Every illustration contains the corresponding Bible text (NIV), allowing to read the book of Revelation as a graphic novel. Click on an image to zoom in and click the arrows to go the next or previous verse.

Illustrations are a helpful addition to the Bible texts. Visualizations are quick to convey messages, they are easily remembered and provoke visual associations with other Revelation chapters or Bible books.

The overview of illustrations and thematic infographics offer never seen before panoramic views of the book of Revelation. This allows to easily make visual connections between verses, paragraphs and chapters.

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The thematic infographics are on the bottom side of the menu: structures, time, place, characters, disasters, numbers, symbols and qoutations.

In 2014, Dutch hobby illustrator Ruben van der Plas encountered challenges understanding the Book of Revelation, finding its structure, symbolism and interpretations impenetrable.

While there are many books written about the Revelation, most approach it from specific theological viewpoints, limiting their usefulness for gaining an unbiased and non-interpretive first glance.

As a hobby illustrator, Ruben began mapping and visualizing Revelation’s content. This personal project evolved over ten years of evening and weekend work, combining careful study with detailed illustrations.

Despite receiving publishing offers, Ruben chose to self-publish his book on Amazon in 2022. Choosing for self-publishing allowed him to maintain the copyright of his illustrations, and to create this free online platform. Ruben’s goal with this online platform is to make Revelation Illustrated freely accessible to a large audience and to share our collective future hope in Jesus.

Looking ahead, Ruben hopes to expand the project with additional thematic infographics and objective observations about Revelation, provided the current platform proves valuable to its users.

This free online platform represents thousands of hours of self-funded work. If you would like to support this project, your donation will help cover hosting and web development costs. It will also help expanding our reach and creating new content with the goal of sharing the image-rich message of Revelation. 

Note: This is a personal project, not affiliated with any organization. Donations are not tax-deductible.

By Ruben van der Plas | February 22, 2026

About the confusing relationship between Babylon and the Beast

This small post is about the confusing relationship between Babylon and the beast (of the sea). It appears that Babylon and the beast turn from an alliance into betrayal.

If we read the Revelation, we could think that Babylon and the beast are allies. Why? Firstly, because the beast apparently lets Babylon sit on it (verse 17:3). Apparently there is something of a common interest between Babylon and the beast – which might be the basis of their alliance. Secondly, we could argue that Babylon and the beast could regard God or the Lamb as a shared enemy (see e.g. verses 13:6 and 17:6).

If there indeed is something of an alliance between the beast and Babylon, it appears to be temporary. In verse 17:16, the initial alliance or relationships takes an unexpected turn when the beast (and the ten kings) “hates” Babylon. This hatred results in the beast “ruining”, “eating” and “burning” her. Apparently the initial alliance ends in hatred and violence.

What could this mean? Why does the beast first let Babylon sit on it, and then later ruin, eat and burn her? Could it be that an enduring hatred was temporarily pushed aside for a pragmatic shared interest or enemy? Could it be that something between the two happened to turn this initial favor into hatred? Could it be that the ten king’s manipulated the beast to hate Babylon?

Another way of reasoning towards the beast’s incentives is to look at the effects of Babylon’s demise. Why? Because if an alliance is based on pragmatism (rather than e.g. shared values, friendship or love), then “the end could justify the means”. In this line of thought, it is not unthinkable that the events triggered by the fall of Babylon were the actual reason for the beast to “ruin” and “burn” Babylon. So what events are triggered through Babylon’s fall? According to chapter 18, the fall of Babylon appears to result in a very sudden collapse of global trade. In “one hour”, the kings of the earth, the merchants and all those who travel by ship woe the fall of Babylon. In this line of reasoning, it could be that the beast betrays and ruins Babylon, with the goal of creating a sudden global market collapse.

So far, we have considered incentives from the side of the beast (and the ten kings). This line of reasoning might fall short however. Verse 17:17 suggests that the beast’s incentives are not the primary reason for betraying Babylon. In this verse, it is God who makes the ten kings hand over their authority to the beast. As this verse directly follows the verse describing how the beast and ten kings ruin Babylon (17:16), we could argue that the primary reason why the beast and the kings ruin Babylon, is actually to “fulfill God’s words” (17:17). In other words, perhaps it is God who has planted or cultivated this hatred towards Babylon in the beast and the ten kings. This is not unthinkable, considering the Pharaoh in the Exodus.

