Repetitions, abrupt transitions
and paradoxes in Revelation (mapping)
5) Structural reconciliation and the proposed spatio-temporal macrostructure
Leonard Thompson provides a spatial analysis of Revelation in which he describes it as if it is a landscape seen ‘as from an airplane’ with fields and boundaries that delineate distinctions between different sorts of spaces. For Thompson, these spaces reflect John’s literary and social world as centre-less, bound-less multi-dimensional overlays of meaning (Thompson, 1990: 76, 187-188). This study also considers the geography of Revelation, but as a basis for its structure like a geological model, rather than an ideological study. The proposed macrostructure recognises the setting of Revelation as a multi-dimensional cosmos within which John describes events with spatial (heaven, earth, below-the-earth) and temporal (past, present, future) dimensions which can be mapped.
Mapping is not used here to represent limitless layers of meaning or literary maps of transformations (Thompson, 1990: 187) or monsters (therefore a monster itself, Pippin, 2020; 185); this study sees Revelation as an overview of God’s territory that puts characters and events into a cosmic and temporal perspective. The key to Revelation’s structure is the impact of the Cross and how the outcome of that universal event does not lead to repentance; instead, Babylon illustrates how society is dominated by the corrupt lifestyles of those who do not reject their evil ways. Further details of the methodology and the construction of the proposed model are given in the separate Macrostructure Model and Towards … 2 methodology chapters.
5a) Spatio-temporal mapping
Mapping is an inter-disciplinary method which is established in Theology, particularly in areas linked to the social sciences. However, geological-style mapping (which emphasises a chronological dimension) of literary units, such as verses or passages, is rare. This type of spatio-temporal analysis maintains the relationships between location and relative time. In other words, verse order remains unchanged, so verses behave like beads on a piece of string within each space. Spacetime is a modern metaphor for John’s visionary cosmos. There are a few simple rules for this type of analysis: notations and interpretations can change, but verses and chapters cannot interrupt or inter-weave earlier or later chapters in the same space, because this creates temporal paradoxes. For example, events in chapters 12-14 either occur after chapters 1-11 or they must be in separate spaces/ dimensions.
Some unique events, such as the Cross (the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ) are traceable across the cosmic spaces in the way that a unique marker like a volcanic ash layer is traceable across a wide region. Cross-boundary events are ‘time-parallels’, which are like text parallels but they have a chronological component. Eighteen time-parallels are recognised in the proposed macrostructure. In both Theology and Geology, what happens before and after a unique event helps build a picture of the sequence of events (a time-line) within each space; disturbances within a linear pattern define the macrostructure.
5b) Steps back in relative time (4:2, 12:1, 12:13, 15:1)
Considering Revelation as the story of a single visionary journey and comparing it with the logic of a spatio-temporal analysis highlights discrepancies between linear and other literary patterns. This chapter is not a study of space or time concepts within Revelation; it uses spacetime as a metaphor to investigate the relationship between these dimensions. John describes events in his relative past or future (1:19) in heaven and on earth. Time passing in Revelation is analogous to time passing on earth but there are two visionary earthly dimensions: physical-spiritual earth and an earth that reflects the biblical narrative (see Section 2). Events in heaven may have a more abstract linear chronology than on earth, for example 4:2-5:4 and 12:1-12 may cover time from Creation to the Cross. John implies that below-the-earth is created when satan and his angels are expelled from heaven because he refers to an angel rising from the smoke and leading evil armies onto earth when the abyss opens (9:11); other angels are expelled to earth with satan (12:9). Demons appearing out of the mouths of the dragon and his two beasts (16:13-14), demons infesting Babylon (18:2) and the fiery lake (from 19:20) are earth/ below-the-earth boundary events, so the passage of time within below-the-earth is unknown. Caves and craters of active volcanoes (fiery, sulphurous lakes) were considered to be entrances to below-the-earth in John’s era.
