that He is the measure of all strength. Babylon was a fortified city
but she was not strong enough. When compared with the strength of God, Babylon has to concede that God
is the victor and she disintegrates.
Our salvation will ultimately consist of the fact that we become partakers of God’s glory. Our
perdition would be that we do not measure up to His glory. Babylon is not only not strong enough, she is not
glorious enough either. Paul’s classic definition of sin is “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
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God.” Babylon’s sin was not her glory but her lack of it. We read about the bride of the Lamb, the New
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Jerusalem “It shone with the glory of God.” In spite of Babylon’s very high opinion of herself, she cannot
pass the comparison with God’s glory. That is why she goes up in smoke. She perishes because of her
inferiority.
In Verses 9-19, we read the reaction of the kings, the merchants, and the sailors upon Babylon’s
destruction. The kings bemoan the loss of their power, the merchants and sailors the loss of their prosperity.
The inventory in Verses 12-14 of all kinds of beautiful merchandise is impressive. What spoils it all is the

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Jer. 51:6
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Gen. 11:4
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Rom. 3:23
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Rev. 21:11

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mention of “bodies and souls of men.” That part of commerce is indicative of the rottenness of commerce.
Babylon’s glory was merely external. The city was only strong on the outside. She was covered with gold,
precious stones, and pearls. The New Jerusalem is built with gold, precious stones, and pearls. The peoples
of the earth used to bring their merchandise to Babylon. In the new heavens and new earth they will bring
their glory and honor to Jerusalem.
Verses 20-24 contain an incitement to God’s people to rejoice over the destruction of Babylon. We
tend to feel a mixture of relief and melancholy when facing such a destruction. It seems that when Babylon
goes under, the fine arts also disappear. Will there no longer be any string quartets or piano concertos, no
more Bach, Mozart, Rembrandt, or Shakespeare? That is not so. All real art is related to the person and
character of God. The New Jerusalem will be full of beauty.
During Israel’s captivity, the psalmist wrote: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we
remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our
tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs
of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. May
my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest
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joy.” The picture is one of captivity. For those who have suffered in foreign prisons or concentration
camps, the matter is clear: God will put an end to all human cruelty, heartlessness, and injustice. What the
Jews had to do symbolically with Jeremiah’s prophecy, tie it to a rock and throw it in the Euphrates River as
a representation of Babylon’s fall, God does here Himself. The large bolder, the size of a millstone is thrown
into the sea. That is God’s answer to those who believe in Him and His victory.
Our circumstances can overwhelm us to the point that we lose sight of God’s promises. This act of
God does not imply that God abolishes art and industry and that there will no longer be any enjoyment of life
and happiness, but it means that all that is good and noble and beautiful and lovely will be purified from all
demonic influences. After all, Babylon is the incarnation of repression, impurity, corruption, and egoism.
Babylon’s drowning in the ocean does not mean the end of music, enjoyment, and pleasure. Those things
will no longer be heard in Babylon, but they will elsewhere. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever
is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or
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praiseworthy” remains. God will do justice. Art and beauty must be based upon the foundation of justice
and righteousness. We, therefore, accuse that kind of “art” that violates righteousness. Not all modern art fits
into this category. Some pieces of art are an indictment of unrighteousness in themselves. We have the right
to accuse and to reclaim for God that which has denied those foundations. God will do justice: the music of
harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, the sound of a millstone, the light of a lamp, and the
voice of bridegroom and bride will be there again, because they are ours.

c. Judgment over Babylon celebrated 19:1-5

John hears again the singing of the choir of the triumphant church of Jesus Christ. Does he hear it
again, or does he still hear it? If the judgment, as it is played out before our eyes, is in reality one single
judgment, maybe this singing of God’s praises is also one. But how can a human being, who lives in a
three-dimensional world, listen to multi-dimensional singing? He is forced to listen to it from various
angles.
The hymn differs from the other one inasmuch as it begins with “Hallelujah.” That is wonderful!
Hallelujah is the keyword to the brotherhood of mankind. In the words of Schiller’s Ode to Joy: “All men
become brothers where “joy” spreads her kind wing.” As human beings there is nothing better we can say to
God than “Hallelujah.” The word is the spark that ignites our emotions. According to the British preacher
John Stott, “Hallelujah” is never used in the Bible without the stating of a reason; it is always placed in the
context of “because.” For instance, Psalm 136 states: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love
endures forever.” In a sense, Bill Gaither’s “Hallelujah, hallelujah …” is not biblical because it does not
involve any reason; it moves merely in the realm of emotions. The real “Hallelujah” involves reason and
logic. It opens both the heart and the mind. It satisfies the whole human being.

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Ps. 137:1-6
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Phil. 4:8

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The most important part, however, is that it praises God. That is the point around which the whole
creation evolves. When I say “Hallelujah,” I recognize that God possesses those perfect and eternal attributes
that make Him God. I also acknowledge that He has an exclusive right to these attributes.
This hymn tells us who God is: He is salvation, glory, and power. It tells us what He is: He is true
and just in His judgments. It tells us what He does and how He does it. He judges the prostitute and avenges
on her the blood of His servants. In doing so, God displays the basis of all judgment, which is a comparison
of all human acts with His own character of truth and righteousness. It shows God’s attitude toward sin.
God cannot accept or tolerate sin. He demonstrates His love toward His children by reclaiming their blood
that was spilled. God does not stand by motionless when human beings are murdered. He avenges their
blood. He is not a God of the dead but of the living. That makes the word “salvation” with which this hymn
opens, so important. Salvation means the restoration of man who is lost. God does us justice by
rehabilitating us. If He possesses salvation, glory, and power, and if we are His heirs, then those
characteristics belong to us also.
The Bible tells us consistently that judgment and punishment are eternal phenomena. This may
shock us. We think that, in glory, every trace of sin, suffering, and pain, even if it pertains to others, should
be wiped out. The Bible states that this is not so. According to Isaiah, the monuments of horror will not be
torn down. The last verse of his book reads: “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those
who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome
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to all mankind.” In His description of hell, Jesus borrows this language about the worm and the fire from
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Isaiah. The inhabitants of heaven do not seem to have a problem with this. To the contrary, the words:
“The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever” is preceded by a “Hallelujah!” In Luke’s Gospel, in the story
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of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham and Lazarus can see the rich man in the fires of hell. Evidently,
nothing will be covered up or hidden in heaven. Heaven is the ultimate reality. We may have to get used to
that idea.
The hymn of praise and the worship continue. The elders and the living creatures fall down before
the throne of which they are a part, and we are admonished to do the same. A voice coming from the throne
(which means that the voice is part of God and His might) invites us to join in with the worship. The
invitation is given to “His servants … who fear Him, both small and great!” David defines, in one of his
psalms, what constitutes a servant. We read: “O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of
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your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.” A servant of God is someone whose chains God
has removed. The fear of God is formed in a confrontation with the reality of His greatness, glory, and
majesty. In joining in this threefold “Hallelujah,” we find the fulfillment of all our human ambitions. But
that is not the main part of this section. It is about Him, not about us. Yet, His fullness will fill us also!

3. The Wedding Supper of the Lamb 19:6-10

The fellowship between God and the human beings He created, justified, and sanctified, will
surpass all human words and images. If this fact is represented here in the form of a wedding, it does not
mean that our human experience of marriage fully expresses this union. Some of the reality of glory, joy,
delight, satisfaction, surrender, pleasure, freshness, thrill, playfulness and seriousness of the union between
the Lamb and His bride is, however vaguely, reflected in a human marriage. As in a marriage of husband and
wife the sexual aspect is an important part, so in the real union, there will be an aspect that will absorb us
completely. Our sexuality will turn out to be a hazy shadow of this experience. That is why Jesus explains
that the distinction between male and female will be abolished in heaven. We read: “At the resurrection
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people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Since,
however, marriage is an expression of an eternal principle, there will always be love, surrender, caressing,

438
Isa. 66:24
439
See Mark 9:48
440
See Luke 16:19
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Ps. 116:16
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Matt. 22:30

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and satisfaction in heaven. As human beings, who have been redeemed and washed in the blood of the Lamb,
we will all be the female element in this relationship.
The wedding commences with the triumphant announcement that God has taken up the reign of the
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Kingdom. This proclamation was already given twice before in connection with the rebellion of Satan.
Here it is given in the context with the marriage of the Lamb. God is here depicted, not as the conqueror of
His enemies, but as the head of the Kingdom of Love. He is King in the lives of those who have surrendered
to Him. The real marriage relationship cannot be separated from this rule and surrender. Our fellowship with
Jesus rests on our obedience to the Father.
God does not force His reign upon us. We come to Him in our surrender as we invite Him to be the
Lord of our lives. He will only take the reins of our lives if we hand those to Him. This is the beginning of
the preparation of the bride for the wedding. The final result will be that she will shine with the glory of
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God.
The words: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” remind us of the words of the father of
the prodigal son to his older son: “We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead
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and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” There will be in the marriage of the Lamb an echo of these
words to remind us of the fact that we were lost and have been found.
The glory belongs to God because all this is His work. The festive wedding dress consists in the
glory of God. John states: “fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” This is the translation of the
Greek word dikaioomata, which is the plural of dikaioma, “righteousness.” Hence the rendering “righteous
acts.” It could also be interpreted as meaning “being made righteous.” We must realize that any acts of
righteousness we perform are expressions of the grace of God who justified us because of our faith in
Christ. It is never what we do, but what God does through us that adorns our lives.
The beatitude: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” is one of
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eight blessings we find in the book of Revelation. Here the reality seems to differ from the picture. At an
earthly wedding it is the guests who are invited, not the bride, as is the case here. Evidently, heaven does not
differentiate between the bride and the guests.
Before we continue, we must review where the bride appears in the Book of Revelation. In
previous chapters, she emerges in the form of the 144,000 sealed and as the “great multitude that no one
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could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.” She is also represented as the ones who
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“were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.” She is also in the
picture of those who are standing at the shore of the sea of glass and fire as “those who had been victorious
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over the beast and his image and over the number of his name.” She is “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem,
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coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” She
weaves in and out throughout this book as a moving and glorious theme in a symphonic poem about the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
It is amazing to see how sharply God’s truth contrasts with the devil’s lie. What we see here is
reality. There is a bride who is adorned for her husband and there is a bridegroom who, in order to acquire
her, has paid the bride price with His own life. This is true, both in the heavenly reality as in the earthly
shadow in which we live. The prostitute, who is called Babylon, however, is a lie. There is no bridegroom
for her. Or did Satan pay for her the price of his own life? Or will he do anything to save her from
destruction on the day of her doom? We, who are still living on earth, ought to keep this truth constantly
443
See Rev. 11:15; 12:10
444
See Rev. 21:11
445
Luke 15:32
446
See Rev. 1:3 (2x); 14:13; 16:15; 20:6; 22:7,14
447
See Rev. 7:4-9
448
Rev. 14:4
449
Rev. 15:2
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Rev. 21:2

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before our eyes. We must gear our lives toward our wedding day. As the angel says to John: “These are the
true words of God.”
At this point, John becomes confused. Twice in this book, he tries to worship the angel who shows
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him around. Twice, the angel has to tell him: “Worship God!” In both instances, the prophets are
mentioned. Here the angel says: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” The Good News Bible
renders this: “The truth that Jesus reveals is what inspires the prophets.” TLB reads: “The purpose of all
prophecy and of all I have shown you is to tell about Jesus.” Jesus Christ is the subject of all prophecy! This
is never expressed so clearly as in Peter’s words: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the
grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and
circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ
and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,
when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by
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the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”

