Revelation in Pictures

Our Purpose

On this site we highlight the collage art of Patricia (Patty) Allred (1934-2009) illustrating scenes in the Book of Revelation, by the Apostle John, which is the last book in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. To make the presentation more complete we reference art from other sources where appropriate and available. To see the art, just SCROLL DOWN.

Please see this further explanation of the intent of this web site.

Here is a brief description of other books we found useful.

These pictures are free for most educational uses, and some publication uses. Please see Copyright Notice .

Questions or comments?

Revelation 1 The first picture below dramatizes the statement in Rev 1:8 that our Lord God is the Alpha and Omega, meaning the beginning and the end: “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come…”. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

The second picture is a rendition of the map of the seven cities in Asia Minor to which John is sending messages. Some Christians believe that these seven churches represent stages of development of the Christian church over the centuries, with the church of Laodicea representing our present time. Others believe that they rather stand as examples of how local churches can drift away from the true gospel.

The third picture depicts a Christ-like figure referred to as the “Son of Man”, standing among the seven lamp stands which represent the seven churches in Asia Minor. Notice that the Son of Man is holding the seven stars (reduced to six here by way of artistic license, with no particular meaning intended), which Rev 1:20 says represent the “angels”, or “messengers”, or possibly “pastors” of the seven churches.

Rev01AOmega.JPGRev01BMap.JPGRev01CJesus.JPG

Click on a thumbnail image to bring up a full size image.

Revelation 2 and 3 These two chapters contain the messages that John is told to give the seven churches. The first picture below is simply a picture of four of the lamp stands representing the four churches whose messages are given in Revelation 2 (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira). The next picture depicts the other three churches (Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) whose messages are given in Revelation 3. See the comments on the map picture just above.

Rev02A4Churchs.JPGRev03A3Churches.JPG

Revelation 4 and 5. These two chapters stand almost alone as an extended description of the scene of worship of God the Father in heaven. Of course, most of these images are at least partly symbolic, but it is useful and exiting to try to grasp this picture, as it is the stage from which the following visions are largely orchestrated. Here is Patty’s summary of the scene:

“…Under an emerald glow, John sees heaven and a torch-lit crystal sea. Shimmering, twisting diamond and ruby lights hide God’s face, but a bleeding, sacrificed Lamb (Jesus) takes a scroll from God’s hand. Four winged, all-seeing animals (a lion, and ox, an eagle, and one with a man’s face) fly above twenty-four kneeling elders who burn incense and toss their crowns before God and the Lamb.”

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Other artists have tried to depict this scene. A particularly fascinating vision of it is available as an animation on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_954675&v=8dI-990ati8&feature=iv#t=1s

It is interesting that the four living beings mentioned above have the same four faces that are mentioned in Ezekiel 1, but here each being appears to have only one of the four forms, whereas in Ezekiel each being has all four forms. (Could the beasts in Revelation be the same ones, but viewed from only one side each?) The Ezekiel being has been depicted many times, such as in this one that we like:

RevFourHeadedBeast.jpg

This image is from http://outafire.com/Pictures/Four_creature2.jpg.

Revelation 6 The first picture below appears at first glance to be a depiction of Christ’s crucifixion as described in Matthew 27:45, as darkness falls on the land. But then we see that the form of crucifixion is not correct for Christ’s crucifixion. Instead, Patty evidently intends this picture to depict the killing of Christians mentioned when the Lamb breaks the fifth seal. This picture is unusual for Patty in that it depicts a scene only referred to in Revelation, not the actual scene described in Revelation, which is that of martyred souls under the alter.

The second picture below is Patty’s rendition of the sixth seal being opened. Here is her summary of the scene:

“When the Lamb opens the sixth seal, an earthquake blackens the sun and reddens the moon. Stars drop like figs in a wind. As mountains and islands move, the sky rolls itself up, and vanishes. Everyone (kings, generals, the rich, and the poor) hides among the rocks in mountains and caves.”

This picture beautifully integrates a number of elements into a memorable picture. Notice the sky “rolling up” at the top.

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Revelation 7 The main picture Patty did for Revelation 7 is missing, but was very similar to the picture for Revelation 4 above, with the addition of a crowd of persons in white robes at the bottom, representing those washed white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 8 The art for Chapter 8 is missing. See the small black and white images in her book.

