Framework:
interpretation of
Section 4B - the Lamb, beasts, Babylon
Overview
The interpretation in this section focuses on the relationship between the Lamb, Babylon and satan’s beasts (4B.a), John’s visionary vantage point (4B.b), the eschaton and the Day of God’s Wrath (4B.c) and relative time-scales (4B.d). In this section, the Lamb appears on Mt Zion with the 144,000 ‘redeemed’ followers (the ‘first fruits’, or choicest representatives of the faithful, 14:1-5), Babylon falls and the meaning of the Babylon and beasts’ symbols is explained to John by one of the bowl angels (17:1-18). The fall of Babylon is recognisable in every cosmic space (14:8, 16:14-17:18, 18:1-3, 19:1-4). The two separate earthly dimensions (physical-spiritual and biblical) are endorsed because a major and unique event such as this cannot happen at two different times (14:8, 16:17-21) in a single space (earth). The contexts of both passages suggest it is unlikely that 14:8 is a ‘proleptic’ (anticipatory) announcement (contra Smalley, 2005: 363; see the previous Construction (4A.d). This is part of the single story from Creation to the New Order, told in two interlocking dramas (4:1-11:19 and 12:1-22:20a) that are made possible by four steps back in relative time in the narrative (at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1; see Towards … 4b).[1] Four time-parallels in this section (8b-11 in Figure 4) link the dramas together and these are different perceptions of the same story, but the one sequence does not recapitulate the other.
From John’s point of view, by this point in the story, he has heard the seventh trumpet blast and he has seen the open heavenly sanctuary (11:15-19). The fulfilment of God’s plans and the Day of God’s Wrath, expected by the mighty angel and the twenty four elders in heaven (10:7, 11:16-18), are imminent. However, instead of describing the Day or the Parousia (Christ’s appearance, or his ‘coming’ in Revelation), the story steps back in relative time (11:19/ 12:1) and John learns the reason why it has some very dark components – he witnesses the genesis of evil (chapter 12, Framework 1) and its ramifications (the appearances of satan’s beasts, 13:1-18; Framework 3). Richard Bauckham describes chapters 12-14 as the ‘messianic war’ from the Incarnation (12:5) and beasts’ warfare, to the Parousia and Lamb’s triumph (12:1-14:20, Bauckham, 1993a: 94). This study proposes that 12:5 refers to Creation and the Messiah’s birth in the heavenly realms, not to the Incarnation, but the principle is the same despite our different interpretations of 12:5 (see Framework 1B.d). John sees the Lamb appear on Mt Zion (14:1-5) and he hears an announcement about the fall of Babylon (14:8). The story steps back in relative time again at 14:20/ 15:1, and this enables him to witness three other references to her fall (16:14-17:18, 18:1-3, 19:1-4; time-parallel 10, Figure 4).
In the earlier Construction (4A.a), it is suggested that the Lamb appears on the biblical earth while the fifth bowl is emptying on the physical-spiritual earth.[2] There is darkness on the throne of the beast and people curse God because of their pains and sores from the first bowls, but they still refuse to repent of their sins (16:9-11). Thus, there is a separation of the bowl torments into two parts: bowls 1-4 (Figure 3, time-parallel 8a) and bowls 5-7 (Figure 4, time-parallel 8b), because everything changes when the Lamb appears. Christ’s parousia as the Lamb during the bowl traumas is both predictable (foretold in Scripture, see Framework 5) and unexpected (in the middle, not at the ‘end’ of the story); Christ’s appearance on Mt Zion interrupts the flow of history.[3] The Parousia as the appearance of Christ on the cloud (14:14) and the Rider (19:11-16) are investigated in Framework 5.
