Songfacts®:

• This song is largely about Aleister Crowley, who claimed to be Antichrist 666 as predicted in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. It is one of the few Maiden songs written solely by Bruce Dickinson, who later wrote more songs about Crowley, including "Accident Of Birth" and "Man Of Sorrows." In 2008, Dickinson wrote the screenplay for the film Crowley (released outside the US with the title Chemical Wedding) that also deals with Aleister Crowley.
  
  "It's a song about religion, but not conventional religion, the occult and alchemical side of it, which is a theme I've always been interested in," Dickinson told Planet Rock.
• The lyrics in the first verse are lifted from a hymn by the English writer G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) called "O God Of Earth And Altar." Bruce Dickinson grew up listening to the hymn and always liked it - as church music goes, it's pretty cool:
  
  The walls of gold entomb us
  The swords of scorn divide
  Take not thy thunder from us
  Take away our pride
  
  Dickinson thought it would sound great with some heavy music behind it, forming a nice contrast, so he used it to open the song.
• "Revelations" is part of Iron Maiden's fourth album, Piece Of Mind. It was their first album with drummer Nicko McBrain, bringing together what would become their classic lineup for the first time.