The Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse)

from R. E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament Chapter 37. footnotes omitted

This book stands at the end of the canonical NT even though it was not the last NT book to be composed - 2 Peter has that distinction. Either of the two names that appear in the title of this Chapter may be used for the book (please note, however, that one should not call the book Revelations), and both literally mean "unveiling." Yet "Apocalypse" (from the Greek title of the book: Apokalypsis) has the advantage of catching the esoteric character of the genre of this work, so that it is not simply thought of as revelation in the ordinary religious sense of a divine communication of information. That remark leads us into the leading difficulty about the book. Rev is widely popular for the wrong reasons, for a great number of people read it as a guide to how the world will end, assuming that the author was given by Christ detailed knowledge of the future that he communicated in coded symbols. For example, preachers have identified the Beast from the Earth whose number is 666 as Hitler, Stalin, the Pope, and Saddam Hussein, and have related events in Rev to the Communist Revolution, the atom bomb, the creation of the State of Israel, the Gulf War, etc. Over the centuries many interpreters of prophecy have used calculations from Rev to predict the exact date of the end of the world. Up to the moment all have been wrong! On the other hand, many believing Christians do not think that the author knew the future in any sense beyond an absolute conviction that God would triumph by saving those who remained loyal and by defeating the forces of evil. That evaluation can be defended through a study of the Literary genre of apocalyptic, with which we shall begin. After that will come the General Analysis, a bit longer than usual, because Rev is difficult to understand: "This book, more than any other New Testament writing, demands commentary" (Harrington, Revelation xiii). Then subsections will be devoted to: Structure, the Role of liturgy, Millenarianism (20:4-5), Authorship, Date and life-situation (persecution under Domitian?), Issues for reflection, and Bibliography.

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The Literary Genre of Apocalyptic

"Apocalypticism" usually refers to the ideology of works of this genre or of the groups that accepted them. Some prefer to use the noun "apocalypse" as the designation for the genre; but to avoid confusion with the NT book being discussed, let us use the nominal adjective "apocalyptic" in that role.1 The fact that this designation is derived from the title of the NT book tells us that in some ways Rev is a model for the genre - a genre difficult to {775} define, in part because we do not find truly comparable examples of it in our contemporary literature. There are, of course, modern books by people who have fertile imaginations or who claim visions about the future, specifically about Satan being let loose, and the end of the world; but most of these are imitations or innovative applications of Dan and Rev.

As we turn to aspects of apocalyptic, qualifiers like "frequently," "often," and "sometimes" are required because very little of what follows is true of all apocalypses. Characteristic of biblical apocalypses is a narrative framework in which a revelatory vision is accorded to a human being, most often through the intervention of an otherworldly being,2 e.g., by an angel who takes him to a heavenly vantage point to show him the vision and/or to explain it to him. Sometimes to get there the visionary has to travel a distance to the ends of the earth or make a vertical journey through various heavens. The secrets revealed involve a cosmic transformation that will result in a transition from this world to a world or era to come and a divine judgment on all. (NT Christian apocalyptic differs from Jewish apocalyptic of the same period in that the new era has already begun because of the coming of Christ.) The vision of the supernatural world or of the future helps to interpret present circumstances on earth, which are almost always tragic. As we shall see, apocalyptic had its roots in prophecy; and prophets too had a supernatural experience wherein they were brought into the heavenly court that meets in God's presence and introduced to the mysterious plan of God (Am 3:7; 1 Kings 22:19-23; Is 6). In apocalyptic, however, the visions of the otherworldly have become far more luxuriant, most often accompanied by vivid symbols (ideal temple, liturgical settings, cosmic phenomena, menagerie of fantastic beasts, statues) and mysterious numbers.3 The prophetic message too involves present circumstances on earth (international and national politics, religious practice, social concern), but the situation and solution are different from those in apocalyptic. When the circumstances to which the writing prophet addresses himself are prosperous and comfortable, he may condemn the situation as spiritually and morally barren and warn of impending disaster within the confines of history (invasions, captivity, fall of the monarchy, destruction of the Temple); when the circumstances {776} are desperate because of captivity or oppression, the prophet may offer hope in terms of return to the homeland or the destruction of the oppressor and a restoration of the monarchy. Apocalypses are most often addressed to those living in times of suffering and persecution - so desperate that they are seen as the embodiment of supreme evil. If history is laid out in a pattern of divinely determined periods (enumerated in various ways), the author is living in the last of them. Hope of a historical solution has disappeared in favor of direct divine intervention that will bring all to an end. Very often in a strongly dualistic approach, the apocalyptist envisions what is happening on earth as part of a titanic struggle in the other world between God or God's angels and Satan and his angels. In some apocalypses pseudonymity is a key factor. The writer takes the name of a famous figure from antiquity, e.g., Daniel, a legendary wise man; Enoch, who was taken up to heaven; or Ezra, the great lawgiver. Such a figure lends authority to an apocalypse, for he can predict exactly all that will happen between his time and the present time when the author is writing (because, in fact, all that has already happened). Indeed, when we know the subsequent history, a way to date such works is to pinpoint the period when the accuracy of the portrayal of history stops and inaccuracy or vagueness begins.

To illustrate the history of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic and its variety, let me mention some representative examples of the genre. Our oldest illustration of biblical apocalyptic, and one indicative of its beginnings, may be dated to the Babylonian exile. That catastrophe, following the capture of Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple, and fall of the monarchy, began to call into question the possibility of salvation within history. Although the Book of Ezekiel is dominantly prophetic in the sense that the prophet expected deliverance in history, the extravagant imagery of his visions (Ezk 1-3; 37) and his idealistic anticipation of the New Israel virtually go beyond history (40-48) and overlap into apocalyptic style and anticipation. Indeed, Ezk supplied a major part of apocalyptic language and images that would be used in the future: the four living creatures (looking like a man, lion, ox, eagle), an enthroned figure above the firmament described in terms of gems and precious metals, eating scrolls, the harlot, the wicked prosperous {777} city-kingdom blasphemous in its arrogance (Tyre in chaps. 27-28), Gog of Magog, measuring the Temple, etc. A combination of prophetic historical message with apocalyptic elements and imagery (the Day of the Lord, hordes of destructive locusts) is found in the Book of Joel, of uncertain date but probably postexilic. From the same general period comes Zc 4:1-6:8, with its visions (interpreted by an angel) of lampstands, scrolls, four different colored horses; and from sometime later come deutero Zechariah and trito Zechariah (Zc 9-14), with an allegory of the shepherds and pictures of judgment and an ideal Jerusalem. See also Is 24-27.

Another important period for the appearance of apocalyptic writing was the 3d and 2d centuries bc when the Greek dynasties in Egypt (Ptolemies) and Syria (Seleucids), descended from Alexander the Great's conquest, became more authoritarian in their rule of Judea. In particular the persecution of the Jewish religion in favor of the worship of the Greek gods under the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes 176-164 bc) sharpened a sense of diabolic evil that only God could overcome. The idea of an afterlife had now developed clearly among some Jews, and that opened the possibility of eternal happiness replacing an existence marked by suffering and torture. In this period we move from prophetic books with apocalyptic traits to full-fledged apocalypses. The initial section of 1 Enoch (chaps. 1-36) was composed in the 3d century bc, and to the treasury of apocalyptic symbolism it contributed pictures of the final judgment and of wicked angels who fall and are locked up till the last days. A later section of the book (chaps. 91-105) lays out predetermined history in a pattern of weeks. Dan, the greatest OT biblical apocalypse, was written ca. 165 bc. The vision of four monstrous beasts followed by the heavenly coronation of a son of man (chap. 7) and the vision of the seventy weeks of years (chap. 9) had a strong impact on later apocalypses. The rise of the DSS community was related to the troubles in the mid-2d century bc; and there were strong apocalyptic elements in DSS thought, as witnessed in QM, a plan for the war of the last times between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. Still another major period of the production of Jewish apocalypses was in the decades after ad 70 and the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple - the ancient Babylonian devastation relived 650 years later. IV Ezra and (slightly later) 2 Baruch were composed in that era when Rome was the embodiment of evil.

We do not know whether the author of Rev knew Jesus' long apocalyptic {778} discourse (Mk 13 and par.), but he knew traditional apocalyptic elements that circulated among lst-century Christians. For instance, in the Pauline tradition there is a strong apocalyptic sense of Christ bringing about the endtimes, as well as anticipations of the resurrection of the dead and the antichrist figure (1 Co 15; 2 Th 2). Rev, however, is the most apocalyptic book in the NT. Nero's vicious persecution of Christians in Rome and seemingly harassment under Domitian (see subsection below), set in the broader context of deification of the emperor, gave a diabolic tinge to a struggle between Caesar and Christ; and the destruction of the Jewish Temple was seen as the beginning of divine judgment on all those who opposed Christ. Rev reuses many of the elements from Ezk, Zech, the Isaian Apocalypse, and Dan; but it does so with remarkable creativity. Moreover, other features, like the letters to the churches, the joining of Christ the Lamb to the heavenly court, and the marriage of the Lamb, attest to originality. Christian apocalypticism continued after the NT period both in circles remembered as orthodox (Shepherd of Hermas; Apocalypse of Peter) and among the gnostics (Apocryphon of John; Apocalypse of Paul). To this day catastrophic times continue to revive the apocalyptic spirit among some Christians (and some Jews), as they come to believe that the times are so bad that God must soon intervene.