Figure numbers in every section follow the Macrostructure Model, so they do not restart in each section. In each figure, the x axis is location and the y axis is relative time. The light dashed arrows show the narrative path and the dotted arrows show the literary spiral. This section’s interpretation uses the proposed macrostructure to discuss the relationships between the Lamb, Babylon and satan’s beasts, and the literary spiral and John’s visionary vantage points. More details are given in 4C (the beasts) and 4D (Babylon) and Framework 5 (the Gospels and the eschaton, i.e. ‘last days’).
[1] The two dramas describe events and characters: on the physical-spiritual earth, these are tangible, like the torments associated with the seals, trumpets and bowls; on the biblical earth, these are more abstract and allegorical, like the Lamb, the dragon and his evil beasts. On the biblical earth, the characters are immaterial concepts (Messiah, satan) within a biblical version of earth’s history and stories of satan and his beasts ‘behind’ or influencing earthly activities and wars (see Framework 1B.d).
[2] John is told that Christ will come at an unknown time ‘like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake’ (16:15a) so it is entirely possible, in the proposed macrostructure and in reality, that Christ will come after the bowls, but time-parallels 1-9 and 12-18 are otherwise unchanged in this scenario.
[3] John’s relationship to history and the surrounding culture is ambiguous. ‘History’ is used in a modern sense here; how Jews in the first century A.D. understood history is uncertain but Halbwachs distinguished it from collective memory, which is how the first Christians outside Palestine would have remembered Jerusalem and the temple and its traditions (rituals etc.), Halbwachs, 1992: 222).
4) The Lamb, imminent war and fall of Babylon (14:1-11, 16:10-19:6; time-parallels 8b to 11)
4B.a) The Lamb, Babylon and satan's beasts
After Christ the Lamb appears on Mt Zion (14:1-5), John sees three angels flying in mid-heaven (i.e. the sky, 14:6-11) and their announcements on the biblical earth act as the framework in this section for corresponding events on the physical-spiritual earth, in heaven and at the earth/ below-the-earth boundary (time-parallels 8b-11, Figure 4). The Gospel is proclaimed and judgement is imminent (14:6-7, angel one); Babylon falls (14:8, angel two); there will be judgement on satan’s followers (the ‘marked’; 14:11, angel three). After Babylon falls, one of the bowl angels takes John to see Babylon the harlot on one of satan’s beasts and the relationship between the harlot, the beast and humanity is explained to John (17:1-18, see Framework 4C).
In the proposed macrostructure, the Lamb appears during time-parallel 8b and war preparations begin in time-parallel 9 (Figure 4) but it is uncertain whether the war preparations are made because the abyss beast inspires the ten kings to make war against the Lamb (17:11-14), or because the beast plans to attack Babylon because he hates the harlot and will bring her to ruin (17:16). Demons arise from below-the-earth through the mouths of the dragon and his beasts (16:13) and they go to ‘the kings of the whole world’ because the demonic forces anticipated ‘battle on the great day of God the Almighty’ (16:14). The kings are now under the authority of the abyss beast (17:13) they will make war against the Lamb when he appears (17:14). Armies have already gathered at Armageddon (16:16) when Babylon is destroyed by a severe earthquake and a great storm (16:18-21). This is after the Lamb appears, as announced by the second of the three angels (14:8, time-parallel 10). In other words, Babylon is under threat because the beasts hate her and will bring her to ruin, but the armies gather to attack the Lamb when he appears, not to directly attack Babylon. The corruption and hedonism of society (i.e. Babylon) anticipated at the time of Christ’s appearance is described in the Gospels – it will be like in the times of Noah (Lk. 17:26-27, Mt. 24:37-39) or Lot (Lk. 17:28-33) (see Framework 5).
