The Interpretation Of Figurative Language
Metaphors And Symbolical Passage
The symbolical pictures of Revelation versus a literal interpretation. All the literal passages in the Bible which use words like death, die, destruction, life, it is insisted that only one word be interpreted figuratively in these passages, not the whole passage, until they come to a book that is figurative, then it is insisted that the figurative be interpreted as being literal. It is a hopeless cause that requires such poor handing of God's word.
THE FIFTH SEAL - SOULS UNDER AN ALTAR
A symbolical picture [Revelation 6:9]: To understand this scripture we must keep it in the context. John was seeing a vision of what was to come to pass after the time he was writing [Revelation 4:1]. When we read the symbolism of Revelation, we must remember that the figures symbolizes something that is a word picture and are not to be taken literally. We must look for what is symbolized and not make the symbols into something real or literal. The red horse of Revelation 6:3 is not a literal or real red horse. John did not see a literal or real vision of what Heaven is actually like when he saw a view of horses in Heaven or souls under an altar. None of the symbols can be taken literally. The fifth seal is figurative just as the other seals were. Souls are not literally living under 311
an altar. That the symbolic souls under an altar must made into literal souls shows the weakness of this belief. Even those who believe souls go to their eternal abode in Heaven at death do not believe souls are now living in a prison under an altar, but they are desperate for any passage to prove we now have in immortal soul that goes to Heaven or Hell at death that they make it literal even if the souls must be living under an altar, even if it puts a literal altar in Heaven.
Souls under the altar crying out in Revelation 6:9 is similar to Abel's blood that "cries unto me from the ground" [Genesis 4:10]. Both are figurative and not literal. The fifth seal is only one of six seals in this vision, and cannot be made literal while the others are figurative. Is the 5th seal literal, but the 6th one figurative? Read all six. The 5th seal is taken out of context. Souls under an altar are no more literal than white, red, black, and pale horses running around in Heaven are. Like the horses, they are part of a symbolic picture. But when you take at look at the seven seals, they are all of things that are on this earth, not things that are in Heaven. In the symbolic picture(s), things of this earth are seen in Heaven that is not literally there. There are not literally horses in Heaven.
Souls under the altar is an allusion to the Jewish altar on which their sacrifices was offered, not to a real altar in Heaven. If this symbolism were made literal, not even those who believe we have a part of us that lives after the death of the body believes what this passage would say, that an immortal immaterial part of a person lives under an altar.
"That the blood of the sacrifices was poured out at 'the base' of the altar [Lev 4:7,18,30 et all.]. Therefore, when the blood was poured out, it was the life that was being offered. The 'souls' [psuchas], which John saw beneath the altar, was the lives of those who had been sacrificed for Christ." Homer Hailey, "Revelation, An Introduction and Commentary," Baker Book House, Page 194, Hailey was dean of Bible at Florida College.
The life is in the blood, which was under the altar. Psukee is translated "life" about as much as it is "soul." Lives would be a better translation of psukee than "souls?" The blood of the sacrifice was poured at the base of an altar. The life was in the blood
[Genesis 9:4, Deuteronomy 12:23]. Just as the blood of Abel cried out from the ground for justice [Genesis 4:10], the blood of these who were sacrificed for Christ cries out for justice. It will come at the judgment. This symbol picture is taken from something on this earth before the judgment, not a literal picture of Heaven. Can anyone believe John literally saw souls living under the altar on which they were killed and that this altar where they were killed has been moved from earth to in Heaven?
"The souls of this altar scene are represented as the sacrifices of life in the aggregate slain for the word of God...the souls under the altar: as the figurative altar of this vision signifies martyrdom, the phrase under the altar describes the scene of defeat. The cause for which they were offered was represented as being despised and defeated. But it was temporary, because the same souls were removed from beneath the altar of chapter 6, and elevated to the thrones in chapter 20, signifying the resurrection of the cause for which they had died." Foy E. Wallace "The Book Of Revelation,"
Wallace Publications, 1966, Page 150.
