THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE PROPHECY

APOCALYPTICISM Part II

LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE ?

Categorizing Revelation as apocalyptic also influences how one interprets Revelation’s numbers. Others apocalypses typically used numbers to convey concepts rather than count units ( Gregg, pp. 11- 12 ). Thus categorizing Revelation as apocalyptic literature moves the interpreter away from a literal understanding of Revelation’s number and more towards a symbolic interpretation. many concludes that the number 1000 mentioned six times in Revelation 20 refers to an extended period of rather than a literal 1000 years. Others show a similar reluctance to take the number 144,000 ( Revelation 7 ) literally. Still others have questioned a literal interpretation of the numerical measurements of the eternal city described in Revelation 21-22. Many Futurist scholars believe that various numbers found in Revelation, such as 1260 days ( Revelation 12:6 ) or 42 months ( Revelation 11:2; 13:5 ) are direct references to the unfulfilled aspect of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy ( Daniel 9:24 – 27 ). The first 483 years ( 69 sevens ) of this prophecy were exactly fulfilled to the day, so it stands to reason that the prophecy’s unfulfilled aspects will also be fulfilled to the minutest detail. Thus , the numbers 1260 days and 42 months are not merely communicating concepts– they are specific count units. Revelation contains no verifiably symbolic numbers. Rather, nonsymbolic utilization of numbers is the norm.