451
See also Rev. 22:8,9.
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I Peter 1:10-12

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4. The Victor 19:11-16

Again John sees the heavens being opened. How different our lives would be, if we could state
truthfully: “I saw heaven standing open.” That is the essence of God’s revelation. It is the key to fellowship
with God. It is the realization of the redemption we have in Jesus Christ. The author of the Book of Hebrews
states: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…
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let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” Without that precondition, it
would have been impossible for John also to see what he saw.
He sees the real rider and the white horse appear. This person is not the imitation we saw in Chapter
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Six. This is the Lord, who rides His stallion as the commander in chief of the heavenly armies.
We find in these verses an interesting paradox in the names given to Jesus. In Verses 11,13, and 16 the
names given are respectively “Faithful and True,” “the Word of God,” and “KING OF KINGS AND LORD
OF LORDS.” But we also read in Vs. 12: “He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.”
The given names are the names that are used to call Him; the secret one refers to His identity. The revealed
names represent the acknowledgment by all of creation that His character is “Faithful and True.” It means
that His function is to reveal God as the Logos and that He possesses all authority in heaven and on earth.
This, however, is not an exhaustive revelation of the Third Person of the Trinity. He is the Eternal One. The
limited brain of created beings, whether human or angelic, will never be able to grasp completely who God
is. An eternal mind is needed to fully understand who the Eternal One is. Nobody but God fully knows God.
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That is why God said to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM.”
This is also the reason why nobody knows the Name of Jesus beside Jesus Himself. Yet, this Name
will be revealed to us on the last day. The Lord promised to the brethren in Pergamum: “I will also give him
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a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” And to the victors in
the church in Philadelphia, Jesus said: “ Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.
Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new
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name.” This new name, which is not being revealed, is a written name, not one that is only conveyed
orally as the one mentioned in the Pergamum Epistle. In connection with Philadelphia, this meant writing in
stone, as a sculpture on a pillar. The idea conveyed is one of permanence and something not erasable. This
suggests God’s edict, as in the scroll that was written on both sides. It will take all of eternity to understand
the identity of Jesus Christ. If it is already so fascinating on earth to know unbalanced and sinful human
beings, what will it be when we are being confronted with the full riches of the character of the eternal God!
In the meantime, we may occupy ourselves with the study of the Names of the LORD as we find them in the
Scriptures.
The first name is a pair that belongs together, “Faithful and True.” “Faithful” speaks of the good
characteristic that determines a relationship between two persons. “True” relates to a given promise. It
speaks of reliability, love, and self-sacrifice. “Faithful” describes God’s relationship with us. We use the
word in connection with a marriage relationship. It means dedication to each other. The Greek words are
pistos and alethinos. In English, as in Greek, the word “faithful” is derived from “faith,” the element that
assures us of our salvation. “True” and “truth” are identical. Truth and holiness go together. Jesus, while
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praying for His disciples, said: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” As Jesus is the
incarnation of the Word of God, He is also the incarnation of truth. Our whole being acknowledges God’s
faithfulness and truth as we enter into fellowship with Him. In the words of the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The

453
Heb. 10:19,22
454
See Rev. 6:2
455
Ex. 3:14
456
Rev. 2:17
457
Rev. 3:12
458
John 17:17

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Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’ ” And Jeremiah exclaimed in his distress: “Because of the
LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great
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is your faithfulness.”
On a human level, it is possible to remain faithful to a cause that is not worth it. King Herod
remained faithful to the godless oath he swore and felt obliged rather to murder John the Baptist than to go
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back on his promise. In Jesus Christ, God gives us the litmus test of faithfulness and truth. God Himself
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is the ultimate truth; He is the measure of truth and reality. The devil is called “the father of lies.” He
distorts reality. God is real, and true, and genuine. This is the reason He is called: “Faithful and True.”
This fact establishes the basis for judgment and for the war against injustice. While His fiery eyes
pierce through all scam and deception, He judges the lie and fights injustice. This also explains why a sharp
sword comes out of His mouth. His Word pierces the soul. It opens the abscesses of the heart and the spirit.
It reveals what is hidden. “The nations” is the rendering of the Greek word ethnos, which refers, in this
context, especially to pagan, non-Jewish tribes. They are not one particular race, but people from all
languages, tribes, peoples, and nations, who reject God’s revelation and rebel against Him.
We should compare this description of Jesus with what John says about Him at the beginning of
this book when he first sees Him. Here He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood. This is a gruesome and
offensive detail in the picture of the conquering commander in chief. The sword kills the enemies and their
blood splatters on His uniform. We must remind ourselves of the fact that the picture places us in another
dispensation from the one in which we presently live. This does not happen in “the year of the Lord’s favor”
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but “the day of vengeance of our God.” In the dispensation in which we are, the blood spilled is the blood
of our Lord Himself. To this fact we, who follow Jesus, owe our robes of “fine linen, white and clean.” The
blood that is spilled here is the blood of those who purposely reject the first blood of forgiveness and
reconciliation. What is depicted here is the execution of murderers. These people had taken pleasure in
killing God’s servants and prophets.
We must also realize that Jesus is not depicted as going around cutting people’s throats. The sword
is not in His hand; it comes out of His mouth. The wounds that cause death are spiritual. These people lose
their humanity, not their physical life, at least not initially. That does not make the scene any less horrible. To
be slaughtered physically is little in comparison with losing one’s soul! The sword of God’s righteousness
slays the human soul. Actually, we could say that these human beings commit suicide. Only the unrighteous
are the victim of God’s sword of righteousness. The image of judgment is horrible, much more so than it
appears to be initially.
The appearance of this rider on His white horse, when compared to the appearance of the Antichrist
on his horse in Chapter Six, places the latter in its right perspective. How puny is the Antichrist, with his
borrowed crown, killing people in mass executions, compared to the real Rider on a white horse, whose
Name is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS! This scene best highlights Jesus’ warning to us: “Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy
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both soul and body in hell.” How reassuring for us, who know this Lord, to realize that we will no longer
fall under this judgment!
It is obvious that the scene here parallels the one in Chapter Fourteen, where the grain and grape
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harvest of the earth is gathered in. There is a clear connection between the seventh trumpet and the
seventh bowl of wrath. It would be hard to believe that the same winepress would be trodden twice.
As far as the Names of the Lord are concerned in this chapter, He is called “Faithful and True” in
connection with the judgment. Judgment consists in the placing of those who bear the image of God next to
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Heb. 13:5,6
460
Lam. 3:22,23
461
See Matt.14:6-10
462
John 8:44b
463
See Isa. 61:2; Luke 4:19
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Matt. 10:28
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See Rev. 14:14-20

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the original. The comparison reveals the difference between our unfaithfulness and His faithfulness, our
unrighteousness and His righteousness. Volumes could be filled with examples of our deceitfulness and lies.
When we pass through God’s judgment, infidelity and lies lose their grip on us.
The second Name given to our Lord here is “the Word of God.” This brings us back to the prologue
of John’s Gospel. In it, the Word is introduced as the Creator who becomes creature. “Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his
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dwelling among us.” The emphasis there is on our salvation. Here we see the Word in connection with
God’s judgment. It is the Word that became flesh that judges all flesh. The comparison made in the judgment
is here not between the Creator and His creatures but between the Creature, Jesus Christ, and other creatures.
God compares each human being to “the Son of Man.” Ultimately, we will be the ones who compare
ourselves with Him and thus we will condemn ourselves.
We are used to comparing ourselves with others, which is a form of judgment. In doing this, we
usually deceive ourselves. We look at other people from a prejudiced angle with the intent to compare
favorably. This is not possible when we are put side by side with Him who is faithful and true. If we would
make it our habit to have ourselves judged by the Word of God during our stay on earth, we would spare
ourselves the pains of this last judgment. A daily reading of the Bible and obeying what it says works
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sanctification. That is why Jesus prayed: “ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
The third Name given to Jesus here is “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” These Names
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express absolute power. Jesus had stated: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
This statement is important in connection with judgment because it pertains to the essence of rebellion. The
devil and mankind had disassociated themselves from God’s sovereignty. They even went so far as to
challenge God’s authority and His right to the throne of the universe. Here is the man, Jesus Christ, clothed
with God’s omnipotence. He has taken the place Adam tried to occupy illegitimately. His Name corresponds
to the many crowns He wears on His head.
The Calvinists proclaim correctly that Jesus must be Lord in all parts of life. In the nineteenth
century, a Dutch theologian and politician, Abraham Kuyper, founder of the Christian Reformed Church,
became prime minister of the Dutch government. He tried to apply his theology to the running of the secular
government without success. The problem was that he wanted to put into operation on earth what had not yet
been confirmed in heaven. In this chapter, the heavenly reality is revealed: Jesus is LORD OF LORDS AND
KING OF KINGS. Eventually, the shadow of this reality on earth will conform itself to this fact. In the
chronology of world history this revelation of Jesus Christ will take effect at the end of the reign of the
Antichrist. That is the moment of the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh bowl of wrath.
All of creation is divided into two sections. There are “the armies of heaven [who are] following
him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” They participate in His victory and
glory. There are the rebel pagans who will fall under the judgment of His flaming eyes and will be defeated
by the sharp sword that comes out of His mouth. They will feel the pressure of His iron rod, and they will be
crushed and trampled in “the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” They are the ones who
disregarded David’s warning in the Second Psalm: “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of
the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
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destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than one between those who are with Christ and those
who oppose Him. The heavenly army exudes purity, authority, and majesty. The pagans constitute a mass of
miserable gray creatures without beauty or individuality. David’s prediction of earlier centuries is fulfilled
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here: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

5. The Victory 19-17-21

466
John 1:3,14
467
John 17:17
468
Matt. 28:18
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Ps. 2:10-12
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Ps. 2:12

