I forgot who taught me this rule of thumb but it is a good one– always take the plain meaning of the text unless the context tells you otherwise.
The Bible says God created the world in seven days (see Genesis 2:2-3) and we should just take it as seven normal 24-hour days. We should not overthink and try to speculate what does “seven days” mean.
“Maybe it means seven thousand years because of 2 Peter 3:8…”, “Maybe it means seven unspecific periods because it can’t be that simple…”, “Maybe it just means God did a perfect work because ‘seven’ is the number of perfection…”
Don’t me wrong. Obviously, symbols, typologies, metaphors, parables have deeper meanings. But unless it clear that the text is using figurative language, we should just stick to what it says.
For example, the Second Coming of Christ.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
– Revelation 1:7 ESV
The simplest way to understand is that Jesus will literally appear in the clouds when He returns from Heaven.
Or you can complicate matters by arguing that “clouds” is not literal but a metaphor for “people” because Hebrews 12:1 says we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses”, and it means Jesus will again be born among men.
I hope you can see what the problem is.
There is nothing in the context of the passage that warrants such an interpretation. While Revelation uses plenty of symbolism, not every part of it is symbolic. John was speaking plainly in this verse.
And if you are familiar with the Bible, you will also know about the other verses that affirm a literal return of Jesus from the clouds. See Acts 1:11. Matthew 24:30, Daniel 7:13.
Once again, it shows the importance of reading through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter instead of selected verses or passages. In this way, you will know the so text well to be able to tell if it is speaking plainly or figuratively.
In My Words... 