Page 269: Going by the book

When Azza refers to "the book" in this passage, he means the Book of Revelation, authored by John the Revelator (aka, John of Patmos) in the first century AD.

For those, like me, who didn't learn all this in Sunday School, below please find a nickel tour of the Revelation:

First, a bit of background. John the Revelator is the third important John in the Bible, following John the Baptist and John the Disciple. The three together give a certain structure to the overall story of the gospels. John the Baptist foretold the Christ story and put in place many critical rituals. John the Disciple participated in the Christ story and gave the "insider's view" in his gospel. And John the Revelator foretells the end of the story, so to speak, when the Lamb (thought to be Christ) gathers to him his chosen and the rest of humankind,well, dies.

The dying part is pretty fascinating. The meat of the story begins in Revelation chapter 5, where a being sits on a throne holding a book. The book is held closed by seven seals. Nobody is able to open the book until the Lion of David appears (in the form of a slain lamb) to do it. By Revelation 6, after much beholding and worshiping, the Lamb begins to open the seals.

The first four seals release the four horses of the Apocalypse. Seal 1 releases the white horse of conquest, which is commonly believed to be pestilence. Seal 2 releases the red horse, who is to "take peace from the earth"; commonly interpreted to mean war. Seal 3 releases the black horse commonly believed to represent famine. Seal 4 sets free the pale horse, clearly identified as Death. For all the fame of the "four horsemen of the Apocalypse", the text doesn't actually say that they do very much damage. The mayhem is reserved for the angels that come later.

The story steps up a notch when Seal 6 is broken. There is an earthquake, a mighty wind, the moon looks as blood, and the stars of heaven fall to earth. At the breaking of Seal 6, the "day of his wrath has come".

In Revelation chapter 7, four angels appear at the corners of the earth and another one powerful one appears in the middle, who tells the other four to "hurt not the earth" until some of the humans are "sealed" or marked as chosen to be survivors. Revelation 7 makes clear that 12,000 people will be chosen from 12 different tribes, for 144,000 total.

After that, if you'll pardon the expression, all hell breaks loose. In Revelation chapter 8, the Lamb breaks Seal 7 and more angels appear, including 7 who hold trumpets. Angel 1 blows his trumpet and there follows a hail of fire and blood that burns up a third of the trees and grass. Angel 2 blows and a mountain of fire falls into the ocean, turning a third of the waters to blood. Angel 3 turns one-third of the fresh water to poison. Angel 4 dims the light of the sun, moon, and stars by a third.

As if all that might pass without comment, another angel flies into the picture. In John's vision, there comes "an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" So, according to Revelation 8, the three remaining angels are the really bad ones.

And so they are. Angel 5 blows his trumpet and a star falls from the sky, opening a bottomless pit. From the pit emerges a swarm of locusts ("like unto scorpions") under orders to attack any human without the mark of the seal (i.e., one of the chosen 144,000). But the locusts are instructed not to kill, but rather just torment the humans.

Angel 6 begins the killing. When the sixth trumpet is blown four angels are summoned with orders to reduce the human population by a third. They do so by setting loose a large army of 200,000 mounted soldiers. They, as you might imagine, do a lot of damage, mainly with the fire and brimstone coming out of their mouths.

The survivors get to live a little longer, but not much. In Revelation 10, the sound of Angel 7's trumpet indicates that "there should be time no longer" and that the "the mystery of God should be finished".  So endeth the world that we know.

Beyond Revelation chapter 10 there is more detail, involving serpents and women and vials of wrath, but more on that later...