 This leaves us with the question why God would like to see Babylon ruined and burned. This question is easier to answer. According to verse 18:5, Babylon’s sins are “piled up to heaven” (reminding us of the tower of Babel). Moreover, or more specifically, Babylon is mentioned to play a crucial role in the global trade of luxury goods as well as slaves (verse 18:12-13). Also verse 17:6 describes Babylon being “drunk with the blood of God’s holy people”. And according to verse 18:4 there is a serious risk of God’s people being tempted to “share with the sins” of Babylon. It appears that judging sin is (at least one of) God’s incentive to have Babylon ruined.

We have considered that God’s incentive might be the primary reason for the beast to ruin Babylon. However, this does not necessarily rule out an incentive from the beast’s side. If we again consider the Exodus, Pharaoh’s incentive was to not let Moses and the Israelian slaves go. Despite the many plagues that hit the Egyptians, Pharaoh hardened his own heart and refused Moses permission to leave the country. Then in another verse we also read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. What could this teach us? That even though God interfered in Pharaohs feelings or reasoning, this does not mean that these feelings or reasonings were not Pharaohs in the first place. Projecting this back on the Revelation again, even though God uses the beast to ruin Babylon (thereby judging sin), this does not at all mean that the beast did not have his own share of hatred towards Babylon.

Having considered all this, we could conclude that from God’s side, the beasts betrayal of Babylon is perhaps His way to judge Babylon for all her wrongdoings. If, however, we also consider that the beast itself could have an inherent motivation or incentive to ruin Babylon, we appear to be left more in the dark. Possibly the beast has always hated Babylon, but pragmatically needed a temporary alliance with her. Possibly the interference of the ten kings changed the beasts perspective on Babylon. Possibly the global economic collapse fits into the bigger schemes of the beast. Or possibly there is another reason or incentive we are completely overlooking here.

By Ruben van der Plas | May 17, 2025

This post is about why we should interpret less, and observe more.

Most christians are raised in a Bible-reading community. They are taught how to read, interpret and apply the scriptures. Not so for me. I had to learn all holy theory from scratch in my early twenties. To overcome this lack of knowledge, I did a written verse-by-verse course on the whole New Testament. This course was very structured and coherent -until- I reached the Book of Revelation. Suddenly the questions became suggestive and I felt pushed towards a certain theology. Being the headstrong adolescent, I stopped the written course and instead looked for more analytical and unbiased sources on Revelation. That proved a hard task.

Revelation is a theological battleground
As I looked for more objective resources on Revelation, I often found myself in the middle of theological firing lines. Many writings on Revelation appeared highly subjective, biased and speculative. And some christians appeared to be professionally engaged in heated disputes over Revelation-related topics. For me this contradicted a fundamental Bible study principle: first Observation, then Interpretation and finally Application. For Revelation, the market of interpretation felt oversaturated. Observation and Application were much less discussed.

Overinterpretation is dangerous
I believe that the overinterpretation of Revelation is dangerous. If we assume that only one interpretation of Revelation is correct, then logically all deviating other interpretations must be wrong. This means that the majority of different interpretations you hear about Revelation are incorrect. Quite dangerous if you think of it. It can easily mislead, scare and potentially damage younger christians. It also risks damaging the reputation of christianity – a reputation which cannot bear much more damage I’m afraid.

Observation First Please!
It is my conviction that we should invest much more in careful and thorough observation. Instead of jumping to interpretations, we should focus on slow, systematic and analytical study of the Revelation. In the short term this will help us debunk a host of superficial and stupendous interpretations (I’m an expert). In the long term it will help us deepen our understanding of the Apocalypse. When we are deeply rooted in the scriptures, surely it will bear fruit some day.

In verse 1:3 of the Revelation it is written that reading the Revelation aloud, hearing it, and taking it to heart holds a blessing. Perhaps this is enough for now.

last edited: May 19, 2025

“I have long looked forward to a book of this nature. (…) Revelation is a wonderful book with some great themes. Unfortunate many writers keep giving it an undeserved bad rap. This book corrected that view. Thank you!”

★★★★★
Denton – Amazon customer