THE REVELATION TO JOHN A Vision of End Time. 2 Textbook Reading: Chapter 15: - “A Vision of End...

THE REVELATION TO JOHN

A Vision of End Time

2

Textbook Reading:

Chapter 15:

- “A Vision of End Time”, pp. 516-524.

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Introduction:

- Revelation is an apokalypsis or unveiling of unseen realities; “disclosure”/”unveiling”/”revelation”;

- These unseen realities are both in heaven, as it is now, and on earth, as it will be in the future;

- Revelation places government oppression and Christian suffering in a cosmic perspective;

- It conveys a message of hope for believers;

- It does this in the language of metaphor and symbol (Rev 21.1-3).

4

Introduction (contd.):

- The First Christians believed that their generation would witness the end of the present wicked age and the beginning of God’s direct rule over the earth;

- It anticipates a “new heaven and a new earth” (21.1);

- It envisions the completion of God’s creative work begun in Genesis 1-2;

- Thus, it provides the Omega, the last letter in the Greek alphabet, to the Alpha, the first letter (1.8).

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- The work portrays Jesus as a major figure;

- He is the all-powerful heavenly Jesus;

- He is the Messiah of popular expectation, that is:

- He is a conquering, warrior-king (military messiah);

- He slays his enemies;

- He proves, beyond all doubt, his right to universal rule;

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- The author of the work sees a sharp contrast between the present world, which is hopelessly corrupt, and God’s planned future world, a realm of ideal purity;

- The future world can be brought about only by God’s direct intervention in human affairs;

- This requires Jesus to act as God’s judge and destroyer of the world as we know it.

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- Revelation is the only NT book composed entirely in the form of a literary Apocalypse (see “Apocalyptic Literature and the Book of Daniel,” pp. 271-274 and G 3-4 in the Textbook);

- It combines visions of the unseen world with previews of future history;

- All this is rendered in highly symbolic language;

- The book belongs to the tradition that began with Daniel in the Second Century BCE (see Textbook, pp. 271-274);

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- The Book of Revelation is unique in the NT;

- It is best studied in the context of the literary tradition to which it belongs;

- The symbols it employs - the dragon, serpent, beast, and celestial woman - represent the conventional vocabulary of apocalyptic discourse (see Daniel 7, pp. 271-274 in Textbook where empires are disguised as beasts).

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Authorship and Date:

- Probably not the work of the Apostle John;

- Probably not the work of the person who wrote “The Gospel According to John”;

- Probably not the work of the person (“Elder”) who wrote 1, 2, and 3 John);

- The author identifies himself as “John,” “God’s Servant” (1.1, 4, 9; 22.8);

- He does not claim apostolic authority;

- for the author, the apostles belong to an earlier generation (21.14);

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Authorship and Date (contd.):

- Was the author, as Eusebius suggests, another John, known as “the elder,” who lived at Ephesus around 100 CE?

- However, most commentators think that we can know not much more about the author other than that his name was John and that he was exiled to Patmos (1.9) (present-day Patino), an Aegean Island, 90 km SW of Ephesus.

- Whoever he was, he was familiar with the internal conditions in the seven Churches addressed (Chs. 2-3);

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Prefecture of Dodecanese [12] in the Aegean.

13

Prefecture of Dodecanese (Patmos/Patino is one of the islands in this Aegean group).

15

The Monastery of St. John on the Island of Patmos.

16Patmos – from Monastery.

17Patmos: Village and Harbour

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- Was the author an itinerant Christian Prophet?

- He appears to be familiar with the area;

- The author writes Greek as if it were a second language;

- Thus, was he a Palestinian?

- Did he have some connection with the Johannine Community, that is, the “Community of the Beloved Disciple”?

- There are similarities between The Gospel According to John and Revelation;

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- Most scholars date the work to the reign of Domitian (81-96 CE) and to late in his reign, about 95 or 96 (Fig. 15.6, p. 519 in Textbook);

- The author of Revelation feels a growing tension between Church and State;

- A sense of impending conflict that makes him regard Rome as a New Babylon, destroyer of God’s people.

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Purpose and Organization:

- The author views the outside world as a constant threat to his community;

- He writes to encourage believers to maintain a strict separation between themselves and Greco-Roman society;

- He depicts his community in a sectarian way, that is, as a point of light in a dark world dominated by idolatry, oppression, and the pursuit of wealth;

- When faced with persecution, the faithful must resist all comprises;

22

Purpose and Organization (contd.):

- The author describes the situation from a cosmic perspective:

- A conflict between the invisible forces of good and evil that contend for human allegiance.