Some scholars argue Babylon, not the Lamb (Messiah), is primarily the focus for the gathering at Armageddon (Jauhiainen, 2005: 382, 387-388), but if Babylon was the target of the evil forces gathering at 16:12-16, there would be no need for re-grouping after her fall (19:17-19, Figure 5). Babylon and her satellite cities are destroyed by earthquake and hail (16:17-21, time-parallel 10) and she is ruined by famine, disease and fire (18:8-19, time-parallel 11). This suggests the ruin may be opportunistic destruction of Babylon’s trade and financial power by the beast and the kings after parts of her physical networks are destroyed. This interpretation connects 16:12-16 with 19:17-19 and it confirms underlying prophecies (Isa. 13-14, Jer. 50-51) that it appears as if Babylon is destroyed by foreign armies and many kings (so Jauhiainen, 2005: 388). Babylon may be Rome and/or any city/cities whose destruction would cause international chaos (so Osborne, 2002: 433, 598). Grant Osborne suggests that Babylon’s destruction may possibly be the result of a ‘God-directed civil war’ when the beasts turn on her (17:16) (Osborne, 2002: 625, 669). The beasts and Babylon are enemies, not allies, so a civil war within Babylon’s territories may be fermented by the beasts; evil does not necessariy love evil. Further details about the identity of the beasts and Babylon are considered in Framework 4C and 4D, respectively.
14:1-20 is the framework for the structure of this section and the next one. In 14:1-11, the third of the three angels warns that judgement is near for the ‘marked’ (14:9-11), i.e. judgement upon those who worship the abyss beast and its image, and receives its mark – no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark (13:16-17), and worship may be a choice but non-compliance means death (13:15). In the cosmos-wide picture, every cosmic space is now focussed on Babylon, from the war preparations in the shorter term (16:12-16, which are actually focussed on the Lamb), to the celebration because of her fall in heaven (19:1-4) and the longer term consequences of her fall (time-parallels 9-11, Figure 4). The bowl angel explains the situation to John (17:1-18) – that Babylon has fallen (16:17-21) because she has become so vile that she has corrupted the kings of the earth (17:2).
As the war preparations (16:12-13, time-parallel 9) proceed onto the gathering of the armies (16:14-16, time-parallel 10), John has Christ beside him, or he hears Christ’s voice from heaven, who warns John that he (Christ) will be coming unexpectedly, so be prepared (16:15). The demons gather the armies for battle at a place called Armageddon (16:16). Then, ‘a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying ‘It is done!’’ (16:17), the seventh bowl empties and Babylon falls. The battle that the demons were expecting (16:14) does not happen at this time. This may be because the heavenly armies (perhaps the 144,000 of 14:1-5) do not fight or because of the destruction of Babylon (14:8, 16:18-21; time-parallel 10). The text indicates that Christ is the focus of the demons and the beasts’ armies but it is not a coincidence that Babylon falls straight after the Lamb appears on Mt Zion (14:1-8), because the beast hates them both (17:14-16) and corrupt Babylon is doomed (18:1-24). Uncertainty about the location of Armageddon is considered in Framework 4D.g.
The gathered evil armies of the kings and demons may disperse but they re-group, probably at Armageddon again, when Christ the Rider appears, ready for battle (19:11-21; time-parallels 14-15 in the next section).
4B.b) John’s visionary vantage points (part 2), the literary spiral and Babylon
It is suggested in Framework 3B.c that after John meets the mighty angel with the little scroll (10:1) and he (John) measures the temple (11:2), John moves to a vantage point in or near to Jerusalem. John remains there when he sees the two witnesses in the Great City, where ‘their Lord was crucified’ (Jerusalem), and the partial destruction of that city (11:3-13). He hears the seventh trumpet sound and heaven’s rejoicing (11:15-18), and he sees the open heavenly sanctuary for the first time and its earthly consequences (earthquake and storm) (11:19). There is no indication in the text that John moves from this vantage point when he witnesses the events described in chapters 12 and 13 (Frameworks 1 and 3), or when the Lamb appears on Mt Zion with the 144,000 ‘redeemed’ (14:1-5). David Aune’s description of the scene in chapter 14 as ‘oscillating’ between earth (14:1), heaven (14:2-3) and earth again (14:4-5) confirms the proposal in this study that John was witnessing the scene from a vantage point (so Aune, 1998: 803); but Aune’s suggestion that the vantage point changes between heaven and earth is not supported here. It seems more likely that transparent boundaries between the cosmic spaces in the vision enabled John (from his visionary vantage points on earth) to see events unfold throughout the cosmos.