The first point of spatio-temporal interest is John’s move from the material earth into a visionary dimension on Patmos (1:9-10). John is praying when he turns to see the Warrior standing among seven lamp stands, so it is likely John remains in his present time and location as his vision begins. When John is taken from visionary earth to heaven’s throne-room, the slain Lamb has not yet appeared so 4:2 represents the first step back in relative time for John (to before the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension i.e. the Cross). The seal openings (6:1-8:1) are an immediate consequence of the Cross, so it is likely the terrors of the four seal horsemen impacted the first post-Cross generations. The first part of John’s journey is described in chapters 1-11 (on the physical-spiritual earth/ heaven’s throne-room/ physical-spiritual earth; see Section 2) and the worship in 4:11 may represent the act of Creation itself. The structure is linear and events culminate with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the opening of the heavenly sanctuary (11:15-19). Instead of these events heralding the Parousia, John sees the celestial pregnant woman and then a dragon as signs in heaven (12:1-4).
12:1 is the second step back in relative time within the vision because John describes the birth of the Messiah (12:5), which may also represent the origin of Creation (3:14 and Jn. 1:1-5; so Kiddle, 1940: 222; see Section 2). 12:1 is a convenient point to reflect on the emergence of evil before the story climaxes at the Cross (12:9-12) and anticipation of the Parousia, generated at 11:19, is satisfied at 14:1 and 19:11.
The third shift in relative time (12:13) follows satan after he is defeated in a heavenly battle because of the Cross, and expelled. Satan follows the celestial mother to a mythic or early/ pre-history earth on which the mother found safety in the wilderness (12:6). The snake/ satan pursues her, possibly in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-24) and she is saved from a flood (12:13-16). 12:1-18 introduces the child (Messiah) at the very beginning of earth’s history but it is only a small part of the story and Revelation does not emphasise God’s plan for history (so Fiorenza, 1998: 49). Time on earth moves on, and John sees the immediate impact of the Cross for the third time (12:17) when satan moves to attack the rest of the faithful offspring, i.e. followers of Jesus, which cannot occur before the time of the Cross. Satan stands by the sea-shore until his two beasts appear and society is under their control (12:18-13:18) until the Lamb appears on Mt Zion and the harvests begin (14:1-20).
There is only one occasion in this spatio-temporal analysis when allocation of verses to a space is uncertain: the appearance of the Lamb on Mt Zion plus the harvests (14:1-20) can be either physical-spiritual events or part of the biblical time-line. The option chosen will have implications for how all the following events are interpreted (see Framework 4A.d). In this study, 14:1-20 is part of the biblical time-line here because it is the climax of the messianic war (see Section 2).
The fourth, and final, shift back in relative time is associated with the seven bowls (14:20/15:1) because the seventh trumpet sounding (11:15) and the open sanctuary (11:19, 15:5) almost certainly precede the Lamb’s appearance on Mt Zion (14:1).
The recognisable linear plot progression (Resseguie, 2009: 59) overlies the four temporal shifts and the text spiral in the story and these create the opportunity for John to see the same events again, but from different perspectives. These relocations are a function of the subject matter of the text, and not the manner in which John describes the story. In other words, they are functions of the underlying macrostructure, rather than being surface, literary features.
5c) John's visionary vantage points
12:1-14:20 is the messianic war (Bauckham, 1993a: 94; see Section 2). This is followed by a more complex structure that begins with the bowls (15:1) and covers the cosmos-wide fall of Babylon and its aftermath (see Section 3, and Macrostructure Model Figure 4). From 16:12 (when the sixth bowl empties and evil forces gather for war), John describes events in multiple cosmic spaces in a few consecutive verses. This sequence of events may follow his gaze as he watches contiguous events unfold in the different spaces and this creates a textual spiral pattern (16:12-21:9) that overlies the deeper linear Creation – New Order pattern. The spiral ends when John describes the New Jerusalem and the vision ceases.
