Lecture #11: Revelations & Christian Apocalyptic

COURSE: New Testament

Lecture #11: Revelations & Christian Apocalyptic

• Christianity commenced its career as an eschatological and enthusiastic movement and gave expression to its faith largely in the language of Apocalyptic and of prophecy.
• From the end of the 1st century to the beginning of the Middle Ages it produced an extensive apocalyptic literature.
• Prophecy was not as productive, but it was also widely produced and had historical significance.
• Christianity took over the genre of the Apocalypse from Palestinian Judaism and that of the Sibyllines from Hellenistic Judaism.
• The only apocalypse (besides the small ones in the synoptics) found in the New Testament is Revelation of St. John.
• However, next to gospels and acts of apostles, apocalypses are the most frequently written books of the New Testament apocrypha.
  
  
• All apocalypses have some things in common, including Rev.
• Pseudonymity-the writer does not use his own name but takes the name of a famous personage of the past. along with this a fictitious antiquity is found as an element in the style. This book only recently becomes known because of the command for its secret being sealed till the end of days.
• Account of the vision. Visions predominate so strongly that the apocalypses are generally presented in the form of an account of a vision, this can be in a dream or ecstasy or a waking state.
• Surveys of history in future form. related to the fiction of antiquity is the fact that the apocalyptic writers frequently present the history of the past right up to their own time in the form of prophecies. This is always followed by a prediction of the end, and on this the emphasis lies: the present of the actual (not fictional) author is always the last time.
• All apocalypses include exhortations to repentance and conversion in view of the imminent end and of judgment, as well as traditional ethical exhortations in the form of maxims and series of aphorisms which are sometimes arranged thematically.
• Apocalypses contain not only revelations on the last things, (including the termination of history) but also on other secrets, on the Beyond, Heaven and Hell and their inhabitants, on astronomy, meteorology, and geography, as well as on the origin of sin and evil in the world.
  
  
• The main interest does not lie in problems of cosmology or evil, but in eschatology -- the end of things.
• The world of ideas in apocalyptic is very varied but some common features are:
• The doctrine of the two ages. There is always a contrast between this age and the age to come.

This age is perishable, the age to come eternal and comes by a break in from beyond in supernatural fashion, thru divine intervention and w/o human activity, and puts an end to this world-era.

The end is extreme: it is judgment, a destruction of this world and the simultaneous appearance of a new one, "new heaven and a new earth.

• Pessimism and hope of the beyond. The other worldly character of the coming Age implies an extreme devaluation of this age, the so-called apocalyptic pessimism.

This is symbolized by the idea of the dominion over it by Satan and evil powers and growing physical and moral degeneration.

The natural aging of the world and the moral and religious decay of humankind culminate in a cosmic catastrophe in which this age perishes and the New comes. it reaches from the

• Universalism and Individualism. creation to the dissolution of the world and include, all not just earth. each individual must be judged by God not as a Jew or gentile but an individual.
• Determinism and imminent expectation. alongside dualism, this is the outstanding characteristic. God has fore-ordained everything: all that happens precisely according to the fixed plan of God, which human plans and actions can neither advance nor hinder.

God is the God of both ages. in fact, he created all things at the same time, even the end, the coming age which now sleeps. all is pre-existent and the seer can see them either in the world above or descending from it.

Since everything has its time precisely determined, the end of this age can be calculated, either by reckoning its entire duration from the creation or by reckoning from a point within history or by observing the signs of the times.

But these calculations are always determined by the conviction that the end is very near at hand.

• Finally, there is a lack of uniformity in the expressions each author takes.

Variations in the concept of a savior figure is a case.

In national eschatology, a messiah who is in the line of David is present as the savior but in many apocalypses God or an angel of God brings in the salvation and judgment and replaces the old age with the new.

At times the transcendent judge and redeemer figure, the son of man draws to himself many of the titles and traits of the Davidic Messiah (Enoch and Esdras.)

However, the Davidic messiah is not allowed to disappear completely.

There are many other themes which vary, but the theme of the Savior has been briefly summarized here because of the significance in Christian apocalyptic.