Although, as just seen, one can trace a lineage from prophetic writing to apocalyptic writing, some of the major preChristian Jewish apocalypses were written when prophecy no longer flourished - a period when Wisdom Literature was more abundant and Israel had come into contact with Greco-Roman civilization. That situation casts light on two aspects of apocalyptic. First, some have claimed that apocalyptic replaced prophecy. That is not accurate: There are works with mixed elements of the two genres, and that is certainly true of Rv Although the seer of Rev entitles his work apokalypsis, he speaks of it six times as a prophecy, specifically at the beginning and end (Rv 1:3; Rv 22:19). Indeed the letters to the churches (Rv 1:4-3:22) have elements of prophetic warning and consolation. As Roloff (Revelation 8) {779} observes, the self-proclamation of Jesus Christ is heard in those letters; and it was one of the tasks of Christian prophets to announce to the communities the will of the exalted Christ. Second, there are certain similarities between strains in apocalyptic and Wisdom Literature. Few would go as far as G. von Rad in deriving apocalyptic from the wisdom tradition, but a deterministic view of history (laid out in numerical patterns) and a display of erudition sometimes mark both traditions. In 1 Enoch 28-32; 41; 69, for instance, one finds detailed descriptions of various kinds of trees, an interest in astronomical secrets, and an appreciation of knowledge in general. Wisdom Literature existed in other countries, and some portions of the Hebrew Wisdom Literature drew on foreign sources. Similarly, not only ancient Semitic creation myths but the Greco-Roman myths about the gods have left their mark on apocalyptic imagery, especially in the descriptions of the beasts and the warfare between good and evil. The worship of the goddess Roma, queen of heaven, may have been combined with the OT female Zion figure in shaping the imagery of the mother of the Messiah in Rv 12.

Finally we should be aware that the figurative language of apocalyptic raises hermeneutical issues. Many times one can detect a historical referent in the description, e.g., that one of the grotesque beasts of Dan or Rev refers to a specific world power (the Seleucid Syrian kingdom, Rome). Yet sometimes the symbols are polyvalent, e.g., the woman in Rv 12 may symbolize Israel giving birth to the Messiah as well as the church and her children in the wilderness under Satanic attack after the Messiah has been taken up to heaven. (She could also be the same as the bride of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem, who comes down from heaven in 21:2, but there is less agreement on that.) Beyond the question of the writer's intent the symbolism of apocalyptic compels imaginative participation on the part of the hearers/readers. It finds its full meaning when it elicits emotions and feelings that cannot be conceptualized. Therefore, the identification of the lst-century referents in a purely descriptive way does not do justice to the persuasive power of Rev (E. Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation (31)). Apocalypticists of a later period are wrong in thinking that various items in biblical apocalyptic represent exact foreknowledge of events that would take place 1,000-2,000 years {780} later; but those involved in such movements understand the power of this literature better than do dispassionate exegetical inquiries content with historical identifications.

General Analysis of the Message

A. Prologue (1:1-3). The book is announced as the "revelation of Jesus Christ," i.e., the revelation given by Christ about the divine meaning of the author's own times and about how God's people will soon be delivered. This revelation is delivered by an angel to a seer named John who, as we shall discover in v. 9, is on the small island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, some sixty-five miles southwest of Ephesus. The island location may have affected some of the imagery in the book, e.g., the beast that rises from the sea. The blessing in v. 3, the first of seven in Rev, indicates that this prophetic mes sage is meant to be read aloud and heard, probably at liturgies in the churches addressed.

B. Letters to the Seven Churches (1:4-3:22). This begins with an Opening Formula (l:4-5a), as if the seven letters to come are part of one large letter. The basic elements attested in NT Opening Formulas (Paul, 1 Peter; p. 413 above) are present here; but the Opening's triadic patterns are phrased in the symbolic style that pervades this book. In a description that proceeds from reflection on Ex 3:14, God is the one who is and was and is to come. Similarly three phrases describe Jesus in terms of his passion and death (faithful witness), his resurrection (firstborn from the dead), and his exaltation (ruler of earthly kings). The "seven spirits" of Rv 1:4 is ob scure; see also the seven spirits of God (Rv 3:1; Rv 4:5; Rv 5:6). Perhaps the image refers to the Holy Spirit, for that figure should be included in the normal triadic grace with Father and Son (2 Co 13:13(14); 1 Pt 1:2; 2 Th 2:13-14).

Baptismal language may be echoed in the doxology of Christ in 1Pt 1:5b-6 since what has been accomplished by his blood and the resultant dignity of Christians in terms of kingdom and priesthood, echoing Ex 19:6, are {781} themes found in 1 Pt 1:2,19; 1 Pt 2:9. It reminds the addressees of their identity; and Rv 1:7 is an OT echo (Dn 7:13; Zc 12:10), assuring them that Christ will come in judgment on all enemies. To the seer who ends his praise and promise with a prayerful "Amen," in 1:8 the Lord God affirms the triadic designation of 1:4 (who is, was, and is to come), prefacing that with "I am the Alpha and Omega," and concluding it with "the Almighty." The first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet signal God's existence at the beginning and the end; the designation Pantokrator, "Almighty," is a favorite in Rev (nine times; elsewhere only 2 Co 6:18) and was to become standard in the Byzantine church for depicting the majestic, all-powerful, enthroned Christ.

Inaugural Vision (1:9-20). John, speaking of the tribulation and endurance of the addressees, explains that he has been at Patmos "because of the word of God." Most interpret that to mean imprisonment or exile, a background that would explain the atmosphere of persecution in Rv (In fact, Patmos was one of the small isles used for exile, and there was a type of banishment that could be imposed by a Roman provincial governor.) Moved in the Spirit "on the Lord's Day," he hears and "sees" a voice (even as prophets saw words: Is 2:1; Am 1:1; etc.). The Sunday context may account for the plausible echoes of Christian liturgy in the heavenly visions of the seer (see subsection below). That he can see a voice and that a constant "like" governs the seer's descriptions warn us that we have moved beyond a realm confined to the external senses into one of spiritual experience and symbolism. The vision of Christ is resplendent with rich symbolism, much of it derived from Dan. Christ is not only identified with "one like a son of man" (Dn 7:13), but also described with attributes belonging to the Ancient of Days (Dn 7:9 = God). The setting amidst the seven golden lampstands (Rv 1:12) prepares for the seven churches but also is evocative of the Jerusalem Temple (1Chron 28:15, from Ex 25:37) where God had been seen in a vision by Isaiah (Is 6). The seven stars in the right hand were regal and imperial symbolism - a preparation for later visions in Rev that will pit Christ against Caesar. The imagery of this initial vision will be mined for descriptions of Christ in the letters to follow.

Letters to the Seven Churches (2:1-3:22). These are very important for understanding the whole book. They give us more information about a group {782} of churches in western Asia Minor than most of the other NT books do about their addressees. When we come to the great visions of chaps. 4ff., we need to keep reminding ourselves that these are reported in order to convey a message to the Christians of those cities. Part of the misuse of Rev is based on the misunderstanding that the message is primarily addressed to Christians of our time if they can decode the author's symbols. Rather the meaning of the symbolism must be judged from the viewpoint of the lst-century addressees - a meaning that needs adaptation if we are to see the book as significant for the present era.

The accompanying Table 8 shows the arrangement of the letters,16 remarkably parallel in some ways, yet strikingly diverse in others. For instance, in terms of the judgment passed by the Son of Man who dictates the letters, nothing bad is said of Smyrna and Philadelphia; nothing good is said of Sardis and Laodicea. Before turning to details in the letters, let me make a general assessment of the message. Three sorts of problems confront the seven churches: false teaching (Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira); persecution (Smyrna, Philadelphia); and complacency (Sardis, Laodicea). Most modern readers who know something about Rev think of persecution as the only issue addressed and consequently reinterpret the book in the light of threatening situations today. The struggle against complacency may be much more applicable to modern Christianity. The false teaching is very conditioned by the 1st century in one way (eating meat offered to idols), and yet the underlying issue of Christians conforming in an unprincipled way to the surrounding society remains a very current problem.