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Purpose and organization (contd.):

- For the Outline of Revelation see p. 519 in Textbook:

1. Prologue (1.1-20);

2. Jesus’ letters to the seven Churches (2.1-3.22);

3. Visions from heaven… (4.1-11.19);

4. Signs in heaven… (12.1-16.21);

5. Visions of the ‘great whore’ and the fall of Babylon (Rome) (17.1-18.24);

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Outline of Revelation (contd.):

6. Visions of the eschaton :… (19.1-20.15);

7. Visions of the ‘new heaven’ and a new earth (21.1-22.5);

8. Epilogue (22.6-21).

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- From the above, it is clear that John begins his work in the real world of exile and suffering (1.1-10);

- He then takes his readers on a tour of the spirit world;

- He includes a picture of the imminent fall of Satanic governments and the triumph of Christ;

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- At the end of the work, he returns to the physical world and gives instructions to his contemporaries (22.6-21);

- Thus, a circle, beginning and ending in the physical world but containing a panorama of the unseen regions of heaven and the future.

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Use of images from the Hebrew Bible:

- Symbols and themes particularly from the apocalyptic sections in Daniel, Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah;

- John paraphrases the Hebrew Bible (see, for example, how the Jerusalem Bible uses italics for these sections);

- He employs striking images to convey his vision of the unseen forces affecting his Churches’ (1.11) experience in the world;

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Use of images from the Hebrew Bible (contd.):

- The author combines biblical with non-biblical imagery;

- He does this to show that the glorified Christ surpasses rival Graeco-Roman gods like Mithras, Apollo, Helios, etc. in strength and splendour (See, for example, Textbook, “The Mystery Religions,” pp. 322-325, and Glossary on “Mithras,” G-30);

- See 1.20 where John explains his symbols;

29Mithras sacrificing the mythical great bull (Vatican Museums, Vatican City).

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Use of images from the Hebrew Bible (contd.):

- This is done to assure the earthly congregations that they do not exist solely on a material plane;

- These Churches are part of a larger, visible-invisible duality in which angelic spirits protect Christian gatherings;

- The seven Churches are as precious as the golden candelabrum of the Jerusalem temple;

- Like the stars, they shed Christ’s light on the world.

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Golden Candelabrum – Replica.

32

Menorah.

33Temple - Model as of the time of Herod.

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Jesus’ Letters to the Seven Churches (2.1-3.22):

- John surveys conditions in the seven, light-bearing Churches of Asia Minor (see, Fig. 13.7, p. 520 - map);

- The author presents himself as a secretary recording the dictation of the divine voice;

- Jesus’ message to Ephesus (2.1-7), Smyrna (2.8-11), Pergamum (2.12-17), Thyatira (2.18-29), Sardis (3.1-6), Philadelphia (3.7-13), and Laodicea (3.14-22).

(These letters to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2-3) probably originally existed as a separate text.)

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Jesus’ Letters to the Seven Churches (2.1-3.22) (contd.):

- The situation in each Church is rendered in images that suggest the religious issues prevailing there.

(See The Jerusalem Bible, p. 428, on two different apocalypses (chs. 4-22) written at different times by one author and then fused into one by another author….)

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Visions from heaven (4.1-11.19):

- John is caught up to God’s throne where he views pictures of events about to occur (4.1-2);

- The author is not interested in merely predicting the future;

- But, by removing the veil that shrouds heavenly truths, he allows his readers to see that God retains full control of the universe;

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Visions from Heaven (contd.):

- The two series of visions that involve seven seals (5.1) and seven trumpets (8.2) serve to assure Christians that their deliverance is near and that their enemies are destined to suffer God’s wrath;

- The Lamb, that is, Christ, opens the seven seals in sequence (5.5-9; 6.1-12; 8.1);

- In each case, either a predetermined future event or a further revelation of God’s will is disclosed;

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Stamp-seal – Early Dilmun, c. 2000-1800 BC (chlorite or steatite, height 1.32 cm diameter 2.6 cm –Manama, Bahrain National Museum)

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Torah Scroll.

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- Opening the first four seals unleashes four horses and riders - the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse (6.2, 4, 5, 8);

- These represent earthly disasters: military conquest; war; famine; and death (6.1-8);

- Breaking the fifth seal discloses Christian martyrs who cry for vengeance (6.9-11);

- Opening the sixth brings seismic and astronomical phenomena (6.12-17);

42Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.(Rev 6.1-8).

