Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the Christian Bible and is a symbolically and metaphorically rich foretelling of the future of the Church.

The book begins, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John" which refers to Saint John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing a letter to the "seven churches which are in Asia". He goes on describing a series of prophetic and somewhat surrealistic visions, including four six-winged beasts and "a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" as well as 24 elders ending in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Many view the imagery as representing the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. Others interpret the book as signifying political struggle between the Roman empire and Christians.