The transparency of the boundaries between the different spatial dimensions is confirmed by the way in which John describes all the events surrounding the fall of Babylon (time-parallels 9 to 11). When the armies gather, John watches the contiguous events of 16:12-21:9 unfold across the cosmic spaces and he describes each event in a few consecutive verses. The literary spiral which this creates is like a surface eddy in the chronologically linear flow of the vision (see Figures 4-5, Macrostructure Model). The spiral pattern suggests the narrative path follows the path of John’s eyes, rather than reflecting his movement between the cosmic spaces. After Babylon falls, John is carried in the spirit by one of the bowl angels to another earthly vantage point, in a wilderness (17:1-3), and the relationship between Babylon and satan’s beasts is explained to John (17:4-18, see Framework 4C).
After Babylon falls, John is carried in the spirit by one of the bowl angels to another earthly vantage point, in a wilderness (17:1-3), and the relationship between Babylon and satan’s beasts is explained to John (17:4-18, see Framework 4C). Babylon’s inter-dimensional fall endorses the proposals made in this study that Revelation’s spaces reflect John’s interpretation of the cosmos, and cross-boundary events occur simultaneously in each space. If these events were not simultaneous, the time-parallels would be more difficult to identify. The Babylon time-parallels (9 to 11, Figure 4) illustrate how, at the same relative time in the story, useful information may be gleaned by interpreting events in one time-line through the lens of its companion texts. The fall of Babylon, the Cross (the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ; time-parallel 1) and the Final Judgement (time-parallel 18) are the most structurally important time-parallels in the proposed macrostructure.
John’s visionary vantage points, the literary spiral and Babylon are considered again in Framework 4D. John’s descriptions of events and actions within Revelation’s story are described as if they were seen from earthly vantage points, and this indicates he may have experienced a single waking vision; this is discussed in Framework 5.
4B.c) The eschaton (part 3) and the Day of God’s Wrath (part 2)
The Day of God’s Wrath represents the time of God’s final judgement on humanity. When the sixth seal opened (6:12-17), the great earthquake and cosmic upheaval is so catastrophic that everyone, including kings and generals, thinks the Day of God’s Wrath has come (6:16-17), but it has not. This study proposes that the 6:12-17 catastrophe may represent the fall of Jerusalem in A.D.70 (Framework 2B.a) and it is part of the ‘great tribulation’ (7:14, Framework 2B.c). The twenty four elders in heaven anticipate the Day when the seventh trumpet sounds and the heavenly sanctuary opens (11:16-18, Framework 3) and creatures in below-the-earth rise up to gather the kings for battle at Armageddon, anticipating the ‘great day of God the Almighty’ (16:13-14, Figure 4). The proposed macrostructure illustrates events surrounding the anticipation by the elders and the creatures of the Day and, in that context, it is imminent.
