Seven letters, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. Most commentators (Beale, Osborne, Mounce, Bauckham) see the seals, trumpets and bowls telescoping, the seventh of each opening the next. Futurists read them as one sequence of future events; idealists and most amillennial readers see the same age told three times with rising intensity. That one decision drives more of the imagery than any other. Below, the eleven blocks of the book in order. For each: what it says, who reads it literally and who reads it as symbol, what a painter would need, and which series of the collection pictures it.
BLOCK 1 · REVELATION 1
The vision of the Son of Man
1:1, 1:7, 1:10-11, 1:12-16, 1:17-18, 1:20
John, exiled on Patmos, hears a voice like a trumpet on the Lord's day and turns to see the risen Christ standing among seven golden lampstands. He falls as though dead; a hand is laid on him. The book names itself in its first line, the revelation of Jesus Christ, and gives the reader its first key in verse 20: the stars are the messengers of the churches, the lampstands are the churches.
“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
REVELATION 1:18
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The book itself says 1:20 is symbolic, so every school treats the stars and lampstands as symbols. The figure of Christ is real, but described in the language of Daniel 7 and Daniel 10, which all schools agree is vision language, not a portrait.
PAINTER'S KITSeven golden lampstands, a long robe with a golden sash, hair white as wool, eyes like flame, feet like bronze in a furnace, a voice like many waters, seven stars in the right hand, a sharp two-edged sword from the mouth, a face like the sun at full strength, the keys of death and hell. Palette: gold, white, bronze, sun-glare. Setting: Patmos shore or cave.
PICTURED INSeries IV, The Son of Man
BLOCK 2 · REVELATION 2-3
Letters to the seven churches
2:4, 2:10, 2:17, 3:1, 3:8, 3:15-16, 3:20
Before any prophecy, the book is mail. Seven short letters to seven real congregations on a postal circuit in Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. Each gets a word of praise or rebuke fitted to its city, and a reward for the one who overcomes: the tree of life, the crown of life, a white stone, hidden manna, the morning star, white garments, a pillar in the temple, a seat on the throne.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.”
REVELATION 3:20
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?All schools agree these were real cities and real churches. Two extras: an older dispensational reading (Scofield notes, some Dallas-tradition teachers) took the seven as seven successive ages of church history; most current commentators, including dispensational ones like Walvoord, hold that loosely or set it aside. And 3:10, the promise to keep Philadelphia from the hour of trial, is a Rapture proof text; see the table below.
PAINTER'S KITSeven distinct cityscapes with local color: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the great altar of Pergamum, Laodicea's lukewarm aqueduct water and eye salve, Thyatira's purple dye, the acropolis of Sardis. The rewards as objects: tree, crown, white stone, manna, star, white robe, pillar, throne. The Speaker at a door.
PICTURED INSeries V, Seven Churches
BLOCK 3 · REVELATION 4-5
The throne room, the scroll, the Lamb
4:1, 4:3, 4:6-8, 5:1, 5:5, 5:6, 5:9
A door opens in heaven. John sees a throne ringed by an emerald rainbow, twenty-four elders in white with golden crowns, four living creatures full of eyes, a sea of glass like crystal, and a scroll sealed with seven seals that no one is worthy to open. John weeps. Then he is told to look at the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and what he sees is a Lamb standing as though it had been slain. The Lamb takes the scroll, and heaven sings a new song.
“Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book.”
REVELATION 5:5
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?A heavenly liturgy scene in every school. The creatures, the twenty-four elders, the seven torches and the sea of glass are read as theophany imagery drawn from Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6. The elders are Israel plus the church (twelve and twelve) in most readings, angelic beings in some.
PAINTER'S KITEmerald rainbow halo, sea of glass, twenty-four white-robed elders casting gold crowns down, four creatures (lion, ox, man, eagle; six wings; full of eyes), seven torches, a scroll written inside and out, lightning and thunder from the throne. Palette: emerald, crystal-white, jasper red, gold. The one on the throne is given only as jewel-color, so paint light, not a face.
