The Relevance of Revelation: An Examination for Modern Times

Recently, I spent time discussing the Book of Revelation with a sister in Christ. She seemed adamant that the events in Revelation point only toward the past and not toward the future. Looking, as she suggested I do, on Catholic Answers I found the source of at least a portion of her confidence in articles written on the topic by Catholic Apologist Jimmy Akin.

Is Scripture Timeless or Time Bound?

Jimmy Akin claims, "...the bulk of the events of the book (those that precede the Millennium of Rev. 20:1-10, in which we are now living) should take place shortly after the book was written, likely in the A.D. 60s.” – The Beast in Revelation by Jimmy Akin, https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-beast-in-revelation, Date: 12-1-1998.

This seems to refute the idea that Revelation is a divine document evergreen in its content, referring in equal measure to the past, the present, and the future. If he's right and it's primarily a historical document with few things for us to learn from it in modern times, we can safely ignore what I'm about to say. It bears studying, as all Scripture and History does, but it does not serve to guide us in these turbulent modern times.

If I'm right, though, and Scripture is not time-bound but timeless, then we certainly need to be on our toes. For one thing, the Euphrates river has never dried up in historical records, something that Revelation directly prophecies will happen on the day that the Whore of Babylon experiences her sevenfold tribulations. "The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east." - Revelation 16:12. However, it is drying up now.

But, let's look at Jimmy's evidence to see what he's got to say.

A Revelation of Events "Soon" to Take Place

Much of Jimmy Akin’s objection to applying Revelation’s prophecies to modern times seems to lie in the idea that John states it concerns events that will happen “soon” and he cites these passages for proof: 1:1, 2:16, 3:11, 22:6, 7, 12, 20. Let's take a look at these Scriptures and see what they say.

Revelation 1:1

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

He believes that the bulk of events must refer to the past, but offers no definitive proof about this except his opinion. After all, it says in Revelation 1:3 that the time of Christ’s return is “near.”

We do know that Christ returns to us, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in every Mass during the consecration of the host through the miracle of Transubstantiation so in a sense it is always taking place.

Yet I think that Jimmy would agree with me that Christ’s return in bodily form as He appeared to the disciples has not taken place and is still to come, along with final judgment despite there being more than 2,000 years that have passed since John wrote Revelation. Near obviously does not mean what we think it means, and that would indicate that neither does soon.

In fact, what John explicitly states that Christ ordered Him to write in Revelation 1:19 is this: “Now write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter.”

Revelation 2:16

“Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.”

The word “soon” is again used against a specific church this time, the church in Smyrna. And, over the last 2,000 years, that church has been crushed by bitter persecutions over and over again, but she still remains standing. And, still, Christ has not come to that Church except through the Holy Eucharist unless something took place that I am unaware of.

Revelation 3:11

“I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”

The word “soon,” if it is taken literally here as Jimmy seems to believe it should be, should read that Christ’s coming was soon. Yet I think he and I can both agree that hasn’t taken place. It doesn't seem that soon mean what he thinks it means.

Revelation 22:6-7

“And he said to me, These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon.”

These words are spoken by an angel to John, so it could be well that the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD is being referred to here when the angel promises he is coming “soon.”

That does not mean that all of Revelation, or even most of it, must necessarily apply strictly to the past and that it cannot possibly refer to anything in our present.

The Number of the Beast

“This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” – Revelation 13:18

Jimmy says, incorrectly, that Scripture states the number of the beast to be the number of a man’s name. He takes great pains to point to Caesar Nero, whose name adds up to 666 in the Hebrew system of letters and numbers.

Perhaps it’s a matter of translation. In my Scripture it states that the number is a human number, or a number of man.

I will also point out that in Hebrew, the number 6 is represented by the letter Va and is associated with humanity and incompleteness or imperfection. It’s associated with humanity because that is the day on which God created humanity. It is associated with incompleteness because God hadn’t yet finished His work on the earth until the following day, when He rested. It’s associated with imperfection because only when God completed His work was everything perfected.