Revelation 9 The picture below represents the scene when the 5th trumpet is sounded. Patty’s summary reads in part:

“A star … drifts to earth and opens a smoking pit’s lid. Out crawl lion-toothed, golden-crowned locusts with pain-inflicting tails. For five months … ,locusts, like horses ready for battle and under the rule of an evil angel, torture all without God’s seal.“

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Revelation 10 The picture below succinctly depicts much of Revelation 10. Here, John is given the scroll to eat by an angel who is standing both on the sea and on the land.

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Revelation 11 Revelation 11 talks about the Two Witnesses who prophecy for 42 months, or 1260 days. The first picture below depicts Rev. 11:7 where the beast comes from the bottomless pit to kill the two witnesses. This passage does not mention the form of this beast. Patty has taken the description of the beast in Rev 13:2 with the appearance of a leopard, but with seven heads and bears’ feet, and applied it in part here as simply a leopard. They live in the open for three and a half days. Then, “they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched.” (NLT) The second picture below depicts their ascent.

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Revelation 12 In the first picture below the woman of Rev 12:1-4 is depicted. She is clothed with the sun, stands on the moon, and has a crown of 12 stars. The seven headed dragon waits to devour her child.

The second picture depicts Rev 12:7 in which war breaks out between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels.

The third picture depicts the rescue of the woman from the dragon, in Rev.12:13-14.

The fourth picture depicts Rev. 12:15-16 where the dragon spews out a flood from its mouth to drown the woman, but the earth swallows the river.

Rev12AWoman.JPGRev12BWar.JPGRev12CEscape.JPGRev12Ddragon.JPG

Revelation 13 The first picture below represents the beast from the sea in Rev 13:1-2, which resembled a leopard with seven heads, ten horns, ten crowns, and bear’s feet.

The second picture simply dramatizes the famous 6-6-6 of Rev. 14:16-18. The mark was/is to be on the forehead or the right hand. Patty’s depiction places it in Roman numerals on the palm of a right hand.

Rev13A7Heads.JPGRev13C666.JPG

Revelation 14 The picture below depicts Rev 14:6-12 in which angels flying through the air announcing various messages to the hearers, including the Good News; that Babylon is fallen; and warning against worshipping the beast.

Rev14BAngels.JPG

Revelation 15 The picture below depicts Rev 15:1-4 in which angels (in the top half) hold the seven last plagues, while the people who had been victorious over the beast hold harps and sing the Song of Moses.

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Revelation 16 Three of Patty’s four illustrations for Revelation 16 are missing. But the one remaining is unusually colorful and dramatic. In it the rulers of the world rush to the Battle of Armageddon. However, when they arrive the seventh angel pours out his bowl into the air and “Babylon” and many other cities are immediately fall into heaps of rubble, and earthquakes and other judgments quickly happen. So the great battle seems anti-climatic. The rulers of the earth never get to fight, but are destroyed.

Rev16DArmageddon.jpg

Revelation 17 The picture art for Chapter 17 is missing.

Revelation 18 The one picture provided for Revelation 18 tries to depict the fall of Babylon. The scripture does not give very specific visual details of how the destruction happens, though it gives surprising detail of all the things that will be destroyed. In verse 21 and angel throws a great stone into the ocean to illustrate how Babylon “will be thrown down as violently as I have thrown away this stone.” This is probably the inspiration for Patty’s “throwing away” the city upside-down and breaking apart.

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Revelation 19 A lot happens in a few verses in Rev. 19:1-10. In the first picture, a vast crowd in heaven shout praises to God. In the second picture, all of God’s attendants fall down to worship him, as in Rev. 19:2-4. The third picture represents the wedding of the Lamb, as told in Rev.19:7-9. In the fourth picture, Patty depicts Rev. 19:10, in which John falls at the feet of the angel who had been speaking to him. But the angel reminds John that his worship should directed instead to God, and that “the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.” (NLT). Finally, in the fifth picture, the KING ARRIVES! He is on a white horse, and has the name “Faithful and True”, and on his thigh is written “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” He proceeds to destroy the beast and the false prophet and throws them into the lake of fire.

Rev19AGlory.jpgRev19BPraise.JPGRev19CLamb.JPGRev19DAngel.JPGRev19EKingOfKings.jpg

Revelation 20 This last picture shows the angel of Rev.20:1-3 who comes with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain. He binds the dragon (a.k.a. the Devil, and Satan) with the chain and imprisons him in the bottomless pit so he cannot deceive the nations for 1,000 years so.