• Thus, it is now time to turn to the Book of revelation

The Book of Revelation

• Revelation is the last book in the N. T. and the only one that is completely apocalyptic in nature.
• John's Apocalypse far transcends all others of its class in the endeavor to present a theodicy or theology of history.

to portray both "what is and what is to take place (1:19) in the perspective of God's eternal purpose relative to man and his salvation.

• Basically, the book of Revelation is in the form of a letter.
• What it appears is that John wrote the book as a drama, similar to the Greek dramas of his day with 7 acts each containing 7 scenes and that thereafter, with a view to bringing it to the church's attention, he superimposed the letter form upon it.
• John claims for his work a close affinity in spirit and content with the writings of the Hebrew prophets as well
• Thus, he mentions the book being apocalyptic once, and of being prophecy six times placing himself in the category of the "prophets." (22:7)
  
  
• John's teaching purports to be far closer to that of the Hebrew prophetic scriptures than is that of Enoch, II Baruch, and the Sibylline Oracles.
• He quotes directly phrases and clauses from the Hebrew prophets in some 150 passages.
  
  
• This saturation with the Hebrew prophetic thought-frames and symbolism may well be why his book was included in the New Testament canon when others of this type were not.
• As far as style and diction are concerned, there are many errors and it appears that the writer thought in grammatical Aramaic and wrote in Greek.

It is by far the poorest Greek in the New Testament

Who wrote it?

• The author calls himself John, but it is not John the Disciple of Jesus.
• This John was the pastor of at least the "seven churches" of Asia and he wrote to them out of a shepherd's concern for his flock while exiled from them on the Isle of Patmos
  
  
• What we know about this John is that he was very likely a Jewish Believer in Jesus as the Messiah. He would not have known the word Christian, or if he did, he didn't accept it.
• In his letters to the seven churches, he approves only of the church at Philadelphia. He sees the others as upstarts claiming they are the equal of Israel. He never mentions Paul, but in his letters, he strongly disapproves of those who eat meat sacrificed to idols, and other practices that Paul said did not matter.
• He may well have seen James, the brother of Jesus, killed in Jerusalem and certainly knew the temple and its worship before it was destroyed in 70 AD. John's first language was Aramaic or Hebrew and he wrote in Greek. He was very worried about contamination by Roman culture. He calls the Churches that have compromised "synagogues of Satan" because they eat meat sacrificed to idols and practice fornication.
• The 144,000 that are marked are Jews who have not defiled themselves by eating wrongly and by staying chaste, not necessarily celibate. John resented gentiles who were baptized saying they were as good as those born Jews, maybe even better especially when they don't keep the law of the torah.
• What John preached would have looked wrong and old fashioned to Paul's converts in the cities he preached at in Asia minor. The power struggle is still going on between Paul's view and the Jewish messianic believers in the 90s.
  
  
• There are many dates that have been suggested but the logical conclusion is that he is writing between 90-96 CE while & persecution is going on in Asia minor under the Emperor Domitian (81-96)
• Domitian strenuously insisted on the recognition of the divinity of the imperial line and by his day emperor worship was the one universal cultus of Asia Minor.
• Another argument for dating this under Domitian is that John employed a number of other New Testament books in searching for materials for his own (e.g. Matt, Luke, I and II Corinthians., Galatians Ephesians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, I Peter, and James.)

Methods of interpretation

• Needless to say a variety of methods have been used to interpret Revelation
• Not only does the book seem an enigma in itself in view of it visionary pattern, its curious figures (beasts, dragon, horsemen, hordes of demons, angels, and the rest), and its cosmic catastrophes; but it has much to say as well of the eschatological time (the end time), a subject about which the church has never made up it collective mind satisfactorily.
• Thus, Christian scholars have always approached a study of Revelation with minds biased on the subjects with which it deals and the net result has been chaotic.

Historico-eschatological interpretations

• There are several ways of doing this
• First, a contemporary chronological scheme so that the whole sweep of his visionary program is limited to his own times, the time of Domitian.
• Futuristic – i.e., limited entirely to the eschatological time at the end of history, a time identified on this view with the period immediately preceding, contemporary with, and following upon the "thousand years" literally interpreted (20:1-10)
• Hal Lindsey, the Jehovah Witnesses among others, tend to interpret it this way.
  
