Book of Revelation
Written originally Has become
Word of comfort and hope Word of fear and despair
Bring clarity of insight to readers Read as a gloomy book that can only be
hard press to make sense of their lives understood by those holding the secret key
to unlock its mysteries
To be read aloud in churches gathered for Often reserved for sectarian groups and
worship ravings of fanatics
Paradox is that no book in the NT has inspired as many joyful and victorious hymns as has the book of Revelation, and no book in the NT has inspired as much destructive and even pathological behavior as has the book of Revelation.
Cause of Misinterpretations:
1. We have lost the language.
No major difficulty with the words themselves or with the grammar, but we have lost the myriad points of reference that John of Patmos and his readers had in common. For instance, it has been said that every verse of Revelation includes at least one reference to the Hebrew Scriptures.
2. Many references in the book to specific geography, political, economic, and social circumstances with which John’s readers were familiar. For instance, for someone who knows English perfectly well, but who has little knowledge of English literature or American history hears: “the tale of an ancient politician who one score and seven years ago a stately pleasure home decreed, a home which has now become an albatross hanging on his neck.” Certainly the words are clear but unless someone is familiar with Samuel Taylor Coleridge or of Abraham Lincoln, the cultural connections between the speaker and the hearers would be lost.
How to read the Book of Revelation
1. We can try to understand Revelation by discovering all of the references to the Hebrew Scriptures and the particular circumstances of that time. This would be painstaking work.
2. Read it out loud, as a flowing narrative, with unexpected turn of imagery and perspective.
3. Read entire sections at a time, not worrying about each phrase or an image we try to understand so that we see the larger message being said.
4. The original readers were people with little hope of success in the world. They lived in some of the richest cities of a mighty empire, yet they had no part in that power of that empire and very little part of the wealth. They were living under persecution. For us today, being a Christian does not pose challenges of life and death. We are fairly comfortable and have a say in our society. Therefore, a book that speaks of God’s final judgment on the world, a book intended as a word of comfort and a promise of salvation for its original readers, sounds to us more like a threat or an announcement of doom.
The Author
John, “the one who heard and saw these things” (22:8)
Traditionally, the author of Revelation was thought to be the same author who wrote the Fourth Gospel. Whereas the Fourth Gospel was written with rather polished Greek, Revelation was written by someone who was more at home with Aramaic, a language commonly spoken in Palestine by the Jews.
The author was probably a Jew who embraced the Christian faith.
The First Readers
7 Churches in the Roman province of Asian (today are on the western tip of Turkey)
These Christians were not in full accord as to how they should relate to the society around them. Some were more willing to compromise than others. In a society dominated by religious rituals, Christians found themselves constantly faced with the need to make decisions whether or not to compromise their faith in order to gain economic and social advantage, and perhaps survival.
John believed that Christians should not compromise their faith and therefore a part of the purpose of this book is to strengthen and comfort those who are suffering for their faithfulness to Christ.
Traditionally, it was believed that Christians were suffering a severe persecution under Emperor Domitian for their refusal to worship him. Most likely, the actual situation was those who remain faithful in all things in their faith brought upon themselves the wrath of the government. They were seen as subversive and antisocial in their behavior.
The Book
John was among those who felt that to compromise in these matters was to become guilty of idolatry. For that, he was exiled for his faith.
Apocalyptic (Greek) means revelation (removing the veil)
Apocalyptic literature seeks to deal with the suffering of the just at the hands of the unjust and does so in a highly symbolic language that combines liberal use of metaphor with numbers of often mysterious meaning.
Webster’s Dictionary defines “apocalyptic” as “foreboding imminent disaster or final doom.” The book of Revelation was written originally to give a sense of joy and comfort.
The purpose of the book is to speak the Word of God to its early Christian readers. These readers, in turn, preserved it and passed it on to ensuing generations who also heard the Word of God in it and thus included it in the canon of the NT.
The Date
Irenaeus, a Christian in Smyrna (one of John’s seven churches) and who wrote almost a century after the writing of Revelation, says that John wrote this book “near the end of the Domitian’s reign.” Since Domitian reigned from A.D. 81 to 96, this would place the writing of the book around the year A.D. 95.
Interpretations
1. Futurist—many centuries after John’s time, or at the end of the world
“Millennium”—the thousand years of peace; “When will the millennium begin?”
2. Blueprint for the course of human history and the end of the world
At various times, Christians have discovered in Revelation predictions that the end of the world would come: 500, 800, 1000, 2000, etc.
Antichrist: Pope, emperor, Luther, Hitler, Soviet Union, European Common Market, PLO, China, etc.
The problem is that these have all proven to be wrong. An even greater problem is that a futurist interpretation implies that the book had nothing to say to the many generations between John of Patmos and the interpreter. For instance if the European Common Market is the beast, this would mean that when Augustine in the fourth century, or Luther in the sixteenth century, or Wesley in the eighteenth century, read this book, it had nothing to say to them. Even worse, that would mean that John, exiled in Patmos and concerned about the churches in Asia, wrote to them a book that they could not understand, offering no other comfort than that sometime in the future another generation would be able to understand. When you think about it, such futurist interpretations are incredibly self-centered—as if we were the only generation to whom this book is the Word of God!
