The Key of the Apocalypse (Revelation)

1. The Reasons for Hermeticism: The sealed Prophecy is explained at its Time

The Apocalypse remained a hermetically sealed Book for several reasons. The main reason is that the prophecies therein had not yet been accomplished. Moreover, every prophecy cannot be well understood but after its historical accomplishment. Likewise, the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s Advent in the Old Testament could not be fully understood until the coming of Jesus. For example, no one expected that the Messiah would be put to death by those who so eagerly waited for him. Also, chapter 53 of Isaiah, which speaks of the Messiah put to death by his people, was incomprehensible before Jesus’ crucifixion.

In the same way, the Apocalyptic prophecies concerning the Beast were totally obscure. As soon as the Beast appeared, the Christ Himself then intervened to clarify the prophecies in which the Beast had been revealed. Without this divine intervention, these prophecies would have remained hermetically secret.

In the past, Jesus appeared to the disciples of Emmaus after his Resurrection: “Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the Scriptures that were about Himself (Luke 24,27)… He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them: ‘So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead’” (Luke 24,45-46). If Jesus had not explained the prophecies that concerned Him to His disciples, their spirit – and indeed our own – would not have been opened “to the intelligence of the Scriptures”. Likewise, had Jesus not explained the Revelation, this “small Book” would have remained closed, inaccessible to our intelligence.

With regards to the biblical prophecies, St. Peter says:

“We must recognize that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. For no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for God it was the holy Spirit that moved them” (2 Peter 1,20-21).

The explanation of the Revelation given here, should be highly stressed, is not a “personal explanation”, but a divine revelation made by Jesus Himself. If, before the 13th of May 1970, the Apocalypse was still obscure, was because the Holy Spirit had it not yet explained. Men had tried to give a personal explanation, but on their own initiative. They were not mandated by God.

Two factors contributed in guarding the secret of the Revelation hermetically for so long:

1. The Apocalyptic prophecies were not yet accomplished: Many people, with regards to these prophecies, “tried to find out at what time and in what circumstances all this was to be expected”, as Peter said (1 Peter 1,11). Yet all these human researches ended up in vain, because neither “the time” nor “the circumstances” were yet fulfilled. Ever since 1948, the date of the Beast’s apparition, the Apocalyptic times and circumstances have become evident in the world. Therefore, the Christ appeared, the 13th of May 1970, to reveal their prophetic dimension in opening the “Small Book”.

2. The text of the Revelation presents the events in a particularly complicated manner. This maintained its message perfectly secret, even after the Beast’s return. If Jesus had not given “the Key”, the Revelation would have remained hermetic because of the three following factors:

1. The entanglement between events and protagonists
2. The varied repetitions of the same event
3. The different symbols for a same reality

1.1. The Entanglement

The events and the protagonists are confusing. They do not appear in an organized manner, nor in a chronological order of events. In reading the Revelation, do not expect a sequence of events that are related. There is such an entanglement between protagonists and events, that we lose the thread of ideas. Like the Beast for example, is all of a sudden mentioned briefly in chapter 11,7 – nothing but one passage – without prior presentation, as if the reader is supposed to know its identity. It passes thus, totally unnoticed. It is then spoken of again at length in chapters 13 and 17, where it is presented in detail, pointing out its ferocious character, its prior existence, its disappearance, and finally, its reappearance with force in a vague place, before disappearing forever. But it also takes the “key” to understand all this. It is through the explanation revealed by Jesus that we reach this, a force of patience, to place the pieces of the Apocalyptic “puzzle” together; each one in its place. Without this “Key”, the readers will find themselves lost in the meanders of this Book.

1.2. Varied Repetition

The story of the same event is repeated under different forms. Such is the case with the book of Genesis, about the two dreams of the Pharaoh interpreted by Joseph: the dream of “seven ears of corn” and that of the “seven cows”. Both dreams had the same interpretation: they announced the seven years of famine that follow the seven years of abundant harvest. Joseph explained to Pharaoh that “the reason why Pharaoh had the same dream twice is that the event is already determined by God, and God will shortly bring it about” (Genesis 41,17-32).

In the Revelation as well, there is repetition under different symbols because God decided adamantly to act against the Beast at the time of its return, and will destroy it forever, once and for all …

1. A first presentation of the events run from chapter 4 till chapter 8,1: The Lord is on his Throne to judge humanity by a Book closed by 7 seals He holds in his hand. In chapter 5, the Lamb (Jesus) comes forward to take the Book (Revelation 5,7), and in chapter 6, He breaks the seals, one after the other. Four horses (it is the Beast) appear with their riders to provoke war and famine (Revelation 6,1-8). Witnesses of God are executed by these four riders “under the altar” (Revelation 6,9-11). Finally, God answers the prayers of these martyrs (Revelation 6,9) and manifests His anger against the Beast (Revelation 6,12-17). After its fall, a new era opens in the world (Revelation 21 & 22).
2. A second presentation of the same story immediately follows with different symbols. It goes from chapter 8,2 up till the end of chapter 9. Here, the 7 seals are replaced by 7 trumpets held by 7 angels.

   Between this second presentation and the third that follows it - from chapter 10 till chapter 15,4 – in symbols, tangled up, jumbled up, the protagonists of the Story appear: The Angel, the two Witnesses, the Dragon, the Woman, the Beast, the Second Beast, the Chosen.

3. A third presentation of these events is repeated from chapter 15,5 till chapter 16. The symbolism also differs from the others: it is 7 Angels who carry 7 bowls filled with God’s anger.

At each seal that is broken, at each trumpet that is sounded, and at each bowl that is emptied on earth, these are the same events repeated under different symbols.

1.3. The varied form of symbols

The same protagonists are presented under different symbols:

The Beast of chapters 13 and 17 is also represented by:

• The “four horses” of devastation (Revelation 6,1-7)
• The mountain (of Zion) hurled into to the sea (Revelation 8,8)
• The star (of David) that falls from heaven onto the earth (Revelation 9,1)
• The “Pagans who will trample on the Holy City” (Revelation 11,2)
• “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 18,2)
• The “nations” (pagans), “Gog and Magog” gathered from the four quarters of the earth to Jerusalem, the “Beloved City” (Revelation 20,7)

The symbols most difficult to understand – and here one should pay attention – are in chapter 17,9-11: The “seven heads (of the Beast) are seven hills” on which the famous prostitute sits (they are the seven hills upon which Jerusalem is found on: Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, etc … Revelation 17,9). It is also the “seven emperors” (Revelation 17,10). These emperors represent Israel’s past history as a kingdom: the 5 emperors who have already passed represent the Beast that “was”. He who still lives represents the Jews who were secretly striving to restore the kingdom of Israel under the Roman Empire. Paul names them “the mystery of impiety already at work” (2 Thessalonians 2,7). The seventh emperor who “is yet to come; once here, he must stay for a short while” represents the Beast who comes back in the world, and who “must stay for a short while… is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven”. Israel, back, but not under the form of a kingdom as in the past, “is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven”, because it represents these “seven emperors” of Israel’s past and incarnates the whole of Israeli History. The Israelis still hope to restore the Kingdom of David and the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem; they still proclaim Jerusalem as capital and City of King David.

This variety of symbols is also applied with the numbers:
The “42 months” (Revelation 11,2) are the “1260 days”: 42 months = 1260 days (Revelation 11,3 / 12,6).

This same period is called “a year and twice a year and half a year” (Revelation 12,14). More explanations are given in the next chapter.