For many readers today, Revelation is a book shrouded in mystery. Creatures and frightening events are described for which we seemingly have no frame of reference, leading many to wild speculation. The thing that modern readers must understand is that the creatures, events and images described in the book of Revelation are the same images that are used throughout the Scriptures from the book of Genesis onward. In order to understand what these images mean in Revelation we must become familiar with what these images meant when they were first used throughout the Scriptures. At Christ's crucifixion, some thirty years prior to John receiving this Revelation from Jesus, the people had called a curse down upon themselves saying, "Let his (Christ's) blood be on us and on our children." Matthew 27:25. This is the message of the book of Revelation. Christ was about to honor the request of those misguided souls but before he came in judgment he wanted his priests, his ambassadors, and his Church to know what was about to happen. They were about to witness the destruction of Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, the end of sacrifice, and the end of Old Covenant worship. Because Christ, the Lamb of God, had been slain, the Old Covenant sacrifices, along with the Temple, which had always pointed to Christ, were no longer necessary and were about to be abolished. In the process millions of Jews would be killed by the Roman army, millions of Jews would be sold into slavery, and land of Israel would be left a smoldering ruin.