Kalev Creative

1/25/2025, 2/8/2025

We’re reading through Revelation along with NT Wright’s Revelation for Everyone. These notes include discussions of topics of additional interest and attempt connections with more Old Testament material.

We briefly discussed who the dragon is, that it may not be a 1-1 correlation with the devil but is certainly on the same team with shared goals.

Its attributes, in symbolic numbers 10, 7, and 1/3, and its emergence from the sea suggest the possibility we should view it as God’s opposite. As in the image below, it emerges from the waters below as if from the underworld or perhaps the Genesis 1 chaos/uncreated space, while God’s throne room is above the waters above.

Considering whether these events have already occurred, we discussed the woman as possibly Mary and/or a composite of Israel and the church. If Mary, it’s possible this is a figurative recollection of the flight to Egypt through the Sinai desert. If the church, this imagery may signify that the church lives in a state reminiscent of the Israelites in the wilderness and of many other biblical figures who fled there – at risk, dependent on God, yet the beneficiaries of his miraculous providence. So, there is room for an ״already but not yet״ interpretation of this passage – it may refer to first century events and, because so many stories in the Bible appear to be part of a recurring cycle, also to events to come.  

Because the dragon goes off to wage war against the rest of the woman’s children, it appears this is an ongoing conflict. He returns to stand by the sea.  

A monster emerges from the sea, again with symbolic number attributes. It is a composite of predatory creatures. In the Old Testament, sin, sinful spiritual beings, and sinful people are often identified with predatory animals. (i.e. the Genesis 3 serpent, the Genesis 4 sin crouching at the door). As Jesus glorified the Father, this being curses him. As Jesus came to save the people of every nation, tribe, and tongue, this beast makes war on them. As every knee shall bow to Jesus, all on the earth who were not in the Book of Life worship this beast.

Many are killed and imprisoned, but the author encourages believers to persevere.  

A second monster emerges on the land and glorifies or points to the sea dragon, possibly as counterpart to Jesus who also came to earth and glorified the Father. It has horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. It makes people worship the first beast and performs signs including fire from heaven. This descending fire could recall the judgment of Sodom, Moses’ bush burning miraculously on the mountain, Elijah’s competition with the prophets of Baal, or Pentecost. As with the beast’s other attributes, the fire is likely a parody or inversion of God’s power.

The second monster compels people to be marked with a sign on the forehead and right hand. Earlier, we discussed Deuteronomy 6 where God tells the Israelites to write the words of the covenant he makes with them, “tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates” and that observant Jews still pray with tefillin, leather straps connected to boxes with Scripture passages in them.  

So the forehead and right hand markings may be a parody of Jewish religious practice.

Concerning the figure whose number is 666, in his book Revelation through Old Testament Eyes, Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III explains that some ancient manuscripts of Revelation used the number 666, while others 616. Presuming that both numbers would reference the same person who lived close to the time of Revelation’s composition, Longman writes, “Among the names and titles that have been proposed to solve the cryptogram, the most probable candidate is the emperor Nero. If we add the numerical values in the Hebrew spelling of the name Neron Caesar, we obtain 666; on the other hand, since his name can equally well be spelled without the last N, if we omit the final N, the total will be 616. There does not appear to be any other name, or a name with a title, that satisfies, both 666 and 616.” 

Given the possibility of interpreting these ideas through an “already but not yet” lens, if Nero satisfies a first century interpretation, a future instance of the number could still occur. If the number becomes significant again, we will have to rely on God to reveal how to use it to the people he wants know. 

While this will remain a difficult passage for interpreters until Revelation’s prophecy is fulfilled, by using imagery from earlier in Scripture, we can recognize ideas behind the symbols. They are not completely opaque. John draws on existing concepts to communicate, and we can at least get a feel for the ideas he’s expressing, the events he’s describing, even if we cannot fully comprehend.