the Bible is full of stories, information, history, parables, and prophecy as well as figurative and literal stories. Many people have no faith at all in the Bible and believe that all the Scriptures are just written by mortal man and they do not believe there is a God or Deity that had anything to do with it. Other's believe a mixture of many different things all over the gambit and still there are those who are always trying to say that many things don't make sense and that the Bible cannot be real or factual because of the way many things are described within especially in books like Revelation and dealing with the End Times.
My point in this post is to simply say that sometimes the writer of the Bible books, such as John with Revelation, used terminology common to the time in which he lived and that would be meaningful to those who would be reading it contemporary to his time and the time he lived. So the question is just how do you describe the indescribable? It's also like when Moses was questioning God as to whom he should say sent him into Egypt in order to free the Jewish slaves. It is said that God said to simply tell them that he was given the instructions by "I AM" and left it at that. Scriptures and the Bible are, I believe, God's communication with humanity, with mankind and that there are things that God has left to His Holy Spirit to finish and confirm. There will always be those who doubt and those who fully believe and accept that which is written. There will also be those who use the written word for their own definitions and interpretations and to accomplish their own agendas but when it comes down to it each person is responsible for what they believe and what they do with what they have been given.