“The questions about the symbolic references of Christ’s Revelation perhaps being purely literal should seem quite silly to those of you who’ve actually read it to the end of its first chapter.”
John would have been like, “7 candle sticks? Who cares?” “A beast with seven heads that are 7 kings? Who cares?”
I do believe John did see a beast with 7 heads though, as if it were really there. In that case, it is literal.
“I do believe John did see a beast with 7 heads though, as if it were really there. “
Agreed. There would be no purpose and probably less effectiveness in showing John a photo album listing the actual faces of future characters he’d never personally see and never be able to relay to us. Perhaps if they’d had facebook access on Patmos...