The Protestant version of Hell is that the lost are now in Hell being tormented with more torment than anything we can know, but it has the saved that Protestants teach are now in Heaven now under an altar and are now wanting more torment on those who they believe are now being tormented in Hell. What would you think of some you now know that were seeing many being tormented by some one, if they were asking to see more torment? To make this passage literal to prove torment in Hell makes those in Heaven be more heartless than any living person and makes them be completely without any love.
They would be seeing the agony and hearing the crying of unceasing anguish and asking for more.
SYMBOLIC PICTURES
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A literal altar in Heaven? There cannot be literal souls on a symbolic altar. If the souls are literal, then the altar must also be literal; when one part of the vision is made literal, there is nowhere to stop without making the whole vision literal. What sacrifice is made on this literal altar in Heaven? If the altar were literal, then there would be literal death in Heaven, for to have a literal sacrifice on the literal alter there must be a literal death of what is sacrificed. What would be the reason for the sacrifice? Not for sin, for there is none in Heaven. Who is making the sacrifice? Do angels have a reason to make a sacrifice? Are souls in Heaven confined to the area under the altar? See Genesis 4:10 and Hebrews 12:24. This altar in Heaven is no more literal than: (1) Jesus having a literal sword coming out of His mouth. (2) A church is a literal lamp stand. (3) False religion is a literal harlot riding a beast.
Revelation 6:9; 14:9-11 are symbolic pictures of events that happen in time just as the other symbolic pictures around them are of events that happen in time. To put an altar for sacrifice or smoke from burning flesh in Heaven is absurd. Just as absurd as making Revelation 12:1, "A woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" into a literal woman would be. Her head would need to be much larger than the sun to hold a crown with twelve suns in it. They are symbolic pictures; they are not literal or real events, not at the judgment or after it. The end of time is not described unto near the end of the book [see Hailey and Wallace below]. To prove Hell, the symbolic pictures of these in time judgments [judgments that take place on the earth before the Judgment Day] are taken out of context and moved unto after the end of the earth after the Judgment Day and placed in Hell even when there is no revelation that Hell exists. Those who believe in Hell think these symbolic pictures of in time judgments in Revelations are one of their strongest proofs of Hell. Peterson said, "The book of Revelation paints some of the most graphic pictures of hell found in the Bible" Page 93.
He takes the visions out of context and makes them be literal by making all the judgment pictures in the book be torment in Hell after the Judgment Day is over. He ends up with such absurd things as Heaven being always full of smoke from the burning bodies of those in Hell. Although it is agreed by most that no doctrine can be proved by the symbolic pictures of Revelation, yet "the smoke of their torment" is constantly quoted as proof of endless torment. The fact that believers in Hell can prove their Hell only by using symbolic passages, metaphors, and parables; and must use these to set aside plain passages that says the wages of sin is death, the lost die, perish, are destroyed shows how utterly groundless their belief in Hell is. The clear statements are the truth, not the misused symbolic pictures. The Bible does not say yes and no to the same thing. It does not prove both the affirmative and negative. A symbolic picture does not prove the opposite of a clear statement. A symbolic picture of smoke in Heaven does not prove "the wages of sin is death" to be "the wages of sin is eternal life burning in torment" with the smoke of their burning going into Heaven for all eternity.
Like most, if not all the symbolic pictures in Revelation, this language is taken from the Old Testament and is speaking of judgments on this earth, not in Hell. On the judgment of Edom in Isaiah 34:5-17 it is said, "It shall not be quenched night or day; it
smoke shall go up forever," but after it did it work it went out and the land became a desert inhabited by jackals and other wild things. John says, "And the smoke of their
torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night." Both are symbolic language speaking of an in time temporal punishment on this earth, not of 313
eternal torment in Hell. If “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night” were literal, the torment and smoke would not be in Hell but in Heaven, “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”
[Revelation 14:10]. “Day and night” has to do with time, not eternality; the American Standard Version says, “Greek, „unto the ages of ages‟” which would put the smoke in time and end when time, as we know it ends. When it said the smoke would be going up
“unto the ages of ages” is saying the smoke will be going up in time and will end with time; there is no hint that it will go up throughout the “ages of ages.” “Unto” a given time “the ages of ages” is not forever.
