Failing to recognize Metaphor in Apocalyptic/Prophetic literature

[Zao is life]

The book of Revelation, as well as some other passages of scripture in the New Testament, often employs either the very same, or very similar metaphor which has been previously used in the Bible.

Few Christians understand that much of the same metaphor that is used, for example, in some Old Testament prophecies about the destruction of ancient Babylon, is repeated in the book of Revelation, so that rather than meant to be taken literally, the metaphor is merely showing the reader (of the Revelation) that the destruction of ancient Babylon becomes a forerunner or biblical "type" of the destruction of the nations at the close of this current Age.

In the process, Christians wind up believing that prophecies that have already been fulfilled, have never been fulfilled. Or, they link prophecies together that do not belong together, thinking that because the same metaphor has been employed by different prophets about different nations and different events, these prophecies are all talking about the same events, and the same nations.

Because of this (notice the metaphor in this statement) many Christians wind up producing a malfunctioning eschatological mouse which they then use to highlight apocalyptic/prophetic passages in scripture that have already been fulfilled, dragging them all over the place into centuries and epochs that the prophecies do not belong in, and dropping them into folders which they have given labels to, which is most often a folder they have labeled, "The end of this (current) Age and the return of Christ" (their favorite folder).

A metaphor is the use of a word or phrase to refer to something other than its literal meaning, invoking an implicit similarity between the thing described and what is denoted by the word or phrase, for example,

Simile: "As rust is to iron, so is idleness to the soul, taking away its strength and power of resistance."
Metaphor: "Idleness is the rust of the soul."

Let's take a look at some Biblical examples:-

Simile: "And He brought him outside and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be." Genesis 15:5

Simile: "..that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies." Genesis 22:17

Simile: "And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." Daniel 12:3

Examples of Metaphor:-​

In Judges 4:6-7 we read about Deborah instructing Barak to gather 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun to go to war against Sisera, the captain of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan.Below is an example of metaphoric/apocalyptic language that is being employed in scripture to illustrate or signify the magnitude of the catastrophic impact of the judgement that came upon the kingdoms of Seir and Edom, and the total destruction of their power:

Judges 5 (verses containing metaphoric language)
4 LORD, when You went out of Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.
5 The mountains quaked from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel...

.. 18 Zebulun and Naphtali were a people who put their lives in danger of death in the high places of the field.
19 Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no gain of silver.
20 They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

In Judges 5:20, these 10,000 men from the sons of Zebulun and Naphtali are metaphorically referred to as "the stars in their courses" who "fought from heaven" against Sisera.

THE METAPHOR THAT IDENTIFIES "THE WOMAN" OF REVELATION 12​

Metaphor: "And he dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me." Genesis 37:9-10

Jacob was the ruler of his clan. In Genesis 37:9-10 (above) the sun refers metaphorically to Jacob, and the moon to Rachel, Joseph's mother. The stars refer metaphorically to Joseph’s eleven brothers.

The above passage sets a precedent in Biblical prophetic and Apocalyptic literature, and this is why in Revelation 12:1 the stars refer metaphorically to the same 12 tribes of Israel (who is the daughter of Eve, who is a type of the church):

Metaphor: "And there appeared a great sign in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head." Revelation 12:1

Metaphor in verses 10 & 13 of Isaiah 13 ​

Isaiah 13 is a prophecy regarding the coming destruction of Babylon, which has already been fulfilled. Note:

* "The Day of the LORD" always refers to God's judgment coming upon a nation, or upon nations.

* Verse 13 is a metaphor depicting the enormity of the calamity that was to accompany Babylon's destruction. It's not literal: "the earth moving out of its place" illustrates the complete overthrow of the political order which existed in the Babylonian Empire.

1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; the LORD of hosts gathers an army for the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy all land.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light.

11 And I will visit evil on the world, and their iniquity on the wicked. And I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the pride of tyrants.
12 I will make a man more precious than gold; even a man than the fine gold of Ophir.
13 So I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not value silver; and they shall not delight in gold.
18 And bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not pity sons.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of the Chaldees, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited forever, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there."

We should understand that Babylon has already been destroyed, the verses quoted above have already been fulfilled, and the destruction of Babylon has become a forerunner, a biblical "type" of the destruction of the nations at the end of this Age when Christ returns.

The darkening of the sun and the moon, and the stars not giving their light is often literally a sign of foul weather, as in Acts 27:20. However, The sun gives light to the world, and the moon reflects the light of the sun.

* The Word of God gives light to the world. The elect people of God reflect the light of the Word of God.

Take a look at even more examples of metaphor:-

* In Daniel 8:9-10, Daniel was prophesying about Antiochus Epiphanes trampling the people of God, after either forcing them to comply with his idolatries, or putting those who refused to death.

