Revelation is pure, but words are translation

IT WAS THE last Sunday of 2007, and I was preparing to substitute for our gospel doctrine teacher, who had just had her second child. The text of the lesson was the book of Revelation, chapters 5, 6 and 19 through 22.

I read of the "golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints" (5:8), and I thought: Wouldn't it be much more convenient if all the images in this book could come with a nice little explanation like that?

And then it dawned on me: Maybe the explanation was given only where the meaning would not already be plain to those John was speaking to.

Isn't it strange that in speaking of the most difficult and obscure books in the scriptures, the Lord or his prophets call them "plain" and "clear" (1 Nephi 13, 2 Nephi 25)?

In that moment, as when you look at an optical illusion and it suddenly reverses, I saw chapters 5 and 6 of Revelation in a new way that seemed to me plain and yet precious.

What if Revelation is not just a depiction of the end of the world? What if it is a revelation of the whole course of "this heaven and this earth" (Moses 2:1)?

John saw in the right hand of the Father a book, sealed with seven seals, and the question was asked, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals?" ("Whom shall I send?" (Abraham 3:27))

And in answer came the Lamb, who took the book from the hand of the Father. ("Here am I, send me.") And all the creatures of heaven and earth rejoiced, saying, "Blessing and honour, and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb" (Revelation 5:13).

The Lamb opens the book, seal by seal, and with each we get an image:

A ruler on a white horse, conquering.

The red horse, ridden by a man with a sword to take peace from the earth.

The black horse of money and commerce, which brings wealth to some and poverty to many.

The pale horse of death by sword, famine, disease, predation.

The souls of those slain for their faith in God, crying out for vengeance.

The quaking earth, the sun gone dark, the moon red as blood.

How are any of these events possibly tied to the end of the world, seeing as how all of human history is marked with death, famine, disease, martyrdoms, earthquakes and other natural disasters, commerce through which some prosper at the expense of others, and men who seek war and conquest?

How could we possibly tell the difference?