―In the clause ‗they have no rest day nor night who worship‘…is the present participle denoting they have no rest day
nor
night
while
they
are
worshipping‖
Charles
Welch,
The
Wages
of
Sin,
www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/death/Wages-of-sin-6.php
“The smoke of their torment” is in the third of the seven bowls of the wrath of God poured out into the earth by seven angels having seven plagues. Revelation 15:1 says,
“For in them is finished (complete) the wrath of God.” “Because in them the wrath of God is finished” New American Standard. According to those who believe in Hell the wrath of God will never be finished. The seven plagues are plagues that take place in time and will be finished in time, not plagues after the judgment day that will never be finished.
A contradiction to their own belief. In an attempt to find their belief in the Bible, many make the symbolic picture of souls under the altar literal, but when they do it does not say what they want it to say.
[1]. Souls under the altar before the judgment does not fit with the Protestant version of Heaven, that all the saved go directly to Heaven at death. Those who believe souls go to Heaven to be at home with the Lord, but they do not believe those in Heaven will be shut up and unhappy under an altar crying out for revenge on those in Hell and/or some still on the earth. If made literal, it does not fit with their belief. If souls go to their eternal home with Christ in Heaven at death, why are they so unhappy that they cry unto God? Why are they crying to God for judgment and vengeance on those who are in torment if the lost go to Hell at death? Will those in Heaven want more vengeance than the awful torment they believe Hell will be for some who maybe their father, mother, brother, or sister?
[2]. Souls under the altar before the judgment does not fit with the after judgment version, that all the saved are in Abraham’s bosom and will not be in Heaven unto the judgment day. Many who believe in Abraham's bosom also make this literal, but when they do they have an even greater contradiction of their belief. They have people in Heaven before the Judgment Day. They have souls that are not in Abraham's bosom, but in prison under an altar before the judgment. They do not believe any will be in Heaven before the Judgment, but they have some that are now in Heaven under an altar. They have some that are in Heaven and some that are in Abraham's bosom simultaneously before The Judgment Day. This is inconsistent with their own teaching, particularly on Luke 16. They teach Abraham's bosom with the good and bad sides, then they use this passage and teach that souls are "under the altar," therefore; souls are in two different places before the resurrection. They change from one to the other, and then back to the first, as they need to. If a symbolic passage can be made to prove something they want it to prove by making it literal; they make it literal and use it just as they do Revelation 12:7-9 and other passages in Revelation. In their attempt to prove Hell, they make two 314
symbolic passages literal, [Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 6:9], but if they did proved what they are trying to prove with each of the two passages they would contradict each other.
A drowning man will desperately grab at anything to try to keep his head above water.
They have no plain statement that teaches men have an immortal inter part that is not subject to death, therefore, they grab at any symbolic language or parable.
"Some persons have turned to the Book of Revelation and hung over its sublime imagery, as if these were literal descriptions of our eternal home; but we must remember that this is a book of symbols, and that this fact will not permit a strict adherence to the letter in seeking the meaning of its glowing visions. Revelation does not aim to teach us, as some have thought, that the ceaseless employment of heaven is eternal singing or praising, but that it is an abode of rapturous joy of which song and praise are the natural expressions. Nor are we to conclude that the heavenly city is literally paved with gold and fenced in with jasper walls and pearly gates, but that it is a splendid and glorious home beyond anything that mortal eye has ever seen." B. W. Johnson, ―Christ and the Future Life,‖ 1891.
Commonly accepted rules: (1) A symbolic passage cannot overturn the teaching of a
passage that is not symbolic. (2) A symbolic passage cannot be used to build a doctrine on.
REVELATION 14:9-11 WORSHIPERS OF THE BEAST
"And another, a second angel, followed, saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, If any man worshipped the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment doth go up to ages of ages; and they have no rest day and night, who are bowing before the beast and his image, also if any doth receive the mark of his name." Footnote in the American Standard Version, "Gr. unto the ages of the ages." This smoke goes up “unto the ages of ages,” not without end in the ages of ages. It is symbolic of something before the judgment, not of something that will be after the judgment. The seven angels were told,
“Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth” [Revelation 16:1], not in Hell after there will be no earth.