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It would be possible to draw the dividing line between this section and the following at the third
verse of the next chapter. The victory will be complete when Satan is bound and thrown into the abyss. On
the other hand, something can be said for the division as it is: extermination of unrighteousness on earth is
not the same as the imprisonment of the devil. The latter will have a cosmic effect. It will intone the renewal
of all things.
In Verses 17 and 18, we see the same repulsive picture as was suggested in Verses 12-15. Both
depict a battlefield. The condition here is further advanced. The bloodbath is finished, and the field is
covered with dead bodies: cadavers and rotten flesh all over the place! The angel, who is standing on the sun,
the center of the universe, invites the vultures that fly through space, to pick the corpses clean. The picture is
gruesome and awful. We sense, correctly, that this does not belong to the glory of God revealed in this
chapter. I believe that God borrows this image from our human world on purpose to impress upon us the
incongruence. It reveals what humanity has done to God’s creation. In a way, we may see this as an example
of divine irony.
We must remember that what is shown here is a parable. There are no vultures that fly through
space and no angel stands on the sun. The picture represents a spiritual reality. Furthermore, it depicts a
situation that has not occurred yet, neither in the spiritual realm, nor anywhere else. This is an announcement
of judgment to come. And God’s announcements of judgment are always meant to be acts of grace, because
they leave the door open for conversion. God hopes that people who are still alive will get the mental picture
of the vultures cleaning off their corpses and that they will call to God to prevent this from ever happening.
That is the reason this picture is painted so realistically.
Then follows the last scene of world history, as we know it. We are here at the same point as at the
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sixth and seventh trumpet. The Antichrist gathers his troops at the place called “Armageddon.” We cannot
imagine that this would happen anywhere else but somewhere on earth. If this is meant to be symbolic then
we have no guarantee that the Book of Revelation deals with anything that pertains to our planet at all. Even
though the ultimate victory is won in heaven, there will be a concentration of armies under the command of
the Antichrist on earth. There is even a suggestion that victory consists in the fact that two powers from
different strata combat each other. The meeting of forces is totally unequal. It is like a race between a
pedestrian and a jet airplane. The Antichrist and his cohorts do not have a chance against Christ and the
heavenly armies. He and his prophet are arrested and are thrown alive in the place of eternal torture. Verse
20 elaborates in detail the exploits of the Antichrist’s minister of propaganda. We do not read that their case
is officially taken to court, but the content of the whole verse sounds like a verdict. It is a justification of this
terrible punishment.
A complicated feature in this verse is the word “alive.” The difference between the Antichrist, the
false prophet, and later Satan himself on the one hand, and all their followers on the other, seems to be that
these are thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, while the other ones are killed first. Their
destination, however, is the same. We read about the followers: “If anyone’s name was not found written in
the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire,” and: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be
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in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” What then is the difference? It does not seem
likely that death here means physical death. The sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth, that is the Word of God,
kills those who die. The death they die is a moral and spiritual death. But how can a soul that is no longer
alive be weeping and gnash its teeth? Whatever the case may be, it will be a matter of moral and spiritual
decomposition. Gehennah is the place where the human being decomposes spirit, soul, and body. The
vultures will not only eat the flesh. They have already eaten the seed that fell on the wayside that could have
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saved the human soul. We see here the end of what used to be a human being. I do not know what this
means and I hope I never will know.

IV. The Renewal of All Things - Ch. 20:1-22:21

471
See Rev. 16:16
472
Rev. 20:15; 21:8
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See Matt. 13:4,19

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a. The Final Judgment 20:1-15

1. The Binding of Satan 20:1-3
2. The First Resurrection 20:4-6
3. The Condemnation of Satan 20:7-10
4. The Last Judgment 20:11-15
b. The New Jerusalem 21:1-22:5
c. Conclusion 21:6-21
a.

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The Final Judgment 20:1-15

1. The Binding of Satan 20:1-3

This section is probably one of the most controversial in all of Scripture. Theories regarding the
binding of Satan, the time and length of his being bound, and the meaning of the Millennium have divided
Christians throughout the ages. Augustine believed that the Millennium began when the emperor of Rome
accepted Christianity. Many Calvinists judge that Satan is bound at present. One of my teachers at the
Brussels Bible Institute used to say that if that is true, he is put on a very long chain. We can hardly maintain
that Satan is powerless at present. Peter’s statement: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil
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prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour,” invalidates this. Also, if Satan is
powerless at present, Paul’s warning: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full
armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
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against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” would be redundant. It would mean that, as
Christians, we would no longer be in a state of war. Our daily experience tells us differently.
There will come a time when Satan is bound and thrown into prison. This event will be the
beginning of the Millennium. There is no reason to believe that symbolic language is used in the description
of the facts, apart from the image of the chain and the lock of the abyss. It seems also logical to assume that
the chronological order is important. We saw the demonstration of Satan’s power on earth, culminating in
the coming of the Antichrist. The revelation of Christ occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation.
The important question to ask is how it is possible for Satan to come out of his prison? We will
have to take a closer look at this in connection with Verses 7-10.
Evidently, there will be a Millennium and it will be on earth, after the Antichrist and his follower
and the powers that inspired and supported them have been removed from this planet. We must bear in mind
that, even though the Book of Revelation comes to us in the form of a symphonic poem, the facts it deals
with are real concrete and historical facts.
What seems so amazing is that such an important event as the Millennium, which will be
extraordinary in the history of our planet and of the universe, is only mentioned here in passing. This is the
only passage in the New Testament in which it is mentioned. The Millennium is not even the subject of these
verses. The topic is judgment. In contrast to this period of one thousand years stands the fact that the largest
section of the Book of Revelation, chapters 6-19, is completely taken up by a period that lasts,
approximately, three-and-a-half years. The only conclusion we can draw from this is that John limits himself
primarily in this book to the subject matter he is supposed to be treating. One cannot reproach an author for
doing such a thing. It should, however, caution us not to build too much theology on such a small basis. We
know too little about the Millennium to say much about it. It could be that the Lord wants us to talk about
something else!

2. The First Resurrection 20:4-6

Verse Four speaks about a group with whom we are supposed to be familiar. We are not even told
whether they are angels or human beings. The Chiliast outline of the events pertaining to Christ’s return
could come in handy at this point. Paul’s remarks about the rapture in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians
explains: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still
alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we
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will be with the Lord forever.” If those who sit on the throne and are given authority to judge are not the
believers in Christ, the members of His body, the church, who participated in the first resurrection, the
meaning of the scene will not be clear. Evidently, the martyrs of the Great Tribulation join the assembly at
this point.
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I Peter 5:8
475
Eph. 6:10-12
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I Thess. 4:16,17

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These thrones remind us of Daniel’s prophecy: “As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the
Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out
from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before
him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Then I continued to watch because of the boastful
words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into
the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period
of time.) In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the
clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority,
glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is
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an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
Obviously, those who sit on the thrones are human beings. The apostle Paul mentions the role
believers will play at this point in history. He writes to the church in Corinth: “Do you not know that the
saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
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Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” These thrones are
meant for the church of Jesus Christ.
It is also strange that John does not tell us who is being judged. Actually, the very mention of the
thrones at this point is odd, because that seems to fit better in the scene of Verses 11-15. But some kind of
judgment, obviously, takes place. The subject of these verses is the resurrection. A line is being drawn
between those who partake of the first resurrection and those who will suffer the second death. As
mentioned above, the Millennium is only mentioned in passing. Judgment is required to determine who will
rise from the dead at the beginning of the thousand years and who at the end. That, however, does not seem
to be determined by human beings sitting on the throne. According to Jesus’ words, the transition from death
to life takes place at the moment a person fixes his faith upon Jesus Christ, the Lord. We read in John’s
Gospel: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will
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not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” What happens to the dead body is determined
by that transition. For those who believe in Christ on the day of resurrection, judgment will have passed long
ago. The first resurrection encompasses our conversion, our regeneration, and sanctification, as well as the
resurrection of our dead body. Those elements make us the beneficiaries of the beatitude pronounced in
Verse Six “Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.” As mentioned earlier, we can
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find seven of those beatitudes in the Book of Revelation.
We must pause a moment to reflect on the meaning of the Millennium. As said above, this is the
only place in Scriptures where it is mentioned directly. But in the first seven verses of this chapter it is
mentioned six times. Three times it refers to the duration of Satan’s imprisonment; twice it relates to the
reign of those who are partakers of the first resurrection, and once it refers to the waiting period for the other
dead.
We do not know if the thousand years are meant to be a literal mathematical span of time or a
period that is called so symbolically, as it seems to be endless. From a human point of view one thousand
years is a very long time. One thousand years ago, the Middle Ages in Europe had not even begun yet.
Western Europeans had not yet discovered the North and South American continents. In our human
experience we can hardly imagine such a time span. Whether meant literally or figuratively, a thousand years
seems like eternity.
This time will be characterized by a complete absence of evil and by the reign of Christ and those
who belong to Him. It is obvious from the mention of bodily resurrection, that those who reign with Christ
are not angels but human beings. Angels cannot die and, consequently, they cannot partake in a resurrection
either.
It seems a logical conclusion that all the portions of Scripture that speak of the restoration of fallen
creation apply to this period in world history. What Paul states in his Epistle to the Romans, undoubtedly,

477
Daniel 7:9-14
478
I Cor 6:2,3
479
John 5:24
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See Rev. 1:3; 14:13;16:15;19:9;20:6;22:7;22:14

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refers to this time. We read: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For
the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,
in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious
freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
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groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Isaiah’s
vision of the new world where “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the
calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole
of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all
my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In
that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of
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rest will be glorious” clearly describes the Millennium.
But John does not say anything about this here; he acts as if all this is well known. It is, after all, a
logical effect of the Gospel that man who had been caught in the devil’s trap, and who then is saved and
rehabilitated, would again receive the royal dignity that had originally been reserved for him. It is also logical
that creation, which had been man’s responsibility, and which he had dragged with him in his fall, would be
restored and given back to God. Paul’s conclusion is also a logical one that “If we died with him, we will
483
also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.”
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When the Lord Jesus said to Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world,” He did not, necessarily,
mean that it would never be established in this world. We do not know how this will all come about. It is
also not clear who or what will be the subjects of this reign. We must, however, not merely look upon this
thousand-year kingdom as a symbol of the salvation and rehabilitation of those who have accepted Jesus
Christ as their Savior.
If in Chapters 21 and 22, we see the church of Jesus Christ “prepared as a bride beautifully dressed
for her husband,” as “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,” and shining
with the glory of God, then we have to conclude that this church still has a lot to learn before the time
comes. The royal dignity and universal priesthood of the believers during the Millennium seems to be a good
school to learn. We must keep in mind, though, that the Millennium is only mentioned in passing in this
chapter. The subject is the resurrection and the key verse is Verse Six “ Blessed and holy are those who have
part in the first resurrection.” This beatitude pertains to all who have put their trust in Jesus. This is what the
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Lord Jesus Christ meant when He gave the threefold assurance: “I will raise him up at the last day.”

3. The Condemnation of Satan 20:7-10

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.” We ask ourselves why
and how this can happen? It will not be because of Satan’s superior strength. The only reason we can imagine
would be that God is forced to release him on moral grounds, because the devil acts as if he repents of his
sins. Earlier, Satan had contested on moral grounds God’s right to sit on the throne of the universe and he
had accused God of binding human beings to Himself by paying them. In the Book of Job, he had asked the
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question: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Evidently, he will succeed in morally forcing God to let him
go free.