* In its own context, Isaiah 14:12-15 was a prophecy addressed to the king of Babylon (not to Satan).

Judgement of Pharaoh & Egypt (circa 587 B.C): Ezekiel 32:2; Ezekiel 32:7

The kingdom of Judea, A.D 66-70
The Roman armies march against Judea and Jerusalem​

Due to the faulty teaching of many Christian teachers who teach on Bible prophecy, the following may come as a shock to many:

The segment of Joel's prophecy quoted below is talking about the time the Roman armies marched against Judea and Jerusalem between 66-70 A.D (not about the close of this current Age which immediately precedes the return of Christ): Whereas Joel chapter 3 is a prophecy about the end of this Age, this is not the case with Joel 1:1 through Joel 2:11 (part of which is quoted below). Again, the reason why there is always so much confusion regarding prophecies such as the one below is partly because of the failure on the part of many Bible teachers and prophecy "experts" to recognize the metaphor in the prophetic books of the Bible:

Joel 2
1 Blow a ram's horn in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of the LORD comes, for it is near at hand;
2 a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread on the mountains; a great people and a strong people; there has not been ever the like, nor shall there ever be again, even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yes, and nothing shall escape them.
4 As the appearance of horses is its appearance; and as war horses, so they run.
5 They shall leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle order.
6 Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness.
7 They shall run like mighty ones. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march each one on his way, and they shall not break their ranks.
8 And each one shall not press his brother; they each go in his paths. And if they fall behind their weapons, they shall not be cut off.
9 They shall rush on the city; they shall run on the wall; they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall tremble before them; the heavens shall shake. The sun and the moon shall grow dark, and the stars shall gather in their light.
11 And the LORD shall utter His voice before His army; for His camp is very great; for strong is He who does His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can stand it?

Based on the consistency of the Bible''s abundant employment of metaphor in its apocalyptic/prophetic literature, the sun becoming black, the moon becoming like blood, and the stars of heaven falling to the earth takes on a different meaning if viewed as metaphors for something else.

Lastly, an example of the same metaphor being used in the two passages below:​

Ezekiel 39
17 And you, son of man, So says the Lord Jehovah. Speak to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field: Gather yourselves and come; gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood.
18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And you shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 And you shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, all the men of war, says the Lord Jehovah.
21 And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgments which I have done, and My hand that I have laid on them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

Revelation 19
17 And I saw one angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God,
18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and those sitting on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh.

The final sentence in Revelation 19:21 "And all the birds were filled from their flesh" is closing the prophecy with a repeat of what had been said earlier. It is a style being employed which has been noticed by scholars as being employed by Mark in Mark's gospel and named a "Markan Sandwich", but is in actual fact employed many, many times throughout biblical literature.

 

[parousia70]

the metaphor is merely showing the reader (of the Revelation) that the destruction of ancient Babylon becomes a forerunner or biblical "type" of the destruction of the nations at the close of this current Age.

Not sure where you get this from?

While you are correct that OT events and personalities were indeed types and shadows that pointed to New testament objects and realities, the Apostles did not see or teach this as continuing beyond the messianic generation. For Christ is no shadow but the object itself.

Like many OT types that foreshadowed NT realities, Daniels AoD, even though the Jews understood as fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphenes, Jesus instructs His audience that such OT fulfillment was only typological, and the Antitype was yet future to them....

Luke Extrapolates in the most detail on what/when the disciples would recognize as the fulfillment of the antitype, namely it would be when they saw "Jerusalem surrounded by Armies", and Jesus places further emphasis on the fact that such would be the antitype fulfillment when He instructs them that those would be "the days of vengeance in fulfillment of all things written"

While the apostles understood how OT types and shadows pointed to NT fulfillments, they did not in turn teach that NT fulfillments were types and shadows of some future, greater fulfillments.

Do we await another Virgin Birth, another Crucifixion? another 3rd day rising out of the tomb? Do we await some future, greater sacrifice of Christ?.....

No, scripture does not allow for it, for again, Christ is not the shadow but the object itself. (Col 2:16-17)

 

[Zao is life]

While the apostles understood how OT types and shadows pointed to NT fulfillments, they did not in turn teach that NT fulfillments were types and shadows of some future, greater fulfillments.

I disagree. In their epistles, the apostles did not have to. None of them received the Revelation, except John, and he only received the Revelation after all the epistles had already been written.

The Revelation is an apocalyptic/prophetic book which contains much of the very same metaphor employed in Old Testament prophetic books with regard to things such as the destruction of ancient Babylon.