The longest letter is to Thyatira which ironically is the least known city; the shortest is to Smyrna, a very famous city. There are abundant OT references in most of the letters, but relatively few in those to Sardis and Laodicea. The cities, all found in the western section of Asia Minor, are listed in an order that suggests a circular route for the letter carrier, beginning from Ephesus, going north through Smyrna to Pergamum, then southeast, and finally (after Laodicea) presumably west, working his way back to Ephesus. (Despite the plausibility of that proposal, it should be noted that no circular post road has been found.) The titles or descriptions of Christ that begin the letters echo in varying degrees descriptions in chap. 1.

Details in the rest of the letters (consisting of the status of the church, {783} admonitions or encouragement, and a promise) reflect the geographic and commercial situation of the respective city, for evidently the seer knew the area well. By way of example, in 2:7 the promise to Ephesus, "I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God" may echo the fact that the great temple to Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built on a primitive tree shrine and the enclosure of the temple was a place of asylum. The crown or garland of life in 2:10 may be evoked by Smyrna's position with its beautiful buildings rising to the crown of Mt Pagus. Pergamum as the site of the throne of Satan may refer to the status of the city as the principal center of the imperial cult in Asia Minor; for a temple to the spirit of Rome existed there as early as 195 bc, and in gratitude to Augustus a temple to the godhead of Caesar had been built there in 29 bc. (Indeed, there were imperial temples in all the cities addressed, except Thyatira.) The warning to Sardis about coming like a thief at an unexpected hour (3:3) may reflect the history of that city, which was captured twice by surprise; and the reference to a new name for the faithful among the Philadelphians (3:12) may echo the several times the city's name was changed (Neocaesarea, Flavia). Useless lukewarm water to be spit out of Jesus' mouth is used to image the Laodicean church (3:16), a contrast with the hot spring baths at nearby Hierapohs and the cold drinking water of Colossae.

Some churches are strong; some are weak; but whether commending or reprimanding, the writer frequently uses designations that are not clear to us. We do not know the views of the Nicolaitans at Ephesus and Pergamum (2:6,15). Are they Christians of libertine moral practice? Are they gnostics? It is not clear whether at Pergamum those who hold the teachings of Balaam (2:14) are the same in whole or part as the Nicolaitans; their attitudes seem to be responsible for seductively promoting idolatry and fornication, perhaps by claiming that all things are permitted. Whether the "Jezebel" at Thyatira

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Table 8. Letters To The Angels Of The Churches (Rv 2-3)

TABLE 8. Continued

 {786} (2:20-21) is a Pagan figure (a sibyl) or a woman in the Christian community we do not know. The designation of those at Smyrna and Philadelphia who "call themselves Jews" but are in fact a synagogue of Satan (Rv 2:9; Rv 3:9) may reflect a usage where believers in Christ, instead of using the self-designation "Israel," speak of themselves as the true Jews. The overarching message that spans the seven letters and matches the theme of the rest of the book is to stand firm and make no concession to what the author designates as evil. The optimistic promises to the victor in each letter fit the goal of encouragement that is characteristic of apocalyptic.

C. Revelatory Experience, Part I: (Rv 4:1-11:19). As we shall see in the subsection on Structure below, it is very difficult to diagnose the author's overall organizational plan in the body of Rev, once we get beyond the letters to the churches. Yet many scholars detect two large subdivisions, one beginning with the open door in heaven seen in Rv 4:1, the other, after the opened heavens in Rv 11:19, beginning with the great sign seen there in Rv 12:1. It will be helpful to review the outline at the beginning of this Chapter to see the parallelism between the two. This first Part opens with chaps. 4 and 5 depicting the heavenly court centered on God and the Lamb; in that vision a scroll with seven seals is mentioned. Beginning in Rv 6:1 the Lamb opens the seals, the seventh of which (Rv 8:1) introduces the visionary to seven angels with seven trumpets which begin to be blown in Rv 8:6.

Visions of the Heavenly Court: The One Enthroned and the Lamb (Rv 4:1-5:14). We have just acknowledged that the seer knows the local situation in Asia Minor; simultaneously he sees what is happening in heaven as part of his understanding that "what must take place after this" interweaves earth and heaven. Drawn from Ezk 1:26-28, precious gems, not anthropomorphic features, are used to describe the Lord God seated on the heavenly throne; and the lightning and the four living creatures echo the vision of the cherubim in Ezk 1:4-13; Ezk 10:18-22. The twenty-four elders/presbyters, however, seem to have a different background. The number twenty-four, used nowhere else in apocalyptic literature, may consist of two groups of twelve, representing the old and new Israel. The hymn of worship to the enthroned God by the living creatures and the elders/presbyters reproduces the threefold "Holy" of the seraphim in Is 6:3 and centers on the creation.

A matching vision in Rv 5 centers on the Lamb,22 introduced by that personalized animal's ability to open the scroll with the seven seals which is {787} written on both sides. The Lamb, which stands as though slain, is identified as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who has conquered. (Clearly here paradoxical symbolism outstrips descriptive logic.) The hymn sung to Jesus the victorious Davidic Messiah has a refrain about being "worthy" similar to that in the hymn to God in the preceding chapter. Thus God and the Lamb are being put on virtually the same plane, with one being hailed as the creator and the other as the redeemer.

Seven Seals (6:1-8:1). The first four seals opened by the Lamb (6:1-8) are the four different colored horses, respectively white, red, black, and pale (green?), ridden by the famous four horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing respectively conquest, bloody strife, famine, and pestilence. The colored-horse imagery is derived from Zc 1:8-11; Zc 6:1-7; and the description of the horsemen and the selection of the disasters, which are part of the eschatological judgment of God, may have been shaped by contemporary circumstances, e.g., the Parthian attacks upon the Romans. The fifth seal (6:9-11) depicts souls of the martyrs (killed in the Neronian persecution in the 60s?) under the heavenly altar, which is the counterpart of the Jerusalem Temple altar of holocausts (see 11:1). They cry out for God's punitive justice on the shedders of blood, but the judgment is delayed a little longer until the predetermined number of martyrs be completed. The sixth seal (6:12-17) describes cosmic disturbances that are part of God's punishment. They are not to be taken literally (as they are by some who keep seeking to identify them in occurrences of our time), for they are the traditional imagery repeated again and again in apocalyptic. Even the great ones of the earth will not escape the wrath of the Lamb.

Before he describes the seventh seal (8:Iff.), the seer narrates in chap. 7 an intervening vision wherein angels, holding back the four winds (cf. 1 Enoch 76), are told not to wreak harm until the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads to indicate that they belong to God. It is not clear why the vision makes a distinction between the symbolic number of 144,000 Christians (12,000 from each tribe25) and the innumerable multitude from every nation tribe, people, and tongue whose white garments have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. The former group, the unblemished who are firstfruits by martyrdom or by continence (see Rv 14:1-5), is somehow {788} more select; but scarcely Jewish Christian distinguished from Gentile Christians, or OT saints distinguished from followers of Christ. An interesting suggestion is that the two descriptions offer different perspectives of the church: The church is the heir and continuation of Israel 144,000 from the twelve tribes) and yet reaches out to the whole world (multitude from every nation, etc.). Or since the 144,000 are on earth waiting to be sealed, and the multitude are in heaven standing before the Lamb, the descriptions could be describing a church that is both earthly and heavenly, both militant and triumphant. (See Boring, Revelation, 129-31.) The peace brought by being in the presence of God is beautifully described in 7:16-17: no more hunger or thirst, no more burning or scorching heat, as the shepherding Lamb leads them to springs of living water.

Seven Trumpets (8:2-11:19). The opening of the seventh seal in 8:1 is climactic since logically the scroll can now be read and the judgment of the world should be revealed; but as in a Chinese-box puzzle, another seven (seven angels with seven trumpets) is now unveiled. The half-hour silence that begins the vision creates a contrast with the trumpet blasts to follow. In 8:3-5 the context becomes more highly liturgical and dramatic as incense26 is mixed with the prayers of the saints,,and there is accompanying thunder, lightning, and earthquake. The seven trumpets are divided as were the seven seals with an initial group of four (hail, sea turned to blood, star called "Wormwood," darkening of the heavenly bodies); but now the background is the plagues of the exodus. As those plagues prepared for the liberation of God's people from Egypt, so these plagues prepare for the deliverance of God's people (those sealed; see 7:3) in the final days. That only one third is affected indicates that this is not the whole of God's judgment (cf. Ezk 5:2). These are eschatological symbols, and precise identifications with catastrophes that occur in our time are useless.

