Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 99 Gary points out that no one interprets purely "literally," although many prophecy speculators claim that they do. The book of Revelation says in the very first chapter that the book is "signs," not actual events and beings. In reality, interpreting the Bible "literally" means to interpret what it says in terms of the type of "literature" it is written in, whether historical narrative, poetry, apocalyptic, etc.