Chapter V SYMBOLISM IN THE BOOK
SYMBOLISM IN THE BOOK
THE book of Revelation is a series of pictures. The pictures move. They are full of action. Everything is constantly astir. One picture makes place for another; and then another, and another. Let us watch these constantly-changing scenes.
Here we have seven golden lampstands with someone walking among them. He is wearing a long robe with a gold belt around his breast. His hair is white as snow, and his eyes blaze like fire. In his right hand he is holding seven stars, and from his mouth issues a sharp double-edged sword. The scene changes. We see a halo-encircled throne. Out of the throne come flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. In the right hand of the Lord on the throne there is a scroll, sealed with seven seals. Now someone approaches the throne who is introduced as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He takes the scroll. Immediately the four living ones round the throne and also twenty-four elders fall down before the Lamb. Each has a harp and gold bowls full of incense, and they are singing the new song. As this music dies, we see four horses, white, red, black, and pale in colour. As the horses and riders go out, we see people slaughter one another. Some seem to be hungry; indeed, starving. Others are being thrown before the wild beasts. We now see the souls of the slaughtered individuals. In a loud voice they are crying underneath the altar. But now the sun becomes black as sackcloth. The full moon takes on the colour of blood. The stars of the sky are falling on the earth. The sky is being rolled up just like a scroll. Every mountain and island is being dislodged from its place. People—including kings, nobles, officers, the rich and the poor alike—are hiding themselves in caves and rocks. Four angels are holding back the four winds so that they do not immediately damage anything on earth or sea. Now 144,000 people are marked with a seal, and a great crowd which no-one could possibly count, people of every nationality and region on earth, with palm-branches in their hands, appear and cry with a loud voice, ‘Our salvation is the work of our God who is seated upon the throne, and of the Lamb.’
Seven angels with seven trumpets now appear. Another angel is busily engaged offering incense. Now the censer is being filled with fire. It is emptied upon the earth. This is followed by peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
The entire book consists of changing scenes like these, of moving pictures and active symbols.[1] Moreover, there are sounds, voices, songs, responses, choruses. (Cf. 4: 8, 11; 5: 9, 10, 12, 13, 14; 11: 15–18; 12: 10; 15: 3, 4; 19: 1–8; 22: 17.)[2] It is rather like a magnificent sound-film.
I. THE NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON THE CENTRAL THEME
But the question arises, what do these pictures mean? How shall we interpret them? In order to answer that question, let us make a little detour.
You remember, of course, the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10. Now, there are some who would interpret this beautiful story in the following manner: ‘The man who is on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho represents Adam, the head of the human race. He left the heavenly city and is travelling down to the city of earth, the profane city. But, having turned his desires towards the earth, he falls into the hands of robbers; that is, he is overpowered by Satan and his evil angels. These robbers strip him of the garment of original righteousness. They also beat him, leaving him full of wounds, half-dead (half-dead in sins and trespasses!). The priest and the levite represent the law and the sacrifices. They cannot save the sinner. They are powerless to help. But the good Samaritan, namely, Jesus Christ, is travelling that way and helps the poor sinner. This good Samaritan dresses his wounds with the oil of the Holy Spirit and with wine, namely, the blood of His passion. He then puts the poor man on His own mule, that is, on the merits of His own righteousness. He takes the poor man to an inn, that is, to church. The next day, the good Samaritan gives the host two shillings, that is, the Word and the Sacraments, in order that with these he may provide for the spiritual needs of the poor sinner. Then this good Samaritan departs but promises to return later.’
Now, if the reader has the type of mentality that enjoys such spiritualizing explanations, he might as well close this book. He will never really understand the parables of our Lord. Neither will he ever be able to understand the book of Revelation. Let us emphasize the fact that the explanation just given is wrong from start to finish. It is altogether wrong to ask what is meant by the poor man who fell among the robbers, what is meant by the robbers, the priest, the levite, the good Samaritan, the wine, the oil, the mule, the inn, and the two shillings. Not one of these things has any ‘deeper’ spiritual meaning whatever! If the mule must be spiritualized, who is going to determine exactly what is its meaning? And what about the two shillings? Do they represent the two sacraments, the Word and the Sacraments, or the two testaments? Who is going to determine this? The context in which the parable occurs says nothing about it, and because the context says nothing, we should say nothing.
Surely all these elements of the parable, the wine, oil, priest, levite, inn, two shillings, etc., have their value, for without them the parable would not be complete and would convey no meaning. But you should not ascribe a separate, spiritual meaning to each of these features. They simply serve to make the parable complete. Then, once you have read the entire parable, you should ask, What is the meaning of this parable, taken as a whole?[3] Each parable teaches one central lesson. A little study of the context usually makes this one central lesson perfectly clear. In the light of Luke 10: 25–29, and also verses 36 and 37, we see that the meaning of this beautiful story is that instead of asking, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ we should be neighbour to whoever the Lord happens to place in our path.
II. THE NEED TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PRINCIPLE AND DETAIL
Something similar holds good with respect to the interpretation of the symbols of the Apocalypse. One must not begin to press the details. One must not ask, in the symbol of the locusts that came out of the abyss (9: 1–11), what is the separate meaning of their hair, teeth, breast-plates, etc.? We must not pluck the symbol apart and lose the unity. These details belong to the picture, just as the mule, wine, oil, etc., belong to the parable of the good Samaritan. One should ask, first, what is the picture taken as a whole? Second, what is the one central meaning of this picture?[4]
As a rule[5] the details belong to the picture, to the symbol. We must not try to give a ‘deeper’ interpretation to the details, unless the interpretation of these details is necessary in order to bring out the full meaning of the central idea of the symbol. Thus, in the symbol of the new Jerusalem (chapters 21, 22), the central idea is perfect fellowship with God. The details—wall, foundations, gates, river, etc.—describe the glorious character of this fellowship. What we are after is the total impression, the central idea, of each complete symbol. As in the parables, so here, the context helps to explain the meaning of the picture, and a thorough study of all the details is also necessary in order to determine what is the central thought.