In Rv 4:8 the four living creatures sang a triple "Holy" to honor the Lord God seated on the throne; by contrast in 8:13 an eagle cries out with a triple woe, anticipating the last three trumpet blasts of judgment. The vision of the fifth trumpet (9:1-11) concerns locusts that look like battle horses emerging from the bottomless pit; it combines the eighth Egyptian plague (Ex 10:1-20) with Jl 1-2, and (along with the next woe) may also be colored by the Parthian invasions of the Empire from the East. The demonic is now being let loose, as indicated by the name of the king of the locusts: "Destruction" in both Hebrew and Greek (9:11). This is the first of the three woes. {789}

The sixth trumpet (9:13-21) has angels release an immense number of cavalry from beyond the Euphrates who had been waiting for the appointed time. Despite these horrendous and diabolic punishments, the rest of humankind refuses to believe. As after the sixth seal, so after the sixth trumpet the sequence is interrupted to recount intermediary visions preparatory for the seventh in the series, a trumpet that will not be sounded till 11:15. In 4:1 the seer was taken up to heaven through an open door; but in 10:1-2 he is back on Patmos as the mighty angel comes down from heaven with the little scroll. This angel is described in the trappings of God, of the transfigured Jesus (Mt 17:2), and of Rev's initial vision of the Son of Man (1:12-16). Accompanying the angel's appearance are the seven thunders (10:4), which intriguingly the seer is forbidden to write down. (Is that because their contents are too horrible, or is it simply mystification?) This immense angel who spans land and sea warns that when the seventh trumpet is sounded, the mysterious plan of God promised by the prophets (Am 3:7) will be fulfilled. The instruction given the seer to eat the little scroll, which is sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach, echoes Ezekiel's prophetic inauguration (2:8-3:3). Different from the larger scroll in 5:1,28 it involves the pleasant news of the victory of the faithful and the bitter news of the painful disaster coming on the world that the seer has to prophesy.

The apocalyptic imagery of the visionary experience recounted in chap. 11 may also reflect contemporary history. From background supplied by the arrangement of the Jerusalem Temple, a distinction is made between the temple sanctuary area (naos) belonging to God and the court outside the sanctuary. The measurement of the sanctuary of God and those who worship there (11:1-2) is a sign of protection. That area may represent the heavenly or spiritual temple and/or the Christian community protected amidst destruction. By contrast the outer court that is given over to the Gentiles to trample may represent the earthly Temple of Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans in ad 70 (see Lk 21:24) and/or a Judaism no longer protected by God. Does the same time period throw any light on the two prophetic witnesses, two olive trees, and two lampstands (11:3-4) who will preach with miraculous power until they are killed by the beast from the pit in the great city where the Lord was killed? The 1,260 days (also 12:6) of their prophesying is equivalent to the forty-two months of the Gentiles' trampling the Temple court and the three-and-a-half times or years of 12:14; Lk 4:25; Jm 5:17. (These various ways of calculating half-seven are related to Dn 7:25; Dn 9:27; Dn 12:7 as the time when the evil Antiochus Epiphanes was let loose to persecute {790} the Jewish believers.) Is the seer speaking of purely eschatological figures, or were there two historical martyrs during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem that contributed to the picture? The OT accounts of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest (Zc 4:1-14), and of Moses and Elijah supply some of the imagery, but that does not exclude references to contemporary figures. Jerusalem is meant; but the agents seem to be Gentiles not Jews, for they refuse to bury the bodies in a tomb (Rv 11:9). Since Rv 14:8; Rv 16:19; etc. use "the great city" for Rome, is there a double meaning, and is the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome in the 60s in mind? In any case the two figures are made victorious by being taken up into heaven, and an earthquake wreaks havoc on the city. That is the second of the three woes (11:14).

The seventh trumpet is finally sounded in Rv 11:15-19, signaling that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, to which proclamation there is a hymn of the twenty-four elders/presbyters. This might make us think that the end of the world had come. But there is much more to follow, for the opening of God's temple in heaven to show the ark of the covenant (11:19)31 introduces Part II, even as the open heavenly door in Rv 4:1 introduced Part I.

D. Revelatory Experience, Part 2: Rv 12:1-22:5. Just as Part I began with two chapters of inaugural visions, Part 2 begins with three chapters of inaugural visions. They introduce characters, the dragon and the two beasts, who will figure prominently in the rest of the book. Indeed these chapters have been looked on as the heart of Rev.

Visions of the Dragon, the Beasts, and the Lamb (Rv 12:1-14:20). Certainly some of the imagery of Gn 3:15-16 and the straggle between the serpent and the woman and her offspring are part of the background for chap. 12 (see Rv 12:9). The woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet and on her head the crown of twelve stars, represents Israel, echoing the dream of Joseph in Gn 37:9 where these symbols represent his father (Jacob/Israel), his mother, and his brothers (the sons of Jacob who were looked on as ancestors of the twelve tribes). There is also the mythic sea-serpent imagery, which is found in biblical poetry as Leviathan or {791} Rahab (Is 27:1; 51:9; Ps 74:14; Ps 89:11; Jb 26:12-13; etc.) and even outside Israel. Boring, Revelation 151, points to a myth centered on an island near Patmos, namely, Delos, the birthplace of Apollo, son of the God Zeus and slayer of the dragon of Delphi. This victory of light and life over darkness and death was appropriated by the Roman emperors as propaganda for the Golden Age that they were introducing, and both Augustus and Nero presented themselves as Apollo. Is Rev using the imagery of the myth to reverse the propaganda: Instead of slaying the dragon, the emperor is the tool of the dragon?

The metaphorical birth-giving of the people of God is an OT theme (Is 26:17; Is 66:7-8), and Zion brings forth an individual child in IVEzra 9:43-46; 10:40-49. In Revelation the woman brings forth her child the Messiah (Ps 2:9) in pain; this is an instance of Jewish expectations of the birth pangs of the Messiah, meaning the wretchedness of the world situation that becomes a signal for the coming of God-sent deliverance (Mi 4:9-10). The dragon (the ancient serpent, Satan) tries to devour the child, who escapes by being taken up to God. This leads to a war in heaven; and the dragon is cast down to earth33 where, in anger with the woman, he makes war on her offspring (12:6,13,17). There is no reference here to Jesus' physical birth or Jesus as an infant (and then a jump to his ascension to God), but to Jesus' "birth" as the Messiah through his death. The birth symbolism for death is found in Jn 16:20-22: On the night before he dies, Jesus says that the disciples' sorrow is like that of a woman about to give birth to a child; but that sorrow will be forgotten for joy once the child is born, i.e., through Jesus' return from the dead. As for Satanic opposition, Jn 12:31; Jn 14:30; Jn 16:11 depict Jesus' passion and death as a struggle with the Prince of this World who is cast out even as Jesus returns to his Father. The subsequent struggle portrayed in Rev between the dragon and the woman (now the church35) and her children in the wilderness36 lasts 1,260 days and three-times-and-a-half, i.e., the time of persecution that will lead into the endtime; but she is {792} protected by God (with eagle's wings; cf. Ex 19:4). Taking his stand on the sands of the sea (Rv 12:18(17)), the dragon employs in his campaign on earth two great beasts, one from the sea, the other from the land.

The first beast rises from the sea (13:1-10) with ten horns and seven heads. Dn 7 had illustrated the use of four chimerical beasts to represent world empires, with the ten horns on the fourth beast representing rulers. Accordingly the beast in Rev combines elements of Dan's four as a way of symbolizing that the Roman Empire (which came to the cities addressed in Rev from the West across the sea) is as evil as all the others combined. The seven heads are explained in 17:9-11 as the seven hills (of Rome) and also as the seven kings, five of whom have fallen, the sixth is, and the seventh is yet to come for a little while; then that passage adds an eighth that goes to perdition. Domitian is probably to be counted as the eighth,38 the last one known to the author if he wrote during Domitian's reign. The claim that one of the heads seemed to have a mortal wound but was healed may represent a legend of Nero redivivus (i.e., come back to life). In the imagery of Revelation, as well as waging war against the holy ones (Rv 13:7), the Empire had caused people to worship the devil (Rv 13:4), and thus to be excluded from the book of life (Rv 13:8).

The second beast, the one from the earth (Rv 13:11-18), is an evil parody of Christ. It has two horns like a lamb but it speaks like a dragon; later it is associated with a false prophet (Rv 16:13; Rv 19:20; Rv 20:10); it works signs and wonders, like those of Elijah; it has people marked on the right hand or the forehead, even as the servants of God are sealed on their forehead (Rv 7:3; Rv 14:1). This beast portrayed as rising from the earth, i.e., from the land mass of Asia Minor, is emperor worship40 (and the Pagan priesthood promoting {793} it), which began very early there. The wound of the beast by the sword (13:14) may be Nero's suicide; the survival, Domitian's reign. The description in 13:18 ends with perhaps the most famous image in Rev: The number of the beast, a human number that calls for understanding, is 666. By gema-tria (where letters also serve as numerals, as in Latin) the Hebrew consonants transliterating the Greek form of the name Nero Caesar total to 666.

The Lamb and the symbolically numbered 144,000 (14:1-5) are a consoling picture, meant to reassure Christians that they will survive the assaults of the dragon and the two beasts. (The image of the harp music enters many popular and even humorous pictures of heaven.) The language of chastity certainly means that they have not yielded to idolatry, but may also be an allusion to sexual continence (1 Co 7:7-8).