481
Rom. 8:18-23
482
Isa. 11:6-10
483
II Tim. 2:11,12
484
John 18:36
485
John 6:39,40,44
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Job 1:9

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From Seiss’ The Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book of Revelation, we copy the following
comment: “It seems like a great pity, after the world has rested for a thousand years, that this archenemy of
its peace should again be let loose upon it. But there seems to be some sort of necessity for it. The statement
to John was, that ‘he must be loosed a little time’… Some interest of righteousness and moral government
renders it proper that he should be allowed this last limited freedom. If for nothing else, it is not unimportant
that he should have this opportunity to prove how little an imprisonment of a thousand years had served to
change him, or reform his malignity. Even the Devil is granted a final trial to make a better record to himself,
if so minded. But neither judgment nor mercy has the least effect. He is, and remains to the last, the same
depraved and wicked being, and employs even the little time of freedom before he is cast into perdition in
tempting, seducing, and deceiving the happy and peaceful world. Perhaps, too, it was necessary for the
millennial nations to be taught that, even after having been so far redeemed as to live a thousand years of
holy obedience, they still are unable to stand without the special help and grace of Almighty God. At any
rate, this brief period of Satan’s last freedom proves, that he is still Satan, and that man is still man, after a
thousand years of bonds and imprisonment for the one, and a thousand years’ experience of the next thing to
Paradise for the other; the Devil being just as eager to tempt and deceive, and man liable to be tempted and
deceived. Nor can it be of small account to the after ages, or for the generations to whom it is foretold, that
the full demonstration of these facts should be made before things are finally settled into the eternal state.
Hence, Satan is let loose for a little time.”
Satan’s own conversion and that of his demons, as well as of the millions who had followed him,
seems a reasonable possibility. This freedom would be like some sort of parole in which Satan could prove
that he was serious in his intentions and that he was willing to undo the enormous damage he had caused. It
could even be that this conversion is not a fake or a put-up job. It would, of course, be simple for God to
unmask deceit. We could imagine that, as soon as the former adversary is let loose and is restored to his
previous glory and authority, his original temptation would assert itself again also. The same pride that made
him make a dash for the throne before could become too powerful. The same would happen to those who
had followed him and who had converted and had sworn to the same renunciation. Evidently, the Antichrist
and his prophet are not included in this party. A mass rehabilitation of those we now consider to be lost,
would give an explanation for the millions who, all of a sudden, come marching across the breadth of the
earth to conquer Jerusalem. All of this is, of course, mere speculation, but it could give us a reasonable
explanation for facts that are difficult to interpret otherwise.
If all this were true, it would mean that there would be a “second chance” for all creatures; although
these verses suggest that such would be of no avail. If a person who lives in the present dispensation of
487
“Moses and the prophets” does not become a new creature through the Holy Spirit, it will be of little
advantage to him if he were given a second chance in the resurrection of the dead. Even if a person is given
the opportunity to do his life over again, there is no guarantee that he will do any better. It remains true that
the day of salvation is today. The difference between life and death is not in the opportunities that are given
to us, but in the surrender of our will.
If, however, the above would be true, it would mean a revolutionary period in the history of heaven
and earth. In theory it would mean that all of mankind would have the opportunity to pass from death into
life. But if anyone would be saved in that manner, he or she would probably be the exception.
John mentions the names of Gog and Magog in connection with the deception of the nations of the
488
world. The names are a reference to Ezekiel’s prophecy. Gog is the name of the prince of Meshach and
Tubal and Magog is the name of the land. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, the prophet makes a comparison between a
future event and a historic incident: the invasion of Gog that occurred before the Babylonian Captivity.
Some commentators believe that John erroneously used the names of Gog and Magog for two
nations instead of for a nation and a country. But the text does not warrant this conclusion. John’s
description of the facts is brief but vivid. He writes like an eyewitness. His changing from the future tense to
the past tense would indicate deep emotional involvement. The scene before him is breathtaking. He is in a
hurry to say all he has to say and he cannot allow himself the time to depict sweeping parallels. Thus, there is
only a sketchy reference in two words (Gog and Magog) to Ezekiel’s prophecy for the purpose of placing the
events in the right perspective of eternity.

487
See Luke 16:29-31
488
See Ezek. Ch. 38,39

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It seems unlikely that the description is one of a literal war with horsemen and horses, with a siege,
and an attack upon a city. The picture evokes images on a cosmic scale of the repeat of the invasion of the
Garden of Eden. The difference will be that, at that time, God’s paradise will be full with people who have
already eaten from the tree of life and who have been fully satisfied with its fruit. Here, the Evil One no
longer has any chance of success. The fire from heaven that God’s saints have kindled themselves falls upon
the enemy and devours him. Compared to this, the nuclear explosions during the time of the Great
Tribulation will be like child’s play.

4 The Last Judgment 20:11-15

Then follows judgment. The devil who was the source of all temptation is punished for the first
time ever. We do not read that there will be an elaborate court case in connection with this. It will not be as
in the following verses in which the people are judged. Since Satan has violated his parole, no hearing is
needed anymore. He is immediately sent to the place of agony he had prepared for others. We are not told
whether the presence of the Antichrist and the false prophet will be of any consolation to him.
Verse Ten should actually have been included in this section since it introduces the following
verses. This time of judgment differs from previous session in that no human jury or judges are involved in
this, as was the case in Verse 4. It is God alone who reaches the verdict. This, probably, means that we have
passed the previous stage. It could also mean that the unity among the Father, the Son, and redeemed
humanity is such that no distinction needs to be made anymore.
We are not given a detailed description of God here as in Chapter Four, but the portrayal is
overwhelming. John depicts God and His throne as seen through the eyes of a rebellious creation. “Earth and
sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” The naked man who stands before God comes
to the frightening discovery that there is no longer any covering for him. A Dutch poet once wrote a eulogy
for a fellow poet in which he said that this man was for one moment “a flame that charred the face of
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God.” John’s picture of God reveals the sheer nonsense of such a statement. Both Dutch poets, the one
who wrote the eulogy and the one who was being eulogized, have learned this for themselves in the
meantime.
The Israelites who were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai experienced some of the awesomeness
of God’s presence. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews comments on this: “You have not come to a
mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast
or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,
because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be
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stoned.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ ” The same Epistle states:
491
“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” God turns that side of His personality
toward the unbelieving and rebellious creatures. But those features are also present for those who have been
renewed by His grace. We may enjoy an intimate fellowship with God, but there can never be any casualness
or vulgarity in that relationship. We will understand that God is not the kind of person whose face one can
scorch. But for us, He is also not the One from whom we have to flee. He is our refuge and our hiding place.
That is quite a difference.
John sees “the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.” According to what we read in
Verse Five, these “dead” are alive, or at least, they have been resurrected. Yet, they are still called “dead.”
This is the resurrection for the purpose of condemnation, mentioned by Jesus in John’s Gospel. We read
there: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be
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condemned.” If these are people who violated their parole together with the devil, as suggested above,
then they are doubly guilty before God. It is not difficult to imagine their feeling of terror, standing before
this great white throne of the Judge of all the earth. These are millions who stand trembling before their

489
Herman Marsman, Willem Kloos
490
Heb. 12:18-21
491
Heb. 10:31
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John 5:28,29

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Creator. Their judgment amounts ultimately to this that they stand as dead before a living God. They may
have been roused from their slumber of death, but in comparison with God they are dead. Their names are
not in the Book of Life because they never signed their names in it. They never made a contract with Life and
signed it.
John speaks of two kinds of books that are opened, but only the Book of Life is mentioned by
name. Every person is judged on the basis of his works. As Evangelical Christians, we often read these
words with some prejudice. We think that, as long as our names are written in the book of life, it does not
really matter what we have done. We may owe this misunderstanding to Luther, or at least, to a distortion of
Luther’s theology. For those who are recorded in the book of life, the works are important also. Jesus states
clearly in the verse we saw above: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their
graves will hear his voice and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have
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done evil will rise to be condemned.”
If, at the beginning of the court session, it would already have been determined that a person is
proven guilty and condemned, the whole case would be a travesty. This would not suit the character of God.
494
Abraham asked the question: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” These verses do not put “God
in the Dock,” to borrow C. S. Lewis’ words. We must remember that every tree produces the fruit that fits its
kind. The person whose name is written in the Book of Life will also bear the fruit of life. This fruit is not
the reason for the registration of our names in the book of life but the result of it. Consequently, when God
judges people on the basis of their works, He is absolutely fair. We may assume, therefore, at least in theory,
that there could be people who would be declared innocent. In practice, it will be evident that no one can
stand before God and not come short of the glory of God apart from God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
It is remarkable to read that “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.” The reading of the
KJV as “hell” instead of “Hades” seems unwarranted, since the lake of fire seems to be the same as hell. The
word “Hades” is borrowed from Greek mythology as the place where the dead were gathered. It conveys the
idea of death as the place in which Satan exercises his power: the kingdom of death. The way our text renders
it, death and Hades are treated like independent personalities. This is probably a poetic way of expressing that
there will never again be any such things as dying and death. We are, however, given the impression that
more is involved. Paul also treats death as if it were a person. We read in his First Epistle to the Corinthians:
495
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Yet, death is not a person. The first death becomes the victim
of “the second death.” There is similarity between the first death and the second as there is between being
born and being born again.
The lake of fire is called “The second death.” The first death is separation between a creature and
the Creator. This caused a separation of man from himself and from his fellowmen, which ultimately results
in the separation of soul and body. The second death is probably the ultimate breakdown of harmony in every
form. Even the remains of harmony left by the first death will decompose. The only thing remaining is
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We seldom realize sufficiently how great is our salvation which saves us from this second death. As
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Jesus wrote to the church in Smyrna: “He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
Praise our risen Savior who makes us participants of His resurrection!

B. The New Jerusalem 21:1-22:15

1. Summary 21:1-8

John gives us in these verses a short version of his last vision. In Verse Nine he obviously returns to
what he said in Verse Two. He sketches, in a few rough lines, the revelation of a new heaven and a new
earth. In the following section, 21:9-22:15, he details what he outlined before.
We can distinguish five parts in this section:

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John 5:28,29
494
Gen. 18:25
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I Cor. 15:26
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Rev. 2:11

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a. The Vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth

b. The New Jerusalem
c. The Word of God
d. The Participants
e. The Non-Participants

a.The Vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth 21:1
Isaiah already prophesied about a new heaven and a new earth. We read: “ ‘As the new heavens and
the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so will your name and descendants
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endure.’ ” Peter also expresses the expectation that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. We read
in his Second Epistle: “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will
melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth,
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the home of righteousness.”
John’s remark that “there was no longer any sea” seems puzzling to us. Peter remarks in passing
499
that “the earth was formed out of water and by water.” In the Genesis account of creation we read that the
500
whole earth was initially covered with water. One of God’s first acts of creation was to create order out
of chaos. If the theory about the cause of this chaos as being the result of Satan’s fall is correct, we can
understand that there would no longer be any place for a sea in the new creation. It would be hard, though, to
imagine a world without any water at all. That, however, is not what we read here. The falling away of the
oceans would provide sufficient living space to all the human beings that ever lived on this planet. But,
maybe, John means something quite different here.
Bible commentators have voiced different opinions about John’s statement, none of which explain
the concept sufficiently. Barnes’ Notes observes: “Now, the seas and oceans occupy about three-fourths of
the surface of the globe, and, of course, to that extent prevent the world from being occupied by
people-except by the comparatively small number that are mariners. There, the idea of John seems to be, the
whole world will be inhabitable, and no part will be given up to the wastes of oceans. In the present state of
things, these vast oceans are necessary to render the world a fit abode for human beings, as well as to give
life and happiness to the numberless tribes of animals that find their homes in the waters. In the future state,
it would seem, the present arrangement will be unnecessary; and if man dwells upon the earth at all, or if he
visits it as a temporary abode … These vast wastes of water will be needless. It should be remembered that
the earth, in its changes, according to the teachings of geology, has undergone many revolutions quite as
remarkable as it would be if all the lakes, and seas, and oceans of the earth should disappear. Still, it is not
certain that it was intended that this language should be understood literally as applied to the material globe.
The object is to describe the future blessedness of the righteous; and the idea is, that that will be a world
where there will be no such wastes as those produced by oceans.”
Some commentators believe that this vision is basically a repeat of what John saw in Chapter 20,
and that the description pertains to the Millennium. The suggestion of chronology in these chapters prevents
us from supposing this to be the case.
We are given the impression that God is creating something completely new, even if He uses part of
the old creation.

b. The New Jerusalem 21:2

The details of this vision are worked out more fully in the following section, beginning with vs. 9.
We must emphasize that here, as in Verse 9 the city is depicted as a bride, the bride of the Lamb. The Bible is
consistent in the use of this image. It describes the church in her relationship to Jesus Christ. John the Baptist
501
calls himself “the friend of the bridegroom.” We read: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend