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Revelation 21-22. The remaining art is missing from Patty’s collection. But her book ends with the image it started with… how appropriate!

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About Patricia Allred

Patty Allred spent much of her energy during the last decade of her life illustrating many scenes in the book of Revelation. She was passionate about Revelation and used a form of collage art to create many illustrations, some of which are no longer available in the original form. More of the pictures are available in black and white in the small independently published book “REVELATION IN PICTURES (Clothed with the Son)” by Patty Allred, ISBN 0-9764619-0-0. 

It should be mentioned that a number of her illustrations appear in at least two forms in Patty’s archives. For example, the picture for Revelation 19 where John falls at the feet of an angel appears in her book in a version in which the angel has a more feminine appearance. Here we have only a version in which the angel (correctly) has a masculine appearance. In some cases a relatively dull colored scene was replaced with a much brighter version, such as the four candle-stand picture for Revelation 2. It seems Patty may have developed a clearer more consistent style as she went along, and felt the need to redo some early versions.

For unknown reasons, we were unable to locate full color versions of nearly half of the pictures in her book, even though Patty’s husband, Ollie Allred, made all available materials completely available to us. We do not know the reason for this loss.

Our Purpose

On this site we highlight the collage art of Patricia (Patty) Allred (1934-2009) illustrating scenes in the Book of Revelation, by the Apostle John, which is the last book in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. To make the presentation more complete we reference art from other sources where appropriate and available.

We are not attempting to tell you, the viewer, how to interpret the Book of Revelation. We are simply providing Patty’s art to the public to help readers, pastors and others visualize, remember and understand the many scenes described in the Book of Revelation. Appreciation of this art does not require any viewer to believe in any particular interpretation of Revelation. The art takes no position as to whether specific events described are historical (preterist view)or as yet future (futurist view). It also takes no position as to the return of Christ being Pre-, Mid-, Post- or A- Millennial. But it certainly points to the return of Christ!

We do, however, want to be clear that we understand most of the images in Revelation to be symbolic. We know that this is the intention, because the angels who reveal these scenes to the Apostle John frequently explain the symbolism. For example, in Rev 1:20 the angel explains that the seven lamp-stands refer to the seven churches to which John is to send messages. In Rev 5:8 the smoke from the incense in the gold bowl is stated to stand for the prayers of God’s people. In Rev 12:17 in the struggle between the “woman” and the “dragon” the scripture clarifies that the woman’s children are “all who keep God’s commandments and confess that they belong to Jesus” (NLT). The latter half of Rev 17 explains several of the entities in the picture. For example: “The waters where the prostitute is sitting represent masses of people of every nation and language”. None of this means in any way that the events described are not real. They are definitely real, having already happened or yet to happen. The depictions simply need to be understood and interpreted, as God reveals His plan.

We should clarify that some of the images described in Revelation may be literally as described. For example, beings with heads of ox, lion, eagle and man – on different beings or all four on one being -- are mentioned as far back as the Old Testament major prophets. So such beings may be more literal than some images in Revelation.

Other Resources - Books

There are many books and web sites which attempt to explain or interpret the Book of Revelation. Many seem very dated at this time. A useful overview of Revelation which tries to explain all the major interpretations of each part of Revelation in the style of a reporter is “The Complete Guide to Bible Prophecy” by Stephen M. Miller (by Barbour Publishing). It is widely available. Also, we have recently found “The Returning King” by Vern S. Poythress (by P&R Publishing) to be a useful guide, especially as regards the internal structure of the Book of Revelation. 

About Copyright

Oliver (Ollie) Allred, the husband of Patricia Allred and heir to her work, hereby grants unlimited use of Patty’s art for any educational or teaching or preaching purpose. Up to five images can be included in published materials (whether electronic or on paper) without further permission. Patty’s signature must be left in the image (when present) unless the image is cropped for legitimate reasons and the signature is thereby deleted. The pictures on this web site are about XGA resolution (1024 by 768). For higher resolution versions or permission to more fully publish this art please contact the webmaster below.

Questions, Comments?

For questions/comments, please email the webmaster, Ron Jones, at rejones7@yahoo.com .

 

 

Keywords: Revelation “Revelation in Pictures” “Revelation art” “free art for Revelation” “Patricia Allred” “Patty Allred”