Where did the imagery for the Book of Revelation come from?

Anyone who has read the Bible’s Book of Revelation has been exposed to a series of strange descriptions of creatures and individuals that sound like something one would see in a Saturday morning cartoon. Some of you probably remember those: Dungeons and Dragons, Godzilla, Centurions, Gobots, etc.

First, let me be clear. The Book of Revelation is not precise prophecy. It represents epistolary (written hidden information) and apocalyptical (end time) literature that was popular in the first centuries AD. The reason that it was written was to encourage early Christians and give them hope that they would survive persecution by the evil Roman empire, which is known as the New Babylon in the Book of Revelation. Remember that Babylon was the big bad empire that caused the Israelites all sorts of grief by destroying their temple and taking them into captivity. For early Christians, Rome is the big bad empire.

The main problem with the Book of Revelation is that a whole bunch of so called Bible experts have tried to interpret it to use as a means to scare people into thinking that the end of the world is coming soon. Yes, the book does contain prophecy, but it’s very difficult to interpret and almost impossible to create a timetable for the end time. That doesn’t stop people from trying.

No one is sure who wrote the book. It’s often attributed to John the apostle, but that has been discarded because the Greek writing style is not the same as in John’s gospel. Some think it might have been an early Archbishop of Alexandria or a Jewish Christian from the first century, long after the apostle John died.

The Book of Revelation is actually a series of epistles (letters) to the churches in the seven Roman providences of Asia. It’s written in the Apocalypse style, which means that it is revealing divine mysteries. This Revelation is told to John of Patmos through visions, and he tells what he saw in vivid, if not extravagant, detail.

Most of these visions come from the Old Testament.

Let’s start with the four horsemen of the apocalypse in chapter 6. When the Lamb (Christ) opens up one of the seals, one of the four beasts (one was like a lion, second was like a calf, the third had the face of a man and fourth was like a flying eagle, and they each had six wings and were full of eyes) directs John of Patmos to come and see. He sees a white horse, and the guy who is sitting on the horse has a bow and a crown and is sent forth to conquer. The lamb opens the second seal and the second beast tells John to come and see the red horse. The rider of this horse is given a big sword to use to take peace from the Earth by spilling blood. The third seal has the third beast summon John to see a black horse and guy on this horse has a pair of balances in his hand, and he is to use these to measure wheat and barley, each for a penny. The fourth horse, presented by the fourth beast is a pale horse and the guy on it is to go out and kill with sword, hunger and death. Most of these horse ideas come from Zachariah, chapter 6. These four horsemen would have made great soldiers in the Lord of the Rings series.

Now here’s something from a bad nightmare. In chapter 13, John of Patmos is standing on a beach and sees a beast rise out of the sea. This beast has seven heads and ten horns and it looks like a leopard and has feet like a bear, the mouth of a lion. Wow! This comes right out of Daniel chapter 6.

We have in chapter 9, the locusts that wear breastplates of iron and are like horses with hair like a woman, and lion teeth, and tails like scorpions. This came from Joel chapter 2.

I like the red dragon, a figure that appears in chapter 12. This monster has seven heads and ten horns with seven crowns on his heads, and this dragon uses his tail to sweep a third of the stars from the heavens. This reference is all over the Bible and it represents the Devil. The seven heads are seven kingdoms (Roman providences) that the Devil operates through to persecute God’s people. This same dragon is referenced in Daniel, chapter 7.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the Book of Revelation’s imagery is from the Old Testament. The author of the Book of Revelation knew that believers of the first century were familiar with the Jewish Scriptures and would understand what these things meant. It’s harder for us in modern times to understand apocalyptical literature like they did back then. If you read the book of Revelation through, you will see that the author meant to show that Christ, the Lamb, will come again and dispel the evil from the world, the evil being the Roman empire. When this is supposed to happen is open to speculation, not solid proof.

Thanks for reading.