The End of the World (Revelation 4 - 22)

[Our purpose today is not to discuss the third secret of Fatima, nor the prophecies of Padre Pio, nor Our Lady of Medjugorje, nor Our Lady of Akita.... These are private revelations... The authentic teaching of the Church should be the light in which we evaluate all other prophecies and speculations.]

1. Definitions:

a. Eschatology — That branch of theology dealing with the end times, generally (the second coming of Christ, the great judgment, the end of the world); and with the last end of each individual, particularly (death, judgment, purgatory, heaven, hell).

b. Parousia — The second coming of Christ to earth in glory.

c. Marana tha! — An Aramaic exclamation (found in 1 Cor. 16:22 and echoed, in Greek, in Rev. 22:20) meaning "our Lord, come!" It is an expression of faith in Jesus’ imminent (though not necessarily immediate) return.

2. The flow of events:

[It should be understood that Rev does not present a strict, chronological timeline, but rather a general overview of conditions throughout the Church's history and immediately prior to the Second Coming.]

a. The last age is inaugurated by Christ’s triumph over death (5:1-6:2).

b. An increase of natural and man-made disasters aimed at bringing about repentance (6:3-8:12).

c. An increase of demonic forces in the world (permitted by God and tempered by his mercy) resulting in further catastrophe and again aimed at man’s repentance. This culminates in Satan’s complete domination of the world and his apparent destruction of the Church (8:13-11:14).

d. The unleashing of God’s wrath on the world now grown completely wicked in its refusal to accept God’s mercy. (11:15-16:16)

e. The final and decisive conflict between the forces of evil and the forces of good. (16:17-20:10)

f. The Last Judgment and the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. (20:11-22:21)

3. Persons, places and things (Note: These explanations are offered merely as suggestions. There is by on means unanimous agreement on the interpretation of the symbols of Revelation. But these are the most probable or most widely accepted.):

4:2 One seated on a throne in heaven — Almighty God. The throne symbolizes his sovereign power; he has no human form, but is likened to precious stones

4:4 Twenty-four elders — representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles of the Church.

4:5 Seven torches — Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit or the Sevenfold Spirit himself.

4:6 Sea of glass — the peace of heaven and the power of God over the cosmos.

4:6 Four living creatures — an allusion to the Seraphim of Ezek. 1. Since Irenæus (d. A.D. 202) they have been seen as symbols of the four Evangelists:

v the Man = Matthew (his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ)

v the Lion = Mark (he begins with a voice crying in the wilderness, like a lion’s roar)

v the Ox = Luke (who opens his Gospel in the temple, the place of animal sacrifice)

v the Eagle = John (who soars to the heights in his theological contemplation)

[see also St Andrew of Cæsarea's comment, Taushev, p. 112.]

5:1 Scroll — God’s plan for the salvation of mankind.

5:6 Lamb — Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God.

7:3-4 144,000 — Jews who have accepted the messiahship of Jesus (not a literal number, but symbolic of completeness).

7:3 Seal of God on the forehead — divine ownership. The Fathers have interpreted this as the "indelible character" of Baptism.

7:9 Great Multitude — Gentile Christians who have attained eternal salvation.

8:7-12 First Four Trumpets — intensification of natural disaster, this time originating from outside the earth.

[Notice that the 5th, 6th and 7th trumpets are called the 1st, 2nd and 3rd "Woes", signifying that they are distinct from the first four; namely, they mark the beginning of Satan's temporary reign.]

9:1-11 Fifth Trumpet — Satan is released on the earth (see Is. 14:12 and Lk. 10:18) and is given power to inflict harm directly on mankind.

9:13-19 Sixth Trumpet — Unprecedented human warfare is stirred up through satanic influence, resulting in horrible suffering and destruction..

[see Nav. pg. 83-84 on Parthians.]

10:3 Seven Thunders — There is more to God’s revelation than what he has already told us; and this will not be revealed until the end of time.

10:8 Little open scroll to be eaten by John — The revealed Word of God, entrusted to John, equal to the great Hebrew Prophets (see Ezek. 2:8-10; 3:1-4). Sweet then bitter signifies the triumph of the Church but also her afflictions or that this revelation contains blessing but also condemnation.

11:1-2 Measuring rod, temple, holy city — (allusion to Ezek. 40) a remnant of God’s chosen people, i.e. the Church, will be preserved from the destructive forces of the Gentiles. Forty-two months (3 ½ years) is a "half-week" of 7 years; so it is an imperfect or limited period of time. It is the time period in which we are now living, from the Resurrection of Christ until the Parousia.

11:3 Two witnesses — Either Elijah and Enoch or Peter and Paul. In any case, they symbolize the witnessing presence of the Church in the world, calling men to repentance. One thousand two hundred and sixty days is just shy of 3 ½ years, concurrent with the above period. Sackcloth is a sign of mourning and penitence.

11:8 Great City — Jerusalem, which symbolically stands for any city where Christians are persecuted. In John’s day, this was pre-eminently Rome (see 17:9, 18).

11:15 Seventh Trumpet — The beginning of the end. The Reign of Christ is heralded, the Final Judgment is announced, the wrath of God is to be poured out on the wicked.

12:1 The Woman Clothed with the Sun — Israel or Mary or the Church or all three!

12:2 The Child — The Messiah (Jesus) or the spiritual offspring of the Church. In the Church’s self-regeneration (through Baptism), she constantly gives birth to Christ.

[see quotes from St. Andrew and St. Hipolytus in Taushev, p. 179 (St. Augustine says the same thing when commenting on the Gospel, "These are my mother and my sisters and my brothers.")]

12:3 The Dragon — Satan, who is followed by 7 of the angels in his rebellion.

