Let Us Reason

Revelation as the Story of Faith: A Spiritual Reading

🕒 4 min read · 📝 748 words

Revelation is a spiritual mirror.

Through layered symbols and repeated cycles, it tells the same story again and again: the testing of faith, the call to repentance, and the final separation between those who endure and those who fall away.

📖 The Bible Speaks to Believers

Jesus said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom…” (Matt 13:11). The Bible is written for those in covenant with God. Its mysteries are concealed to the world but revealed to those who seek Jesus through faith (Prov 25:2). Revelation, like Jesus’ parables, is a divine code—meant to be searched out by the faithful.

🔁 Revelation’s Cycles: One Story, Many Angles

Revelation retells the same spiritual drama through multiple symbolic cycles:

Rm 1:18

CycleChaptersSpiritual Focus
Seals6–8Jesus controls everything
Trumpets8–11Warnings and partial judgments to provoke repentance
Signs & Beasts12–14Conflict and spiritual deception
Bowls/Vials15–16Final judgments on hardened unbelief
Babylon Judged17–18Exposure and collapse of false religion
Millenium = Obedient Christian Life19–20Separation of faithful sheep and unfaithful goats or sleepers, 1 Thess 4:13.
New Creation21–22Reward of the faithful; exclusion of the unrepentant

Each cycle ends with a division: those who endure (Rev 13:10 and 14:12) inherit the kingdom; those who fall away are judged and brought back into the covenant if they maintain faith, Ez 20:37, 1 Cor 10:13 and 1 Cor 11:32.

🏴 Babylon as the Backslidden Believer

Babylon and the Beast and adulterous whore are the symbols of a backslidden believer. They are the illustrations of a Man Rev 13:18:

  • Once adorned in priestly imagery (Rev 17:4), she now holds a cup of abominations.
  • She commits spiritual adultery, echoing Israel’s unfaithfulness in the prophets.
  • God calls His Obedient people to come away from her (Rev 18:4).
  • At the 7th trumpet and third Woe, the backslidden believers’ fall is final: “The voice of bridegroom and bride shall be heard in you no more…” (Matt 24:16 and Rev 18:23).

⚖️ The Third Woe and the End of Opportunity

The seventh trumpet (Rev 11:15) is the third woe—not just a judgment, but the end of the mystery of God (Rev 10:7). This marks the closing of the door:

  • No more delay, there are two possible ends for believers.
  • The End or Goal of obedient faith is salvation, (saved from God’s wrath against ungodliness Rom 1:18) 1 Peter 1:9.
  • The period of attempted correction called “the first woe, as seen in Job, does not result in spiritual death, the second intensified period of woe can result in death, in thirds.
  • The result of unbelief during the third woe or 7th trumpet results in unbelief, Rev 10:7 and Rev 18:23.
  • No more repentance, they are assigned a fixed place with the unbelievers, Luke 12:46.
  • The faithful are sealed; they are unrepentant and hardened in their unbelief (Rom 1:24–28).

🔥 The Day of the Lord: Jesus Uses All Tools

Joel 1:15 calls it “a day of destruction from the Almighty.” But this destruction is discipline:

  • Jesus rules over all—obedient and disobedient alike.
  • Even satanic tools (Rev 9) are under His authority, used to move errant believers toward repentance.
  • This is vengeance for His temple (Ezekiel 39:7) and refinement (Heb 12:6–11) for the repentant.
  • When the term “patience and faith of the saints” appears in Rev 13:10 and 14:2, it points to the saints enduring the judgment known as the “Day”, referenced in 1 Cor 5:5, where the sinful nature is being destroyed, this calls for steadfast endurance Rev 13:10 and Rev 14:12.
  • Jesus removes the beast spirits from the lives of His people, as stated in Deuteronomy 7:22.

🌱 The Parables: Jesus’ Summary of Revelation

Jesus’ parables are compressed versions of Revelation’s message:

  • The Sower: Only the prepared heart bears fruit.
  • The Wheat and Tares: Judgment separates the true from the developing and the false.
  • The Virgins: Some are ready and enter further into the kingdom of right standing Rom 14:17, some are not ready and experience corrective jusgment (Matt 24:51) until they are ready, 1 Cor 11:32. Thus, the ongoing woes of Revelation.
  • The Dragnet: The net is drawn in. The kingdom is entered, or discipline is called for, Matt 24:51 and 25:41.

🧭 The Telos of Faith

  • The telos (end) of the faithful is salvation (1 Pet 1:9).
  • The telos of the hardened is destruction (Rom 6:21–22).
  • Revelation is a call to endure judgment and to overcome, and to remain faithful until the end.
  • This is illustrated in Rev 20 where the initial condition of the indiviual is obedience and protection (Rev 20:1-3). These individuals are described in Rev 20:4 as those who have lost their lives for Christ.
  • Rev 20:6 the rest of the Beilevers dod not live until the 1000 years (milennium is attained (the goal is reached- telos). This is the first resurrection per Rom 6:3-4 and Col 3:1.