Jeffrey D. Arthurs states in his discussion of the apocalyptic genre in Revelation: Numbers are also highly symbolic in this genre. In Revelation there are seven letters, seals, trumpets, plagues, angels, and bowls. The foundation of the city is made of twelve precious stones, and twelve thousand servants of God from each tribe of Israel are sealed. Then later he asks these questions: Why would a biblical writer use potentially hermetic symbols? What is to be gained from fantasy that cannot be gained from realism? Visionary symbols are more than stylistic choices; they are powerful rhetoric.[1]
This is implying the numbers in Revelation are fantasy and serve a purpose but are not literal.
Bernard Ramm advocated that the parent of all excessive manipulation of Bible numbers is to be found in the Jewish Rabbinical method known as Gematria: Examples of such are as follows: In Genesis 49:10 the Hebrew numerical value of "Shiloh come" is 358, which is, in turn, equivalent to Meshiach, and so Shiloh is identified with the Messiah.[2] Ramm believes “that there is a basic symbolism of numbers in the Bible" and that Revelation is "especially rich in the symbolic use of numbers." But Ramm reveals his covenant or reformed propensity for allegorizing numbers when he gives an example of the symbolism of the number seven: "Seven represented the covenant of grace."[3]
What is the Biblical basis for such an interpretation? Covenant Theology adheres to three big covenants: the Covenant of Redemption, Works, and Grace which are not specifically mentioned in Scripture. And so, it appears in some cases, if the literal interpretation of Scripture cannot support one’s theology, symbolism must be substituted.
The amillennialism of Milton S. Terry influenced his hermeneutics of numbers in Revelation. In his discussion of numbers, he says, that numbers have symbolic meanings, but "we must not suppose that they thereby necessarily lose their literal and proper meaning. The number ten, as shown above, and some few instances of the number seven authorize us to say that they are used sometimes indefinitely in the sense of many. But when, for example, it is written that seven priests, with seven trumpets, compassed Jericho on the seventh day seven times, we understand the statement in their literal sense."[4]
When it comes to the 1000-year reign of Christ in Revelation 20:1-7, Terry's amillennialism does not allow this number to be literal: "We understand that the millennium of Rev. xx, 1-6, is now in progress. It dates from the consummation of the Jewish age. It is a round definite number used symbolically for an indefinite aeon .... It may require a million years.”[5]
Just because there are symbols and symbolic or figurative language in God’s Word does not mean that the grammatical-historical method of literal interpretation must be abandoned. Roy Zuck asks this question, “Is figurative language the opposite of literal interpretation?” To which he answers, “Figurative language then is not antithetical to literal interpretation; it is a part of it.”[6]
Zuck gives a helpful explanation and example: Generally an expression is figurative when it is out of character with the subject discussed, or is contrary to fact, experience, or observation. If we hear a sports announcer say, “The Falcons beat the Lions,” we understand him to be referring to two football teams, and not to be suggesting that birds of prey are attacking literal lions. [7]
Even in our everyday modern conversation, figurative language is used and understood. Zuck provides the following guidelines for interpreting figurative language.
1. Always take a passage in its literal sense unless there is a good reason for doing otherwise.
There is no reason why numbers in Revelation cannot be interpreted literally. There is no more hidden meaning in the 144,000 (12,000 from the 12 tribes) Jews who will endure the Tribulation in Revelation 14 than the armies of Israel who were numbered in the Old Testament (2 Samuel 24:9). In Revelation 21:12, the wall around the New Jerusalem has on it the names of the twelve tribes of children of Israel. If this is symbolic with no literal meaning, were the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament also not literal tribes? On the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve apostles. If this is only symbolism were the twelve apostles that Jesus chose only symbols? Of course, the number the preterists want to symbolize and get rid of is the literal 1000-year reign of Christ in the future on David’s throne.
