Revelation

1. Revelation By Michael Baicker and Harley Schwing

2. Summary of Revelation Chapter 1: John must keep track of everything that happens concerning good and evil and tell God. There are 7 lamp stands which Jesus stands among. God declares himself the “Alpha and Omega”. Chapters 2 and 3: John sends letters to seven churches. He tells them that they will all be tested according to God. Chapter 4: There are 24 elders dressed in white. There are also seven lamps that are the seven spirits of God. There are 4 creatures that are like a lion, ox, man, and eagle who worship God and repeat that he is “holy, holy, holy”.

3. Chapter 5: A scroll is next to God that seals. The lion attempts to open the scroll when a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes appears that seems to be slain. The lamb is the only worthy one. It is worshipped by the elders. Chapter 6: There is a a white horse that appears after the first seal is broken. The rider is a “conqueror bent on conquest”. Then there is a red horse whose rider has a large sword. A black horse comes next with its rider holding scales. The next rider was Death who came with “sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth”. Next were the ones who died for God, they all were to wear white robes. When the sixth seal is opened a terrible earthquake happens. Chapter 7: A seal is put on the forehead of every person who obeys God. 144,000 were sealed. They wore white robes.

4. Chapter 8: The seventh seal is opened. Fire and blood destroy 1/3 of all that is useful on the earth. Chapter 9: The people who did not have seals were tortured for 5 months. They wanted to die but could not. There are locusts that were horse-like. Those who worshipped idols were left to be tortured. Chapter 10: John eats a scroll from an angel that tastes good but settles sourly. He is told that he must prophesize some more. Chapter 11: Two prophets will die and their enemies will taunt their dead bodies. Eventually the prophets will be saved and their enemies will be jealous. The third woe is coming soon. The weather turns very ominous.

5. Chapter 12: A red dragon (Satan) featuring seven heads, each topped with a crown, appears. The crowned heads are representative of governments which John the Apostle believed to be evil. Jesus Christ is brought forth to “rule all nations with a rod of iron.” Michael and the angels cast Satan down to Earth. • Chapter 13: Two beasts appear – one from land and one from sea. The beast from the sea also has 7 heads and 10 horns, with each horn carrying a crown. • Once again, another comment on John the Apostle’s view of world politics and the “one ruler” gentile system. • All those who worship the beast (Satan) are marked to be judged by God. • Chapter 14: God reaps the earth of those who were faithful to the beast.

6. Chapter 15: God prepares to levy wrath upon the earth via seven plagues. Chapter 16: Seven angels, each with a plague, pour their vials of wrath on the earth. Plagues include: Sores, seas of blood, rivers of blood, fire, darkness, drought, and earthquakes. Chapter 17: A woman is introduced as “the great prostitute” who controls the beast of seven heads and ten horns. She is overthrown by the kings she rules. Chapter 18: Babylon falls.

7. Chapter 19: War breaks between God’s people and the nonbelievers. Jesus returns, and the beast and others are thrown into a lake of fire. Chapters 20-21: Satan is sentenced to the Abyss for a thousand years, and those Saints who perished are brought back to life. Satan is thrown into the Lake of Fire forever. Heaven and earth are recreated, as is Jerusalem. Chapter 22: Everything is happy again. God begins healing. John is asked to tell others of his visions.

8. Ruth May Ruth May’s Bronzed shoes: “When I am grown my mother will still have my shoes. She aims to turn them into brown shiny metal” (179). Son of man’s feet: “His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace” (Rev. 1.15). The significance is Ruth May is made eternal in the bronzing of her shoes. Just like Jesus she will be important forever; she will never fade away because her innocence is preserved. Jesus proceeds to say “I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever” which parallels to Ruth May’s living past her death.

9. Nathan “Conqueror bent on conquest” (Rev. 6) Orleanna refers to herself as the “conqueror's wife” in Genesis Nathan tries to conquer the Congo through his overbearing stance on religion. In the Bible the conqueror is trying to overcome the evil in the world which is what Nathan claims his purpose to be. Orleanna also says she “rode in with the horsemen”, Nathan is the horseman conqueror.

10. Nathan Continued • Nathan is described as having a “heart of darkness.” • One of Revelation’s plagues involves darkness being poured over Satan’s kingdom. • Despite his attempts to spread the light of Christianity, Nathan is in fact misleading his family and the Congolese people through his religious raves, and as such Christianity is treated as a darkness rather than a source of light.

11. Plague God has the ability to set plagues and other terrible abominations on the earth. The Price family experiences many events which they consider to be plagues of the Congo: army ants, locusts, lack of food. In reality, they are a plague on the Congo; they enter Africa unwanted by its peoples and cause death. Although they were not intentionally attempting to harm anyone, the Prices can still be faulted for the deaths they caused. In the limited amount of time they were in the Congo the Price family permanently disturbed certain aspects of the Congo.

12. Anatole Anatole could be compared to John in the Bible. Anatole translated the sermons of Nathan, just as John is a kind of liaison between the people of the earth and God. The villagers have no choice but to trust Anatole’s interpretation and translation of Nathan’s speech, while God must trust what John tells him about the human race and vice versa. John, however, is often considered to be mentally ill at the time of his writing of Revelation. We do not make such a comparison to Anatole.

13. Adah and the Lion In the Bible a lamb has triumph over a lion. When the lion tries to open a scroll it fails. The lamb is told that only it has the ability to open the scroll. Also, the lamb appears to be slain because it is bloody. Everyone assumes Adah has been killed by the lion. Adah is lamb-like because of her innocence. She is not completely innocent, but just the fact that she is not an adult yet gives her purity.

14. Political Allegory and Methuselah The second half of Revelation features the Congolese election and its declaration of independence. On the day of Congolese independence, Methuselah is killed by a predator, symbolizing the Congo’s fate at the hands of the United States. The battle for independence against the wishes of a powerful monster (the U.S.) runs parallel to the story of God fighting Satan and the seven-headed beast. The United States, representing the beast, is symbolic of a power not unlike the gentile system, where one entity attempts to control the world.

15. Idea of Purgatory Although it is never specifically mentioned, many believe that God’s test of his followers on earth is a type of purgatory. Biblical Recap: Purgatory is a place for those who are saved to be “cleaned up” before going to heaven. In Revelation, God promised those who were loyal to him entrance into heaven. Nathan has a life of trials, especially due to the war, which mimic God’s tests in Revelation. He feels that he must put forth complete and total devotion at the expense of his family. On the contrary, God would wish for Nathan to care for his family rather than endanger them.