PICTURED INSeries VI, Throne Room
BLOCK 4 · REVELATION 6-8:1
The seven seals and the four horsemen
6:2, 6:4, 6:5-6, 6:8, 6:9-11, 6:12-14, 7:4, 7:9, 8:1
The Lamb opens the seals. Four riders go out: a white horse with a bow and a crown, a red horse with a great sword, a black horse with a pair of scales, a pale horse whose rider is Death with Hell following. Under the altar, the souls of the slain cry out how long. The sixth seal blackens the sun and rolls up the sky. Then a pause: 144,000 are sealed from the tribes of Israel, a multitude no one can number stands in white with palm branches, and the seventh seal opens onto half an hour of silence in heaven.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
REVELATION 6:8
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The horsemen are read as symbols of conquest, war, famine and death by everyone, with Zechariah 1 and 6 behind them. The rider on the white horse is disputed: a counterfeit Christ or Antichrist (Walvoord, MacArthur, many futurists, and Beale) or the advance of the gospel (Irenaeus and some older readings). The 144,000: literal Jewish evangelists from the twelve tribes (dispensational futurists) or the whole church as true Israel (Beale, Bauckham, most amillennial and many historic premillennial readers). The sixth-seal sky signs: literal (futurist) or the Old Testament's language for the fall of powers (idealist and preterist).
PAINTER'S KITFour horses (white, fiery red, black, and pale grey-green, the Greek chloros), bow, sword, balance scales, Hell following. An altar with souls beneath and white robes handed out. A blackened sun, a blood moon, stars falling like figs, the sky as a rolled scroll. Angels holding four winds. A seal on foreheads. Palm branches. And the rarest quiet image in the book: half an hour of silence.
PICTURED INSeries VII, Seven Seals
BLOCK 5 · REVELATION 8-11
The seven trumpets, the little scroll, the two witnesses
8:7-12, 9:1-11, 9:16, 10:9-10, 11:3, 11:7-12, 11:15
Seven angels sound seven trumpets. Hail and fire mixed with blood, a burning mountain thrown into the sea, a star called Wormwood, a third of the sun and moon and stars darkened. The fifth trumpet opens the bottomless pit and locusts pour out with human faces and gold crowns under a king named Abaddon. John is handed a little scroll and told to eat it: sweet in the mouth, bitter in the stomach. Two witnesses prophesy 1,260 days in sackcloth, are killed by the beast, lie in the street three and a half days, and rise at the words come up hither. The seventh trumpet sounds, and heaven declares the kingdom has changed hands.
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
REVELATION 11:15
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The trumpets echo the plagues of Exodus. Futurists (Walvoord, MacArthur) take the ecological damage fairly literally, often with a third as a real proportion. The locusts are demonic in nearly every reading, since they come from the pit and have a king; the 1970s reading of them as attack helicopters (Hal Lindsey) is rejected by commentators of every school, futurist included. The two witnesses: two literal end-time prophets, often Moses and Elijah or Enoch and Elijah, because the signs match (the futurist majority); or the witnessing church in its prophetic role, since two lampstands are two churches by the key in 1:20 (Beale, Bauckham, most idealists). The 1,260 days, 42 months, and time, times and half a time recur through chapters 11 to 13: a literal three and a half years (futurist) or a symbol for the whole age of pressure between the two comings (idealist).
PAINTER'S KITSeven angels with trumpets, a censer hurled to earth, a burning mountain, a falling star, darkened thirds of sky, smoke from a shaft, locust cavalry with lions' teeth and iron breastplates and scorpion tails, riders in breastplates of fire and sapphire and sulphur, a mighty angel wrapped in cloud with a rainbow on his head and legs like pillars of fire straddling sea and land, a tiny open scroll, two figures in sackcloth beside two olive trees and two lampstands, fire from their mouths, bodies in a street, a cloud ascension, an earthquake, and the temple in heaven opened with the ark visible (11:19).
PICTURED INSeries VIII, Seven Trumpets, and Series IX, Two Witnesses
BLOCK 6 · REVELATION 12-14
The woman, the dragon, the two beasts, the mark
12:1, 12:3, 12:5, 12:7-9, 13:1-2, 13:3, 13:11, 13:16-18, 14:1, 14:14-20
The book steps behind the curtain. A woman clothed with the sun gives birth to a male child who will rule with a rod of iron; a great red dragon with seven heads waits to devour him. War in heaven, Michael against the dragon, and the dragon is thrown down and named: that old serpent, the Devil. He raises two beasts, one from the sea with the parts of a leopard, a bear and a lion, one from the earth with two horns like a lamb and the voice of a dragon. Everyone must take a mark on the right hand or forehead to buy or sell, and the number of the beast is given as 666. Against them stand the Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000, three flying angels, and two harvests: grain gathered in, and grapes trodden in the winepress of God's wrath.
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man.”