Whether you recognize this fact or not will depend on whether your understanding of eschatology and what is written in the Revelation is Preterist, Partial-Preterist, or futurist. Among the futurists, the understanding of Christians will depend on their understanding of whether or not the millennium of Revelation 20 is literal. Among the Pre-millennialists, their understanding will depend upon whether or not they are Historic or "Classical" Pre-millennialists, or Dispensationalists.

God is not the author of confusion, but the above makes it obvious that Christians, on the whole, are confused when it comes to prophetic statements in the Bible. Very confused (and yet not one of us places ourselves in the category of confused Christians )

Do we await another Virgin Birth, another Crucifixion? another 3rd day rising out of the tomb? Do we await some future, greater sacrifice of Christ?.....

No, scripture does not allow for it, for again, Christ is not the shadow but the object itself. (Col 2:16-17)

That is a completely invalid argument which contains absolutely no substance @parousia70 when used in reference to the Revelation of Jesus Christ (which He gave after all those types of Christ had already been fulfilled by and in Christ Himself), so your argument above is nothing more than a massive red herring with regards to the Revelation of Jesus Christ which He gave to His churches via His apostle John, because time did not freeze in the first century A.D. and time would need to have frozen solid in the first century A.D. if your argument above carries any weight at all.

Jesus had said to His apostles,

Matthew 24
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come.

The apostles forgot so quickly what Jesus had said, that immediately before He ascended into heaven, He had to say to them,

Acts 7
7 And He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

While you are correct that OT events and personalities were indeed types and shadows that pointed to New testament objects and realities, the Apostles did not see or teach this as continuing beyond the messianic generation.

No, they did not - but firstly, Jesus most certainly did promise His literal, bodily return and the apostles most certainly did teach the literal, bodily return of Christ and write about it from the very beginning of the church-Age;

and secondly, Jesus did give His churches a prophecy about the time immediately preceding His return - in His Revelation - which contains much of the same metaphor used in Old Testament prophecies which have already been fulfilled, mixed with statements in the Revelation not found in Old Testament prophecies, such as,

Revelation 16
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. And a great voice came out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done!
18 And voices and thunders and lightnings occurred. And there was a great earthquake, such as has not been since men were on the earth, so mighty and so great an earthquake.
19 And the great city came to be into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the anger of His wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and mountains were not found.
21 And a great hail, as the size of a talent, came down out of the heaven on men. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague of it was exceedingly great.

And,

Revelation 19
11 And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh.

Like many OT types that foreshadowed NT realities, Daniels AoD, even though the Jews understood as fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphenes, Jesus instructs His audience that such OT fulfillment was only typological, and the Antitype was yet future to them....

Luke Extrapolates in the most detail on what/when the disciples would recognize as the fulfillment of the antitype, namely it would be when they saw "Jerusalem surrounded by Armies", and Jesus places further emphasis on the fact that such would be the antitype fulfillment when He instructs them that those would be "the days of vengeance in fulfillment of all things written"

This is possible, but though some Christians may deny this until they're blue in the face from standing on their heads singing "Auld Lang Syne",

1. in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 Paul was indeed talking about an event which lay in a time which was in still the future when he told the Thessalonians about the man of sin who would come before the return of Christ and seat himself in the Tabernacle of God; and

ii. The Greek word naos used for "temple" in this verse (2 Thessalonians 2:4) was never again used in reference to the Jerusalem temple following the verses in the gospels which speak about the tearing of the veil between the holy place and holy of holies in the temple at Jerusalem - every mention of the word "temple" in the New Testament following the time of the tearing of the veil uses the Greek word naos if it's referring to the church or the heavenly temple, but

iii. Following the verses in the gospels that talk about the tearing of the veil, the New Testament always uses the Greek word hieron for "temple" if it's talking about the temple at Jerusalem.

You may try to freeze time in the first century A.D, but time did not freeze in the first century, and you may try to make the Lord's elaborate Revelation all about events that took place in Jerusalem in 66-70 A.D and not at all about events surrounding His return,

and you may try to make Jesus' return to have already taken place in a spiritual sense, but none of that is what the apostles taught.

So trying to get around the Revelation in the way you have does not work, does not fit, and will never work, and will never fit - because the prophecies Jesus gave all of us in His Revelation, and the prophecy given by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2, shall indeed come to pass. Preterist and Partial-Preterist theology has no power over truth, and certainly not over God.

 

[keras]

We Christians are God's servants. Amos 3:7, Revelation 1:1
He has given us the information about His plans for our future, thru His Prophets. Its all there, everything we need to know, leading up to the glorious Return of Jesus as King of the earth and then after the Millennium, the final Judgment and Eternity.