497
Isa. 66:22
498
II Peter 3:12,13
499
See II Peter 3:5
500
See Gen. 1:2,6-10
501
NKJV

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who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s
502
voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” In his talk with the elders of Ephesus, Paul speaks “of
503
the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” And to the church in Corinth, he writes: “I am
jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you
504
as a pure virgin to him.” And speaking about sexual relationship in marriage, he states: “This is a
505
profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
If the New Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb, it is not a picture of heaven but of us. We will not
walk the streets of gold; we are those streets!

c. The Word of God 21:3-6

We hear two voices speaking in these verses. We do not know who is the first speaker. It is
probably the voice of one of the angels. The second voice is the voice of the One who sits on the throne, the
Creator of heaven and earth, God Almighty. The angel speaks of the fellowship with God in terms that are
related to the Old Testament and the New. The image is of the tabernacle that was used during the desert
crossing of Israel on her way to the Promised Land. The Greek word, rendered “dwelling” is skene, which
means: “tent,” or “tabernacle.” The same word is used in the Prologue of John’s Gospel where John states
506
about Jesus: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
These expressions are, at the same time, easy to understand and beyond comprehension. We see
some of this contradiction reflected in John’s lack of understanding. As a man who had only recently been
redeemed from sin, it was difficult for him to imagine what it would be like when the church as a whole
would be filled in every one of its atoms with the glory of God. We do not know what it will be like.
Another difficult question is, whether, apart from the church, apart from the Kingdom of God, will there be
other nations who, although they are blessed, will not be part of the church and the Kingdom?
One thing is sure, the presence of God will henceforth be uncovered. There will no longer be a
sanctuary, part of which blocks the entrance to the Holy of Holiest. There will no longer be a curtain that
507
separates. There will no longer be any “likeness of sinful flesh” that covered the glory of God in the
Person of Jesus Christ. The sun of God’s glory will shine in all its brilliance.
We note that the passing away of the old order of things consists in the absence of factors that are
negative: no more tears, or “death or mourning or crying or pain.” We see the love and compassion of God
for the condition of life as it is now. We read earlier, in connection with the Great Tribulation: “[God
508
Himself] will wipe every tear from their eyes.” This depicts the total healing of our emotions.
Then God Himself speaks. His words are a condensation of the Gospel, as we now know it. “He
who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ ” In our present experience it is so that if
He is seated on the throne of our life, He will, even now, make everything new for us.
After all that happened in the universe, the great revolt, the challenge by the adversary as to who has
the right to occupy the throne, we read that all this is past and God sits on the throne. God says that, in the
time in which we live now, the principle of renewal is already at work. The matter has been decided. The
enemy has been defeated at Golgotha. We now live in a transition period.
The words, spoken by the Father: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End”
indicate that the Father and the Son speak in unison. God orders John: “Write this down, for these words are
trustworthy and true.” It is important that, not only John’s immediate surrounding that could hear his spoken
words is informed, but also the larger circle and generations to come. We would never have known this if
John had not taken pen and paper and written down the Words God spoke. The apostle Peter recognized the
502
John 3:29
503
Acts 20:28
504
II Cor.11:2
505
Eph. 5:32
506
John 1:14
507
See Rom. 8:3 (NKJV)
508
See Rev. 7:17

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importance of the written word when he wrote in his Second Epistle the words “So I will always remind you
of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is
right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it
aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my
509
departure you will always be able to remember these things.” Evidently, God thinks it is important for us,
in the age and circumstance in which we live, to keep our goal and destination before our eyes. Our hope
will consist in this, that during our journey through this world on our way home, we will constantly think of
the moment at which we will cross the threshold and feel God’s handkerchief on our teary cheeks.
The order to write confirms that the written Word must guide our faith. Not only are we not
eyewitnesses of the things John saw, but our circumstances tend to point us in a direction that is completely
opposite of the truth. It is nigh to impossible for us to see that we travel in the direction of the renewal of all
things. The tendency of life at present is degeneration and destruction; we are all moving toward death. We
need the written Word of God to see through the outward appearance of our state of affairs. It must be
evident that none of us were created for the condition of the world as it is now. A Dutch poet once wrote:
“One begins by accepting life, and ends by accepting death.” Even those words constitute a cry of rebellion.
Our heart is supposed to resist the approach of death. Our greatest danger is accepting the present condition
as normal and to stop thirsting. We must keep resisting the devil’s propaganda. God promises to quench our
thirst, but this is of no avail to us if we stop thirsting! God’s Word serves to keep our memory alive. The
worst that could ever happen to us would be to forget who we are, where we came from, and where we are
going.
God not only orders John to write, but He also says “these words are trustworthy and true.” We
repeat that all we hear in this world is Satan’s version of affairs. The Word of God protects us against the
tendency to believe his nonsense. During World War II, when I lived in the Netherlands, people risked their
life and freedom to listen to the BBC radio to a program called Free Netherlands. The people felt they
needed this to resist the flood of lies issued by Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Moses
knew the importance of the written Word of God. Before Israel’s entry into Canaan, he stated: “They are not
just idle words for you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan
510
to possess.”
511
The words “I am the Alpha and the Omega” are found three times in the Book of Revelation.
They mark the beginning and the end of this book. They throw a new light on Paul’s doxology, “For from
512
him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” God is the origin and
the ultimate goal of all of creation; He is also the beginning and purpose of my life and personality! We will
probably never fully understand that, with our own free will, we can say “amen” to these things and
surrender to Him in love. The opening of the seals, the blowing of the trumpets, and the pouring out of the
bowls of wrath make us understand who God is and how glorious He is.
In a commentary on Revelation by Mounce, the author explains that “alpha and omega” is the Greek
equivalent of the Hebrew “aleph and taw.” The first and last letters of the alphabet are representative of the
whole. When we use the expression “A-Z” in English, we mean the whole. When we say that God is “A-Z”
we declare that He is all there is to say. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
513
that has been made.”

d.The Participants 21:7

The statement: “He who overcomes will inherit all this” could tend to discourage us. We envision a
superhuman effort that we would be expected to make. Paul answers his own question: “And who is equal to
such a task?” with: “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our

509
II Peter 1:12-15
510
Deut. 32:47
511
Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13
512
Rom. 11:36
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John 1:3

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514
competence comes from God.” The victory God expects from us is the same as Jacob’s victory at the
515
Jabbok when he struggled with the angel and pleaded for mercy. Now it is true “Better a patient man than
516
a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city,” but we can hardly maintain that
confession of our sins requires a superhuman effort. We must get used to the idea that, what we consider to
be a defeat, our surrender to God, is our victory in God’s eyes.
We must not forget that God is ultimately only interested in whether our lives bear fruit or not. We
will be evaluated according to our acts, not according to what we pretend to be. The only thing that counts
will be whether the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in us, because we do not live according
517
to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. The victory that must become evident in our life is the
victory Jesus won. If our competence would not come from God, our position would indeed be desperate.
“He who overcomes will inherit all this.” What “all this” stands for is explained in the seven letters
Jesus ordered John to write to the seven churches in Asia. To the church of Ephesus, Jesus had said: “I will
518
give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” The church in Smyrna would
519
not be hurt at all by the second death. To Pergamum, He wrote: “I will give some of the hidden manna. I
520
will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” The
church in Thyatira received the promise: “I will give authority over the nations- [you] will rule them with an
iron scepter; [you] will dash them to pieces like pottery’-just as I have received authority from my Father. I
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will also give [you] the morning star.” About the church in Sardis He wrote: “They will walk with me,
dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never
522
blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”
To the overcomers in Philadelphia He promised: “I will make [him] a pillar in the temple of my God. Never
again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new
Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new
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name.” And the promise to the church in Laodicea was: “I will give [you] the right to sit with me on my
524
throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” All of this is condensed in the
promise given here: “I will be his God and he will be my son.” All this is comprehended and condensed here
into the words: “I will be his God and he will be my son.” In a sense, this relationship already exists. Our
sonship is the immediate result of our regeneration. “To all who received him, to those who believed in his
525
name, he gave the right to become children of God.” The striking part of this pronouncement is that it
does not state a relationship father-son, but God-son. Luke uses this expression in connection with Adam,
while he was still in paradise. Tracing Jesus’ genealogy, he states that Jesus was “the son of Enosh, the son
526
of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” The expression applies, of course, particularly to Jesus Christ.
514
See II Cor. 2:16: 3:5
515
Gen. 32:24-31; Hos. 12:4
516
Prov. 16:32
517
See Rom. 8:4
518
Rev. 2:7
519
Rev. 2:11
520
Rev. 2:17
521
Rev. 2:26-28
522
Rev. 3:4,5
523
Rev. 3:12
524
Rev. 3:21
525
John 1:12
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Luke 3:38

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This means that the relationship will be a vehicle for God’s revelation through us as it was in Jesus. It will
be the perfection of that which is already ours.

e. The Non-Participants 21:8

The last part of the announcement is fear provoking. Lack of this relationship with God will result
in cowardice, unbelief, vileness, murder, sexual immorality, and spiritual immorality. When God judges a
person, He judges him according to the relationship he has with God or according to the lack of it. The
condemned will end up in the fiery lake of burning sulfur, which is hell itself. The Greek does not state that
those people will go to hell but that their part, or portion, will be hell. Satan and his demons have always
been partakers of this condition; these people will partake of the devil. It is not a real change of condition,
only an ultimate worsening of it.

2. Description of the City 21:9-27

These verses give us the details of what was introduced in Verse 2. There, John only mentioned that
he saw the city. This portion of Scripture is, undoubtedly, one of the summits in the whole Bible. There is a
strong resemblance between these verses and the last eight chapters of Ezekiel’s prophecy. Both convey the
same message. Ezekiel states about the city: “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE
527
LORD IS THERE.” John states: “It shone with the glory of God.” The fact that Ezekiel describes the
temple in great detail and John observes: “I did not see a temple in the city,” does not constitute a
contradiction if we understand that the temple was the material expression of a spiritual reality.
It is significant that one of the angels who was an instrument of God’s wrath accompanies John in
this vision of glory. We consider wrath and love to be each other’s opposites, and we find it difficult to
understand that the same person could represent both. But the contradiction we see is in us, not in God.
In connection with Verse Two, we already observed that the New Jerusalem could not be an image
of heaven but that she is the symbolic representation of the church, the bride of Christ.
John sees Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God.” This city is not static, but dynamic;
she is moving constantly from heaven to earth. This same principle is found in the prologue of John’s
Gospel. In the phrase “The Word was God. He was with God in the beginning,” the Greek word pros is a
preposition of direction. It is hard for us to imagine an eternal movement of two persons or two objects one
towards the other. We understand the principle of “growing together,” and as such we can envision that God
would send a constant stream of revelation of His glory from heaven to earth in the form of the church. Thus
the motion of descent never ceases even when Jerusalem reaches the earth. Only dead cities are fixed
permanently on earth. Jerusalem is alive; she shines with the glory of God!
The Shechinah that was present in a covered mode in the tabernacle and the temple, which became
incarnate in Jesus Christ and which John described in Chapter Four of this book, here fills the church. It had
been God’s purpose for man, ever since creation, that he would bear the image of his Creator in all its
fullness. Satan acted as if he showed Eve a shortcut when he presented her with a “surrogate.” Here, man has
reached the goal of his creation, the fulfillment of his being, which is to be like God. He reaches this goal,
not through usurpation, but through surrender. One finds life by losing it. Only those who place their crowns
before the throne of God will possess the glory of God. In chapter four, John described the glory of God
with the words “The one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.” Here we read: “Its
brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” Evidently, mere words are not
enough!
It would be easy to get lost in the imagery of verses 12-21. Everything is expressed in terms of
gold, pearls, and precious stones. Maybe it is John’s intention that we would get lost in this. This glory is
unimaginable. It is already breathtaking on earth to see a diamond <BIBLE:of several carats. This city is said
to be 12,000 stadia long, wide, and high. The measurement is approximately 1400 miles. The Living Bible
renders Verse 16: “When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long; in fact it was in the
form of a cube, for its height was exactly the same as its other dimensions-1,500 miles each way.” It is
difficult to imagine a diamond of such dimensions, and pearls with a diameter of 72 meters! Yet, there is a
strong suggestion that the immeasurable glory of God, as it is expressed in the church, will be measurable,
both for humans and angels. Paul refers to this paradox when he writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “I
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Ezek. 48:35

