Symbols in the Book of Revelation

I think the meanings of symbols in the Book of Revelation probably had the same meanings that the same symbols had in the Old Testament. The Bible is a unified document.

For example, since locusts in Joel were symbolic of a destructive army, then in Revelation locusts probably doesn't mean helicopters - it was probably just a symbol of some form of destruction, such as military destruction, the same as in Joel. That's how John himself might have understood the symbol.

Since in Daniel stars falling represented the disruption of everyday life and political upheavel, then in Revelation stars falling probably didn't mean comets - it probably just meant everyday life being disrupted and nations falling, same as in Daniel. That's how John's first-century readers might have understood the symbol.

Seeing beasts in Daniel represented rulers and kingdoms, then in Revelation beasts probably meant rulers or kingdoms too.

Comets falling might cause men's hearts to fear. But the Bible said all the stars of heaven fell and the heavens themselves were rolled-up! It's not just talking about a partial meteor shower! All the stars fell! The earth couldn't sustain life for a millenium after such an event, if it was fulfilled literally.

Comets can't be a fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel which said that the little horn would grow up to the stars and throw some of them down to the earth and step on them. That had to be symbolic. A human being couldn't have caused asteroids. And remember, this is the ruler who destroyed the Temple and city. They certainly didn't have technology back then that could cause asteroids!

Stars are part of normal everyday life. The stars are one thing that never changes from generation to generation. So when the Bible says the stars will fall, it was probably simply a symbolic way of saying everyday civilian life as it had been going-on for generations would be severely disrupted in a given location for a given time.

Stars also symbolized leadership. So when the Bible says the little horn will grow up to the stars then throw many of the stars down to the earth and step on them, it probably meant this ruler would expand his political control over a wide area and through military conquest even overthrow many nations that had been established for generations.

John was familiar with such Old Testament symbols, so in the Book of Revelation the angel probably used the same symbols in order to make the meaning of his message clear to John.

And John's first-century readers might also have been familiar with the same Old Testament symbols and their meanings - so the meanings of the symbols in Revelation might have been immediately clear to them also. That's what John intended. There wasn't meant to be any mystery about it. It wasn't meant to be a guessing game. We probably weren't meant to rely on 21st-century newspapers in order to make sense of the symbols. The Bible was already there to explain the symbols!

In Biblical symbolism, locusts often represented destruction, such as by an army - but it wasn't meant to describe the literal, physical appearance of the army. Stars falling represented calamity, such as political calamity - it didn't mean the physical stars were literally falling. John - and the seven churches - might have understood that symbolism.

Even the moon turning red probably may have had nothing to do with the physical moon. One verse says the moon will become red; another verse said the moon will cease giving any light at all. If that was talking about the physical moon, then it's contradictory because the moon can't look both red and black at the same time. But if it's simply a symbol of calamity and political upheavel, then it's not a contradiction - it makes sense. A red moon could symbolize blood shed and a moon not shining might symbolize 'lights-out' - a way of life being destroyed.

When a symbol already had an established use in Scripture, I question the hernemeutic that looks to events in today's newspapers, or to today's engineering, to give a new meaning to the symbols.

If locusts symbolized destruction through an army, it probably wasn't intended to describe the physical appearance of the war machinery - that is, John probably wasn't attempting to describe helicopters. Locusts described the fact of war, not the physical appearance of the engineering that would be used in the war.

Great men of God throughout the history of the Church often avoided the mistake of "newspaper exegesis". Instead, it is obvious in their commentaries that they used the meanings of Old Testament symbols in order to understand the meanings of symbols in the Book of Revelation. They used the Bible to explain the Bible.

But many modern eschatologists are using current affairs - the newspaper - to try to make sense of Bible-prophecy. They don't see the locusts and stars as symbols. They think John was seeing helicopters and attempting to describde them. They think the universe is literally going to fold-up. And that's why their predictions always flop - because the newspaper keeps changing, but God's Word never changes.

Use the newspaper to understand the Book of Revelation, and your predictions will flop. Use the Bible to understand the Book of Revelation, and you'll avoid repeating the same cycle of flopped predictions.

Newspaper exegesis says: Locusts = helicopters. Bible exegesis says: locusts = destruction, such as by an army. Newspaper exegesis says: Stars falling = comets. But Bible exegesis says: stars falling = political upheavel. Newspaper exegesis says: universe being rolled-up = literal end of the physical universe; Bible exegesis says sun and moon going dark, stars falling etc = upheavel in society.

As one Bible Interpretation Hint says: 'If it is new [not in the Bible] it cannot be true." Lol!

Back to the Bible - that's what I'm trying to do - in regard to interpreting the symbols in the Book of Revelation.