REVELATION 13:18
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?Symbolic in every school; the argument is over what the symbols point to. The woman: Israel (most evangelicals), the church, Mary (Catholic tradition), or the people of God across both covenants (Beale). The dragon is Satan by the text's own word (12:9). The beast from the sea: a future personal Antichrist heading a world empire (the futurist and majority evangelical view); Rome and her emperors, often Nero (preterists such as Gentry and Chilton, and many critical scholars); or the state whenever it demands worship (idealists such as Beale and Hendriksen). The beast from the earth, the false prophet, is the religious propaganda arm of the first in every school. 666: the Hebrew letter-count of Nero Caesar, which also explains the ancient variant 616 (a preterist and critical mainstay that many evangelicals accept at least as the first-century reference); falling short of seven, the number of completeness (Beale); or a future identifier or implant (popular futurist). The mark on hand and forehead is a parody of God's seal on his people in 7:3 and Deuteronomy 6:8.
PAINTER'S KITA sun-robed woman with the moon under her feet and twelve stars on her head; a seven-headed red dragon sweeping a third of the stars with its tail; a wilderness refuge on eagle's wings; a river from the serpent's mouth swallowed by the earth; the sea-beast composite with ten crowned horns and a healed head wound; the earth-beast with lamb's horns; an image that speaks; fire from heaven as a counterfeit sign; the number; Zion with harpists; three flying angels; sickles; a winepress. Palette: red, sea-grey, sun-gold, harvest gold, wine-dark.
PICTURED INSeries X, The Dragon and the Beasts (with the Rev 14 harvests)
BLOCK 7 · REVELATION 15-16
The seven bowls
15:2-3, 16:2, 16:3-4, 16:8, 16:10, 16:12, 16:13, 16:16, 16:17, 16:21
Beside a sea of glass mingled with fire, the conquerors sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Then seven angels in linen with golden sashes pour out seven bowls: sores on those who carry the mark, the sea and the rivers turned to blood, the sun scorching, the beast's kingdom plunged into darkness, the Euphrates dried so the kings of the east can cross, three unclean spirits like frogs gathering the kings of the earth to a place called Armageddon. A voice from the throne says it is done. The great city splits in three, and hailstones the weight of a talent fall.
“And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”
REVELATION 16:17
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The bowls intensify the trumpets (thirds become totals) and echo Exodus again. Futurists: literal judgments in the final year. Preterists: the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, or of Rome. Idealists: the final form of God's judgment on the beast's world. Armageddon, the mount of Megiddo: a literal battlefield on the plain of Jezreel (futurist), or a symbol for the last confrontation, since Megiddo has no mountain (Beale; Osborne notes both).
PAINTER'S KITSeven angels in linen with golden sashes, golden bowls, a temple filled with smoke, a sea of glass with fire in it, boils, blood seas, a scorching sun, darkness, a dry Euphrates riverbed, frog-spirits, gathering armies, lightning, a city split in three, hail.
PICTURED INSeries XI, Seven Bowls and Babylon
BLOCK 8 · REVELATION 17-18
Babylon the Great
17:3-5, 17:6, 17:9, 17:16, 18:2, 18:11-17, 18:21
An angel carries John into the wilderness to see a woman in purple and scarlet, seated on a scarlet beast with seven heads, holding a golden cup, drunk with the blood of the saints, and wearing a name on her forehead: Mystery, Babylon the Great. The seven heads are seven hills. The beast she rides will turn on her and burn her. Then the fall: in a single hour the great city is gone, and the merchants and sea captains who grew rich on her stand far off and weep over the cargo list, which ends with slaves, and the souls of men. A mighty angel throws a millstone into the sea; there will be no more music, no more millwork, no more lamplight.
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils.”
REVELATION 18:2
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?Babylon is a cipher in every school, and John says so (17:5, a name of mystery; 17:18, the great city). Rome, on seven hills, is the near-universal first-century referent and is accepted by most commentators of all schools at least as the primary image. Jerusalem: Gentry, Chilton and other preterists, reading the great city back from 11:8. A rebuilt literal Babylon in Iraq: Walvoord, Charles Dyer, some futurists. The world's system of commerce, luxury and idolatry in every age: idealists, and Bauckham's economic critique of Rome.
PAINTER'S KITA woman in purple and scarlet on a scarlet seven-headed beast, a jeweled gold cup, a forehead inscription, a wilderness, seven hills, ten kings, a burning city seen from ships at sea, merchants and captains weeping, a cargo still-life (gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, ivory, spices, wine, oil, horses, chariots), an angel with a millstone, the silence of harps and mills and lamps. Dignity note: the prostitute image is a prophetic metaphor for idolatry, as in Hosea and Ezekiel 16 and 23. Paint opulence and enthronement, never sexualized figures.
