Twelve Images In John's Revelation

The Jewish number of perfection, twelve, also the number of tribes of Israel in the Old Testament, is used in abundance in Revelation. In God’s throne room (4:4), John places twenty-four thrones for twenty-four elders, including the twelve disciples and twelve to represent the tribes of Israel. Even the 144,000 male virgins (7:4-8) stem from the number twelve, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The woman clothed with the sun (12:1) wears a crown of twelve stars to effectively using the woman as a symbol for Israel, God’s people who bore the Messiah. New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5) sounds like a broken record with its exhaustive chanting of twelve. There are twelve gates with twelve pearls, the twelve tribes of Israel inscribed upon them, and twelve angels to stand guard. It stands on twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles inscribed upon them and adorn with twelve types of jewels. Even the tree of life in verse 22:2 states it produces twelve types of fruit. And to encompass the entire city stands a great wall measuring 144 cubits, or twelve times twelve. …show more content…
Forgive the added numerical redundancy, but the seven trumpet blasts (8:6-9:21, 11:15-19) and the seven bowls (15:5-16:21) mimic an Exodus motif. Seven angels holding seven trumpets release seven plagues similar to Exodus 7-12 when God unleashed God’s wrath upon Pharaoh’s people in order to force him to free the Israelites from their captivity. Revelation’s plague motif spells destruction for one-third of earth’s people. As each angel pours out their assigned bowl in succession, seven plagues, again paralleling Egypt’s plagues, fall upon the earth in a similar fashion to the seven trumpet