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pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love
of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the
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fullness of God.”
All nations enter the city via Israel; the names of the twelve tribes are written on the gates. This is,
of course, a reference to the unique role Israel plays in God’s revelation of Himself, which culminated in the
birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ultimately, He is the only gate through which every human being enters. The
twelve apostles, the preachers of the Gospel to the whole creation, form the foundation of the wall that
surrounds the city.
The gates are represented as pearls. A pearl owes its existence to suffering. The pearl oyster secretes
a fluid that encases a grain of sand that enters its shell and causes pain. Thus a pearl is formed. Each of
Israel’s tribes is presented under the figure of an enormous pearl, referring to the glory of God that results
from its immense suffering. Jesus Himself, as the foremost of all Israelites, sets the tone for this figure. This
leads us to the definition of glory (a phenomenon which we do not yet fully know on earth) as the reaction of
God’s grace to suffering. Considering this, we could say that the devil makes a considerable contribution to
our glory.
The precious stones and the gold with which the city is built are valuable elements. They represent
value to us in our material world. Here they are symbolic representations of spiritual values, of the ultimate
reality. The foundation of the city is adorned with real, eternal, spiritual values. The city is founded upon
something that is so valuable that it cannot be expressed in human values. All the worlds’ diamonds together
would only form a fraction of the glory of this city; they would be a soft shadow of the heavenly diamond.
Actually, the diamond on earth would not be hard enough to be used in the New Jerusalem.
The twelve precious stones that form the foundation of the city remind us of the twelve stones in
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the breastplate of the high priest. If we compare the list of stones in Exodus 28 with the stones in
Revelation 21, we get the following list:

Ex. 28 Rev. 21
1. ruby 1. jasper
2. topaz 9 2. sapphire
3. beryl 8 3. chalcedony
4. turquoise 4. emerald
5. sapphire 2 5. sardonyx
6. emerald 4 6. carnelian
7. jacinth 11 7. chrysolite
8. agate 8. beryl
9. amethyst 12 9. topaz
10. chrysolite 7 10. chrysoprase
11. onyx 11. jacinth
12. jasper 1 12. amethyst

We see that eight of the stones in the first list correspond to one in the second list. The fact that the
names of the stones in Exodus are written in Hebrew and the ones in Revelation in Greek may account for
the slight discrepancy between the two lists.
As mentioned earlier, the greatest difference between Ezekiel’s vision and John’s is the absence of
the temple in Revelation. Ezekiel’s prophecy mainly consists of a detailed description of the temple, and
John states that there is no temple. The temple was an expression of the presence of God. In the New
Jerusalem God is present in full reality, not under the guise of symbols. This reality needs no longer to be
expressed symbolically. There is in the Bible a progressive line of revelation. The first images of revelation
consisted of a tabernacle with a court and a holy place, which kept man separate from the holy of holies. In
Jerusalem even the holy of holies is taken away; only the full reality of the presence of God remains. In

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Eph. 3:16-19
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Ex. 28:15-21

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Tolkien’s book Lord of the Rings, the evil presence of Sauron is tangible. How much more will the presence
of the Shechinah engulf us!
Three negatives characterize the city: no temple, no light shining in from outside, and no night. A
fourth negative element may be added: “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is
shameful or deceitful.” Thus far, man has only been able to define holiness in negative terms. For us who are
still influenced by the pressure of sin, to express God’s holiness in positive terms eludes us. This does, of
course, not mean that the glory of God would only consist in the absence of negative things. It is
overwhelmingly positive and not merely not negative.
Physical light, such as sunlight or lamplight, is an image of the true light that is spiritual. The image
may resemble reality but what ultimately counts is reality itself. We want that which is eternal. Because of
the presence of the glory of God, the city is full of light. As Jesus could say on earth: “I am the light of the
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world,” so is He the one here who illuminates the city; He is the lamp of the church.
The reference in Verse 24 to the kings of the earth who will bring their splendor into the city is
borrowed from Haggai’s prophecy during the rebuilding of the temple. We read there: “This is what the
LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry
land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’
says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘The
glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty.
531
‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
It is difficult to get a clear picture of what is meant here. It sounds as if there will be kings and
nations outside the city, which does not sound likely. It could be that John uses this figure of speech to
establish a link with the above-mentioned prophecy by Haggai.
The fact that the city possesses the perfect glory of God does not mean that no glory could be added
to it. Nations and kings will bring their splendor and glory into the New Jerusalem. Man possesses honor and
glory because God made him.
When we compare this portion with the lament of the merchants and sailors over the fall of
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Babylon, these verses come into the right perspective and they exude a radiant light. Babylon’s economy
was based on dishonesty and egoism. The foundation of the New Jerusalem is pure and altruistic. The
commerce of the New Jerusalem will be like the putting down of the crowns of the elders before the throne
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of God. The presentation of the merchandise by the merchants is an act of surrender. Both merchandise
and commerce will be glorious. It may seem strange to us that trade and economy could become images of a
heavenly reality. What we see on earth is often a caricature of the real thing. We can, however, understand
God’s intent here sufficiently to reconstruct the picture. Things as we know them on earth are all shadows of
a heavenly reality.
No sin or sinner will enter this city. Everything and everybody will be founded on the basis of the
new life Jesus Christ made available in His death and resurrection. The Book of the Lamb will be the
foundation and the rule for all.
The eternal character of the New Jerusalem is probably best expressed in the absence of night. The
gates of the city will never be shut because there will no longer be any night. We are presently so conditioned
by the rhythm of life in which day and night follow each other that the thought of an absence of change
would make us feel tired. There will, however, be no fatigue in eternity. It is also impossible for us to
imagine a situation in which there are no contrasts, in which light is not set off by shadow or darkness. We
need this kind of tension in our present condition. Darkness is a negative entity; it is absence of light. The
fact that God used that, which in essence is a curse, and bent it towards our benefit, allowing us to relax and
refresh in sleep and darkness, should not close our eyes to the fact that darkness is a negative. “God is light;
534
in him there is no darkness at all.” In the same way as the light we know is an image of a spiritual reality,

530
John 8:12
531
Hag. 2:6-9
532
See Rev. 18:19-21
533
See Rev. 4:10,11
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I John 1:5

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so is also darkness a picture of a spiritual negative actuality. Darkness belongs to the devil. This truth is
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expressed in the writings of John, who writes about our walking in the light or in the darkness. That
which ceases to exist is the real night, not the shadow we know now.

3. The River of the Water of Life 22:1-5

536
This river corresponds to the brook Ezekiel saw coming out of the temple. The difference in
description of this river is not in the river itself, but in the personalities of both prophets. Ezekiel saw the
spiritual reality in its earthly form, although it could not exists as such on earth. John saw the reality with a
clearer eye, but still also in a symbolic form. Ezekiel saw the beginning of the river as a trickle coming from
the sanctuary, growing into a broad and deep stream. John sees a full-grown river streaming from the throne
of God. At this point there is no longer an element of growth. Fullness and completeness exist from the very
beginning. The river consists of fresh crystal clear water, perfectly pure and whole. It is so basic and
vitalizing that it is called “the water of life.” It is about this river that the Psalmist said: “As the deer pants
537
for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” This water is life from God Himself that flows
from His throne toward man. This is God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity.
John’s Gospel clarifies what this means in Jesus’ invitation. We read: “On the last and greatest day
of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By
this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had
538
not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” This water flows from the throne of God. If God
is enthroned in our life, this water will stream out of us also. In these verses in Revelation, God sits on the
throne in the midst of the church and the water, therefore, streams through the city and out of it.
The tree of life grows on both sides of the river; not just one single tree as in Paradise, but a whole
orchard. John speaks about the fruit of the tree and the healing virtue of the leaves. When we look at the
Genesis account of Paradise, we understand that Adam and Eve had a choice between two trees. We do not
learn what would have happened had Adam first eaten from the tree of life, apart from the fact that he would
539
have acquired physical immortality. In eating from the tree of knowledge, Adam rebelled against God and
declared his independence. Eating from the tree of life at an earlier stage would have meant a declaration of
dependency upon God, a demonstration of love and surrender to Him. Evidently, the principle of eating of
the tree of life remains the same throughout time and eternity. The new man, the church, the New Jerusalem
will keep on eating from the tree of life to full satisfaction, not in order to obtain eternal life but to maintain
and sustain it. Evidently, possession of eternal life will not be a mechanical reality that will continue by
itself without our effort. We will have to keep eating to stay alive. As in all fellowship of life, there must be
a continuous declaration of love and surrender to God.
“And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” The problem with this statement is
that we are also told that there will be no more sickness or death, probably even no more “nations.” Maybe
we can see this as John’s projection of the present upon the screen of the future. From the viewpoint of a
sinful human being, looking at heaven from a sick world, John sees the tree of life as a means of healing.
Speaking from a perspective of time, we can say that healing is already behind us when the New Jerusalem
descends from heaven to earth.
The way John describes this puts the emphasis on the meaning and implication of the vision. John
constantly draws lines from what he sees in heaven to the situation in which we live on earth. This gives us
the opportunity to compare ourselves with the heavenly reality. This was Ezekiel’s intent in his description
of the new temple. God said to him: “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may
be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make

535
See John 3:18-21; 8:12; 9:4,5; 11:9,10; 13:20; I John 1:5-7; 2:8-11.
536
See Ezek. 47:1-12
537
Ps. 42:1
538
John 7:37-39
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See Gen. 3:22