12:7 War in heaven — This has reference to that initial conflict at the beginning of time when Satan was cast out of heaven because of his pride and disobedience (see Is. 14:12ff), to the perpetual spiritual conflict in which we are engaged here and now, and to the ultimate conflict between good and evil at the end of time.

13:1 Parody of the worship of God in chs. 4-5.

Leviathan = sea monster

Behemoth = land monster

Beast with ten horns and seven heads — The Roman Empire [Seven heads = seven Roman emperors: Nero (54-68); Galba (68-69); Otho (69); Vitellius (69); Vespasian (69-79); Titus (79-81); Domitian (81-96). Ten horns = ten vassal kings whose names are now unknown], primarily, but by application, any political power which usurps divine authority and seeks to destroy the Church. [Envisioned here is any totalitarian government which destroys or severely limits individual freedom and which sets its own laws over the Law of God. This would include atheistic communism, fascism and also capitalism when it sacrifices human dignity to the goal of turning a profit.] Ultimately, this will take the form of a unified world government and religion under the rule of Antichrist.

13:2 Satan is the power behind the Roman throne.

13:3 Nero killed himself in 68. Domition (81-96) was called Nero redivivus.

13:7 Ultimately, the saints conquer the beast.

13:10 Classic apocalyptic exhortation.

13:11 Another beast with horns like a lamb — This is Antichrist, a human agent of Satan who promotes and leads the pagan politico-religious system, who deceives precisely because he resembles Christ. See 2 Thess. 2:3-12; [2Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, 12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.]

1 Jn. 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 Jn. 7. [1Jo 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 4:3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. 2Jo 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.]

13:16 The Mark of the Beast — A kind of "anti-baptism" because it identifies its bearers with Antichrist rather than with Christ.

14:1 The Lamb (Christ) and the 144,000 (the whole Church, all of redeemed humanity). Their virginity stands for their spiritual purity. In Scripture, idolatry (the worst of all sins and the central act of the Antichrist’s worship) is always equated with adultery because it constitutes unfaithfulness to the one true God, our Divine Spouse, Jesus Christ. Notice in ch. 14, three angels, the Son of Man and three more angels – a total of seven – announce the impending Judgment.

15:2 Sea of glass mingled with fire — Baptism (the sea) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (fire).

"those who had conquered the beast" = the martyrs

15:5 The Temple and Tent of Witness — According to Jewish tradition (see 2 Mac. 2:4-8) [4 It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. 5 And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. 8 And then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated."] , the reappearance of the Temple signified the coming of the Messiah.

15:7 Seven Bowls — In 5:8, the bowls are filled with incense which is the prayers of the saints. Here they are filled with God’s wrath – his judgment on the wicked – which is the result of those prayers. These plagues are meant to remind us of the plagues of Egypt which were sent because of Pharaoh’s hardness of heart, his refusal to repent. These plagues, too, are meant to bring about repentance. But the extent of man’s wickedness can be seen in the fact that, instead of turning to God, they only curse him and assemble in battle against him.

16:17 Seventh Bowl — introduces the final stage of God’s judgment before the establishment of his kingdom: the great battles in which are destroyed first the godless nations of the world, then the Antichrist, and finally Satan himself. Throughout history we see this fulfilled in the fact that political powers which deny God and persecute his Church always come to a tragic end. But also there is reference here to a literal event yet to take place in the future.

17:1 The Great Harlot — This chapter predicts the fall of imperial Rome, and the symbolism it contains relates specifically to the Roman Empire (ch. 18 is a hymn of rejoicing over Rome’s destruction). But these prophecies also apply to the future world power under the leadership of Antichrist. The seven heads have been variously interpreted to signify a succession of Roman emperors or a succession of superpowers, ancient Rome being one of them. [It should be mentioned here that many fundamentalists interpret the harlot as signifying the Roman Catholic Church. This, of course, is absurd and is a fruit more of their antipathy toward, and ignorance of the Church rather than of a sober exegesis of the biblical text.]

17:5 A symbol for Rome (and all totalitarian governments)

17:8 Notice parody of the One "who was, who is and who is to come".

19:11 The Faithful and True sitting on the White Horse — Christ (as in 6:2) now comes with his saints to conquer the Beast (Antichrist and his kingdom) and cast him into hell. (Here may be seen a reference to the conquering death and resurrection of Christ.)

20:1-6 The bondage of Satan and the Thousand-year Reign — Following St. Augustine, we may interpret this as the age in which we are now living – from the Resurrection of Christ until the Parousia. Satan was conquered at the Cross, but not destroyed. His power and influence, though weakened, is still present in the world where Christ reigns – truly, though mystically – in and through the Church.

20:6 "First resurrection" refers to martyrs and those who did not receive the mark of the beast (see ch. 14).

"Second death" = total perdition.

Priesthood here does not apply to all Christians (as in 1:6; 5:10), thus it is a higher priesthood. These are the saints reigning with Christ in heaven. "thousand years" = symbolic number referring to the age of the Church.

20:7-10 Release and overthrow of Satan — At the end of this age, Satan will be released for a time to deceive the nations (as related above), but then finally defeated and thrown into hell.

20:11-15 The Last Judgment — This is the dogma of faith which we profess in the Creed: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead." It is distinct from the particular judgment of each individual at his death, and it is a judgment according to works. See our Lord’s own words concerning this in Matt. 13:30, 40-50; 25:31-46.

21:7 The prayer of the Church is "Come"

21-22 The New Jerusalem — These last two chapters are extremely rich in symbolism, drawn largely from the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah. The main points here are that heaven will be a place of perfect peace and blessedness for the redeemed. They will be loved as a husband (Christ) loves his bride. And there will be no more sorrow or suffering. The purpose is to offer encouragement and hope to Christians in every age who are enduring persecution and the consequences of sin.