REPETITION IN REVELATION

After composing 1,700 posts on the subject of the Bible, I hope you will forgive me if I revisit some ground I covered earlier. After all, repetition is the hallmark of most biblical writings. And it is especially important to realize this fact when attempting to make sense out of the Book of Revelation. Much of what I am going to say below was covered in an earlier post titled “Book of Revelation: Introduction to the Literary Structure.”

There are many ways in which to read through this obtuse and bizarre work, and each approach has its own advantages. Thus, it can be viewed as an account in which events are told from an earthly viewpoint and then from a heavenly perspective. And this skipping back and forth between the two lenses occurs not once, but up to sixteen times in the book. There may be some discussion as to whether each earthly-heavenly pair represents the same events or different ones, but one should immediately recognize that a strictly chronological reading of the book is not in order.

Another popular way to view the book is as a group of seven cycles, the whole of which may or may not be arranged in chronological order.

Major Sections in Revelation

1. Seven Letters to the Churches (Rev. 1-4)

2. Seven Seals (Rev. 5:1-8:1)

3. Seven Trumpets (Rev. 8:2-11:18)

4. Bizarre Beasts (Rev. 11:19-14:20)

5. Seven Bowls (Rev. 15-16)

6. Downfall of Harlot and Beasts (Rev. 17-19)

7. Defeat of Satan; New Heaven & Earth (Rev. 20-22)

But within each of these seven sections there is rarely a chronological order indicated. Instead each can 

be viewed as arranged in a symmetrical literary order instead, utilizing either parallel series such as 

ABC-A'B'C' or in a mirror image fashion as in ABC-C'B'A'. Alternatively, we may look at the book thematically to see that the first half is revisited (by parallel or contrasting ideas) in reverse order in the second half :

I. Introduction (1:1-4:11)

                                        II. Destruction on the Earth and its Inhabitants (5:1-11:19)

III. Judgment on God’s Enemies (12:1-20:15)

A. Demonic Forces on the Earth (12:1-16:1)

B. The Seven Plagues (16:2-21)

A'. The Fall of the Demonic Forces (17:1-20:15)

II'. The New Heaven and Earth and their Inhabitants (21:1-22:5)

I'. Conclusion (22:6-21)

The large number of common themes and Greek words in I and I' point particularly to this sort of arrangement. Note especially the fact that it is in I and I' that God/Jesus is seen to be with His people. And if it seems strange that this sort of arrangement appears to point to IIIB in the middle of the book as a focal point, consider the fact that in the middle of that literary unit we come across the pronouncement “It is finished!,” almost identical to Jesus' words on the cross.

But there is another completely different way to read the book, one called progressive recapitulation. The concept can be illustrated most simply by considering similar phrases which appear more than once in the book:

    This calls for wisdom.. Rev. 13:18

    This calls for a mind with wisdom. Rev. 17:9

--------

lightnings and sounds and thunders (4:5)

thunders and sounds and lightnings and quaking (8:5)

lightnings and sounds and thunders and quaking and great hail (11:19)

lightnings and sounds and thunders and great quaking...and great hail (16:18-21)

Notice that within each series, some of the wording is repeated but also more information is added with each subsequent appearance.

Thus, on a larger scale we can view each of the roughly seven cycles in the book as containing much of the same material from the first to the second appearing of Jesus Christ using quite different imagery each time around. However, this is not a mere repetition of identical events. As one progresses from one cycle to the next, some of the earlier chronological events are dropped off in order to add more detail to those events taking place at a later time period. This process might be shown pictorially in the following manner in which the time frame runs from left to right:

        --------------------

                    ----------------

                                --------- , etc.

You can see how those who read the book in a strictly chronological manner (from top to bottom) could be easily misled since the concentration on the earlier events appears in the earliest cycles and we are given the most information concerning the final days in the later cycles.

But the problem of reading the book chronologically is only too evident since it leads to proposing the repetition of the same or similar events if one is to be entirely consistent. For example, according to a straightforward chronological reading of Revelation, there will be three separate times that forces of evil will arise, each followed by godly reigns on earth. As another example, believers in a strictly chronological view have to propose seven different “last” judgments occurring throughout the book. These have actually been labeled by dispensational premillennialists as The Great White Throne Judgment, Judgment of Israel at Christ's Second Coming, of Living Gentiles, of Old Testament Saints, of Satan, of the Church, and of the Tribulation Saints.

Other examples of such duplication:

Trumpets (Revelation 8:2-11:18) and Bowls (Revelation 15-16): There is the same order of events in 

both series:

    A. Earth B. Sea C. Rivers D. Sun E. Throne of the beast F. Euphrates G. Second Coming in Judgment

Then we have the following repeated events:

Gathering together of enemies for the great battle: 16:12-16; 19:19; 20:8 (but no battle occurs)

Babylon falls: 14:8; 16:19; chs. 17-18

Satan is cast down and his influence curbed: 11:2-6; 12:9; 20:2-3

Satan rises from the pit: 11:7; 20:7

People suffer torment but do not repent: 9:20-21; 16:9-11

One-third of the stars are swept from heaven: 8:12; 12:4

John falls down to worship an angel and is chastised twice: 19:10; 22:8-9. You would think he had 

learned his lesson the first time.

Every one of these multiple occurrences (and others) disappears once one stacks the seven repeated 

cycles on top of one another. Thus, one is left with only one second coming rather than a “secret” 

coming and a public one; there is only one kingdom of God on earth at the end of time rather than it 

being preceded by an interim millennial kingdom; and only one last judgment, etc.

And, in case you may feel that this sort of progressive recapitulation is a strange way to write a book, 

the identical scheme is used to compose the other apocalyptic writings in the OT, including Ezekiel 

38-39, the whole book of Daniel, and Zechariah 1-6.

But we are still confronted by the question: Why all the duplications? One possible way to explain the 

phenomenon comes from a much earlier vision described in the Bible – the dual dream given by God 

to Pharaoh in Genesis 41. Two completely different images are given to him that have exactly the same 

meaning. Joseph explains it by saying, “The dream of Pharaoh is one...And the doubling of Pharaoh's 

dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” So it is no surprise 

that in the final revelation in the Bible, many of the events are actually recounted using completely 

different imagery each time as many as seven different times, seven being the biblical number 

indicating completeness or perfection.

The basic mistake consists in looking at Revelation is as a chronologically accurate future history 

book. Instead, it is a series of brilliant images aimed more at our imagination than our logical minds. 

So another analogy I might use to explain the technique the author utilized in the book comes from the 

world of music. Those of you familiar with, for example, orchestral pieces such as a Beethoven 

symphony or a tone poem like Smetana's “The Moldau,” will recognize that the composers will often 

begin a piece or a movement within a piece by introducing a faint rendering of a portion of the tune 

perhaps at first only played in the background by a soloist. Then a few minutes later, that same musical 

theme might recur a little stronger and more completely. So that by the end of the piece when the entire 

theme is boomed out by the entire orchestra, the listener is already prepared for it and it appears as the 

only totally inevitable conclusion. Or if you are no fan of classical music, most Broadway musicals in 

the final act will introduce few if any new tunes. Instead they will repeat the blockbuster hits that a 

single character sang in the first act, but this time it is rendered by the entire ensemble.

The main reason for such repetitions is to more fully engage our imagination and emotions.