This brings us to our next proposition.
PROPOSITION V. The fabric of the book consists of moving pictures. The details that pertain to the picture should be interpreted in harmony with its central thought. We should ask two questions. First, what is the entire picture? Second, what is its predominant idea?
III. WHAT DO THE SYMBOLS MEAN?
This having been established, another question immediately arises. Granted that we should interpret the symbol as a whole and its details in harmony with the whole, what does the symbol mean? Does it refer to a specific event in history, a particular happening, a detail of chronology, an important date, or what?
In this connection, it is well to distinguish between two kinds of symbols. There are symbols which describe the beginning or the end of the course of the new dispensation. These symbols, as is very evident from the context, generally refer to a specific event. Thus, for example, the radiant woman who is delivered of a Son, a Man-child, refers to the Church bringing forth the Christ, His human nature (12: 1–5). Again, the twofold harvest (14: 15 ff.) refers to the final judgment, to that one great event.
But there are also other symbols, namely, those that seem to intervene between Christ’s first and second comings. We are thinking of such symbols as the lampstands, the seals, the trumpets, the bowls, etc. Do these symbols refer to specific events, single happenings, dates or persons in history? For if they do, then we may as well admit that we cannot interpret them.[6] Because among the thousands of dates and events and persons of history that show certain traits of resemblance to the symbol in question, who is able to select the one and only date, event, or person that was forecast by this particular symbol? Confusion results. We get thousands of ‘interpretations’, but no certainty. And the Apocalypse remains a closed book.
Yet we do not believe that this is a closed book. We fully believe that it is a revelation, an unveiling. So we must look for some other rule of interpretation.
We hold that this rule, far from being superimposed on the symbols, is derived from them. It is on the basis of the symbols themselves, as described in the Apocalypse, that we arrive at this very significant conclusion, namely, that the seals, trumpets, bowls, and similar pictures, refer not to specific events or details of history, but to principles that are operating throughout the history of the world, especially throughout the new dispensation.
Let us submit evidence in favour of this important rule of interpretation. Notice, first of all, that the sphere in which these seals, trumpets, and bowls operate is very extensive. These symbols affect, respectively, the fourth part of the earth; the third part of the earth, sea, trees; the whole earth, sea, etc. (See chapters 6, 8 and 9, 16.) This could hardly be true if each seal, trumpet or bowl had reference to just one single event in history, an event that takes place at a certain specific date in a definite locality. But if, on the other hand, we regard the symbol as indicating a whole series of happenings from the beginning to the end of the dispensation these descriptions of the sphere in which the symbols operate begin to have meaning. Thus, for example, we can understand the expression ‘a huge mountain all ablaze’ that was ‘hurled into the sea’ if it represents all maritime disasters throughout the dispensation.
Again, these symbols affect not just one very limited group of people, but a multitude that cannot be counted. The trumpets, for example, affect mankind. They do not refer merely to some people living in Europe who happen to have a quarrel with the Pope. Read 9: 20. ‘And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues...’ The description is even more general than this, for these symbols seem to affect not only all the unregenerate in one age, but also former generations. Notice, 16: 6. ‘... for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets.’ We cannot escape the impression, therefore, that the symbols refer to series of happenings, to principles of human and satanic conduct and of divine moral government. They refer to things that happen again and again and again, so that the book of Revelation is always up to date. The symbols describe principles of conduct and of divine moral government that are in evidence today as well as during the first century AD.
In this connection, let us not forget that each of these series—whether lampstands, seals, trumpets, or bowls—appears to span the long period beginning with the first and ending with the second coming of our Saviour.[7] This also would seem to harmonize better with the idea that the symbols indicate ever-operative principles than with the theory that they signify single, isolated happenings in Europe.
Nor must we fail to observe that the symbols usually come in groups of seven. The number seven occurs fifty-four times. The book is addressed to seven churches, represented by seven lampstands. There are seven stars symbolizing seven angels of the churches. There are seven spirits of God represented by seven lamps. Further, there are seven seals and a Lamb with seven eyes and seven horns. Seven angels blow seven trumpet-blasts. Seven other angels pour out the contents of seven bowls full of the final seven plagues. Seven thunders utter voices. The beast out of the sea has seven heads. There are seven mountains, seven kings, and so on.[8] This number seven indicates completeness. It harmonizes very well with the idea that the symbols refer to principles of human conduct and of divine government that are always operative, especially throughout this entire dispensation.
Our final line of evidence is, perhaps, the most conclusive. We should constantly bear in mind that the purpose of God and of the seer is to make men wise unto salvation. The book has an ethical and a spiritual purpose. For if these symbols merely indicate and predict isolated, future events, it may satisfy some people’s curiosity but it can hardly be said that people, in general, are edified. On the other hand, if we believe that the book reveals the principles of divine moral government which are constantly operating, so that, whatever age we happen to live in, we can see God’s hand in history, and His mighty arm protecting us and giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, then, and only then, are we edified and comforted.[9]
All this can be summed up in our sixth proposition:
PROPOSITION VI. The seals, trumpets, bowls of wrath and similar symbols refer not to specific events, particular happenings, or details of history, but to principles—of human conduct and of divine moral government—that are operating throughout the history of the world, especially throughout the new dispensation.[10]