first task is to seek John’s—and therewith the Holy Spirit’s—original intent as much as that is possible. The primary meaning of any text, including apocalyptic texts, is that which John himself intended, which in turn must be something the original readers would have been capable of understanding. And this is so even if those readers may not always have done so, as the Apostle Paul bears painful witness.4 Indeed, the original readers clearly had the advantage over us at this point. One may readily