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known to them the design of the temple-its arrangement, its exits and entrances-its whole design and all its
regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all
540
its regulations.” So, John repeats for us in various forms certain facets of his vision. He resembles a
composer who, at the end of his symphony, repeats the main theme with certain variations.
The climax of the whole book is in Verses Three and Four: “The throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their
foreheads.”
The throne of God is mentioned twice in the first five verses, first as the source of the river of the
water of life and then as the core, the realization of all power, the center of worship and adoration. God, the
Father and the Lamb are enthroned in the middle of the church. This represents, at the same time, the
realization of our abandon. God’s reign is not enforced; it is not a form of enslavement. Jesus said: “I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you
541
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Our surrender to God is
based upon friendship and love. God has authority over our lives as a husband over a wife in the good, pure,
and glorious sense of the word, not as a tyrant but as someone who is ready to give his life for the other.
542
Jesus’ authority over my life rests on the fact that He loved me and gave Himself for me. It is my greatest
honor to say, as the Hebrew slave: “I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go
543
free.” That is the foundation of my being His servant; because of this I want to serve Him eternally. I do
not speak for myself alone but for all of the New Jerusalem!
We must not lightly gloss over these words “They will see his face.” God had said to Moses: “You
544
cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” And John states in the Prologue of his Gospel: “No
545
one has ever seen God.” Man’s fall into sin put these restrictions on our mortal bodies. But for those,
who have passed through death and have risen from the dead, these restrictions are no longer valid. Seeing
God is an experience that will completely absorb our spirit, soul, and body. It will be the most overwhelming
event ever to take place. This is the final goal of all God’s revelation that we experience God. For that reason
we were created; this is our “raison d’être.” To see Him from whom I have come forth, the Father Himself,
will be the fulfillment of my life. It would be better to die a second time than to miss this. Actually, in a way
that is what we will do. To see Him from whose presence the earth and sky flee, will keep alive the tension
between the Creator and the creature. What do I know about it? I don’t know what I am saying! I, John
Schultz, will see God together with Job, who said: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he
will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will
546
see him with my own eyes-I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” My heart yearns together
with his. The apostle John says: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet
been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
547 548
is.” I will see God; I will see God, and Jesus Christ “who loved me and gave himself for me.” I cannot
get enough of this!
God’s name will be on our foreheads. This, and the new name that will be given to us, are proof of
ownership. This divine stigma will say “Property of God.” As the apostle Paul states: “The world or life or

540
Ezek. 43:10,11
541
John 15:15
542
See Gal. 2:20
543
Ex. 21:5
544
Ex. 33:20
545
John 1:18
546
Job 19:25-27
547
I John 3:2
548
See Gal. 2:20

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death or the present or the future-all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” And: “If we
live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the
550
Lord.” We must realize that we will bear God’s stamp because of our living and dying for the Lord. In
one sense, we already bear this name now, but then it will be totally justified in us. Bearing God’s Name and
seeing His face will change us. He who is called by the Name of God will partake of His nature. God will be
551
all and in all. This will not mean a loss of identity. Our identification with Him and His identification
with us complete our personality. It is like when a man and a woman give themselves to each other, they
become more human.
In Verse Five John wraps up the description of the New Jerusalem by repeating what he said before.
“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God
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will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” The matter of light and darkness is solved
here once for all. The light of God will enlighten us. This is the light that gives us insight and that will enable
us spiritually and morally to do the right things and make the right choices. This will result for us in royal
dignity. The New Jerusalem, the bride of the Lamb, will reign as a king, not for a few years or even for a
millennium, but eternally.
This takes us back to the beginning of the book, to the place where we are now, where the
revelation of Jesus Christ begins with the words: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his
blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-to him be glory and power
553
for ever and ever! Amen.”

C. Conclusion 22:6-21

We hear at least three voices in the last verses of this book. Jesus speaks in Verses 6,7,12-16 and
20. John speaks in Verse Eight and the angel speaks in Verses 9-11. It is not too clear who the speaker is in
verses 17-19; it could be John. In Verse 20 the Lord speaks and John says “Amen.”
In the three instances where Jesus speaks, we read His assurance: “I am coming soon!” After more
than twenty centuries have gone by, these words sound strange in our ears. We do not know when Christ’s
return in space and time will occur. It remains important that we live and work as if He will come tomorrow.
Our attitude toward life will be governed by our expectation of His return and our longing for it. If the
tension between our service for the Lord and our anticipation of the Lord’s coming slackens, we will open
ourselves up to all kinds of danger. The worst that could happen to us would be to live as if the Lord would
not come back during our lifetime.
Jesus calls Himself in Verse Six, “the God of the spirits of the prophets.” This sounds like a strange
title. Peter, in his First Epistle, speaks about “the Spirit of Christ” in the prophets. We read: “Concerning this
salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the
greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing
554
when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” In Jesus’ words, “spirits” is
used in the plural. This leads us to believe that this does not speak about the Holy Spirit but about the human
spirit of these prophets. They have surrendered to God in obedience their spirit, the organ of spiritual
fellowship with God. Paul says about the prophets: “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of
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prophets.” The person, who surrenders to God, body, soul, and spirit, does not lose control over himself.
Loss of control only occurs with demon possession, not in being filled with the Holy Spirit. Evidently,

549
I Cor. 3:22-23
550
Rom. 14:8
551
See I Cor. 15:28
552
See Rev. 20:6; 21:23,25
553
Rev. 1:5,6
554
I Peter 1:10,11
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I Cor. 14:32

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prophecy is the result of the cooperation of the human spirit, which has been surrendered to God, with the
Holy Spirit.
Christ explains in these words something of the mechanics of prophecy. He sent His angel to His
servants to show the things that must soon take place. This does not contradict what Peter says about the
work of the Spirit of Christ in the prophets. After all, an angel is also a spirit. Then also, the service of an
angel was needed to make the Book of Revelation into the piece of art it is. Revelation pertains to more than
prophetic insight only. Certain historic and future events on earth are linked in it to the heavenly reality and
the struggle that takes place in the heavenly places. When God said to Amos: “Surely the Sovereign LORD
556
does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets,” He meant much more than that He
showed them future events. God’s revelation involves content, meaning, and perspective of history. It is of
557
the greatest importance that we all, like Abraham, see “the day of Jesus Christ” in our daily events. That is
true prophecy! This is the reason John constantly draws lines from situations from the time of Nero and
Domitian to the throne of God and back to earth. Everything that happens on earth is governed by what takes
place in the heavenly realms. That is the reason the Book of Revelation calls insight in the content of this
book and the application of it on earth: “Blessedness.” We read: “Blessed is he who keeps the words of the
prophecy in this book.” It is not by accident that these words are found on the last page of the Bible; they
pertain to all of Scripture.
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John mentions again his own name as he did in the first chapter of this book. We do not find
559
here the anonymity of the Gospel of John, where he only called himself: “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
No reason is given for this difference.
It is rather strange that John concludes his glorious testimony in this book with such a very human
blunder: he worships the wrong person! We can understand the astonishment and lack of understanding on
the part of the angel. John’s lack of spiritual insight is probably the best example that can be given of the
fallen state of mankind. If someone had fallen down before John to worship him, he would have protested in
560 561
horror, as Peter did in Cornelius’ home, and Paul and Barnabas in Lystra. Paul’s experience is
indicative of the background of this kind of “mistake.” In his case, the people came with bulls and wreaths
which they wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. When Paul refused this worship, they stoned him and
left him for dead. It was probably at that time that Paul had the experience of being taken into the third
heaven where he heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” This proves the
demonic background of these kinds of acts of worship. Otherwise it is inconceivable that one who refuses to
be worshipped is stoned to death because of it. Satan tried to make the apostle Paul fall into sin, and when
this did not succeed, he tried to kill him. Wreaths and bulls are not sufficient to pay homage to a human
being who serves God. God Himself honored Paul with an honor that would, for years to come, keep him
speechless. Think what Paul would have missed, if he had accepted Satan’s “honor.”
John’s problem was the opposite of Paul’s. According to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews:
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“All angels [are] ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” In God’s order of
creation, angels are of a lower rank than human beings. We may have some problems coming to grip with
this truth when we enter eternity. The important fact is that we worship God. When we do this, the last
vestiges of rebellion will be erased from our heart.
Verse Ten shows the opposite of the order given to Daniel. Daniel was told: “Close up and seal the
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words of the scroll until the time of the end. For John, the time of the end was at the door. We live now

556
Amos 3:7
557
See John 8:56
558
See Rev. 1:4,9
559
See John 13:23
560
See Acts 10:25,26
561
See Acts 14:11-15
562
Heb. 1:14
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Dan. 12:4

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in the time when nothing stands between us and the Second Coming of Christ. It could happen anytime. In
the waiting period in which we live now, the people who sin and those who have been cleansed from their
sin will each continue in the way they have chosen. In both directions, a ripening process is at work. In both
cases, the Bible speaks about what one is and what one does. Righteousness and unrighteousness consists of
acts; vileness and holiness speak of a condition. One is what one does, and vice versa. The increase of
holiness, however, is not the result of our own efforts. We can be vile and make ourselves viler, but we
cannot make ourselves holier. We are made holy. The active role we play in this consists in our surrender.
The order given to us is to be righteous and become holy. The way the angel states this, it sounds as a natural
and inevitable development. There will, however, always be the possibility that we fall into sin.
As we saw already, Jesus announces His return three times in the last part of this book. The first
time there is a connection between Jesus’ return and our keeping of His Word. In the second instance, there
is the mention of the reward for good deeds done. We note the relationship between our keeping of God’s
Word, our good deeds, and our expectation of Christ’s return. It is a human characteristic to slow down. It is
of vital importance that we keep awake the hope of Christ’s return. We must live as servants who are waiting
for their master’s return. The realization that we will have to give account of our deeds provides a healthy
basis for our actions. Solomon concluded his profound observations in Ecclesiastes with the words: “Now
all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the
whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it
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is good or evil.” He also said: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”
At Christ’s return all our acts will be evaluated. We are not responsible for the possession of our
gifts, but we are for the way in which we work with them. At this point there is nothing threatening in the
announcement: “My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” The
reward is not a punishment in disguise. Some people are confused about the value in eternity of their deeds.
At no point will our good deeds compensate for a lack of confession of sin and conversion to God. Paul
expresses this very clearly by saying: “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift,
but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his
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faith is credited as righteousness.” Faith in God will result in good works. The fruit of our fellowship
with God will be put as a credit on our account. Without Jesus, we would not be able to do a thing. Yet,
God holds us responsible for what we do in fellowship with Him. He even pays us for our acts. This sounds
so unbelievable to us, yet the Bible constantly confirms this. At Christ’s return we will receive what is due
to us, even if we think that God owes us nothing. At this point also, some of the first will be last and some
of the last first.
In connection with this, Jesus makes the statement: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and
the Last, the Beginning and the End.” He is all there is to say as far as our deeds are concerned. Only those
acts that are performed in fellowship with Him and out of love for Him will be those that the Lord will
reward us for. All we do must be expressed in the alphabet; otherwise it will not make sense.
Jesus refers to this principle several times in John’s Gospel. He says: “I am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
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nothing,” and “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his
deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that
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what he has done has been done through God.” Our actions, and with that our whole life, will only have
significance in as much as we are focused on God. From the reference to the washing of our clothes it is
clear that this does not speak about our achievements. We are inherently dirty, and we need to be cleansed by
the blood of Jesus. Washing our robes is symbolic of confession and faith. It means that we confess our sins,
and we trust that the death of Christ is sufficient payment for our sins. In the natural, we seldom see
confession of sin as an expression of something positive. It seems like a paradox to us to equate confession
of sin with cleansing. We find the same kind of paradox in the beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

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Eccl. 12:13,14
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Rom. 4:4,5
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John 15:5
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John 3:20,21