Three angels (14:6-13) proclaim solemn admonitions: an eternal gospel directed to the whole world, stressing the need to glorify God because the hour of judgment has come; a woe to Babylon (Rome); and a severe warning that those who have worshiped the beast and bear its mark will undergo hell fire. A voice from heaven blesses those who die in the Lord. Then (14:14-20) the Son of Man with a sickle in his hand and more angels execute a bloody judgment, throwing the vintage of the earth into the winepress of God's fury.

Seven Plagues and Seven Bowls (15:1-16:21). Comparable to the seven seals and trumpets of Part I of Rev, we now hear of seven plagues and seven bowls containing them that portend the final judgment. But before they are poured out, we are shown in chap. 15 a scene in the heavenly court where the Song of Moses is sung, echoing the victory of the Hebrews crossing the Reed (Red) Sea (cf. Ex 15:1-18). Amid clouds of incense the heavenly temple/tabernacle supplies the angels with the contents of the bowls. Once more the plagues preceding the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt (Ex 7-10) serve as background, although this time their effect is no longer limited to one third of the world as it was with the seals. The frogs that issue from the mouth of the false prophet are three demonic spirits who perform signs like the magicians of Egypt. A famous image is supplied by Rv 16:16: Armageddon as the place of the final battle with the forces of evil. The seventh bowl (16:17-21) marks the climax of God's action; its contents smash Rome into parts as a voice proclaims, "It is done."

Judgment of Babylon, the Great Harlot (17:1-19:10). This fall of Rome is now described in vivid detail, following the OT convention of portraying {794} cities marked by idolatry or godlessness (Tyre, Babylon, Nineveh) as harlots, bedecked by wealth from commerce, and those who accept their authority as fornicators who will lament over the city's fall (Is 23; 47; Na 3; Jr 50-51; Ezk 16; 23; 26-2743). In Rv 17:7 the angel explains the mysterious meaning of the harlot and the beast from the sea which she rides, but we have to speculate about the symbolism of the numbers (see above under 13:1). The doom of Babylon/Rome, drunk with the blood of the martyrs (particularly under Nero), is dramatically proclaimed in chap. 18 by angels in a great lament. Just as ancient Babylon was symbolically to be cast into the Euphrates (Jr 51:63-64), so Babylon/Rome is to be thrown into the sea (Rv 18 I 21). Counterpoised to the lament on earth is a chorus of joy in heaven (19:1-10). In that rejoicing we hear of the marriage of the Lamb and his bride (19:7-9) that anticipates the final vision of the book. The theme of the marriage of God and the people of God stems from the OT (Ho 2:1-25(23); Is 54:4-8; Ezk 16- sometimes in contexts of unfaithfulness). Now it has been shifted to Christ and the believers (Jn 3:29; 2 Co 11:2; Ep 5:23-32).

Victory of Christ and the End of History (19:11-22:5). Reusing elements from previous visions, the seer describes Christ as a great warrior leading the armies of heaven, as the King of kings, and the Lord of lords (19:16; 1 Tm 6:15). The carrion birds are called together to eat the defeated armies46 that followed the two beasts, both of whom are thrown into the lake of fire symbolizing eternal damnation. Chap. 20 describes the millennial reign of Christ, which has given rise to numerous theological disputes in the history of Christianity (subsection below). Only the Satanic dragon remains from the triad of beasts, and now he is shut up in a pit for a thousand years while Christ and the Christian martyr saints reign on earth. The saints who died once will live forever as priests of God and of Christ, for over them the second death (final destruction) has no power (20:6). After the thousand {795} years Satan is let loose to gather Gog and Magog, all the nations of the earth;47 but fire will come down from heaven and consume them, while the dragon will now be thrown into the lake of fire where the beasts had been cast. As both death and hell yield up the deceased, the dead are judged before the throne of God according to what is written in the book of life; and the second death takes place (20:11-15).

To replace the devastation of the first heaven and first earth, there is a new heaven and a new earth, and a New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven (21:1-22:5), like a bride adorned for her husband (see 19:9). The dwelling of God with human beings is described lyrically, offering hope for all who live in the present vale of tears: no more tears, death, or pain, or night; a city as beautiful as a precious jewel built on foundation walls bearing the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb; a city perfectly cubic in shape, immense enough to contain all the saints. In that city there is no temple or sun or moon, for the Lord God and the Lamb are present there as its light; and nothing unclean is found within its perimeters. As in Paradise of old, a river of the water of life flows through the city watering the tree of life; and the saints shall live there forever.

E. Epilogue (with Concluding Blessing) 22:6-21. John the seer and the words of prophecy are highlighted, just as they were in the Prologue (1:1-3). He is told not to seal up the words, for the time is near. As in the inaugural vision before the Seven Letters (1:9-20), the Lord God, speaking as the Alpha and the Omega, lends authority to the words of warning and of invitation heard by the seer. The audience is admonished not to add or subtract from the prophetic words of the book. In response to the affirmation of Jesus that he is coming soon, John the seer utters an impassioned "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus," an echo of one of the oldest prayers used by Christians (1 Co 16:22).

Having begun in letter format, Rev ends in the same way (22:21) with a very simple Concluding Blessing on "all the saints," i.e., those who have not yielded to Satan or the beasts.

 {796}

Structure of the Book

One commentator has observed that almost every interpreter brings to the study of the structure of Rev a set of presuppositions that find expression in the ultimate outline suggested for the book, with the result that there are almost as many outlines as there are interpreters. Scholars discern structure in two ways: on the basis of either external factors or internal contents. External factors suppose a judgment about what has most shaped the book, e.g., Christian liturgy, Greek drama, imperial games, or set apocalyptic patterns visible in other apocalypses, Jewish and Christian. Obviously there are elements that Rev shares with these external factors, but it is questionable whether any one of them so dominated the author's mind that he structured his book on it. As for the set pattern discernible in other apocalypses, as I pointed out above (pp. 776,778) the combination of prophecy and apocalyptic in Rev has some unique features. Although it might seem secure to allow the internal contents to speak for themselves, that is not so easy in apocalyptic. Apocalypses introduce readers into the mysterious plans of God, revealing part of what is concealed from normal vision. Thus, inevitably in their own procedures there is an atmosphere of the mysterious and of concealment. Almost by design the authors proceed in a way that defies human logic. For instance, it seems illogical that having explained six of the seven seals and trumpets, the seer of Rev goes off on a tangent before explaining the seventh, and in the case of the seals that the seventh begins another seven. Also it is not unusual that a formula, having been repeated several times, will suddenly be varied, without any intent to change meaning or give a different direction. Thus in this literary genre structure is often quite difficult to diagnose from the contents.

By way of example, A. Yarbro Collins (Combat 19) concentrates on an organizational principle of seven, and between the Prologue and Epilogue finds six interlocking sets of seven: letter messages (1:9-3:22), seals (4:1-8:5), trumpets (8:2-11:19), unnumbered visions (12:1-15:4), bowls (15:1-16:21), unnumbered visions (19:11-21:8). As we have mentioned, consistency is not always characteristic of patterns in apocalyptic; yet if seven is the organizing pattern, one is tempted to ask why there are six sevens and {797} not seven,51 why some sevens are numbered and some are not, why she has to count two passages as interspersed appendixes (Rv 17:1-19:10 and Rv 21:9-22:5) because they do not fit into the seven pattern, and why the unnumbered visions might not also be considered appendixes.

There seems to be a certain amount of repetition in Rev because several times the impression is given that the end has come (Rv 11:15-19; Rv 16:17-21), only to have more visions. That may simply be part of the literary form, as a way of expressing the inexpressible. Part 2 in relation to Part I (pp. 786, 790 above) seems repetitive. Scholars have explained this in various ways: (a) Some contend that the two parts treat the same material from different points of view,53 e.g., Part I deals with God's judgment on the entire world, while Part 2 treats that material from the point of view of the church with stress on God's control of the demonic. A variant is that Part I deals with the church and the Jewish world; Part II, with the church and the Gentiles. Yet the themes are hard to divide so evenly, (b) Others think of temporal sequence with Part I referring to things that have already happened and Part 2 of things yet to come. True, there are some references to past events in Rev, e.g., in 11:2 the court outside the sanctuary (= the earthly Temple of Jerusalem?) "has been given" to the nations to be trampled; but the author does not symbolically lay out past history in detail as do other apocalypses, (c) Still another approach would detect a spiraling movement from glory in heaven to tribulation on earth and back. The heavenly chaps, would be (in whole or part) Rv 4-5; Rv 7:9-17; Rv 11:15-19; Rv 15; Rv 19; Rv 21:1-22:5; the intervening earthly chaps, would be Rv 6:1-7:8; Rv 8:1-11:14; Rv 12-14; Rv 16-18; Rv 20. That approach, besides emphasizing the heaven-earth dimension of Rev, blocks the book from being misinterpreted as vision of sequential future history.

