Showing

The verb deiknuo, “show,” is used eight times in Revelation. Four of the uses are at the seams of the book, at the beginning of each new in-Spirit vision:

1. Jesus has been given to show John what must shortly take place (1:1).

2. When John sees a door open in heaven, a voice like a trumpet (the Voice that is Jesus) calls him up: “I will show you what must take place after these things” (4:1). He is swept up to heaven where Jesus shows wonders.

3. After the bowls have been emptied, one of the bowl angels invites John to the wilderness: “I will show you the judgment of the great harlot” (17:1).

4. In the final vision, one of the bowl angels invites John to a mountaintop: “I will show you the bride” (21:9).

Jesus shows things that must shortly take place, and these include the destruction of the harlot and the descent of the bride.

The final four uses of the verb are in the final vision. From the mountain he is shown the holy city (21:10) and the river of life that flows through the center (22:1). Twice at the end, there are references to the angel who “showed” these things (22:6, 8).

Viewing the new Jerusalem from a great mountain, John is Abram surveying the length and breadth of the land that the Lord promised (Genesis 12:1; 13:14); he is Moses on Nebo surveying the promised land (Deuteronomy 34). And the new Jerusalem is the city that Abraham looked for, the city whose builder and maker is God.