If we placed in a time capsule a present-day political cartoon depicting a donkey and an elephant, what would people think about it a thousand years from now? Without our context, they might think, “In the 21st century America donkeys and elephants did not like each other.” Someone might see it as a sign of the future. When we see a donkey and an elephant fighting, we will know it is the end of the world. But if one of us could travel into the future, we could explain that it was really about a battle between Democrats and Republicans.
Something like this could happen to us as we read the book of Revelation today. This book falls in the genre of Apocalyptic literature and it is not unique in the ancient world. In this kind of literature, the writers used symbols to communicate a message. In the first century, Christians who read this book did not look for a woman riding on a scarlet beast. They knew it was an image and they understood it. The city of Rome sat on many waters, had seven hills, and did commerce with the nations. In 17:18, John tells us the woman is Rome. But his readers likely already knew it.
Without a key, we may be tempted to make all of Revelation about the future. In fact, John wrote to first-century Christians who were being persecuted by an emperor of Rome named Domitian. He was killing the Christians. John sees this vision and writes it down to offer hope to the people who are in despair. The great city of Rome with its corrupt rulers would eventually fall. God’s people would not suffer endlessly.
The book of Revelation calls on God’s people of every generation to persevere in times of persecution. We can endure because we place our hope in the God who is working out his ultimate plan. Things are not the way they are supposed to be, but they are not always going to be like this. God is going to make everything new. He has already started with us. We are redeemed, and so someday will be the created universe. What a day that will be! Lions and lambs will get along. Maybe even donkeys and elephants?