The text spiral and John’s references to Babylon’s collapse (Section 3) indicate John may be on a visionary vantage point when he sees and hears the announcements (14:8, 18:1-3), destruction (16:17-21) and celebration (19:1-4). John measured the Temple (11:1-2), so his vantage point from 11:3 onwards is probably near to or in Jerusalem on the (visionary) physical-spiritual earth, from where he sees the two witnesses and the collapse of the ‘great city’ where ‘their lord was crucified’ (11:3-14). When John is taken by one of the bowl angels to another vantage point, in the wilderness, to see what Babylon represents (a harlot sitting on the beast in the wilderness, 17:1-18) and to a mountain top to see the Bride descending (New Jerusalem, 21:9-10), these are spatial shifts on the physical-spiritual earth. This is consistent with John seeing into the deep past of the celestial mother and the dragon as signs (12:1-4) and seeing another great sign (15:1) when the bowls are prepared; rather than John being taken into the heavenly realms and then following the mother and dragon to earth, or returning to the throne-room to see the bowl preparations. There is no evidence in the text that John enters the throne-room again, after 4:2. 11:3 onwards is a very visual representation of dramatic, unfolding, cosmos-wide events seen and heard from visionary vantage points on the physical-spiritual earth. In other words, John moves back in time in the vision once (4:2) but the story has three other temporal shifts (at 12:1, 12:13, 15:1).
Rather than Revelation reflecting multiple visions, dreams, imagination or theological insight alone, the reason for repetitions, paradoxes and abrupt transitions is probably the simplest explanation: that John journeyed through the cosmos in a waking vision and he probably dictated to a scribe what he was seeing and hearing, in the order in which he saw events. This would explain why the biblical allusions are numerous and the images are complex, but their Greek is simple and repetitive, and the text changes from future – to past – to present, in an ‘apparently random fashion’ (Collins, 1979: 43, 126); this is particularly noticeable when John describes the seals, fall of Babylon and the final judgement. The balance of literary complexity and simple Greek, and the consistency of the story, indicates John did not change the order of events in the vision but he honed the text before its circulation as a prophetic-apostolic letter that contains a prologue and an introduction (1:1-3:22) and it closes with confirmation of the vision’s credentials as a revelation from Jesus Christ, and an epilogue (22:6-21).
5d) Proposed spatio-temporal macrostructure
The steps back in relative time in Revelation at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1 enable John to tell a single story containing two interlinked, chronologically linear dramas (1:10-11:19, 12:1-22:5) which reflect parts of the biblical meta-narrative; 22:6-21 are a visionary epilogue and final words from John. These dramas describe activity in heaven’s throne-room and its environs, and on two versions of earth which were described earlier as the physical-spiritual earth and an earth that tells the biblical story (that includes the messianic war and ends with the Final War and Final Judgement), and events at the earth/ below-the-earth boundary. The proposed macrostructure reconciles the two story-lines, and the eighteen time-parallels demonstrate that major events occur simultaneously throughout John’s cosmos.
Superimposed upon the linear progression is a text spiral (16:12-21:9) that may be the consequence of John witnessing events in different spaces from a static vantage point, probably near to or in Jerusalem, after he measures the Temple (11:1-2). Details of the construction and further interpretation of the proposed macrostructure is given in Framework 1 and Towards … 2 methodology. In other words, repetitions reflect unique events described from multiple perspectives according to their cosmic location, and paradoxes and abrupt transitions in the text may indicate temporal changes (steps back in relative time) in the storyline.
