have a symbolic purpose: the number three refers to things supernatural and divine, four to created things; seven and twelve imply completion, fullness. Colours are used in similar way; white stands for victory and purity, red for violence, black for death. Another feature of apocalyptic writing is what we might call the “law of anticipation”, that is, its tendency to refer briefly to some event which will be dealt with fully later on. And sometimes the narrative is interrupted to include a passage