An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 246: God is Good for Meting out Wanton Destruction. Because the Angels Said So (Revelation 16-20)

Revelation 16-20
God is Good for Meting out Wanton Destruction. Because the Angels Said So.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Revelation 16

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”

Last time we had dragons and beasts walking around making people worship them rather than God, despite God sending various plagues, or “woes” upon them. We ended with seven angels being sent out with seven flasks o’ plague to release, and in this chapter they do just that.

The “plagues” are, in order, “a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast”; seas turning to blood and killing everything in the sea (which seems a mite unfair for plankton and coral and whales and herring and angler fish to suffer because humanity has offended God); the rivers and “fountains” turning to blood so everyone goes thirsty (and here the “angel of the waters” provides a chorus and states that God is righteous for doing this); the fourth vial is poured on the sun which “scorches” men, so, really bad sunburn; the fifth vial is an odd one, it is poured “upon the seat of the beast” causing darkness and everyone to “gnaw[…] their tongues for pain”, cursing God; the sixth vial dries up the Euphrates, which seems a bit localised. Then three frogs appear from the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the “false prophet”, who presumably is one of the two beasts mentioned previously. The frogs, apparently, are spirits of devils gathering kings together for the final reckoning. Or something. John then randomly blurts out that “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame”, which doesn’t fit the rest of the narrative at all.

Finally the seventh vial is poured into the air and there are still more earthquakes, thunderings etc. etc. (seen all that before), plus a rain of stones, and “the great city was divided into three parts”; possibly meant to be Jerusalem, who knows. Pick a city of your choice to fulfil your particular doomsday prophecy, it doesn’t matter.

One thing I thought interesting, though, is that “Armageddon” is the name of a place, not a time.

Revelation 17

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”

One of the seven angels with the vials from before takes John to another vision, where he sees a woman “arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication” sat upon another, or the same, beast with seven heads and ten horns.

This woman, “with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” represents Babylon, which is probably meant to actually be Babylon but is also given as “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth”, so once again pick a city that fits your narrative.

John gets an explanation for the multi-headed, multi-horned thing. The seven heads are kings, five gone, one current, one to come, and the ten horns are … ten … other kings yet to come. These ten kings will make war with “the Lamb”, and lose, but also attack the woman Babylon –  they “shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire”. Is it just me, or does John put just a little too much relish into this?

Revelation 18

“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

I had to walk away from this chapter for a while. If I told you that a city like London or New York deserved to be completely destroyed because of its “sins” and “iniquities”, you’d probably think I was shilling for ISIS or some other group of nutters.

But that’s what is being promised here for Babylon. It may not be Babylon, it may be “Babylon”, i.e. any “sinful” or “wicked” city, possibly John is thinking of Rome (the purple and red outfit for the woman is indicative). Because, at this stage, what does it matter about the actual Babylon. I mean, yes, they enslaved the Hebrews, but Cyrus also let them go and gave them Jerusalem so it seems a bitter grudge.

It seems like quite an impressive place –“that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!”, selling “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.”

Apart from slavery, it’s just trade. And I would have thought that perhaps John was against luxury goods –“all things which were dainty and goodly” but for the mention of wheat and sheep amongst the list. And not just people seeking purely after riches either – “the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee”.

And the most galling thing to me is that this is seen as a good thing, this wanton vandalism of a prosperous city and its innocent people. “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” This is a God that a few books back was being lauded as loving and merciful, back to His old judgemental tricks. Would it not be an act for more worthy of a benevolent deity for the “wicked” city to mend its ways?

Revelations 19

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

To begin with, all the various heavenly creatures justify all the destruction meted out in the past few chapters because “true and righteous are his judgments”.

After this, it is time for “the marriage of the Lamb”, at which point a figure on a white horse in a white robe appears; it’s our friend from before with the two-edged sword sticking out of its mouth, so another figurative representation of Christ. His name is True and Faithful, and also “The Word of God”, and this figure leads out an army against the beast and the false prophet, who are defeated and “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone”, after which carrions birds feed on the flesh of the fallen.

Revelations 20

“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”

I got a little bit lost here. The dragon, the Devil, is cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years for no apparent reason why this isn’t forever other than “after that he must be loosed a little season”. Who decided that? We must assume God, since who else is deciding rules that God has to adhere to?

Meanwhile, the souls of the saints get to be with God whilst the souls of everyone else have to wait around for that thousand years have passed, for the “first resurrection”. And so, a thousand years later the souls are released, and the devil is released to gather “the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog” for a last battle. Which again he loses and is also cast into the pit of fire. Why this was not done in the first place, I am at a loss to conclude. I like the random insertion of “Gog and Magog” as well – what are these? Names of nations? I’ve got a vague recollection of them being giants, but it’s a bit hazy.

After this, all the dead are judged according to their deeds written in the “book of life” according to their works. Anyone “not found written in the book of life” is cast into a lake of fire. As are death and hell also cast into a pit of fire. Which, given that I thought hell *was* a pit of fire, is oddly recursive.

Note, however, that you only get cast into the pit of fire if you’re not in the book, not if the book judges your works to be at fault. Which seems a strange concept.