Revelations is the last, and most complicated Book of the Bible. As Catholic Fundamentalists study it, some conclude that it is several Books in one.
First, it is a description of what will happen when the appointed times come. Evil comes and goes and comes and goes. People are either drawn to it, or they resist it all the way to the end of time.
Second, it seems to describe every period of history in which every reader lives. There are always powerful tyrants doing the work of the dragon, just as there are always a faithful few who oppose them.
Third, some of us may see descriptions of our own lives and struggles within Revelations. As the Bible says to us, “Ye are as kings.”, so, we may conjecture, we are each like a little universe. Each of us is an encapsulation of our culture and our ancestors, and we make very serious and profound choices as we navigate from birth to death. As we operate within our own “universe”, we are individually tempted by the dragon, the first beast and the second as our earthly life moves toward its end.
Hopefully, we will all avoid accepting any mark with which he tries to brand us as his own.