The Day will be part of the eschaton, but the two periods are not synonymous. This study suggests that the eschaton may begin when an angel throws the golden censer to earth (8:3-5, Framework 2). The censer contains incense, the prayers of all God’s people and fire from the heavenly altar. When it is emptied onto earth, there are storms and an earthquake (8:5), and then the trumpets sound and their torments begin (8:7). The censer is perhaps an allusion to Isaiah’s vision of the burning coal from the altar touching Isaiah’s mouth so that his guilt and sin may be atoned (Is. 6:1-13). People faithful to God are part of society but affluence breeds corruption and sin, so protection of the faithful and society’s purification is required in both Isaiah’s vision and in Revelation. In Isaiah’s time, Israel must follow Isaiah’s example of confession of sin and cleansing to avoid God’s judgement (Webb, 1996: 58). In Revelation, inhabitants of corrupt Babylon must repent of their sins because judgement is imminent (14:6-11, 18:4-5, 19:2). In both Isaiah and Revelation, the tool of God’s punishment for sin is invasion by foreign armies. The invasion may pre-figure the Day (as in Isaiah’s time, Is. 5:24-30) or be part of the Day in Revelation. The gathering of the kings from the east at Armageddon, ready for battle (16:12-16), is a foreign invasion. It is suggested earlier (in 4B.a), that the evil armies gather to attack the Lamb after he appears on Mt Zion with the 144,000 ‘redeemed’ (14:1-5, time-parallel 8b) but Babylon’s physical destruction precludes the battle (time-parallels 10 and 11). The abyss beast inspires the ten kings to make war against the Lamb (17:11-14) and they (the abyss beast and the kings) also hate Babylon and will bring her to ruin (17:16). The ‘great battle’ between the beasts and the divine forces does not occur until Christ the Rider appears with the heavenly armies (time-parallel 14, Framework 5). After the battle, the nation(s) continue(s); in Isaiah, a tenth of the people will be preserved (Is. 6:13) and in Revelation the earth experiences the millennium (time-parallel 16, Framework 5).
The Day of God’s Wrath is heralded by the great sign in heaven of the seven angels carrying the ‘last plagues’ which are put into seven bowls that are filled ‘full of the wrath of God’ (15:1-8) – and the bowls are emptied onto earth. People suffer with festering sores (bowl 1), the water is contaminated (bowls 2 and 3) and the earth is scorched (bowl 4) (from 16:2). It is proposed earlier (in Framework 4A.a) that the Lamb appears on Mt Zion while the fifth bowl is emptying and darkness covers the throne of the beast (14:1-5/ 16:10-11, time-parallel 8b). Evil armies gather (bowl 6, time-parallel 9) but an earthquake and storm destroy Babylon and she is ruined (bowl 7, time-parallels 10 and 11). This illustrates Gospel references to a time of cosmic disturbance and hedonism before Christ appears (see Framework 5C). Evil forces were thwarted when Babylon fell and they re-group, probably at Armageddon, when the Rider (Christ) appears (19:11-19, time-parallel 14). The Day ends with the crushing of the evil armies in the Grape Harvest/ Great Battle (14:20/ 19:15-21, time-parallel 15, Framework 5). The Day is illustrated in the proposed macrostructure by time-parallels 8 to 15 in Figures 4 and 5 in the Macrostructure Model. This study proposes that the Day is defined by events on the biblical earth (as illustrated in the proposed macrostructure) and it includes the Lamb’s appearance, warnings, the fall of Babylon and the harvests (14:1-20).[1]
[1] 14:20/ 15:1 is the fourth and final step back in relative time in the story; the other steps back are at 4:2, 12:1, and 12:13 (see Towards … 4b).
4B.d) Relative time-scales
The proposed macrostructure illustrates an underlying, chronologically linear pattern that begins with Creation and ends with the New Order. The only fixed point in the story is the Cross (the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ) and the chronology of all other events is relative, and sometimes their duration is ambiguous or short. This study uses the new macrostructure to illustrate possible chronological and spatial relationships in the story.
In the interpretation in this spatio-temporal analysis, the seven seals are post-Cross torments and the heavenly silence (8:1, seventh seal) may be part of the ‘times of the gentiles’, in which Jerusalem will be downtrodden (Lk. 21:24, see Framework 2B.b), i.e. for thousands of years. Everything changes when the censer is thrown to earth. The eschaton/ ‘last days’ may begin with the censer because the trumpets are ready and they begin their warnings (8:2-7, Framework 2). Satan’s two main beasts appear when the abyss or the earth opens and the three ‘woes’ begin (9:1-12/ 13:1-10, time-parallels 2 and 3, Framework 3). The relative time-scale between the appearances of the beasts (13:1-18) and the Lamb (14:1) is not defined in the text but there are indications that this is a short period because the abyss beast’s authority from the dragon is time-limited (forty-two months, 13:5).