Revelation is a book of figurative language taken from the Old Testament. It was written to people who know the Old Testament and would be familiar with its symbolisms but those persecuting them would not understand it. The symbolism in Revelation can be understood by the way it is used in the Old Testament.
WHO ARE WHAT IS THE BEAST?
To understand whom the worships of the beast are we need to know what the beast
symbolizes. In Daniel, "beast" is used to represent a great political empire.
A. M. Ogden says worshiping Babylon is Emperor worship. "The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets" Page 295.
F. E. Wallace "The name Babylon had come to symbolize the ultimate in corruption, and the fallen Babylon of verse 8 is figurative of the spiritual degradation of Jerusalem-'the faithful city turned harlot.'" "The Book Of Revelation" Page 310.
Homer Hailey "Judgment should motivate and bring men to repentance [Acts 17:30f]. But, what judgment is in the divine mind here-the final judgment, or an immediate one? In the light of this exhortation to fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him, it is impossible to make 'the hour of his judgment' refer to the final judgment...but rather, it refers to the hour in which God is to judge Babylon." "Revelation, An Introduction and Commentary" Page 307, 1979, Baker Book House.
Ralph F. Brashears said it is not describing the eternal Judgment, but a temporal retribution, figuratively. "The Revelation of the Christian Age." Page 276, 1989, Vantage Press.
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This passage speaks of a judgment that takes place in time before the coming of Christ and the judgment day. Whether the beast is pagan Rome or the papal power, it is only a small part of those who are not in Christ. It says nothing about all the lost in John's time or today, and nothing about any of the lost going to Hell. It is not the judgment at the coming of Christ for all the lost will be in that judgment. Those who believe in Hell do not believe anyone will worship the beast nor receive the mark of his name after they are in Hell. If the powers of this world are cast alive into Hell and tormented forever, then the evil powers of this world will exist forever, but even those who believe in Hell do not believe evil world powers will exist forever and be tormented in Hell.
There are four symbolisms in the passage, each one taken from the Old Testament.
2. Those that worship the beast shall drink of wine of the wrath of God, which
is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger. This is an Old Testament expression of destruction. See Jeremiah 25:15-27; Obadiah 16 and 18; Psalm 75:8; Job 21:20; Habakkuk 2:16; Malachi 3:2.
3. Those that worship the beast shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. See ―The Types Of The Judgment‖ in chapter seven.
4. They have no rest day and night. This is often applied to those in Hell being tormented forever, but it says nothing about all the lost in Hell but about those who are worshiping the beast (Emperor worship or pagan Rome) while that are worshiping him. All four symbolisms in this passage are speaking only about those who are worshiping the Emperor and not God, not about eternal torment in
Hell.
5. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. Even if Revelation 14:9-11 were literal, it would not be depicting torment, but the aftermath of the destruction just as the smoke of Sodom that Abraham saw depicted of the total destruction of Sodom. The ascending smoke is a sign of the destruction that has
already taken place, a destruction that had been completed. Those in Sodom were
dead when Abraham saw their smoke ascending. When a city or a person has been turned to smoke, the destruction is past, not forever ongoing. If the smoke
were literal, the ascending smoke of Revelation 14 would show their destruction
has taken place, not that they are undergoing torment. The ascending smoke seen
by Abraham became the basis of much of the language of destruction found in the
Bible. It is a sign of an utter destruction that is passed, not of being eternally tormented by God, Genesis 19:24-28; Isaiah 34:9; 66:24; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel
20:45-50; Revelation 14:9-11; 18:9; 18:18.