In his commentary on Revelation, Robert L. Thomas argues: If the writer wanted a very large symbolic number, why did he not use 144,000 (7:1 ff.; 14:1ff.), 200,000,000 (9:16), “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” (5:11), or an incalculably large number (7:9)? The fact is that no number in Revelation is verifiably a symbolic number. On the other hand, nonsymbolic usage of numbers is the rule.[8]
Robert L. Thomas in Evangelical Hermeneutics gives another reason for interpreting 1000 years literally: Attempts to assign a symbolic connotation to the thousand years in Revelation 20:1-7 have been multiplied .... All who adopt this tactic, however, cannot explain how two resurrections in 20:4-5 can be described as separated by one thousand years without referring the millennium to the future and dispensing with the need to spiritualize its significance. The two resurrections are designated by the same verb, ezesan ("they lived," "they came to life"). By common agreement, the later resurrection is clearly a bodily one, so the former one must be too. That means both are future, with a future thousand-year period between them. The literal approach is fair to the text and consistent. To interpret otherwise marks an end of all definite meaning in plain words.[9]
2. The figurative sense is intended if the literal would involve an impossibility.
For example, “John wrote that Jesus held seven stars in His right hand” (Revelation 1:16). Again, the symbol refers to literal pastors of the seven churches in Revelation Two, and Three.
3. The figurative is intended if the literal meaning is an absurdity, as in trees clapping their hands (Isaiah 55:12). In Revelation 12:1, the woman is clothed with the sun which is obviously absurd. The demons portrayed as locusts in Revelation 9:1-12 is another example. The demons released from the abyss were locust-like in their attack not of vegetation but of the unsaved.
4. Take the figurative sense if the literal would demand immoral action.
In John 6:53-58, Jesus told the unbelieving Jews that they had to drink His blood and eat His flesh to have eternal life. This is cannibalism if literally interpreted. Jesus was using symbolism to persuade his listeners to receive him into their lives.
5. Note whether a figurative expression is followed by an explanatory literal statement.
Revelation 11:8 explains, “the great city, which spiritually [symbolically] is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” The figurative is made clear by an editorial comment. The woman in Revelation 17 is explained to be a city in 17:18. J. B. Smith in his A Revelation of Jesus Christ (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1961) gives 46 examples of figures interpreted by the text of Revelation.
6. Sometimes a figure is marked by a qualifying adjective.
An example is “Heavenly Father” (Matthew 6:14).
7. Another clue involves the words "like" (homoios) or "as" (hōs).
When John employs such language, he is indicating a correspondence between what he saw in the vision and what he was trying to describe. For example, Revelation 8:8 says, "And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea." The word "like" alerts the interpreter to the fact that John is simply using comparative language to describe what he saw and the mountain is not to be interpreted literally.
8. Another clue involves an identical correspondence in the Old Testament.
Because the leopard, lion, and bear in Revelation 13:2 are also used in Daniel 7 to depict nations, the interpreter is alerted to the fact that John is employing symbolic language. Thus, the leopard, lion, and bear also represent nations in Revelation 13 just as they did in Daniel 7. Robert Thomas summarizes well our study of this genre: "Apocalyptic genre does not override or cancel normal rules of interpretation for the last book of the Bible .... The book is prophecy and should be interpreted literally as all other prophecies of Scripture should be."[10] I am going to add to our list the guidelines Andy Woods in an excellent article, Dispensational Hermeneutics: A Matter of Genre, gives for interpreting figurative language in Revelation.
[1] Jeffrey D. Arthurs, Preaching With Variety. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel (2007), 185.
[2] Ramm, Bernard, Protestant Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker (1970), 235.
[3] Ibid., 235.
[4] Melton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (1890), 384.
[5] Ibid., 487.
[6] Roy Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation. Wheaton, IL: Victor (1991), 147.
[7[ Ibid., 146.
[8] Robert L. Thomas, (1995). Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary. Chicago, IL: Moody Press (1995), 408.
[9] Robert L. Thomas, (2002). Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel (2002), 336-337.
[10] Ibid., 337.