In the proposed macrostructure, the abyss beast appears when the fifth trumpet sounds (9:1-12/ 13:1-10, time-parallel 2) and the associated torments last for ‘five months’ (9:10). The earth beast appears when the sixth trumpet sounds (9:13-21/ 13:11-15, time-parallel 3) and two hundred million evil troops kill a third of humanity (9:15-16). How long this battle lasts is unrecorded but the overwhelming scale of the forces involved suggests it may be a relatively short time.
When John interacts with the Mighty Angel (during the sixth trumpet), he is told ‘there will be no more delay’ and the ‘mystery of God will be fulfilled’ when the seventh trumpet sounds (10:6-7, time-parallel 4). After the seventh trumpet sounds and the sanctuary is opened (time-parallel 7), the bowls are emptied. The duration of the bowls is short because the torments associated with the first bowl are still being felt when the fifth bowl empties (16:11) and the Lamb appears (time-parallel 8b, Figure 4). The three angels follow the Lamb, and Babylon falls (14:8) in an hour (18:10, 18:17-19) and she is ruined by plagues, famine and fire in a single day (18:8), i.e. a very short time. In other words, the time from the beginning of the eschaton (the censer) and the start of the warning trumpets to the appearance of satan’s beasts (probably from the fifth trumpet) is undefined in Revelation. The torments of the first four trumpets are quite generic and they could continue for very many years, but once satan’s two beasts appear then it will not be long before the Lamb appears on Mt Zion with the 144,000 ‘redeemed’, Babylon falls and the earth is ‘harvested’. This is consistent with the Gospels’ reference to ‘one generation’ witnessing events (Lk. 21:32, Mt. 24:34, Mk. 13:30), i.e. a single Christian generation witnessed events at the inception of the kingdom of God, and another single generation will witness the Parousia and see its fulfilment. From the time the first bowl full of the wrath of God is emptied to the end of the Great Battle, the earth will experience the Day of God’s Wrath. The Day will not last for a long time and it will not be the end of humanity; it will be followed by 1000 years of peace and the absence of evil.
4B) Summary and conclusions
Revelation has two structural layers in this section: the continuing, primary, chronologically-linear layer that is clearly seen in every space, from Creation (4:11 and 12:5 in Framework 1) to the New Order in Framework 5; and the literary structure describing the fall of Babylon is like a secondary layer that is a surface, physical-spiritual earth/ below-the-earth spiral (16:12-20:6). The spiral extends to include the biblical earth in the next section (20:7-21:9). The spiral is like an eddy in the overall flow of the vision structure and it reflects the path of John’s eyes as he describes contiguous events associated with the fall of Babylon unfold over a few consecutive verses. Both the primary and secondary layers follow the spacetime rule (see Towards … 5) and there are no temporal paradoxes. Heaven continues to direct events from the throne or from the temple (9:13, 10:4-11:13, 12:5, 14:13, 16:1-17, 18:4, 19:5, 20:11, 21:3-8), as the Day of God’s Wrath unfolds (time-parallels 8 to 15, see 4B.d) and hedonistic society (Babylon) is destroyed – but life continues.
In conclusion, the biblical time-line describes: why events happen – the presence of the Lamb (14:1-5) has replaced satan’s beasts as the controlling factor behind events on the physical-spiritual earth in this section; and how the events unfold is described on the physical-spiritual earth – Babylon will fall (14:8) and society is unprepared for Christ’s coming again. No one knows when this will happen; when demons gather the evil forces together at Armageddon, Christ tells John: ‘See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed, not going about naked and exposed to shame’ (16:15).
Page updated 20 October 2024