Revelation the Book
Revelation the Book
As we said, clear thinking about "taking the word of God literally" is needed. Oddly, we can resort to the rainbow to help us understand the pitfalls of “literal” and “figurative” language.
Let's get out of the Book of Revelation for a moment, and look at a very clear and straightforward case. God told Noah that the rainbow is a sign of God's covenant never again to destroy all flesh with a flood (Gen 9:8-17). Now you can see that every word of that is quite literal. There is no "figurative language" there. God is not "spiritualizing" the rainbow. Both the rainbow and the covenant are "literal" and one is a sign and reminder of the other.
So we have a "literal" rainbow, don't we? Yes, and the same rainbow is "figurative" isn't it? There is some subtle semantic quicksand here, and we should be careful to avoid it by not treating the terms "literal" and "figurative" as mutually exclusive. The rainbow is "literal" because it is an actual rainbow in the sky. The rainbow is at the same time "figurative" because it signifies a covenant God made.
The book of Revelation is interpreted literally as the rainbow is. John "literally" saw and heard things in his visions, just as we "literally" see the rainbow in the sky. The things John saw stood "figuratively" for facts revealed in the gospel, just as the rainbow stands "figuratively" for the covenant God revealed to Noah. The facts revealed in the gospel are "literally" believed by Christians, just as people "literally" believe the rainbow covenant. This rainbow approach to Revelation cannot fairly be called "spiritualizing prophecy" or "not taking prophecy literally".
In his visions, as a matter of fact, John twice saw a rainbow (Rev 4:3, 10:1). John saw a literal rainbow on the angel's head. But what does it mean? It is not "spiritualizing" to see that literal rainbow as figurative of Christ’s covenant of promise including the forgiveness of sins. That's simply seeing the message and meaning in the vision.
Since we are talking about "spiritualizing" prophecy, let's give one final example that clarifies what might well be regarded as "spiritualizing" the word of God. John saw a creature resembling a calf. We might say that this signifies the sacrifice of Christ our High Priest which he made when he offered himself to be nailed to a cross (Rev 4:7). We might say that this is also represented in the Lamb that John saw (Rev 5:6). That is not "spiritualizing" the vision is it?
However, suppose we took an approach something like this: —"Jesus did not literally die on the cross as a sacrifice for sins. Rather, his death was such an act of injustice that it serves to make people determined to be just, and to liberate others from injustice. The crucifixion thus became an icon of redemption." Now that sort of statement could be regarded as "spiritualizing" because it makes figurative or symbolic what is really literally true that Christ died for our sins once and for all so that God could forgive us.