If the Book of Revelation feels confusing, one reason might be because it assumes you already know the rest of the Bible.

John’s vision is not an isolated prophecy dropped into the New Testament without context. It is the culmination of a story that spreads throughout the rest of Scripture. In fact, Revelation contains more allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament book, over 500 by some counts. And yet, it never quotes the Old Testament directly. Instead, it weaves Scripture into its very fabric, using the imagery, themes, and language of the Hebrew Bible to show how the same God who spoke through the prophets is still speaking through the Lamb.

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This matters more than most people realize. Too often, Revelation gets ripped away from its biblical foundation and twisted to interpret contemporary headlines. But John isn’t looking forward to helicopters or microchips. He’s looking backward to Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel and applying their message to his present reality under the Roman Empire. He’s showing how God’s patterns of judgment, deliverance, and covenant continue to play out in the lives of the churches he writes to.

To understand Revelation, you don’t need a newspaper. You need a Bible.

John as a Scholar and Theologian of the Old Testament

John isn’t just a prophet caught up in spiritual visions; he’s a careful and deliberate theologian. Every line of Revelation shows that he knows the Old Testament not only as Scripture but as a lens for understanding God’s present work through Jesus. He doesn’t simply reference the Old Testament; he lives and breathes it. His visions are saturated with structured, purposeful allusions to the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

When John describes the exalted Christ in Revelation 1, he doesn’t come up with a new descriptive language. The “one like a Son of Man” (Rev 1:13) is drawn from Daniel 7. The sword from His mouth echoes Isaiah 49. The blazing eyes and shining face mirror those of Daniel in Daniel 10 and of Moses in Exodus 34.

Like an artist building a mosaic, John pieces together a vision of Jesus and God’s kingdom from the whole of Israel’s Scriptures. Revelation is a tapestry of biblical theology. Nearly every image, judgment, song, and promise in the book has roots in the Old Testament. But John doesn’t just string together verses; he filters them through the reality of the Lamb who was slain.

Michael Gorman puts it well: John doesn’t quote the Old Testament. He thinks in its language. His imagination is formed by the Exodus, the exile, the temple, the Psalms, and the prophetic books. And that biblical imagination is what shapes the world he sees behind the veil.

John doesn’t treat the Old Testament as a background or footnote. He treats it as the essential source for understanding who God is, what God has done, and where history is going. He shows how the God of Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah is the same God enthroned in Revelation 4–5, calling His people to worship, endurance, and victory in Christ.

So, if we want to read Revelation well, we need to understand the Bible like John did.

Major Old Testament Themes and Echoes in Revelation

The deeper we go into Revelation, the more we see that John isn’t just pointing back to scattered texts. He’s drawing from the entire narrative arc of the Old Testament, especially its major themes of liberation, judgment, worship, and renewal.

Let’s look at a few of the most prominent echoes:

Exodus and the Plagues

Revelation’s judgments—especially the trumpets (Rev 8–9) and bowls (Rev 16)—echo the ten plagues of Egypt in Exodus 7–12. Water turns to blood, darkness falls, locusts swarm, and hailstones fall from the sky. But the message is not simply that God will judge the wicked; it’s that God will once again liberate His people from oppression and bring them through the wilderness into a better kingdom.

Like in Exodus, God’s message hardens the hearts of His enemies. Like in Exodus, the judgment of God is both terrifying and redemptive. Like in Exodus, worship is the goal. The Exodus was not just a rescue; it was a call to worship the true God, and Revelation follows a similar trajectory.

Sinai, Theophany, and Covenant

Throughout Revelation, we encounter thunder, lightning, smoke, and trumpet blasts, signs that immediately echo Mount Sinai (Exod 19–20). When the heavenly temple is opened in Revelation 11:19, we see the ark of the covenant, another unmistakable link to Israel’s wilderness worship and God’s covenant presence.

This isn’t accidental. Revelation presents God not as a distant, unapproachable dictator but as a covenant-keeping God who invites the world into His heavenly sanctuary.

Exile, Babylon, and the Fall of Empires

Babylon is one of the most imposing figures in Revelation (Rev 17–18). John pulls directly from Isaiah 13–14, Jeremiah 50–51, and Ezekiel 26–28 to describe her downfall. But Babylon is more than a city; it’s a pattern. It represents any human power that exalts itself against God, oppresses the faithful, and thrives on idolatry, luxury, and violence.

Just like the prophets, John proclaims Babylon’s fall as certain. The echoes of exile remind us that God’s people may be scattered, suffering, or surrounded by corrupt power, but Babylon doesn’t win. God always brings down the proud.

Temple, Priesthood, and Worship

From the opening vision of Jesus among the lampstands (Rev 1) to the incense rising before the throne (Rev 5, 8) to the great multitude worshiping (Rev 7), Revelation is steeped in temple imagery. The Church is portrayed as a kingdom of priests (Rev 1:6; 5:10), echoing the words of Exodus 19:6. The prayers of the saints are likened to an offering of incense. The altar is the place of both sacrifice and intercession.

Revelation doesn’t just use temple symbols; it is structured like a temple liturgy, moving from outer courts to inner sanctuaries, culminating in the vision of God and the Lamb on the throne.

The Son of Man and the Beasts

The imagery of Revelation 13—beasts rising from sea and land, speaking blasphemy, making war on the saints—comes straight out of Daniel 7 and 8 and Job 40 and 41. The beasts represent false kingdoms and religions. They’re brutal, deceptive, and short-lived. They are contrasted with “one like a Son of Man” (Rev 1:13; 14:14), who is exalted, radiant, and victorious.

Daniel and Job’s visions are not just background noise; they serve as a prophetic lens for understanding the powers that rise and fall in Revelation.

Creation and New Creation

Revelation ends with a return to Eden. The tree of life (Rev 22:2), the river flowing from the throne (22:1), and the removal of the curse (22:3) all echo the account of the Fall in Genesis 1–3. A redeemed world, where heaven and earth are no longer separated, and God dwells with His people.

Echoes of Isaiah 65–66 and Ezekiel 40–48 are strong here with their promises of a new heaven, a renewed temple, and a restored people. Revelation fulfills what the prophets saw from a distance.

These are only a few examples, but the pattern is clear: Revelation tells the same story the Bible has always told. It’s not a new vision; it’s just the final chapter in an ancient book.

Don’t Neglect the Old Testament

One of the biggest reasons people struggle with Revelation is because they’ve ignored the first 75% of their Bibles.

For many modern Christians, the Old Testament feels foreign, distant, complex, or even irrelevant. But John didn’t see it that way. In fact, he didn’t just believe the Old Testament was useful; he believed it was essential. The images, patterns, and promises of Genesis through Malachi were the lens through which John saw the Lamb, the Church, and the end of the age. He didn’t need to invent new symbols or speculate about the future. He simply picked up what God had already revealed and showed how it all pointed to Jesus.

Revelation doesn’t make sense without the Old Testament. When we read Revelation without the Old Testament, we’ll fill in the gaps with headlines, hearsay, and Hollywood. But if we read it the way John did by being steeped in Scripture, we’ll see a unified story and not a scattered puzzle. We’ll stop chasing predictions and start understanding promises.

Beale, G. K. “The Use of the Old Testament in Revelation.” In Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, 1081–1161. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.

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