Revelation Special Lecture #1

Dr. Dave Mathewson

Gordon College/Denver Seminary

REVELATION SPECIAL LECTURE #1

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION

• Close literary analogies to Revelation

• No modern parallels: newspapers, novels, poems

• Two approaches as to how has it been treated in church history?

• 1) Many have ignored it: to many it still has 7 seals, not certain how to read it, too confusing

• Retreat to safer ground of Gospels or Pauline epistles

• John Calvin wrote on all NT except Revelation


• 2) Obsessed with it

• How Revelation matches up with events of our own day, infatuation/fascination with decoding Revelation

• Left Behind Series for example

• Revelation is viewed like a crystal ball by which to figure out the future


• Both of those approaches should be rejected

• Put Revelation back in its original context

• What did this book mean in its original context?

• How would the original audience have understood it?

• Who is the author? Who are the readers? What situation precipitated the writing of the book?

AUTHORSHIP

• John is the author—Church Fathers mention several “John’s” in the early church

• One of the most popular is the Apostle John

• Whichever “John” he is well-known to the churches

• He doesn’t claim apostolic authority, instead he claims the authority of an OT prophet, he draws on OT forms


• Did the NT writers know they were writing Scripture?

• The writer of Revelation knows he is writing something authoritative on the level of OT prophetic Scripture

• Dating

• Dated early in the time of Nero (ca. 60’s AD)

• Most date it in the reign of Domitian 95/96 AD

• In that case the last book written in NT

REVELATION CHARACTERISTICS

• Symbolism

• Vision of locusts: head of human, hair of a woman, teeth of a lion, tail of a scorpion, dragon and serpents, strange creatures and symbols

• Where did John get these symbols?

REVELATION CHARACTERISTICS

• Use of the Old Testament

• Almost every verse has reference to OT

• Weaves prophetic books into his vision without introductory formulae

• Often the meaning of the symbol depends on OT background

PRIMARY PURPOSE OF REVELATION

• Minor feature predicting or forecasting the future

• 1) Revelation was a response to Roman domination and emperor worship

• Rome was the dominant world power, replacing Persia, Babylon and others before it

• Rome was known for providing peace and prosperity

• The Roman emperor emerged as the savior of the world as the great patron of all people


• Vibrant emperor cult, emperor worship often tied into commerce and trade

• Emperor worship permeated society

• Christians lived in that environment and were at times pressured to worship the emperor

• It would be an affront not to show respect to the emperor who provided so much good; debt of gratitude owed to him


• This push to compromise caused problems for many early Christians

• Is it a harmless activity?

REVELATION AND CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION

• Some have said Revelation addresses persecution of early church

• Suffering persecution at the hands of imperial Roman

• But at this point most persecution was local and sporadic

REVELATION AND CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION

• Most persecution comes from local leaders who would find it an affront not to show homage to the emperor

• At least one person [Antipas: Pergamom] had died for Christ

• No official sanctioned widespread persecution

THE 7 CHURCHES

• Rev. 2-3 mention 7 churches in 7 cities in Western Asia Minor/Turkey

• Letters to 7 churches

• All of these cities are situated showing great allegiance to imperial Rome and emperor worship with temples dedicated to the worship of emperors in each city

• Ephesus had a temple dedicated to Domitian

RESPONSES TO ROMAN RULE AND EMPEROR

• 2 possible Responses

• You could resist, that could bring about some types of persecution

• Far greater problem: most Christians tempted to compromise to Roman ideology and rule; they could render allegiance to both Jesus and the emperor

RESPONSES TO ROMAN RULE AND EMPEROR

• When you read the letters to the 7 churches only 2 are suffering persecution

• The other 5 churches have problems with mixed allegiance to Roman rule and emperor worship

7 CHURCHES OF WESTERN ASIA MINOR

• So to belong to cities you would feel compelled to render allegiance to the Roman emperor showing support of Roman rule and ideology including your job

• This was a plight for Christians

WHAT IS THE MAIN THEME OF REVELATION?

• Suffering and persecution is one major theme

• Main: Who is worthy of our worship and allegiance? Is it Jesus Christ or the Emperor or human institution?

• Revelation tries to convince them that only Jesus Christ is worthy of worship

• It is a wake up call to get them to understand what is going on in their first century context

• No other human or institution is worthy of worship

MAIN POINT OF REVELATION

• Revelation is an unmasking or revealing of the true nature of Roman rule

• John is not just predicting the future. What he is primarily doing is exposing the true nature of Roman rule

• John is functioning like an OT prophet

• OT prophets unmasked true nature of human empires: Babylon, Persia, Egypt

MAIN POINT OF REVELATION

• OT prophet exposed the arrogance of foreign empires and the problems of compromise

• Now there is another empire that is emerging that is surfacing that is arrogantly sets itself up over the world like other ancient empires, it’s a blood-thirsty beast out to get Christians, power and wealth

MAIN GOAL OF REVELATION

• Revelation is exposing the arrogance and pretension and corrupt ideology or Rome and to get Christians to see its true nature of Rome and not to give into it allegiance

• It is for Christians in the first century an unmasking and exposing Roman rule and its ideology so that Christians will be able to resist it

GENRE OF REVELATION

• When is the last time you read or wrote an apocalypse?

