God's Character

Revelation 19: Demonic Self-Destruction

We have become accustomed to the reality of cosmic conflict in Revelation.  The conflict goes down to the wire.  "Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and against his army," John reports (Rev 19:19 NRS).  Soon, however, there will be a winner, and the war will be over.  How that happens is our subject when the journey continues.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 19: Whose Blood is on Jesus' Robe?

We are studying Revelation 19, and the end is in sight. The ending of a book tests the quality of our reading up to that point. Will the ending of Revelation spring any surprises on us? My hunch is that it will - even on the most seasoned reader.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 19: Who is the Audience?

We have faced many challenges in Revelation 17 and 18, looking at the beast as the state (political power) and the woman as the church (religious power). Perhaps the most intriguing is the depiction of the beast turning against the woman and burning her with fire. In the interpretation we are pursuing, this is an event or a reality that has not yet happened. But history may have seen something analogous to the drama in Revelation 17 and 18. During the French Revolution, the political power turned on the religious power with savage power, at one point virtually closing down the church. The collapse of this entrenched system at that time was significantly driven by a near financial collapse. The Revolution made the state the religion, as communism would do in the Soviet Union and as fascism would do in the Third Reich.

The dominating image in Revelation 19 is the rider on the white horse. This chapter in general and the rider on the white horse in particular are rich with allusions to the most wonderful prophecy in the Old Testament and to earlier passages in Revelation. The mutilated lamb in Revelation 5, a victim of violence, is clearly identical with the victorious rider on the white horse. What a battle it has been! What a strange but certain victory it is! And the blood on his robe comes from whom?

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 18: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Before moving into Revelation 19, a historical review of the unhealthy and coercive relationship that has existed between church and state -- a subject of much concern in the book of Revelation.

Echoes of this are seen in the reign of Jeroboam who changed dates, times and the place of worship in order to further his political agenda. The period of time from Constantine to the French Revolution will be considered and with applications to our present time.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 18: Who Destroys Babylon?

We are now moving ahead to Revelation 18, which seems to portray scenes of socioeconomic collapse amid images of much worse problems. The sins of Babylon are that she has become unfaithful, a medium for the demonic and that her "trade" is based on predation and exploitation. Fire is described as devouring Babylon. Who is the acting subject in this event?

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 17: War Theme and Harmagedon

Despite our difficulties with the 17th chapter of Revelation, I am hopeful that we will emerge from this chapter with an improved grasp of some of the details and with the momentum intact with respect to the big picture. The book says that there was a war in heaven. Will the war ever end? Where and how does it end? Why doesn’t it end sooner? Our book, of course, believes that the war will end even though it makes the journey seem long and tortuous. We should have no doubt, however, that the purpose of the book is to enable us to complete journey.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 17: The Devil is in the Details

We have slowed to a crawling pace in Revelation 17, but an Arabic saying says that speed is of the devil. At least we cannot be accused of speeding.  The present chapter offers an opportunity to put forward a new position on at least one issue that has confounded interpreters. And remember, we are still reading Revelation as a book that opens our minds to what was, what is, and what will be in human reality.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 17: Divine vs. Demonic Identity

We are on the hook in the maze of detail in Revelation 17.  Will our reading choke, or is it possible to emerge from this chapter with renewed momentum? Will we be amazed (appalled) for the same reason John was, or will we merely be confused? Will we be able to translate what we find into timely action in the present?

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 17: Embrace of Church and State

A chapter that is so full of specifics will also demand specific commitments from the interpreter. That is to say, the interpreter cannot play hide-and-seek with the demands of the specifics in the text (if we have been doing that). So what is it, the beast "that was, and is not, and is to come"? And what about the seven heads, "of whom five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come"?  If answers to these questions may remain tentative, I plan to share a perspective that I hope will be helpful, specific, and persuasive.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 17: John is Appalled

Even though much of Revelation 17 repeats scenes that have been described earlier, it is not strictly repetition. Why is John carried into the wilderness, of all places, in order to understand the mystery of the woman sitting on the beast? And why is he so amazed when he sees her, even appalled? And what about the following detail: “they are also seven kings, of whom five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes…” David Aune lists no less than nine different ways of counting the seven kings, and that within just one paradigm for how to count them. Have interpreters been barking up the wrong tree? Is it possible to walk away with what is truly important in this chapter even if we are unable to give definitive answers to all the details? It is my firm belief that it is.

Blessings, Sigve T.

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Revelation 16: The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

For the last two years Dr. Sigve Tonstad has led a class on the book of Revelation at Loma Linda University. During that time, we have eagerly looked forward to each class as Dr. Tonstad has slowly unfolded Revelation as a book that reveals the cosmic confict between God and Satan. God's character and way of governing the universe in the book of Revelation is most clearly represented by the slaughtered Lamb which not only symbolizes God's self-sacrificial love, but also His way of governing the universe. In contrast to most interpretations of Revelation, Dr. Tonstad also views Satan as an acting subject who plays a major role. In other words, Revelation also tells the story of the Dragon, and that storyline is also important because it is part of the evidence that defeats Satan and his kingdom in our minds.

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Revelation 11: One-Tenth and Seven Thousand

At that very moment there was a violent earthquake; a tenth of the city was destroyed, and seven thousand people were killed. (Rev 11:13)

Dates, times, and numbers are plentiful in the book of Revelation and there is an almost overwhelming temptation to “decode” all of these into a literal framework. Are the 144,000 saints of Revelation 7 a literal or symbolic group of individuals? In the trumpet phase of Revelation 8, one-third of everything seems to be destroyed. Is that a literal or symbolic fraction? The locusts of Revelation 9 are given power to torture people for five months. Revelation 11 describes forty-two months and 1,260 days (or are they years?). Two witnesses are killed, resurrected and then a violent earthquake destroys one-tenth of a city and seven thousand people die. In Revelation 12, a huge red dragon arises that has a specified number of heads and horns and is associated with the number 666.

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