SMOKE IN HEAVEN Revelation 14:9-11: A symbolic picture of a judgment in the time of Emperor worship or pagan Rome, It is a picture of the destruction of these powers on this earth, not of the torment of individuals in Hell after the coming of Christ, after this earth does not exist. If this passage were literal, who would worship a beast with seven heads? How many have you ever seen with the mark of this seven headed beast on their forehead? That some would make everything about the beast be a symbolic picture unto it comes to the punishment of those with his mark on their forehead, but then change from symbolic to literal shows how desperate they are for anything that may support the doctrine of Hell. According to this passage, the torment referred to is occurring on this earth for it is while they are worshiping (present tense) the 316
beast and while there is "day and night." Where is Hell? If this passage were literal and is made to be literal picture of Hell, then Hell would be on this earth and those in it would not have died, but the smoke of the torment of those still living on the earth would go from the earth and fill Heaven with smoke. This passage speaks of a limited number when they are living on the earth, only those who worshiped the beast, not all the lost who will not be alive before the resurrection. Young's literal translation of the Bible translates this action in the present tense as "bowing" (i.e. worshiping). These people have no rest while they are still worshiping the beast, while on earth.
What is not said is that they are tormented forever.
What is said is that the smoke from their torment (the aftermath of destruction) goes up forever, evidence that God has already destroyed them.
N. W. Allphin said smoke symbolizes the effects or evidences of fire and the evidences of this destruction will never end. "Visions Unveiled, or The Revelation Explained" Page 168, 1985, Star Bible Publications.
"Smoke has aptly been said to be the formless relic of an object that has been consumed or decomposed, by the action of fire. It is but a relic, a vestige, an emblem, a lingering trace of the passing, the drifting aftermath that remains from AN OBJECT THAT HAS BEEN DESTROYED. A perpetual smoke may, therefore, well stand for a perpetual reminder before the universe of an irreparable ruin that has taken place, a burning up that has accomplished its allotted purpose, The same inspired portrayed, it is to be ever remembered, declares that God will 'consume,' 'devour,'
'destroy,' cause to 'perish,' and 'blot out' all the wicked. That dread transaction, or operation, involves and constitutes the 'second death.' The perpetuity intended is not, therefore, of the torment, but of the death following thereafter and caused thereby" Leroy Edwin Froom, ―The Conditionalist Faith of Our Father: The Conflict of the Ages Over the Nature and Destiny of Man,‖ Volume one, Page 409.
In Revelation 18:21 John says there will be a time when Babylon "shall be found no
more at all." Revelation 19:3 said the smoke of Babylon goes up forever and ever [unto
the ages of ages].
1. Babylon ―shall be found no more at all‖ Revelation 18:21
2. ―Voice of harpers…heard no more at all‖ Revelation 18:22
3. ―Craftsman…found anymore at all‖ Revelation 18:22
4. ―The voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all‖ Revelation 18:22
5. ―A lamp shall shine no more at all‖ Revelation 18:23
6. ―Voce of bridegroom…shall be heard no more at all‖ Revelation 18:23
Being ―found no more at all‖ clearly means Babylon will not exist forever in eternal torment
Babylon is fallen [Revelation 18:2]
Burned up with fire [Revelation 18:8]
The "smoke of her burning" was seen [Revelation 18:18]
If this were a literal worshiping of the beast and image given by John and a literal receiving a mark on the forehead, few, if any would be guilty today. Have you ever seen anyone with this mark on his or her forehead? I have not. The smoke of their torment is a symbol just as are the wine and the cup. "The smoke of their torment" cannot be made literal without making the other symbol in the passage literal, which those that use it to teach eternal torment are not willing to do. This smoke has been changed from those who worship Babylon before the judgment and has been made to be coming from all the unsaved who are in Hell after the judgment even though this judgment scene in Revelation 14:9-11 takes place on this earth before the judgment. Smoke coming from Babylon before the judgment must be changed to smoke coming from all the lost in Hell after the judgment
Adam Clarke "Her smoke rose up. There was, and shall be, a continual evidence of God's judgments executed on this great whore or idolatrous city; nor shall it ever be restored."
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It is the evidences of this destruction, which is symbolized by smoke that will last
"unto the ages of the ages," and not evil world powers being tormented forever. In Isaiah 34:10 the smoke from Edom will go up forever.
Hailey says, "A constant reminder of the punishment for sin…Edom is not burning today, and Heaven is not literally full of smoke. It is the everlasting remembrance of God's victor over evil that is symbolized by the smoke." A Commentary On Isaiah" Page 290,