Criticism of Traditional Interpretations

of the Book of Revelation

Traditionally commentators of the Book of Revelation have usually linked these prophecies to the Roman Empire. The Beasts from chapter 13 would then be various Roman emperors or Popes; the Great City of "Babylon" destroyed in chapter 18 was Rome and the Woman (attacked by the Dragon) from chapter 12 represented the "Virgin" Mary, the Church, Christianity or even the Holy Spirit.

The important point is that events predicted in these chapters would then have happened centuries ago. Apart from the always repeating struggle of good against evil this makes the prophecies almost meaningless for our present time. And so they should be. Established churches and theologians who have much to lose in fundamental historic changes will not accept what they don't want: the idea that dramatic changes of our civilization predicted by several Bible prophets may be imminent.

Lately many commentators have realized the errors of their predecessors, many of whom expected the predictions from the Book of Revelation to be fulfilled in their lifetimes. Many modern commentators now interpret the Book of Revelation like any other piece of fiction and poetry, as a collection of myths, images and archetypes. It is very convenient for theologians to regard the Revelation as a view of all of history and not of a particular present period. Such an interpretation cannot be proved wrong in the future and it does not upset anybody powerful.

There are several reasons against these interpretations:

1. Denying fulfilment of these predictions at some particular time contradicts chapter 1, verse 1, which is as clear as can be: God gave us the Revelation "to show his servants what must soon take place". The problem obviously lies in the word soon, which is relative and was certainly misunderstood many times in the past. Compared to billions of years of cosmic history and millions of years of human history 2000 years is very short indeed.

2. The Book of Revelation predicts events leading to the creation of the "New Jerusalem" (chapter 21), the Kingdom of God. This is a way of life completely different from anything humanity has ever experienced in 4 million years of history. Such a dramatic and unprecedented change has not happened yet, which means that either the traditional interpretations are wrong or the original predictions.

3. According to chapter 18 the Great City of "Babylon" will be thrown down never to be found again. Rome was destroyed in 410 AD by the Goths, but it was rebuilt and remained the residence of the Popes. Today it is the capital of Italy and has more inhabitants than during the times of the Roman Empire. This means that either the traditional interpretations are wrong or the original predictions.

4. It is relatively easy to find a calculation that links a certain name or title of an unpopular person or institution to the number 666, but this is not sufficient evidence to identify the Beast from chapter 13. One must also be able to explain how all the other features from chapters 13, 14, 17 and 19 to recognize the Beast apply to this candidate. In the past people have either completely failed to do so or they did it in a very incomplete and vague way.

5. Some commentators have also failed to realize that there are 2 different beasts in chapter 13: The Beast out of the Earth, which is a specific political person, and The Beast out of the Sea, which is more like an animal. Therefore it probably represents a heraldic beast linked to this politician.

6. If the Beast was a historical person like Nero, Napoleon or Hitler, it should also be possible to identify the "Rider on the White Horse" as the one who defeated the Beast (Rev 19:20). None of the commentators has ever been able to do so. This means that either the traditional interpretations are wrong and the beasts have not been identified yet or the predictions in the Revelation will never come true.

At the beginning of the 21^st century we have reached a stage in history, where it becomes increasingly obvious to many people that fundamental changes are inevitable to secure the survival of humanity. In this situation it makes sense to consider the idea that the Bible has predicted our present time and to examine the conclusions from this approach.

Old Testament prophets tell us many times that predicted disasters should be understood as a threat and not as an inevitable future. It is always worth while trying to avoid them.

Isaiah, chapter 29 (10) The LORD has made you drowsy, ready to go to sleep. He has closed your eyes (the theologians); he has covered your heads (the chaplains). (11) For you every prophetic vision is nothing but meaningless words encrypted in a book. And if you give the book to someone who can read, and say to him, "Read this, please," he will answer "I cannot, because it is encrypted." (12) Or if you give the book to someone who cannot read, and say "Read this, please," he will answer, "I don't know how to read."