With such a variance of opinions I have thought it wise above not to advocate any particular structure. The division I have given is simply a way of listing contents and makes no pretense of being the author's intended plan. A knowledge of contents is an essential help to readers if they then wish through further reading to investigate in greater depth the issue of structure.

 {798}

The Role of Liturgy55

The visions of the seer of Rev include simultaneously what is happening in heaven and on earth. The vision of heaven is set in a liturgical context. The one like a Son of Man who speaks to John and utters a message for the angels of the seven churches stands in the midst of seven gold lampstands (Rv 1:12-13). The worship of God and the Lamb dominates what is happening in heaven. In chap. 4, with an appearance like that of precious gems, God is seated on a throne accompanied by twenty-four elders/presbyters on their thrones. A menorah of seven torches burns before the throne. Like the seraphim in Is 6, the four living creatures who are cherubim chant a trisagion (the hymn with the threefold "Holy"); and all join in a "Worthy are you" hymn praising the creator God. In chap. 5, as the Lamb stands in this setting and receives a scroll, a new "Worthy are you" hymn is sung praising Jesus for having ransomed people from every background, until every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth joins in with a beatitude to One on the throne and the Lamb. Other hymns are scattered throughout the book, along with harp music (Rv 14:2). In Rv 11:19 we are told of God's temple in heaven that is opened to show the ark of the covenant; and from that temple amidst the smoke of God's glory come forth angels carrying bowls (presumably full of burning coals) to be poured on the earth (Rv 15:5-8). Rev ends (Rv 22:20) by echoing the traditional Christian prayer, "Amen, come, Lord Jesus."

Much of the liturgical imagery is patterned on the Jerusalem Temple,58 the place of God's glory on earth with its altar, hymns, lampstands, and incense. The several references to Christians as priests to God, seemingly both now and in the eschatological future (n. 15 above), also come from that ambiance. On a general scale, A. Farrer thinks of Rev drawing on images that were used at various Jewish feasts. Another suggestion is that the seer {799} envisions the celebration of an ideal Feast of Tabernacles in the heavenly Jerusalem, based on Zc 14:1-21.

A major question is whether Christian liturgy also shaped the author's imagery. The frequency of white garments (Rv 3:5,18; Rv 4:4; etc.) has suggested to some scholars a background wherein the newly baptized put on white garments. More specifically, because of the strong emphasis on the Lamb, M. H. Shepherd would propose a paschal liturgy at which people were baptized. Since the seer receives his vision on the Lord's day (Rv 1:10), the weekly Christian reunion for worship is a possibility. That could be the context in which Rev would have been read aloud and heard (Rv 1:3; Rv 22:18). Some would find a reference to the eucharistic meal in "the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rv 19:9). Most evidence for early Christian worship/feasts stems from documents (Ignatius, Justin, Hippolytus) that are dated from a period after that of Rv We can list parallels to Rev as a possible witness to the liturgical atmosphere that influenced the seer, but it is also possible that Rev influenced those later witnesses. Ca. ad 110 Ignatius (Magnesians 6:1; also Tral-lians 3:1) describes the bishop having the first seat among the elders/presbyters like God and the assembly of the apostles. Did that shape John's vision of the heavenly assembly with God on the throne and the twenty-four elders/ presbyters around God? Ca. ad 96-120 I Clement 34:6-7 describes the singing of the trisagion by the heavenly myriads (as do the seraphim in Rv 4:8), and then urges Christians, being assembled with one accord, to cry out with one voice to God. In considering the frequency of hymns in Rev, we should remember the common view that Rev was written in western Asia Minor in the late 90s. In his investigation of Christians in a nearby region of Asia Minor ten or fifteen years later, Pliny the Younger (Epistles 10:96.7) reported that they sang hymns to Christ as to a god. Ca. ad 150, drawing on a liturgy that must have been in place for some time, Justin (Apology 1:67) describes a weekly meeting on the Lord's Day when the Gospels and the writings of the prophets were read. Did that practice influence John's vision of the scroll being unsealed during the heavenly liturgy? According to Justin's Dialogue 41 the purpose of the eucharistic remembrance among Christians was to give thanks to God for having created the world and for having delivered us from evil - the themes of the "Worthy" hymns in Rv 4 and 5. From all this what can be said is that by the 2d century Christians believed not only that {800} the earthly liturgy was meant to have a simultaneity with the heavenly worship so that one participated in the other, but also that they should follow the same pattern. Given the enormous distortion of Rev today as a detailed prediction of the future, the use of the book in the liturgical readings of the church year may be a healthy context for getting close to at least one aspect of the original milieu.

Millenarianism (The Thousand-Year Reign: 20:4-6)

In its prevision Rev states that at the end those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God and who had not worshiped the beast came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years, while the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. The origins of such a belief may be found in a certain tension between prophetic and apocalyptic expectations. If one reviews the history of Messianism (e.g., NJBC 77,152-63), an anticipation that survived the Babylonian exile was that one day God would restore the kingdom of David under a model anointed king, the Messiah; indeed, earlier Scripture was reread with this understanding (e.g., Am 9:11). Even though idealized and pictured as definitive, this would be an earthly, historical kingdom, and most often its relation to the endtime was not specified. On the other hand, in a pessimistic view of history, some apocalyptic literature pictured God's direct final intervention without any mention of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom (Is 24-27; Dan; Assumption of Moses; Apocalypse of Abraham).

One way of combining the two expectations was to posit two divine interventions : (1) a restoration of an earthly kingdom63 or period of blissful prosperity to be followed by (2) God's endtime victory and judgment. Where there was a strong influence of Greco-Roman thought, the classical expectation of a Golden Age may have shaped the Jewish depiction of the messianic kingdom. Various numbers were used to symbolize the duration of the expected period. In a section described as an "Apocalypse of Weeks" (3d-2d century bc), 1 Enoch 91:12-17 proposes that after seven of the ten weeks of years are past, the eighth is to be a period of righteousness; the ninth is the {801} period marked for destruction; and in the tenth the angels are judged, leading to eternity. In IV Ezra 7:28 (late 1st century ad), after God brings an evil age to an end, the Messiah reigns for 400 years with the righteous on earth. Then comes the resurrection of the dead and the judgment. A similar tradition of the souls of the righteous being raised at the time of the Messiah's appearance is found in II Baruch 29-30 (early 2d century ad).

In Christian apocalyptic 1 Co 15:23-28 offers this sequence: first the resurrection of Christ; then of those belonging to Christ who reigns until he has put all his enemies under his feet; then the end when Christ delivers the kingdom to God destroying every rule, authority, and power. In the late-1st century ad Ascension of Isaiah 4:14-17, after Beliar has ruled as an antichrist for 1,332 days, the Lord will come with his angels and saints and throw Beliar into Gehenna; then there will be a period of rest for those who are in this world, and after that they will be taken up into heaven.

The variation of the numbers in these expectations should warn us that none of the writers had an exact knowledge about future time spans and (for the most part) probably never intended to convey exactness. Indeed, according to the analysis above of the expectation of a first divine intervention to establish a kingdom or ideal time in this world and of a second divine intervention to replace the temporal world by the eternal, we can see the two interventions simply as symbolic ways of predicting divine victory over evil forces that are an obstacle to God's kingdom or rule over the whole world. The writer of Rev, then, would have used the thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth, not to describe a historical kingdom, but as a way of saying that eschatological expectations will be fulfilled.

Nevertheless, throughout Christian history some have taken the thousand years of Rev quite literally and speculated about it. (It is worth reminding ourselves that only one passage in Rev consisting of two verses mentions the millennium; there has been an enormous, indeed an extravagant growth, from small beginnings.) That belief was widely held in the 2d and 3d centuries among those considered orthodox (Papias, Justin, Tertullian, Hippoly-tus, Lactantius) and heterodox (Cerinthus and Montanus). However, the danger that the expectations of the abundance and happiness were becoming too sensual and worldly gradually led to a rejection of millenarianism (chili-asm). Origen allegorized the millennium to represent the spiritual kingdom of God on earth; Augustine understood the first resurrection to refer to conversion and the death to sin, and the second resurrection to refer to the resurrection of the body at the end of time. Church writers of the 4th century tell us that Apollinaris (Apollinarius) of Laodicea was a chiliast (his writings on the subject have been lost), and the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus 431) condemned his fanciful theories. {802}

Especially in the subsequent Western church, from time to time millennial expectations have been revived in various forms. The Cistercian Joachim of Flora 1130-1202), after a thousand years of Christianity, proclaimed a new era of the Spirit, represented by monasticism, to come about 1260, which would move beyond the era of the Father (OT) and of the Son (NT). Although millenarianism was rejected by the Augsburg Confession, some "left-wing" groups spawned by the Reformation embraced it, e.g., the Zwickau prophets, T. Mtinzer, and John of Leiden. The coming of persecuted Protestants to North America was often accompanied by hopes of establishing a religiously perfect kingdom in the New World. In the United States during the 19th century millennialist groups proliferated, usually with one foot in Dan and the other in Rev, and sometimes reinforced by private revelations. These are exemplified in the followers of William Miller and Ellen G. White (Seventh-Day Adventists), Joseph Smith (Mormons), and Charles T. Russell (Jehovah's Witnesses). In some evangelical groups sharp divisions arose between Premillennialists and Postmillennialists: the former with the view that the golden age will come only after the evil present era is destroyed by the second coming; the latter, exhibiting optimistic liberalism, with the view that the present age will be gradually transformed into the millennium by natural progress in society and religious reform. A form of the premillennial movement featured dispensationalism, identifying periods of time in world history (e.g., as exemplified in the Scofield Reference Bible). Usually the thesis was that we are living in the sixth dispensation, and the seventh is about to come. The larger, established churches remain convinced that, although the final stage in the divine plan will be accomplished through Jesus Christ, the thousand years are symbolic and no one knows when or how the end of the world will come. Ac 1:7 sets the tone: "It is not for you to know times and seasons that have been set by the Father's own authority." As late as 1944 the Roman Catholic Church condemned even a mitigated form of millenarianism (DBS 3839).

