Some
problems in understanding the book are due to the following root causes:
1. Some
individuals or groups have manipulated the symbols of Revelation to create systems
of interpretation which are foreign to anything else in Scripture and that may
even contradict Scripture. Many Bible students encounter these systems and,
since they seem to have some sense, they do not look further or deeply.
2. Another
error is twisting the meaning of related symbols in other prophecies to match
their systems rather than letting the prophecies speak for themselves. This is
often satirized with the phrase "Don't try to convince me with the facts.
My mind is already made up." This was a major error of the Jewish
leadership in Jesus' day and it continues to the present time.
3. There
is a profusion of conflicting opinions over the meaning of the book, leading
many to believe they can never understand the book despite the blessings
promised to those who read. The promise is: Blessed is the one who reads aloud
the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart
what is written in it, because the time is near. If we cannot understand then
how can this blessing be true? Fortunately, most if not all of the confusion
dissolves when confronted with a Scriptural analysis of the book.
4. A
diligent study of Revelation requires a holistic approach (one that interprets
Scripture in the light of all other Scriptural teaching). Many people simply do
not want to devote the time and effort required for this.
A Study of the Mountain Symbol in Revelation
One
critical failure is that many modern Bible students do not realize that the
Scripture available to the earliest Christians was what we now consider to be
the Old Testament. What we consider to be the New Testament canon was not available
to the first generation of the church. While the Gospel was preached beginning
during the third decade of the first century, most of the letters were not
written until 20 or 30 years later and the Gospels not until later than that.
See here
or here for
example. While there were some of the letters or the gospels available, during the
first and most of the second centuries (and to some extent the early third) Bible
study for Christians meant studying the Scriptures available to the Jewish
people. The Berean converts (both Jews and Gentiles) in Acts
17:10-12 are a good example – the Scripture they studied obviously could
not be the New Testament. However, many Christians (to their detriment) do not
study the Old Testament in anything like the way it would have been studied
during and immediately after the time of the apostles.
Another
common error is to fail to relate the symbols to the rest of Scripture. In this
context, we must look to Old Testament as much as the New Testament. In doing
so, we will find that many (if not most) of what we consider to be strange
images are actually quite commonly used in prophecy with clear meanings. We must
let the Word speak to us.
Rev.
6:12-17: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great
earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole
moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop
from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll
being rolled up, and every mountain
and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the
princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and
free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from
the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the
great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?"
Rev.
16:20: Every island fled away and the mountains
could not be found.
This sounds like
God is bringing a natural disaster and in Revelation 6 even the end of the
world. While we cannot rule either out in Revelation 16 strictly from the information
internal to the passage, it is obvious in Revelation 6 that if the mountains
are physically removed from their place, then how could people find them and
try to hide. Also we can see that Revelation 6 cannot be the end of the world…this
is only the sixth seal and the Lamb has yet to open the seventh and reveal the
events associated with that seal…there is too much left to occur in Revelation.
This argues for a different interpretation. We need to look at other examples
in the Bible for help Some OT parallels include:
Ezekiel
6:1-10: The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, set your face
against the mountains of
Israel; prophesy against them and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about
to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars
will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay
your people in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the
Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your
altars. Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places
demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols
smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made
wiped out. Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am
the Lord. But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you
are scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have
been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved
by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes,
which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil
they have done and for all their detestable practices. And they will know that
I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.
In Ezekiel, is
God literally talking to the mountains? Or is he talking to the leaders of Israel?
Note also that there is a strong parallel with Revelation 6 – both relate to
judgment against those who oppose the will of God. In the case of Ezekiel, it
is the Jewish leadership. In the case of Revelation, it is the Roman
persecution that the martyrs have cried to God asking for His judgment (see the
fifth seal in Rev.
6:9-11).
