The Book of Revelation

I finally got around to read the Book of Revelation last night. It's the least I could do after all my postings related to the various figures appearing in that story. And it's not like it's a long read. An hour or two is all it takes to make a quick read through the whole thing.

My thinking related to this particular story is that it is deliberately cryptic in order to fit a large number of scenarios, but at the same time sufficiently specific so as not to be wide open to misinterpretation. The book is not merely about the last days of our present world order, but about all collapses that come from the application of systems that are incompatible with the teachings of Jesus.

When social engineers engage in experiments that deviate from the golden rule and the idea that we are all equal before the law, we end up in situations that fit with what's described in this story. The more outrageous the experiment, the better the fit. If we can't find any good fit, we're probably living in times of relative sanity. However, if we live in times of widespread madness, all sorts of things make sense.

Hence, the Book of Revelation can guide us through all sorts of troubles, provided we analyse it and assign the various poetic elements onto the correct real world entities. Having given the story a quick read, I'll note down some personal observations of my own, just to get started.

Others who are of the same inclination as I am can do the same for themselves. Keep in mind that we don't have to agree on the significance of all the elements for this to make sense. The story is deliberately cryptic so as to give every reader the opportunity to make their own personal interpretation. Hence, what follows is just one of many possible interpretations, with my interpretation being no better or worse than any other interpretation that's true to the story.

These are some thoughts related to passages that struck me as interesting:

1. There are real Jews and false Jews. The false ones are only Jews in name. They believe in Satan instead of God. This must be people who claim to be worshipping God, but who break the golden rule and see no reason to object to arbitrary justice.
2. There are persecutions and tribulations lasting ten years.
3. Recurring numbers are 12, 10, 7 and durations that correspond to 3.5 years.
4. One quarter of all people die when the fourth horseman appears at the beginning of the apocalypse. People are killed by sword, famine and plague, and also by the beasts of the world. I interpret beasts to be nation states and federations of various kinds.
5. There are two great beasts. One of the sea and the other of the land. I interpret this to be the Anglo-Saxon naval powers on the one hand and the Eurasian Powers associated with China on the other hand.
6. There are scorpion-like demons that have faces of humans, injecting people with a poison that torments them without killing them. This looks like some kind of botched vaccine campaign.
7. There's talk of an army of 200 million men. They are stationed east of Euphrates, but they cross this river when it dries up. One third of mankind is killed in this war.
8. There are earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts and pests.
9. A woman with a crown of 12 stars gives birth to a child. A red dragon tries to kill the child, but fails. This looks like Europe giving birth to Liberty, and China trying to kill it.
10. Babylon is a city that creates rulers, and where established rulers seek the blessings of a woman called Great Babylon. This looks like the seat of an empire, and would today be Washington and/or New York in the US.
11. Babylon is destroyed from within. Its great men and merchants use a combination of hypnotism, drugs and medicine to deceive the world.
12. The result of this trickery is a dramatic drop in birth rates.
13. All rulers and merchants dependent on Babylon end up broke and desolate.
14. There's a Book of Life. Only those mentioned in this book will live for ever. This looks like legacy. We must live life fully and truly so that something good flows from our actions. Our deeds need not be grand, only honest and good.
15. New Jerusalem is a city that descends from heaven. This looks like the seat of the new world order; the kingdom of God. Interestingly, it has no churches or temples. There's no organized religion. Everyone is inspired directly by God and the words of Jesus.
16. We are told not to argue with our spiritual opponents. Such arguments are futile and serve no purpose.
17. This world order lasts a thousand years before Satan tries again to conquer the world. However, he fails, and is forever defeated.
18. Finally, we're told to neither add nor subtract anything in this story. People should read it for themselves and make up their own minds as to what is presented. Don't take anyone else's words as the gospel.

I love this kind of stuff. It triggers the imagination, and it helps in a curious way. Things become both more poetic and more clear. It makes it easier to navigate through troubling times.

Great Babylon

By Henri-Marcel Magne - Self-photographed by GFreihalter, November 2018, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link