Authorship

The seer of Rev four times calls himself John. Justin Martyr (Dialogue 81:4) identifies him as John, one of the apostles of Christ. That he was an apostle is highly implausible since he has a vision of the New Jerusalem {803} descending from heaven with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb on its foundation walls (21:14), thus implicitly a group distinct from himself. Already in the 3d century a careful study of language, style, and thought correctly convinced Dionysius of Alexandria that Rev was not written by the man responsible for John's Gospel65 and 1-2-3 John, whom he assumed to be John the apostle. Consequently Dionysius attributed Rev to John the Elder/Presbyter - a distinction reflecting the reference to two Johns, John one of the Twelve and John the presbyter, by Papias (ca. 125; p. 398 above). However, since "John" was a common name among NT Christians, the conclusion that does the most justice to the evidence is that the seer of Rev was an otherwise unknown John.

What can be learned about the author from Rev itself? The Greek of the work, which is the poorest in the NT to the point of being ungrammatical, probably reflects one whose native language was Aramaic or Hebrew. The impact produced by the fall of Jerusalem is important in shaping his vision, and so the thesis of some scholars that he was a Jewish Christian apocalyptic prophet who left Palestine at the time of the Jewish Revolt in the late 60s and went to Asia Minor (probably to Ephesus from which he was exiled to Patmos) has plausibility. Like an OT prophet he can speak authoritatively to the Asia Minor Christians,67 and regard himself as the voice of the Spirit (see the refrain "the Spirit says to the churches" at the end of each of the seven letters). His apocalypse/prophecy is not simply a rereading of the OT but an eschatological message from God in comment on the present situation.

The issue of Rev's relationship to the Johannine tradition is complicated. Certainly it should not be considered a Johannine writing in the sense in which that designation is applied to John and 1-2-3 John. Yet there are interesting parallels to elements in the Johannine literature, especially the {804} Gospel, that suggest a relationship,69 e.g.: Christ as the Lamb (but different vocabulary); Christ as the source of living water (Jn 7:37-39; Rv 22:1); Christ as light (Jn 8:12; Rv 21:23-24); looking on Christ as one pierced (Jn 19:37; Rv 1:7); the Word (of God) as a name or title for Jesus (Jn 1:1,14; Rv 19:13); the importance of "the beginning" (Jn 1:1; Jn 8:25; Rv 3:14; Rv 21:6); "I am" statements of Jesus (John passim; Rv 1:8; Rv 2:23; etc.); the image of the spouse of Christ for the people of God (Jn 3:29; Rv 21:2,9; 22:17); reference to the mother of Jesus and the mother of the Messiah as "woman" (Jn 2:4; 19:26; Rv 12:1,4,13; etc.); a stress on witness/testifying (both passim); an end to the role of the Jerusalem Temple (Jn 2:19-21; Jn 4:21; Rv 21:22); a hostile attitude toward "Jews" (John passim; Rv 2:9; Rv 3:9); a major conflict with the devil/Satan (Jn 6:70; Jn 8:44; Jn 13:2,27; Rv 2:9,13,24; etc.). There are also parallels to the Epistles: the theme of God as light (1 Jn 1:5; Rv 21:23; 22:5); the coming of the antichrists) (1 Jn 2:18,22; Rv 13:11); false prophets (1 Jn 4:1; Rv 2:20; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10); a female figure and her children represent a/the church (II Jn 1:13; Rv 12:17); and there are evil children as well, of the devil or of an evil woman (1 Jn 3:10; Rv 2:20,23).

Nevertheless, such similarities are far less than those between the Gospel and Epistles of John. Moreover, there are many significant differences between Rev and the Johannine works. Consequently, in the view of the majority of scholars one does not have justification for speaking of the author of Rev as a member of the Johannine School of writers who wrote the body of the Gospel, the Epistles, and redacted the Gospel. To do justice to all the factors, however, one should probably posit some contact between the seer and the Johannine tradition or writings. A good case can be made that the early stage of the Johannine tradition was shaped in Palestine or a closely adjacent area, and that some or all of the Johannine community later moved to the Ephesus area. A similar career has been posited for the prophet/ seer of Rv Early and late periods of possible contact can find support from theological observations. For instance, there was a future eschatology (which is dominant in Rev) in an early stage of the Gospel tradition (even if it has small voice in the developed Gospel) and in the Epistles which, al- {805} though written later than the Gospel, appeal back to the beginnings of the tradition. Thus the 50s or 60s in Palestine and/or the 80s or 90s in Ephesus are plausible times and places of contact.

Date and Life-Situation: Persecution under Domitian?

Within Rev there are certain indications that can help us to date the book. In the letters to the churches there is no indication of the presence of a supremely authoritative bishop as when some of the same churches are addressed by Ignatius ca. 110. If the worship arrangement of twenty-four elders around the One seated on the throne in Rv 4:4 suggests the presence of presbyters (elders), the seer may be closer to a period reflected in Titus and 1Tm (90s) and Didache 15:1 (slightly later?) where presbyters/bishops and deacons are being/have been installed, but have not yet replaced apostles and prophets. Some addressees tested and some tolerated false prophets (Rv 2:2,20); the latter may reflect an outlook close to that of Didache 11:7 where prophets cannot be tested.

Symbolic elements in Rev have more often been regarded as the key to the dating of Rev. For instance, the reference to five deceased kings (seen as Julius through Claudius, Nero's predecessor) in 17:9-10 has made many posit composition in whole or in part in Nero's time (ad 54-68). Yet it is more historical to date Augustus as the first emperor, and 17:11 seems to imply that an eighth king might be ruling. Nero is referred to (the number 666 in 13:18), but perhaps as dead (the mortally wounded head). Moreover, too many elements in Rev seem irreconcilable with Nero's lifetime. Many think that Rev implies the destruction of the earthly Temple by the Gentiles (the symbolism of the outside court in 11:2; and the use of Babylon symbolism for Rome), emperor worship, and persecution in Asia Minor; but Nero ruled before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, rejected having a temple to his divinity, and conducted no recorded persecution outside Rome.

Accordingly, for a long time the scholarly majority has held that Rev was written during the reign of Domitian (81-96)74 who ruled after the destruction {806} of the Jerusalem Temple and signed himself as Lord and God, and could be considered Nero come back again. In n. 38 above we saw how the calculation of kings could apply to Domitian. As part of this thesis it was assumed almost as a given fact that an Empire-wide persecution of Christians was conducted by Domitian in his last years. Now, however, one sees frequently, again almost as a given fact, the rebuttal claim that there was no persecution under Domitian (81-96). Between these two views is there an intermediate possibility? Let us review the evidence,76 since the position taken on Domitian may affect the dating of other NT works, e.g., 1 Peter, and perhaps Jude.

Domitian's father Vespasian (69-79) and his brother Titus (79-81) had been emperor before him, and during their reigns his ambitions were frustrated for he exercised little real power. In his own reign he was a reasonably good administrator but less judicious and popular than his family predecessors. Autocratic to an extreme, Domitian paraded his authority, wearing the marks of his triumphs even in the Senate, and made his control so absolute that his consultation of the Senate was perfunctory. He styled himself "Lord and God."77 The enduring effect of his reign was to move Roman governance closer to an absolute monarchy. Although he never revoked the ancient privileges of the Jews, he was more rigorous than his predecessors in enforcing the poll tax on the Jews (fiscus judaicus). A revolution by Saturninus, the governor of Germany, in 89 exacerbated Domitian's tendency to seek vengeance; and he became insistent in seeking out treason. The historian Suetonius (Domitian 8:10) describes his last years as a reign of terror; that may be exaggerated, but the names of at least twenty opponents executed by Domitian are preserved. Not only political enemies but those of a different outlook (philosophy) were a target, as part of his campaign for the purity of the official religion. In 95 he both executed his cousin, the consul Flavius Clemens, and banished Clemens' wife Flavia Domitilla (Domitian's niece) for treason and for atheism. Plots to overthrow Domitian multiplied; and in September 96, before his forty-fifth birthday, he was assassinated in a {807} conspiracy involving his own wife Domitia and one or both of the praetorian prefects.