  
• Then the generally historical, either in the sense that the seer as a philosopher of history endeavors to present the whole panorama of history from the divine standpoint, as was done by other apocalyptists, or that he predicts specific events as about to happen throughout the span of world history, or that he has in mind certain characteristic types of the divine redemptive activity which find repeated expression throughout history and likewise characteristic human attempts to resist and thwart the divine will.

Literary-analytical approaches

• Some have seen the book as the end product of a series of editors who have worked to assemble many sources

• Allegorical Method

• Is from the Alexandrian school of biblical interpretation.
• This works better with Revelation than about any other book because of its nature, however,
• This method fails to serve any useful purpose when the bounds set by John's ideological scheme are transgressed.

• Dramatic Interpretation

• That John's book is highly dramatic in style has long been recognized.
• The book readily divides itself into seven Acts, each Act having in turn seven Scenes and so to divide it is to follow out the original intent of the author.
• Act I gives the picture of the church contemporary with the author.
• Acts IT-VII similarly present us with "what is to take place hereafter these several methods are not mutually exclusive.
  
  
• In his visions (4:1-22:19) the recurrence of the number seven is one of the most striking features.
  
  
• There are seven seals (read–6:1-8:1) seven trumpets (Read–8:2-11:15); seven visions of the kingdom of the dragon (look at–11:16-13:18); seven visions of the coming of the Son of Man look at (Look at–14:1-20); seven bowls (look at–15:1-16:21); seven visions of the fall of Babylon (look at–17:1-19:10); and seven visions of the end (look at–19:11-21:4)
• The problem in interpreting this book has resulted from the effort to discover a chronological sequence in this series of visions.
• This has been true in the futuristic way which tries to see in these visions’ pictures of the successive situations that will arise in the last days and the historica which relates the visions to the ongoing history of the church and identifies the symbolic figures of the book with historical personages.
  
  
• The futuristic method ignores the clear historical allusions of the writing. and the historical method must constantly be revised with the passage of time since as historical crises pass it becomes clear that there was no basis for seeing in them the fulfillment of John's prophecies.
  
  
• There is scarcely a demagogue of international fame who has not been identified by interpreters of the prophet as the beast of Revelation 13 with the number 666.

Napoleon and Hitler were given this.

even FDR by his opponents claimed that the Blue Eagle which all merchants were required under the term of the NRA to display was "the mark of the beast" (look at – 13:17)

• This is as good a place as any to deal with the symbols beginning with 666, there was a belief in the Christian church that Nero was not really dead but would come back sometime to persecute the Christians again.
• What John is alluding to when he speaks of the beast will be the eighth, but one of the seven, ie the sixth.
• In Hebrew numerology the number of Nero Caesar was 666.
• John is using this to say that Nero has been resurrected in Domitian, who is the beast.
  
  
• The symbolism is partly obscure but for the most part intelligible even to moderns today.
  
  
• Thus, God" sovereignty as in all apocalypses is expressed by the vision of the divine throne room (ch. 4-5)

His unapproachable holiness by that of the "sea of glass mingled with fire" (15:2)

His grace by a rainbow (4:3; Gen 9:12-13)

His omniscience by the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (5:6)

His judgment upon all his creation by the fact that his presence earth and sky fled away" (20:11)

• Similarly, the kingdom of evil is symbolized by the dragon and his angels (12:7ff; 20:2-3)
• And the corporate sin of the race, together with the secular might which incarnates it, is represented by a swarm of locusts (9:34f) and "troops of cavalry" (9:13-19), both of which are found in the book of Joel
• The evil messiah of this kingdom finds expression under the form of the "beast rising out of the sea" (13:1)
• The cultic priesthood which gives it a religious sanction under that of "another beast which rose out of the earth” (13:11)
  
  
• The archangel Michael stand for Christ in his victorious battling with the forces of unrighteousness (12:7-10)

The seven lampstands for the church universal (1:20)

Seven stars for the angel

• Babylon stands for the contemporary world culture (11:8, 18:2)

The "New Jerusalem" for the church or people of God (21:2)

The "woman clothed with the sun" for the community of God' people out of which his messiah comes (12:1)

"The great harlot who i seated upon many waters" for the evil community of the beast (17:1)

Finally, the "river of the water of life" (22:1) and the "tree of life" (22:2) for the final salvation which God affords his people.