• No close modern literary analogy to Revelation?

• What kind of book or literary genre is Revelation that was familiar to 1st century readers?

• What was John doing in recording these strange visions of locusts, 7 headed beasts….?

• How do we read that?

GENRE OF REVELATION

• Revelation is a combination of 3 literary forms

• 1) Apocalypses: Literary form from 200 BC to 200 AD

• Today we see it as mass cosmic destruction at the end of the world

• In first century would have identified it characterized by this:

• It reveals or exposes what is going on in the situation of the readers

GENRE OF REVELATION

• What they see with their eyes is what is going on empirically but the apocalypse shows what is going on behind what they see in the empirical world

• “Apocalypse” means: unveiling, what you see empirically was not all that there is. Behind that world was a spiritual or heavenly world

GENRE OF REVELATION

• Play analogy

• When you see a play you see what is happening on the stage.

• What you don’t see is what is going on behind the scene--it’s all behind the curtain

• What Revelation does is lift the curtain so you can see what is really going on behind the scene

GENRE OF REVELATION

• Revelation lifts the curtain to the stage of history, behind first century Roman rule there is a spiritual world and a future beyond it

• Revelation gives them a glimpse behind the empirical world into the transcendent world in order to see their present world in a totally different light

• Now they can see behind the empirical world into the heavenly world to better grasp how to live in their world in a totally different light

• Unmasking the reality that lies behind the empirical world

GENRE OF REVELATION

• John does that unmasking through the use of symbols

• Using symbols is more compelling: 7 headed beast out to devour people

• Not just to effect the intellect but to impact the imagination and emotions

GENRE OF REVELATION

• 2) Revelation is a prophecy

• Like OT prophets who critiqued the culture of their times not just futuristic

• Like OT prophets it exposes the true bankruptcy of the world system and opposes God’s people

GENRE OF REVELATION

• 3) Revelation is a letter

• It is communicating information that the first century readers understood

• It begins and ends like Paul’s first century letters

• 1:4, for example

GENRE OF REVELATION

• In the same way Paul wrote to address a specific problem or need of churches or persons in first century so too the book of Revelation does

• Point is to try to reconstruct what was going on and what John was addressing in the first century that John is address

• Opposing compromise with Roman rule and emperor worship

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION

• 1) Should be interpreted symbolically not literaly—given the kind of literature it is

• It describes something beyond the experience of empirical reality

• John is not describing the first century or future in literal terms

• What do the symbols mean? What do they refer to? What is the seven headed beast trying to convey?

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION• 2) Any interpretation that John could not have intended

and his readers could not have understood is suspect.

• Some think the original readers couldn’t understand it but now we have the key finally at last, (vid. obsessed Revelation teachers today)

• If Revelation was a time-machine into our day then Revelation must have been completely out of the range of understanding of the first century readers

• No, Revelation was communicating a message that would meet the crisis of living life under Roman rule


• 3) Don’t loose sight of the forest for the trees

• Read Revelation holistically and not get so much into the details missing the message of the whole

• 4) Don’t miss the main purpose: it’s not primarily about the future but how God’s people are to live in the midst of a pagan society


• 5) Humility

• The main focus is very clear but the details one must hold our interpretation with a healthy amount of humility

• Given the variety of diverse ways Revelation has been understood in Church history, it is wise to interpret it with humility

4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION

• Attempts to read Revelation according to ideological approaches: feminists, etc.

• 1) Preterists approach to Revelation

• All of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century

• Revelation is a commentary on the first century events except perhaps for Rev. 21-22

• It can still be applied to us


• 2) Historical view

• Revelation is church history in advance

• John was predicting the entire history of the church starting with the 1st century down to the present day

• Forecast or church history written in advance

• As history goes on it has to be modified – not many hold this approach today


• 3) Idealist approach

• Revelation is simply a symbolic description of the battle between good and evil

• It transcends any particular situation

• For John and his readers it fit the first century but such ideals could apply to anytime


• 4) Futurist approach

• These approaches are not necessarily monolithic

• Revelation is primarily events in the future when Jesus comes back

• Preterist approach = Already Futurist approach = Not Yet

• Visions are awaiting to be fulfilled when Christ comes back


• Which approach is correct?

• Combination of 2 or 3 is most likely correct

• Primarily addressing first century so Preterist approach has a point

• Yet some of Revelation is futuristic

• Opens up the present in light of future so idealists also have a point


• Certainly truth in the idealist view

• Many of the symbols come to him from the OT

• Those symbols can transcend the first century and apply more broadly

• Best is an eclectic approach

• Preview of lecture Next Time

Revelation Special Lecture #1

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