Thinking that none of it applies to us, is a serious mistake and may result in disadvantage or worse, as events as described take place.

 

[Zao is life]

We Christians are God's servants. Amos 3:7, Revelation 1:1
He has given us the information about His plans for our future, thru His Prophets. Its all there, everything we need to know, leading up to the glorious Return of Jesus as King of the earth and then after the Millennium, the final Judgment and Eternity.

Thinking that none of it applies to us, is a serious mistake and may result in disadvantage or worse, as events as described take place.

I agree. So is thinking that metaphor is literal, and prophecies that have already fulfilled are still to be fulfilled because you fail to first see the metaphor, or refuse to acknowledge the metaphor when Biblical prophecy is using metaphor. It results in you not having a clue as to the difference between what has passed and what is still to come, and instead of understanding that what has already passed has often become a Biblical type of what is still to come, you take much of what has passed and place it with what is yet to come.

 

[keras]

I agree. So is thinking that metaphor is literal, and prophecies that have already fulfilled are still to be fulfilled because you fail to first see the metaphor, or refuse to acknowledge the metaphor when Biblical prophecy is using metaphor. It results in you not having a clue as to the difference between what has passed and what is still to come, and instead of understanding that what has already passed has often become a Biblical type of what is still to come, you take much of what has passed and place it with what is yet to come.

A saying is not a metaphor if it can be literally fulfilled.
Especially if the person who claims it is metaphorical, cannot show a rational and logical meaning of what it is a metaphor of.

Not a clue of what has passed? Tell me; have you read Herodotus, Tacitus, Josephus, Gibbon, Aristotle, Plato, and other historians?
I have; and nowhere have I seen any mention of the final fulfilment of Bible prophecy and God's plans for the end times.

Your desire to make the Bible prophesies meaningless, is your bad.

 

[Zao is life]

A saying is not a metaphor if it can be literally fulfilled.
Especially if the person who claims it is metaphorical, cannot show a rational and logical meaning of what it is a metaphor of.

Not a clue of what has passed? Tell me; have you read Herodotus, Tacitus, Josephus, Gibbon, Aristotle, Plato, and other historians?
I have; and nowhere have I seen any mention of the final fulfilment of Bible prophecy and God's plans for the end times.

Your desire to make the Bible prophesies meaningless, is your bad.

The Bible prophecies are not meaningless until the keras's of Christianity get hold of them and make them mean what they do not mean, apply them to people whom they do not apply to, and apply them to centuries they do not apply to.

Well done.

 

[Christian Gedge]

many Christians wind up producing a malfunctioning eschatological mouse

Ummm, metaphor?

 

[Christian Gedge]

THE METAPHOR THAT IDENTIFIES "THE WOMAN" OF REVELATION 12​

Metaphor: "And he dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me." Genesis 37:9-10

Jacob was the ruler of his clan. In Genesis 37:9-10 (above) the sun refers metaphorically to Jacob, and the moon to Rachel, Joseph's mother. The stars refer metaphorically to Joseph’s eleven brothers.

The above passage sets a precedent in Biblical prophetic and Apocalyptic literature, and this is why in Revelation 12:1 the stars refer metaphorically to the same 12 tribes of Israel (who is the daughter of Eve, who is a type of the church):

Metaphor: "And there appeared a great sign in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head." Revelation 12:1

Just working through your opening post and come to the comment that Eve is a “type of the church.” I would have thought that the sun, moon, and 12 stars is the nation of Israel, through whom the human ancestry is of Christ is traced? (Romans 9:5) Don’t you think that going back to Eve is going to far?

 

[Zao is life]

Just working through your opening post and come to the comment that Eve is a “type of the church.” I would have thought that the sun, moon, and 12 stars is the nation of Israel, through whom the human ancestry is of Christ is traced? (Romans 9:5) Don’t you think that going back to Eve is going to far?

@Christian Gedge I added the first part here just to confirm: The woman of Revelation 21 is a metaphor for Israel, but no, I don't believe going back to Eve is too far

because Adam (before the fall of Adam) is a type of the bridegroom, and Eve a type of the bride of Christ, who, when questioned by Satan if God had indeed said what He had said, added just a little ("..neither shall you touch it..") and took away just a little ("..lest you die..") from the Word of God. The woman was from the man, but ever since then, man has come through Eve (born of Eve).

Ephesians 5
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Christ Jesus is the last Adam.

 

[Zao is life]

Ummm, metaphor?

LOL. The Bible is a teacher to its students of hyperbole, metaphor, and poetry in the process of God condescending to reveal His ways and His Word to us (but I still don't know how that metaphor popped into my mind).