PICTURED INSeries XI, Seven Bowls and Babylon
BLOCK 9 · REVELATION 19
Hallelujah, the marriage supper, the Rider
19:6-7, 19:8, 19:9, 19:11-16, 19:17-18, 19:20
Heaven roars hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns, and the marriage of the Lamb has come; his bride has made herself ready in bright, clean linen, which the text says is the righteous deeds of the saints. Then heaven opens and a white horse comes out. Its Rider is called Faithful and True, his eyes are a flame of fire, he wears many crowns and a name no one knows, his robe is dipped in blood, a sharp sword goes out of his mouth, and on his robe and thigh is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The armies of heaven follow on white horses. A second supper is called, for the birds, and the beast and the false prophet are taken and thrown alive into the lake of fire.
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
REVELATION 19:16
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The return itself is literal and bodily in every evangelical school. The sword from the mouth, the blood-dipped robe and the birds' feast are symbols of the Word's judgment, not a gore scene; even Walvoord says the sword is the Word. Timing: pre-tribulation futurists place the marriage supper in heaven during the tribulation; post-tribulation and amillennial readers place it at the consummation.
PAINTER'S KITTwo suppers set deliberately against each other (the bride's feast, the birds' feast), a white horse, a Rider with many crowns and fire for eyes, a robe dipped in blood, a sword from the mouth rendered as light or Word, armies of heaven in white linen on white horses, an angel standing in the sun, an iron rod, a winepress.
PICTURED INSeries XII, King of Kings
BLOCK 10 · REVELATION 20
The thousand years, Gog and Magog, the great white throne
20:1-3, 20:4, 20:5-6, 20:7-9, 20:10, 20:11, 20:12, 20:14
An angel with a key and a great chain binds the dragon for a thousand years. Thrones are set, and those beheaded for their witness come to life and reign with Christ; this is the first resurrection. When the thousand years end, Satan is loosed, gathers Gog and Magog from the four corners of the earth against the beloved city, and fire comes down from heaven. The devil joins the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire. Then a great white throne, before which earth and sky flee; the dead, small and great, stand before God; the books are opened, and another book, which is the book of life; and death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life.”
REVELATION 20:12
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?The dividing passage for the millennial views. Premillennial (a real future reign after the return, whether 1,000 literal years or a long era): Walvoord, MacArthur, Ladd, Mounce, Osborne. Amillennial (the thousand years is the present age between the two comings, Satan bound from deceiving the nations, the saints reigning now in heaven): Beale, Storms, Hendriksen, Riddlebarger. Postmillennial (a golden age produced by the gospel's success before Christ returns): Gentry, Chilton, and older Reformed voices like Edwards and Hodge. Gog and Magog from Ezekiel 38 and 39: literal nations (futurist) or the whole of hostile humanity (idealist). The great white throne is the literal final judgment in every school.
PAINTER'S KITAn angel with a great chain and key, a sealed pit, thrones, a thousand years shown as a calendar or tree rings or generations or long-exposure light, nations at the four corners ringing the beloved city, fire from heaven, a white throne so bright that earth and sky flee, open books, the book of life, a lake of fire, Death personified and cast down.
PICTURED INSeries XII, King of Kings, as a Revelation 20 bridge set carrying the three millennial readings on its cards
BLOCK 11 · REVELATION 21-22
New heaven, new earth, New Jerusalem, the invitation
21:1, 21:2, 21:3-4, 21:6, 21:16, 21:18-21, 21:22-23, 22:1-2, 22:4, 22:16, 22:17, 22:20
A new heaven and a new earth, and no more sea. The holy city comes down from God like a bride adorned for her husband. God himself dwells with his people and wipes away every tear; no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. The city is measured as a cube, twelve thousand furlongs each way, with walls of jasper, twelve foundation stones of twelve gems, twelve gates each a single pearl, and streets of gold clear as glass. There is no temple, because God and the Lamb are its temple, and no sun, because the Lamb is its lamp. A river of the water of life runs down the middle of the street with the tree of life on both banks, its leaves for the healing of the nations. They shall see his face. The book ends with a bride saying come, and a Lord saying surely I come quickly.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.”
REVELATION 21:4
SYMBOLIC OR LITERAL?A literal renewed cosmos and a literal city (the futurist majority and many premillennialists); or the city as the redeemed people themselves, the bride, with the cube echoing the Holy of Holies (Beale, Bauckham; and common among premillennialists too for the measurements). Sources behind the vision: Ezekiel 40 to 48, Isaiah 60, Genesis 2.
PAINTER'S KITA descending cube-city; twelve gates, each a single pearl bearing a tribe's name; twelve foundations of jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth and amethyst; transparent gold streets; no sea; a crystal river from the throne down the middle of the street; the tree of life on both banks; no night; the Lamb as lamp; open gates; nations bringing their glory in; the face of God, kept as light.
PICTURED INSeries XIII, New Jerusalem
