60 Fun Facts About Book of Revelation

Where in the Bible does the Book of Revelation sit?

It is also the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon.

The book's title comes from its first word in Greek, apokalypsis, which means what?

That is why the book is also called the Apocalypse, and why the plural 'Revelations' is technically a mistake: the Greek word is singular.

On which island does the author say he received his visions?

The Aegean island's Cave of the Apocalypse and its monastery of St John became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

Around what year do most scholars date the writing of Revelation?

Clues in the visions point to the reign of the emperor Domitian, though the seven-headed beast seems to allude to Nero, who died in 68.

How many churches of Asia receive letters at the start of the book?

All seven cities lie in modern Turkey, close together and within reach of the island where John was writing.

Which church is rebuked for being lukewarm, neither cold nor hot?

It is the only one of the seven with no praise at all, and it is told to buy gold refined in fire and eye salve so that it may see.

Which church is told it has left its first love?

It is praised for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans and for testing false apostles, but told to repent and do the first works.

The church at Smyrna is warned it will suffer tribulation for how many days?

Smyrna is modern İzmir, and the church is promised the crown of life if it stays faithful unto death.

To the overcomer at Pergamum, Christ promises hidden manna and what object bearing a secret new name?

Pergamum is also the church described as living where Satan's seat is.

The famous verse 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock' is addressed to which church?

It follows straight after the lukewarm rebuke, in the last of the seven letters.

How many elders sit on thrones around the throne of God in chapter 4?

They wear white robes and golden crowns, and are usually read as the twelve tribes plus the twelve apostles.

How many wings does each of the four living creatures around the throne have?

They are like a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle, and cry Holy, holy, holy without rest, echoing the seraphim of Isaiah 6.

The Lamb who is worthy to open the scroll is described as having how many horns and eyes?

The book uses seven for perfection or totality throughout: churches, seals, trumpets, bowls, spirits and thunders.

How many seals are on the scroll that the Lamb opens?

The first four release the horsemen, the fifth reveals the martyrs under the altar, the sixth brings an earthquake and the seventh introduces the trumpets.

What colour is the horse ridden by Death?

He is the only horseman actually named in the text, and Hades follows him.

The rider of the black horse carries what?

A voice quotes famine prices, a measure of wheat for a penny, while the oil and wine are spared.

The rider on the white horse in chapter 6 carries a bow and is given what?

He goes out conquering; interpreters have read him as everything from Christ to the Antichrist.

The four horsemen are given power over what fraction of the earth?

They kill with sword, hunger, death and the beasts of the earth; later plagues in the book strike a third of things.

How many are sealed from the tribes of Israel in chapter 7?

The same number later stands with the Lamb on Mount Zion with the Father's name on their foreheads.

When the seventh seal is opened, what happens in heaven?

The silence is broken by seven angels being handed seven trumpets.

What is the great star that falls at the third trumpet, making a third of the waters bitter?

The name has stuck to bitter things ever since, from the absinthe herb to Chernobyl, whose name is often (loosely) linked to the same plant.

What creatures come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit at the fifth trumpet?

They have human faces, lions' teeth and iron breastplates, and may torment only those without God's seal on their foreheads.

How large is the army of horsemen released at the sixth trumpet?

They are loosed when the four angels bound at the Euphrates are released, and they kill a third of mankind.

John is told to eat a little book that tastes like what in his mouth?

Sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly, the image is borrowed from Ezekiel, who was also told to eat a scroll.

For how many days do the two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth?

That is three and a half years, the same span the woman spends in the wilderness; the earliest interpreters took the pair to be Enoch and Elijah.

After being killed by the beast, the two witnesses rise and ascend to heaven after how long?

They are called the two olive trees and the two lampstands, with power to shut the sky and turn water to blood.

The woman clothed with the sun in chapter 12 has the moon under her feet and a crown of how many stars?

Catholic tradition identifies her with the Virgin Mary; other readers see Israel or the Church.

Which archangel leads the war in heaven against the dragon?

The dragon is identified as that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, and is cast down to the earth with his angels.

How is the great red dragon of chapter 12 described?

His tail drags a third of the stars from heaven, and the beast from the sea shares his seven-and-ten anatomy.

What is the number of the beast, according to Revelation 13:18?

The oldest surviving manuscript of the chapter, Papyrus 115, actually gives 616, and most scholars link either figure by gematria to the emperor Nero.

Which alternative number of the beast appears in Papyrus 115, the chapter's oldest manuscript?