So if we look at 666 as being a vast multiplying of the imperfections of humanity, it would be more like saying – in Hebrew – that it’s going to be at a point in time when the vast majority of people are not faithful to God. The vast majority of humanity will give itself over to wickedness and reject God.

We should always, when interpreting Scripture, look back toward other times when this number appears in order to help us get a proper frame of reference for its meaning so as not to take it out of the context in which it belongs.

The first Old Testament reference to the number 666 is in Ezra 2:13, in reference to the exiles from Israel return to Jerusalem. We read the clan of “Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six.”

It’s interesting that this gives us a name and that the name means, “The Lord Arises.” That would be a blasphemous name if not applied to someone who is elevated by the Lord to be a prophet or a priest or a king.

Now, we look to the next instance. 1 Kings 10:14, where it states, “The weight of gold that reached Solomon every year was six hundred and sixty-six talents…”

That’s a troublesome figure considering that the kings of Israel were prohibited by God from storing up gold for themselves. It’s a number that tells a story of a king so carried away by wealth that he’s multiplying the imperfections of his humanity, and indeed that’s exactly what we see going on in the life of Solomon.

That number and statement is repeated in 2nd Chronicles 2:13. So what we see in this is that the number 666 is twice associated with a vast amount of gold. And that may be our clue as to what seduces the majority of humanity into abandoning God to follow the beast.

In fact, we see in 1 Timothy 6:10 that Paul laments, “The love of money is a root from which every kind of evil springs, and there are those who have wandered away from the faith by making it their ambition, involving themselves in a world of sorrows.”

What gives extra credence to this particular interpretation is that they will leverage the ability to buy and sell things in order to get people to accept the mark of the beast. “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is , the name of the beast or the number of its name.” – Revelation 13:16-17

The Seven Heads of the First Beast in Revelation 13:1-10

Jimmy states that the seven heads of the beast are identified as seven mountains in Revelation 17:9. My translation states hills. Jimmy does say that, “Though this is not certain, these are likely the seven hills on which the city of Rome was built.”

He says there is “good evidence” that the beast from the sea is the pagan Roman Empire of the first century, and, in particular, the Roman emperor as its head, but doesn’t take the time to list that evidence.

The Beast Rising From the Sea

According to Revelation 13:1-10, here is what we know about the first beast: It will rise up out of the sea, but according to Revelation 17:15 this isn’t a reference to literal water but to “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” We can say then, with some certainty, that it will rise out of a sea of humanity. That means large numbers from all over the world are going to make up this beast. That fits with my earlier interpretation of the 666 number.

The 7 Heads of the Beast

It will have 7 heads. We know that these seven heads are seven hills but also, Revelation 17:10 tells us, “seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come and when he comes he must remain only a little while.”

Five of these rulers are in the past. Hammurabi, the King of Babylon, would be the first. Ramses, ruler of the Egyptian empire, would be the second. Cyrus, King of Persia would be third. Alexander, the ruler of the Grecian empire, would be the fourth.

John clearly tells us that one of those kings existed in his time. Nero would fit the bill, being the Emperor of Rome and thus in power over the vast majority of humanity.

However, the other has not yet come, John tells us. That’s how we can be sure that Revelation is NOT primarily concerned with events taking place around 60 a.d. Nero’s death wouldn’t come until 68 ad.

It’s this seventh king we must find. Although the reign of this king will be short, it will be terrible. The rise of this king will bring about with it the final days before Christ’s return.

The king we are seeking must control more power than the kings of the past combined. Rome’s control was almost – but not quite – absolute. There were vast expanses of the world undiscovered and not under its control. This king will have “the whole earth following it with wonder,” and the empire he controls will have, “authority over every tribe, people, tongue and nation.”

Coming Soon: The Quest for the Modern Whore of Babylon

To find the king, we need to find the beast. To find the beast, we must first find the whore that rides it.

I’ll conclude this first part of my series on the Book of Revelation by saying that dismissing Revelation’s prophecies as only pertaining to the past carries the dangers of leading us to miss the signs that are in the present day. Next week, I’ll present the picture I see when it comes to the Modern Whore of Babylon.