An active chronology is the key to the proposed macrostructure because at any point in the story (i.e. at the same relative time) there will be consistency between the two narrative paths and correlations between them will be compatible or may be deduced. For example, time-parallel 6 (Macrostructure Model webpage, Figure 3) is based upon Bauckham’s observed text parallel that it is ‘remarkable’ that the meaning of 11:11-13 (two witnesses resurrected, a tenth of the city collapses, 7000 people die, survivors gave glory to God) ‘coincides exactly’ with that of 15:2-4 (the victorious martyrs rejoice), which confirms Bauckham’s interpretation of both passages, despite their different images (Bauckham, 1993a: 101). Similarly, the gathering and crushing of the grapes in the harvest corresponds to forces (good and evil) gathering and the Great Battle (14:17-20/19:11-21; time-parallels 14 and 15, Macrostructure Model webpage, Figure 5); this supports Bauckham’s and Osborne’s observations but not Marko Jauhiainen, who suggests the bowls partially recapitulate the grape harvest (so Bauckham, 1993b: 47, 293, Osborne, 2002: 555-556; contra Jauhiainen, 2003a: 554). There are occasions when time-parallels link consequences with their cause(s), for example when the abyss opens (9:2-3) this may enable the abyss beast rise to earth (13:1; so Collins, 1979: 72) and when the four angels are released at the Euphrates (9:13-15), this may facilitate the rising of the earth beast through another earth/ below-the-earth portal (13:11) (time-parallels 2 and 3, Macrostructure Model, Figure 3). Time-parallel 18 completes the time-lines (Final Judgement/ Second Death, 20:10-15, 21:7-8, so Collins: 1979, 144); 21:7-8 is a confirmatory statement from the throne of the judgement, illustrated by the upward pointing arrow in the Macrostructure Model, Figure 5. The seal, trumpet and bowl torments represent the perennial scourges of humanity and their structure in this spatio-temporal analysis is linear, not telescopic or recapitulation of a single series of events. Further details about the construction of the proposed model are given in the Towards … chapter.
5e) The spatio-temporal ambiguity of the Parousia
Michael Gilbertson describes 14:1-5 (the appearance of Christ the Lamb on Mt Zion) as spatially and temporally ambiguous (Gilbertson, 2003: 102, 132). In this spatio-temporal analysis, the 13:18/14:1 transition is not temporally ambiguous because this represents the overcoming of the power of satan and the evil beasts (12:1-13:18) by the triumphant Christ (14:1-20). However, this is spatially ambiguous because it is the only occasion in Revelation that allows a choice of allocation to a space: the appearance of the Lamb on Mt Zion and the Harvests (14:1-20) can be biblical events, or part of the physical-spiritual time-line or a hybrid (see Framework 4A.d). The option chosen will have implications for how the following events are interpreted. The fall of Babylon indicates that the appearances of the Lamb and the Rider are not contemporaneous in any option, and all the time-parallels are present in all three options, and all are theologically valid.
The first spatio-temporal structural option (i.e. 14:1-20 is in the biblical space; see the Macrostructure Model, Figure 4) is chosen in the proposed macrostructure for several reasons: the events surrounding the fall of Babylon (16:2-17:18) are more tangible (i.e. on the physical-spiritual earth) and the Three Angels and the Harvests (14:6-20) are less tangible (i.e. on the biblical earth); accepting that the Rider is the Warrior, he stands among the lamp-stands (1:12-2:5) and the Two Witnesses are lamp-stands (11:4) and this indicates they occur in the same space (i.e. on the physical-spiritual earth); and the Two Witnesses represent ‘prophetic witness’ rather than being ‘too strictly allegorical’ (so Bauckham, 1993b: 274); and Babylon is a spiritually-corrupted physical city (a harlot), which may be why she is physically destroyed and not thrown into the fiery lake along with satan and his beasts.
In summary, as well as describing the immediate impact of the shedding of the blood of the Lamb three times (5:5-6:1, 12:9-12, 12:17-18; time-parallel 1), Babylon’s fall four times (14:8, 16:14-17:18, 18:1-3, 19:1-4; time-parallel 10) and the Final Judgement four times (20:10, 20:11-12, 12:13-15, 21:7-8; time-parallel 18), there are other unique events which are described more than once in Revelation. There are two references to the winepress full of God’s wrath (14:19-20, 19:15) and the Second Death (20:13-15, 21:8, but anticipated in 2:11 and 20:6). There are times when consequences may be separated from their cause(s), for example the abyss opens (9:2) and the abyss beast kills the Two Witnesses (11:7) but the beast does not rise from the abyss until 13:1. Scattered concurrent events and possible separations between causes and consequences indicate that the story-line is sometimes non-linear. This is accommodated by the proposed four steps back in relative time (at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1), the two linked dramas (4:1-11:19 and 12:1-22:20a) and the surface, literary spiral (16:12-21:9), as illustrated by the Macrostructure Model.
Page updated 17 February 2025