The Oxyrhynchus fragment was identified at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum around 2005; Irenaeus knew of the variant in the second century and rejected it.

Which Roman emperor do most scholars think the number of the beast points to?

Written in Hebrew letters, 'Neron Caesar' adds up to 666, and 'Nero Caesar' to 616, which neatly explains both readings.

The second beast, which rises from the earth, has two horns like which animal?

It speaks like a dragon and makes people worship the first beast's image and take its mark; later chapters call it the false prophet.

How many bowls of God's wrath are poured out on the earth in chapter 16?

They bring sores, seas and rivers of blood, scorching sun, darkness, the drying of the Euphrates and a final earthquake.

The kings of the earth are gathered for battle at a place called, in Hebrew, what?

The name is a Greek rendering of Har Megiddo, the mount of Megiddo, an ancient fortress town overlooking the Jezreel valley.

How many times does the end-times battle site of Revelation 16:16 appear in the New Testament?

Just Revelation 16:16; the Old Testament mentions Megiddo a dozen times without any end-times overtones.

The harlot of chapter 17 sits on a scarlet beast and bears what name on her forehead?

She is arrayed in purple and scarlet with a golden cup, and the angel explains she is 'that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth', usually read as Rome.

The rider on the white horse in chapter 19 has what name written on his robe and thigh?

A sharp sword comes out of his mouth and he treads the winepress of the wrath of God.

Where are the beast and the false prophet thrown after the battle in chapter 19?

Death and Hades follow them there after the last judgment, which the text calls the second death.

For how long is the dragon bound in the bottomless pit?

That millennium, and how literally to take it, has divided Christians into pre-, post- and amillennialists ever since.

When Satan is released after his long imprisonment, he gathers which two named nations for battle?

The names come from Ezekiel 38-39, and the horde is said to be as numerous as the sand of the sea.

What name does chapter 20 give to the final punishment after the last judgment?

Those who overcome are promised earlier in the book that the second death will not hurt them.

In the vision of the new heaven and new earth, what does John say there is no more of?

For the ancient world the sea meant chaos and danger, so its absence signals a creation finally at peace.

The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven prepared like what?

The book had already spoken of the marriage supper of the Lamb two chapters earlier.

What shape is the New Jerusalem?

Each side is twelve thousand furlongs, roughly 1,400 miles, and the wall is 144 cubits thick.

Each gate of the New Jerusalem is made from a single what?

That verse is where the phrase 'pearly gates' comes from; the street inside is pure gold, clear as glass.

Whose names are written on the foundations of the city wall?

The tribes get the gates instead, so Israel and the Church are both built into the city.

Why, according to Revelation 21:25, are the gates of the city never shut?

The city needs neither sun nor moon, since the glory of God lights it.

How many kinds of fruit does the tree of life bear in the final chapter?

It yields a crop every month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

'I am Alpha and Omega' refers to what?

The phrase appears in chapters 1, 21 and 22, and the paired letters became a Christian symbol often combined with the Chi Rho.

In the final chapter Jesus calls himself the root and offspring of David and what else?

The verse also identifies the speaker as having sent his angel to testify to the churches.

What are the final words spoken by Christ in the Bible, in Revelation 22:20?

John answers 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus', and the book closes with a blessing of grace.

What does Revelation threaten against anyone who adds to its words?

Taking words away costs the offender his share in the tree of life and the holy city.

Who called Revelation 'neither apostolic nor prophetic' in his 1522 New Testament preface?

He softened his view by 1530; Zwingli called it not a book of the Bible, and Calvin never wrote a commentary on it.

Which major Christian body still does not read Revelation aloud in its Divine Liturgy?

Eastern Christians were long suspicious of the book, partly because heretical Montanists loved it, and the doubt lasted into the 15th century.

Which of the great early codices does NOT contain the Book of Revelation?

There are fewer manuscripts of Revelation than of any other New Testament text, around 310 as of 2020.

Which Old Testament prophet is considered the most influential source for Revelation's imagery?

Over half of the book's allusions come from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms, Isaiah and Zechariah, with Daniel the densest in proportion to its length.

How far does blood flow from the winepress of God's wrath in chapter 14?

The blood rises as high as the horses' bridles, one of the book's most violent images.

The one like a son of man in chapter 1 has hair white like wool and what coming out of his mouth?

His feet are like fine brass and his voice like many waters; the seven stars are in his right hand.

According to Revelation 20, what is Satan's status during the millennium?

Only after his release and final defeat is he thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and false prophet.