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There Jesus connects blessing to matters that, in the natural, are considered undesirable. Such is the blessing
of the washing of our robes.
Another paradox is the fact that the washing of our robes gives us the right to eat from the tree of
life. In the beginning of the Bible, the tree of life stands as an alternative to the tree of knowledge of good
and evil. This is symbolic of man’s choice. Here the tree of life is symbolic of man’s right. The tree of life
represents life in fellowship with God. Those who confess their sins and have their lives cleansed by the
blood of Jesus have a right to fellowship with God. A married woman has a claim upon the love and
fellowship of her husband.
It sounds strange and contradictory that a human being would have a claim upon God. When man
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fell into sin, God deliberately closed the way to the tree of life. Here, that way is deliberately opened
again. But the opening is by far more glorious than before. God recognizes our rights because we are created
in His image. A person who does not serve God has no rights. We obtain God’s rights by giving them up!
Verse Fourteen is filled to the brim with decisions. Entering through the gates is an act of the will.
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We begin life with God by entering through the narrow gate that leads to life, and we end up by entering
through the gate of the New Jerusalem. The second entering is as much a matter of choice as is the first. The
first may be the more difficult of the two because it is a first time. We often more stumble through the
narrow gate than enter it with dignity. We will enter the New Jerusalem because we have a right to do so. We
can enter majestically and victoriously. Then we will become part of the city and reflect the glory of God.
Strange as it may sound, we have a right to do so!
As in Verse Eight of the previous chapter, there is in Verse Fifteen a negative reference to those
who have been rejected. The most characteristic features of these people are that they love and practice
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falsehood. The universal definition of sin can be applied to them: they “fall short of the glory of God.”
For Westerners, who only know the dog as a pet, the words “outside are the dogs” do not seem appropriate.
We do not know the dog as the people in the Middle East and parts of Asia and Africa know them, as animals
that feed on the refuse of society. To the eastern mind, the dog was symbolic of man in his fallen condition,
sick, emaciated, malicious, knowing the difference between good and evil but choosing evil. “Those who
practice magic arts (the NKJV calls them “sorcerers”) are those who try to use the power of the devil for
their own benefit. By doing this, the human being, thinking to manipulate Satan, falls into his trap by his own
egoism. Murderers are the incarnation of human hatred. They sacrifice the life of a fellow human in order to
survive themselves. The idolater is the person who turns his back to the living God and bows down to things
or creatures that are on a lower level of creation than he is himself. In the midst of the glory of this chapter,
we should not waste too much time to look at this section! This verse is meant as a warning to those who are
alive.
Verse Sixteen places, for the second time, the whole authority of Him who has all power in heaven
and on earth behind the prophecy of both Old and New Testament. Undoubtedly, that which is said about the
Word of God in this last chapter of the Book of Revelation can be applied to the Bible as a whole.
Jesus calls Himself here “the Root and the Offspring of David.” David was the man after God’s
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own heart. The Offspring of David, therefore, are those in whom God is well pleased. Jesus identifies
Himself here with David and his offspring. In the physical sense of the word, Jesus is David’s offspring.
David, as a man after God’s own heart, was only a shadow of a heavenly reality. To put it plainly, God loved
David because he reminded God of His own Son. Jesus is the source of all that is pleasing to God. David
grew up as a tree of which Jesus Christ is the root.
In the same way, Jesus is for us the true vine and we are the branches. The branches and vine are
one. We are only acceptable to God because of Jesus Christ. He is God’s pleasure within us. We note that
the reference in Jesus’ Words is to the line of royalty. The offspring of David consist of people who have a
claim to the throne and who possess royal dignity. In that regard also, Jesus is the root and the stem, the
beginning and the end. He is the source and manifestation of God’s authority in us.

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See Gen 3:22-24
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See Matt. 7:13,14
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See Rom. 3:23
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See I Sam. 13:14

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Lastly, the offspring of David is the line of hope. One of David’s sons, who would be born, would
be the Messiah, the salvation of Israel and the blessing of the world. If Jesus is in us, we are sons of David,
and therefore, the fulfillment of the promise.
The same expectation is expressed in the image of the Morning Star. Peter uses the expression in his
Second Epistle in connection with the fulfillment of prophecy: “And we have the word of the prophets made
more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day
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dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” A new day will dawn for us and the morning star will
rise in our hearts. The Book of Proverbs confirms this. “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of
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dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” The revelation of God’s glory will not occur
without us. The Morning Star will first rise in our own hearts. Even at present, we still speak of the Star of
David. This star is composed of two triangles, which together form a star. Some people see in this the
combination of the two trinities, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the human trinity of
spirit, soul, and body. That symbol would, in fact, be a fitting expression of the Person of our Lord, as Son
of God and Son of Man. Jesus is the shining Morning Star, the fulfillment of all prophecy, the beginning of
God’s new day. Zechariah saw Him as such. At the birth of his son, John the Baptist, he sang: “And you, my
child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for
him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the
tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in
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darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Thus the Holy Spirit together with all who belong to the Lord turn to the world with the greatest
invitation ever given: “Come!” This unique little word expresses both the depth of God’s grace that invites
us as well as the responsibility of man who must get up and come. The message of the Book of Revelation
and of the Bible as a whole is articulated in the four letters of this word: “COME!”
For the church, as the bride of the Lamb, this means that her whole life must be a translation of this
invitation. We must continuously ask ourselves the question whether our lives draw people to God or not.
The whole point of the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia was that the Spirit wanted to speak His
“Come” through them.
“And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ ” These words refer to the expression with which each of the
seven letters end: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This “hearing” is
like the tuning in of a radio to the right frequency. We need spiritual fine-tuning to be able to speak our word
of testimony to others. We can only say “Come” if we hear that word spoken to us by the Holy Spirit. In our
testimony we only repeat what we hear the Spirit say to us.
At the construction of the tabernacle in the desert, we read that there had to be a curtain made with
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“blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen--the work of an embroiderer.” The church’s
invitation ought to be in colors that are attractive to people, colors that draw attention.
“Whoever is thirsty, let him come” in order to quench the deep thirst of his soul for the eternal
fellowship with God for which he has been created. The only condition that is stated is thirst. And hasn’t sin
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made us all thirsty? That is the reason Jesus cried out in behalf of us all: “I am thirsty.” John adds to this
the words “so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” Our salvation consists of three parts: thirst, come, and
drink.
It should be noted that the word “come” plays an important part in the concluding verses of this
book. There is the threefold “I am coming soon,” spoken by Jesus Himself. There is the threefold testimony:
“come” by the Spirit, the bride, and those who hear. Then there is the coming by those who are thirsty.
Finally, the “amen” that consists of the words: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
The statement in Verses Eighteen and Nineteen are no effort to cause panic; the alert confirms the
tremendous importance of the prophetic Word. This warning pertains, not only to the Book of Revelation,

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II Peter 1:19
573
Prov. 4:18
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Luke 1:76-79
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See Ex. 27:16
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John 19:28

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but to the prophecy of the Bible as a whole. We must be careful not to do violence to the Word of God as it
was spoken by people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. If we do we will suffer eternal damage for
ourselves. Those who undermine the Bible will fall down like a hollow tree. The theories of Bible critics
will crumble like a house of cards. As Luther wrote: “That Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to
them, abideth.”
Adding to the Word of God means placing human wisdom, and traditions, and carnal insights, next
to it or above it. This is an indication of a lack of surrender and a trusting in self instead of in the Spirit of
God. The Bible warns us against this. We read in the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in the LORD with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your
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paths straight.” This is what Billy Graham did when he put himself under the authority of the Word of
God, which God honored by making him one of the most powerful preachers of all time.
We find an illustration of this tendency to add to the Word of God in Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Jeremiah says about the false prophets of Jerusalem: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to
you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the
LORD. But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has
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listened and heard his word?” These prophets proclaimed their own dreams with such assurance and
authority as if they really spoke the Word of God. The modern tendency to reduce absolute truth to
something relative surely fits into this category. If people drop the “gold standard” of God’s truth and call
that good which they themselves consider to be good, they elevate a subjective standard to the level of the of
God’s objective standard. That opens the door for acceptance of such things as “alternate lifestyles” and
degradation of marriage and family. If one becomes his own judge, what happens to the law? Such additions
or subtractions invite God’s plagues. Moving away from the truth that the Bible is the inspired Word of God
will have far reaching consequences.
Subtracting from the authority of the Bible is based upon the same principle as adding to it. It
makes man the editor in chief of the Word of God. Theologians who demythologize the Bible and despise
the blood of the Lamb (as one Dutch theologian commented: “Give my share to pooch!”) are those who
subtract and contribute to the ruin of the discipline of theology and of the church. God says that for such
people there will be no fruit from the tree of life. This means that God has reserved a part of the tree of life
and of the New Jerusalem for each living person; otherwise it could not be said that God would take away
his share.
We read already in Verse 14 that people who wash their robes have a right to the trees and to the
city. This suggests that we can lose our rights by allowing our robes to remain filthy. If we mess around with
the Word of God we soil ourselves.
The Lord who reveals Himself in this book says: “Yes, I am coming soon.” In the beginning of our
study of Revelation, we noted that the topic of the book is not about events that are about to take place, but
about the revelation of Jesus Christ. The emphasis is upon a Person, not upon things. The events are, of
course, important and historical in the past and in the future. They are events that occur in time and space,
but more important than what happens is who the Lord is. Everything that happens only has value in as much
as it pertains to Him. He is the meaning and purpose of history. Even in His return, it is only He who is
important. The fact that He will make all things new is not irrelevant, but it is incidental.
When I initially wrote the notes for this study, I was away from my wife. She was in the United
States of America and I was in the Netherlands. I eagerly anticipated the moment when I could see her and
hold her again in my arms. The things we would do together would be the consequence of our reunion. It
would come naturally. The important part was that we loved one another as persons and would be able to
express that love. It will be the same when Christ returns. In the three instances in which “I am coming soon”
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is stated, obedience, reward, and love for the Lord are mentioned. “But the greatest of these is love.” All
who love the Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love will be able to say: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” That is
the voice of the bride.
The last word of the whole Bible is “grace.” This word is given in the form of a benediction: “The
grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.” The Greek word charis has a broad meaning in the
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Prov. 3:5,6
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Jer. 23:16,18
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I Cor. 13:13

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Commentary to Revelation - Rev. John Schultz

New Testament. Paul, James, and Peter each put a different emphasis on it in the context of their epistles.
Paul places “grace” over against our human efforts to obtain our salvation. In the Epistle to the Ephesians,
we read: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
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God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” James uses “grace” as an equivalent for God’s
rehabilitation of man. We read: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” and: “Humble
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yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Sin makes man rebellious and proud. We humble
ourselves for God in our conversion, upon which God bestows His glory upon us in grace. Peter defines the
most difficult form of “grace” for us. We read: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of
unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for
doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before
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God.” “Commendable” is the rendering of the Greek word charis. Unfortunately, the English does not
express clearly what Peter intends to say. A better translation would be “For it is grace if a man bears up
under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive
a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is grace
before God.” This means a reversal of human evaluation; it is also a very practical recommendation. The
apostle Paul had already made this discovery when he wrote to the Philippians: “For it has been granted to
you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through
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the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.” The Greek here has the word charis used
as a verb, in English rendered “granted.”
This last shade of meaning seems to be the most appropriate for the understanding of this last verse
of Revelation. After all, the book is meant for Christians, people who love Jesus and who are looking
forward to His return, who are at the point of entering into the Great Tribulation. It is for those who suffer
unjustly and who praise God for it. That is grace!
This brings us to the end of our study. What I wrote is merely a shadow of an unspeakable
experience. I felt as John must have felt when he wrote: “There before me was a door standing open in
heaven. And the voice … speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must
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take place after this.’ ”

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Eph. 2:8,9
581
James 4:6,10
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I Peter 2:19,20
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Phil. 1:29,30
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Rev. 4:1-2

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