3. Significance only in the past
John was writing about events that were taking place in his time, or that he could foresee happening in the immediate future. He wrote to the churches in Asia to give them comfort and strength. He was not writing to anyone except those seven churches in the late first century. Only way to understand is to see how it relates to the situation existing at the time it was written. Any attempt to see a significance of the book for us is misguided and corrupts the purely historical research that must guide the interpretation of any ancient document.
But this approach does not suffice either. We are reading this book not just because it is an interesting document of the past but because we are Christians, we live out of the same future that John announced to his readers in Asia; the future of God’s will shall be fulfilled.
3a. Non-historical or poetic
Timeless but ignores the value in particular historical setting.
4. Both Past and present
We read and study Revelation because we fully expect that the God who spoke through it to Christians at the end of the first century will also speak through it to Christians at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Therefore we interpret using the method that is both historical and futuristic. What John was telling his original readers is that Christians must live their lives, not out of the present pressures and expediencies, but rather out of the vision of the future that they derive from their faith. The truth is that we live most of our lives, not in the past, but also out of the future—what we plan to be when we grow up; where we would like to live; what we hope for our children, where we plan to retire, and so forth. Thus, a different version of the future—a vision such as John offers in his book—should lead to a different sort of life.
Read the passage
Chapters 15:1-8
Vs. 1 “portents” or signs—seven angels to dispense seven plagues.
12:1 a woman clothed with the sun and 12:3 the great red dragon are also portents
In the same way that the woman and dragon ushered in the battle between God and Satan, this portent ushers in the final defeat of the powers of evil. They are defeated by the wrath of God and by their defeat the wrath of God comes to an end.
The word of hope here is that the wrath of God will end. This promise is very important. God’s love never ends. God’s wrath is a reality, but it is not forever. It is good for the readers to be reminded of this truth before they move into the account of the terrible plagues that are to come.
Vss. 2-4 Those who conquered the powers of evil personified in the beast with its image and the famous number 666, are gathered to song. They are around the sea of glass in front of the throne. The glass is mixed with fire, perhaps as a sign of judgment about to occur. These faithful ones are given harps to join in the heavenly chorus.
The faithful ones are singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (Jesus). The parallel of Moses and Christ was very important in the early church. Moses led the people from bondage in Egypt to freedom; Jesus led the people of God from bondage of sin, death, and the power of evil to freedom through his death and resurrection. In both cases, a victory was won.
Exodus 15:1-18 and Deuteronomy 31:30—32:43 both present songs of victory.
In the song, God is the only one to be worshiped; and ultimately all nations will worship God. It is God’s holiness that leads to judgment. It is also this holiness that all nations should fear the one true God. The judgment that is beginning will make that happen.
Vss. 5-8 Imagine the scene. There is a temple that contains the throne of God. In front of this is the glassy sea, radiant with fire. Around the sea is the choir of the redeemed, harps in hand. From earlier descriptions, there are four living creatures and twenty-four elders on the throne. In Rev. 14, the 144,000 were added to the chorus.
After the song is sung, the doors of the heavenly temple open, and the seven angels come out. They are dressed in priestly garments with shining white robes and golden sashes across their chests (Dan. 10:5)
One of the living creatures hands out the bowls. The seven bowls parallel the seven seals and the seven trumpets. Seven implies completion and fulfillment. Here it is the wrath of God, in the form of seven plagues that is to be completed.
We are not used to hearing much about the wrath of God. It does not seem in keeping for a loving God to be wrathful. But John understands that the holiness of God ultimately requires the destruction of evil. Redemption involves the end of the power of evil. Grace is central. For all human beings are sinful and need forgiveness. But forgiveness alone does not destroy evil. The destruction of evil is the goal of God’s wrath. This wrath is for the sake of redemption, for the sake of holiness, not the result of an irrational anger.
One of the great heresies in the church in the second century was the thought that the God of Jesus Christ was a God of love and grace, in whom there was no judgment or wrath. The church clearly declared that this was not true. The same God who redeems is the God who judges and condemns.
For that reason, the understanding of the cross of Christ includes the fact that Jesus suffered the wrath of God for us, taking on himself God’s righteous desire to destroy evil. Therefore, as recipients of grace, we are to be holy. To eliminate wrath of God is to cheapen and make meaningless the work of grace. This portion of Revelation points out that God’s wrath will end when all of the forces of evil have been destroyed.
Once the seven angels receive their bowls of wrath, the temple is filled with smoke, the sign of God’s presence. From then until the time of wrath is over, no one can enter the temple. Smoke and cloud is the sign of the presence of God, the glory of God (Ex. 19:18; Isa. 4:5). No creature is to be there.
Why is the temple, the presence of God, not available to any creature until the judgment is over? There are two reasons. The first is that final judgment is in God’s hands alone. No creature even the living creatures take part in this. Second, this is the final judgment. Many warnings have been issued. The doors of the temple are now closed to all creatures until the judgment is over. Then finally, even the temple itself will disappear (21:22).