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- Opening the seventh seal introduces the vision of seven trumpets, in which additional plagues afflict the earth (8.7-11.19);

44Seven trumpets.

46Shofars: Samples of those used in Judaism

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Signs in Heaven (12.1-16.21):

- Beginning with Ch. 12, there are a series of visions that dramatize the cosmic battle between the Lamb and the dragon;

- The spiritual conflict finds its earthly counterpart in the climactic Battle of Armageddon (16.12-16) (in Hebrew, “har Megiddo” means “the mountain of Megiddo”);

- Armageddon: the symbolic assembly point of the forces hostile to God as they prepare for the eschatological battle.

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Megiddo – Located in northern Israel

50Megiddo: Aerial View

51Megiddo: Ground View.

52Excavation through the tell of Megiddo

53Megiddo: Reconstruction of Gateway and Fortifications.

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Signs in Heaven (contd.):

- The woman (12.1-2): she is dressed in the sun, moon, and stars;

- Such a figure resembles the Hellenistic portraits of the Egyptian goddess Isis (see Textbook, Figs.10.14-15, p. 324);

- Is the figure meant to symbolize Israel, the parent of Christ?

- Arrayed in 12 stars, the 12 tribes?

- The woman gives birth to the Messiah;

- The Roman Catholic Church sees the woman as representing the Virgin Mary.

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The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Red Dragon (William Blake [1757-1827]).

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Isis: Egyptian Goddess, partner of Osiris.

57Temple of Isis at Aswan - Island of Philae- Egypt

58Temple of Isis.

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- The Dragon:

- The seven-headed dragon is identified as Satan (12.9; Gen 3.1, 14-15);

- The Archangel Michael defeats him;

- This permits the birth of a new cosmic order;

- The dragon is expelled from heaven and wars against God’s earthly kingdom, namely, the Church (12.5-9);

- The Church will be rescued.

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The Beast:

- Most scholars believe that the beast with “ten horns and seven heads” symbolizes Rome (12.3; 13.1);

- The two-horned beast may represent the Roman priesthood that helps promote Emperor worship (13.11);

- The occult “number of the beast” (666) - signifying a man’s name - is a mystery 13.18);

- A prominent leader, who is feared, of the time? For example, Nero (see Fig. 15.8, p. 522 in Textbook)?

61

Nero on a Coin (64-67 CE).

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Visions of the Great Whore (17.1-18.24):

- John depicts Rome, not as a mighty Empire, but as a corrupt whore bedecked with jewels and gold (17.1-18.24) (see fig. 15.9, p. 522 in Textbook);

- The whore is the dragon’s city, that is, Rome, a new “Babylon,” doomed to fall before God’s sovereignty (18.1-24).

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Visions of the Eschaton (19.11-21.8):

- These visions feature the Lamb’s triumph over the dragon;

- An angel hurls the dragon into the abyss (20.1-3);

- The dragon is imprisoned and Christ’s reign begins;

- This is known as the millennium since it lasts 1,000 years;

- It ends with the dragon’s release to wage war yet again on the faithful (20.7).

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Visions of the Eschaton (19.11-21.8) (contd.):

- During the millennium, the martyrs who resisted the beast’s influence are resurrected to rule with Christ (20.4-6);

- After the dragon’s attack on God’s people, a resurrection of the dead ensues (20.5-6);

- the dead are released from the underworld/hades, and are judged according to their deeds (20.7-13);

- In John’s eschatology, there is a place of punishment;

- For the author, evil is not transformed but annihilated;

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Visions of the New Heaven and the New Earth (21.1-22.5):

- John pictures a sacred marriage of the Lamb with the Holy City that descends from heaven to earth;

- The new heaven and the new earth:

- All pain and sorrow are excluded (21.1);

- A glorified capital;

- The new Eden provides trees of life that restore humanity to full health (see Gen 2.15-17) ;

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Visions of the New Heaven and the New Earth (contd.):

- “The hour of fulfillment is near” (22.10);

- The writer apparently expected an immediate vindication of his eschatological hopes;

- The author curses anyone who tampers with his manuscript;

- He ends his cosmic vision by invoking Jesus’ speedy return (22.20).

67

“ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Maranatha (Rev 22.20 and 1 Cor 16.22)

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the Saints. Amen.”

(A fitting end to Revelation and to the New Testament!)

THE REVELATION TO JOHN A Vision of End Time. 2 Textbook Reading: Chapter 15: - “A Vision of End...

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