How did Domitian's suspicions and severity affect Christians? In the early 300s Eusebius (EH 3:18.4) reports a persecution and martyrdoms in the fifteenth year of Domitian (ad 96). What is the evidence for that? (1) Cassius Dio (ca. ad 225) says that the atheism for which Clemens and Domiti Ua were respectively executed and banished was "a charge on which many others who drifted into Jewish ways were condemned." At other times charges of atheism were laid against Christians, and some would have regarded them as members of a Jewish sect. The Eusebius passage refers to the banishment of Flavia Domiti Ua, a niece of Flavius Clemens because of her testimony to Christ. That there was a Christian woman named Domiti Ua is suggested by the catacomb containing Christian burials that bears her name; but she may have been confused with the Flavia Domiti Ua, the wife of Clemens (mentioned above), who was attracted to Judaism - an attraction attested among wives of the nobility. A similar confusion is witnessed in the identification of Clement, the prominent presbyter of the Roman church who wrote I Clement, with the consul Flavius Clemens, the victim of Domitian. The similarity of names (Domiti Ua, Clement) raises the possibility that members of the household of Flavius Clemens - servants who took the masters' names - may have been attracted to Christianity, sparked by the interest of the patrons in Judaism.

(2) Melito of Sardis (ad 170-180) addressed a petition to the emperor of his time claiming that, of the preceding emperors, only Nero and Domitian, "persuaded by certain malignant persons, desired to bring our doctrine into ill repute." Since Nero certainly persecuted Christians, this may be a tactful way of reporting a persecution by Domitian. Ca. 197 Tertullian (Apologet- icum 5:4) writes that Domitian, who was similar to Nero in cruelty, at tempted to do what Nero had done (assault the Christian sect with the impe rial sword) but because of humane reasons soon stopped what he had begun and even restored those whom he had banished. The modifying conclusion of Tertu Uian's description seems strange if he was inventing the whole report.

(3)/ Clement 1:1 (ad 96-120) explains the writer's delay in addressing his letter to Corinth in terms of "sudden and repeated happenings and expe riences that have befallen us." Many scholars have translated the two nouns as "misfortunes and calamities" and interpreted them as a reference to perse cution under Domitian, usable to date I Clement to ca. 96 when Domitian died. That is an overinterpretation of 1:1. However, the appeal of the writer {808} in chap. 5 to noble examples "of our own generation" centers on the persecution that brought about the death of the most righteous pillars Peter and Paul. That passage suggests a date not too much later than the 60s when the two apostles died. The statement in 7:1 that part of his reason for writing about such things is that "we are in the same arena, and the same struggle is before us" suggests that something comparable to the Neronian persecution is being experienced or anticipated.

(4) A connection between Nero and Domitian as hostile figures to Chris tians is suggested by the most probable interpretation of Rv 13:3, where one of the heads seemed to have been mortally wounded (Nero was stabbed to death) but was healed so that the blasphemies were renewed (n. 39 above) and war was waged against the holy ones. Since Rev was written in Asia Minor, the hostile picture indicates persecution there.

(5) Writing in Asia Minor (Pontus-Bithynia) in 110, Pliny the Younger (Epistles 10:96.6) tells of those charged with professing Christ who said they had ceased to be Christians twenty years ago, thus ca. 90. That date hints at persecution there in the latter years of Domitian.

(6) Hegesippus (ca. 160-180) is part of the ancient authority cited in EH 3:19-20 to the effect that, as a result of Domitian's orders that the descen dants of David should be put to death, the grandsons of Jude, the brother of Jesus according to the flesh (p. 750 above), were interrogated but dismissed as being of no consequence. Eventually Domitian by an injunction caused the persecution against the church to cease.

The evidence does not warrant our attributing to Domitian a persecution in Rome of a ferocity nearly approaching Nero's. It does warrant the likelihood that in his distrust of possibly dangerous deviations Domitian showed hostility to Gentiles who abandoned the state religion for the Oriental cults that advocated the exclusive worship of one aniconic God (Judaism and probably Christianity). During his reign some "cultists" were executed, especially when their religious stance might be connected to political opposition. Under Nero anti Christian activities do not seem to have extended outside Rome; but under Domitian investigations were more widespread, e.g., to Asia Minor and Palestine. Whether or not by Domitian's personal orders, local authorities may have undertaken their own investigations, especially in areas where Christians had annoyed their Pagan neighbors who judged them antisocial and irreligious. The Christians' refusal to join in the public cult and perhaps to honor the divinized Domitian, when reported by those hostile to them, would have resulted in tribunals and sentences and martyrdom. {809} The instances may have been very limited, but the memory of what Nero had done in Rome thirty years before would have colored Christian apprehension of what might be coming. (Notice that in Rv 2:10; Rv 3:10 the persecution is going to come.) The exile of the prophet John to Patmos, the killing of Antipas at Pergamum (2:13), local ostracizing, disparity of wealth, and social discrimination producing alienation81 would have been added together to shape the overall picture of oppressive Roman rule in Rv Finally, subsequent Christian tradition, influenced by later full-scale Roman persecution, would have simplified and made the two emperors equally guilty of persecution. This analysis of Domitian's reign that combines a basis in fact for some persecution or harassment of Christians with reactive Christian exaggeration seems more responsible to the evidence than either denying harassment of Christians under Domitian or supposing major persecution.

Issues and Problems for Reflection

(1) In antiquity there were problems about the canonicity of Rev, in part in relation to whether or not John (the apostle) was thought to be the author. The book was widely accepted in the Western churches. (The rejection by Gaius who also rejected the Gospel according to John was not significant.) In Asia Minor toward the end of the 2d century, opposition to Montanist beliefs about a new outpouring of the Spirit caused the Alogoi to reject Rev (as well as John). Elsewhere in the East, once Dionysius of Alexandria (ca. 250) showed that Rev was not written by John the apostle, the work was often rejected, especially in reaction to the use of Rev as a support for sensual chiliasm. Nevertheless, Rev was accepted in the 4th century by Athanasius, and eventually the Greek-speaking church came to accept it. However, it continued to be rejected in Syria and by the Syriac-speaking church. In Reformation times, Luther assigned Rev to a secondary status; Zwingli denied that it was Scripture; and it was the only NT book on which Calvin did not write a commentary. Today there is no major problem of a denial of canonical status. However, Rev is overused in the wrong way (e.g., as exact predictions of the future); and reaction to such overuse sometimes prevents others from seeing its genuine value. It may well be important, then, to propose for discussion a strong clarifying statement - one that will scandalize some Christians, but is acceptable to the majority of Christians (and implies no rejection of inspiration or revelation). God has not revealed to human {810} beings details about how the world began or how the world will end, and failing to recognize that, one is likely to misread both the first book and the last book in the Bible. The author of Rev did not know how or when the world will end, and neither does anyone else.

(2) How can Rev be presented in a way that is both factual and meaningful? The first step may be to insist that the book be read through as a whole. That avoids the tendency to pick out a few symbolic references and to specu late about them. The second step is to insist that it was addressed to the seven churches and its details and historical context pertain to the 1st century rather than to the 20th or 21st century. (Vawter's pamphlet listed below can be helpful on a very elementary level.) That will dispense with the fanciful decoding of Rev (and Dan) in the light of today's headlines. Yet such factual knowledge by itself could result in a history lesson about Roman political administration in the late 1st century - scarcely a salvific message. As a fur ther step, therefore, other aspects of Rev and of apocalyptic in general need emphasis.

To a contemporary culture that idolizes science and calculable knowledge, apocalyptic is an enduring witness to a reality that defies all our measurements; it testifies to another world that escapes all scientific gauges and finds expression in symbols and visions. That world is not created by imagination, but images serve as an entree. Artists ranging from Pieter Brueghel through William Blake to Salvador Dali have understood that. On a psychological level Jung sought an entry into that world through symbols. On a religious level mystics have offered insight. Liturgy properly understood brings ordinary believers into contact with this heavenly reality. To a world that accepts only what it can see, hear, and feel, Rev is the final scriptural gateway to what the eye has not seen and the ear not heard. Because its visions are filled with theological symbols, not with photographic reproductions, Rev does not give an exact knowledge of that other world, a world that cannot be translated into human concepts. Rather, it attests forcefully that at every moment of human history, even the most desperate moment that causes people to lose hope, God is present. The Lamb standing as though slain is the ultimate guarantee of God's victorious care and deliverance, especially for the downtrodden and oppressed.