Isaiah uses
mountain symbolism as well. Below we can see the original prophecy:
Isaiah
40:3-5: A voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for
the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be
raised up, every mountain and
hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it
together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
And its
fulfillment:
Luke
3:1-6: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius
Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip
tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the
high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of
Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written
in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the
wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every
valley shall be filled in, every mountain
and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways
smooth. And all people will see God's salvation.'" Also, John
1:22-23: Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take
back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 John
replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling
in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"
John the Baptist
uses remez
teaching style (allegoric, hidden or symbolic meaning beyond just the literal
sense). Between these two passages, we can see that the Lord is really talking
about making all humanity, from the greatest to the least, equal before him and
then revealing His glory through the Messiah. The mountains then through
symbolism are shown to be human rulers.
After the end of
the Babylonian Captivity, the Jewish people returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the
Temple. However, the local people opposed them and tried to turn the Persian
rulers against them. Note the prophecy given on behalf of their leader Zerubbabel:
Zechariah
4:7-10 : "What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will
become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God
bless it! God bless it!'" Then the word of the Lord came to me: "The
hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will
also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord
that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone
in the hand of Zerubbabel?"
Micah
4:2: Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in
his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
Here the
allegory or symbolism of the mountain is conjoined with the temple. Both are
symbolic of the spiritual leadership that God has over His people. The idea
again is one of leadership and rulership, although this time it is divine
rather than human.
Jesus
Curses a Fig Tree and Teaches About Faith
Mark
11:22-26: "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "Truly I tell
you, if anyone says to this mountain,
'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but
believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I
tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it,
and it will be yours.
Why did Jesus
curse a fig tree, especially when it was not the season for figs at the time?
That has puzzled many bible students who do not know the Old Testament and who
do not understand the remez teaching
style. It seems needless and even capricious and arbitrary. But Jesus was
making a point of trying to bring what Jeremiah prophesied to attention of the
disciples and to the Jewish leadership as well. Remember where He was at the
time trying to work with Jerusalem and the Jewish leaders during the last week
before His crucifixion. The fig tree lesson we will examine below, and the
conjunction of "moving mountains" was to tell the disciples that God
would remove the Jewish leadership by casting it into the sea (another symbol
study will show that the sea in prophecy is symbolic of the general mass of
humanity or the nations).
Jeremiah
8:4-13: "Say to them, 'This is what the Lord says: "'When people
fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return? Why
then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They
cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they
do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying,
"What have I done?"Each pursues their own course like a horse
charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But
my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.
"'How can
you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord," when
actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be
put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the
word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their
wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the
greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice
deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.
"Peace,
peace," they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their
detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to
blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they
are punished, says the Lord.
"'I will
take away their harvest, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the
vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them will be taken from them.'"
While there are many
other Old Testament passages we could examine, we will conclude by looking at the
symbolism contained in Nebuchadnezzar's dream recorded in Daniel. Remember that
God gave the dream and the symbols and the interpretation.
Daniel
2:27-49: Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner
can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in
heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen
in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as
you were lying in bed are these:
"As Your
Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer
of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has
been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive,
but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may
understand what went through your mind.
"Your
Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling
statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold,
its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron,
its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a
rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of
iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver
and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing
floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became
a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
"This was
the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the
king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and
glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and
the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all.
You are that head of gold.
"After you,
another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of
bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth
kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron
breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you
saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so
this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron
in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and
partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just
as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and
will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
"In the time of those kings, the God of
heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left
to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end,
but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the
rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the
iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great
God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true
and its interpretation is trustworthy."
Then King
Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that
an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel,
"Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer
of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery."
The mountain
symbol here is clearly and unambiguously shown to be representative of a
kingdom…the one God established through Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, His
Anointed One during the fourth kingdom (Rome).
So
what can we learn from the above? God uses the mountain symbol quite clearly as
an allegory for kingdoms or rulers. So any system that would divorce the
meaning in Revelation from that of the rest of His Word is clearly erroneous.
It also shows how much we need to understand and study the entirety of God's
Word is we want to truly understand Revelation.
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