• The stage setting for John's visions are supplied from the various paraphernalia of tabernacle and temple and all retain their usual significance as found in the Hebrew scriptures.
  
  
• The four horsemen of 6:1-8 (see Zech 6:1-8) can be found in the parallelism to be found between this passage and those at Matt 24:6ff; Mark 13:7ff,, and Luke 21:9ff.
• This offers an intelligible solution.
• If this is true then the four figures on horseback represent, respectively, war OF conquest: international or civil strife, famine, and death.
  
  
• Armageddon the idea is that though martyred the church rises and ascends like her lord into heaven (look at -11:1-14) which talks about the two prophets who were killed but on the third day came to life and rose to heaven)

These are Moses & Elijah - who never died in Jewish mythology

• From the coordination of this passage with its opposite number in 16:12-16, which is the fall of Babylon, it becomes clear that the so-called battle of Armageddon is one of ideologies (gospel vs. badspel), not of guns and bombs (Look at 19:11-16, 21)
  
  
• In Act VII the church is seen to be seated with Christ and reigning with him throughout the Millennium (20:4-6)
• This period of time is to be reckoned according to God's time, not man’s and hence the equivalent of the "day of the Lord"

(cf II Pet 3:8-10, where a thousand years is as a day to the Lord) or the entire sweep of the eschatological period.

• This apocalypse follows the basic outline of many old fertility cult myths.

First, the assembly of the God' and a threat by the forces of chaos.

the sea (yam) = chaos, chaos, and most the forces of death.

Second, there is the designation of a younger warrior god to handle it.

Third, there is the battle and victory on the part of the younger God (Marduk in Mesopotamia, Baal in Canaanite myth)

Forth, the return of the young God to the assembly

Fifth, he is installed as king of the gods

• There is a temple built or a royal palace, a sacred marriage (in Rev. it is the marriage of the lamb to the church); the marriage feast and the restoration of fertility (in Rev. the making of the new heaven and new earth)

Akkadian myth

• Basically old gods Ea and Anu are leaders
• Face threat from Tiamut
• Marduk young god, says he'll take care of it but wants commission of council
• Marduk slays Tiamut and apsu
• Cuts her in half and creates heaven and earth.
• He is acclaimed king

• Canaanitic myth 19th-18th BCE

• Found in texts of Ras Shamra in the 1920s.
• Gods sitting to eat (El is head)
• messengers of the sea come–gods panic--Baal rebukes them.
• Gods lift up heads (Psalms 24 has a theme as YHWH as lord of glory, gods become angels in Jewish and Christian apocalyptic.)
• Baal defeats the sea monsters.

• Here is a comparison of the various myths

• In Revelations 4:6 the sea of glass is calm, not in chaos.
• Revelations 4:4-11 (read) the 24 elders equal the assembly of the Gods in earlier myths
• Revelations. 5:9-10 (read) YHWH grants the gift of kingship to Jesus voluntarily, not forced as Marduk forced Ea.
  
  
• Revelations 4 and 5 have the basic combat myth but in addition to bring out the element that Jesus already shares in victory it draws upon wisdom literature – this comes from the Wisdom of Solomon. In the Apocrypha 3:1-9; 4:16, 5:15, 15-23 (judgment) to show victory of a righteous person
  
  
• The idea is that the righteous will go immediately to be with God, not at the end of time but individually upon death.
  
  
• Finally, to sum up Revelation, the focus of attention throughout the book is neither upon the church's sufferings nor upon her exclusive salvation, but rather upon God's ultimate saving purpose and upon the church's part in its achievement
• His earnest desire, subtly expressed at times, is to place the church's dire extremity (Act III) in the context of the world" equally great need (Act V), on the one hand, and of God' the other. redemptive purpose on the