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The Introduction (1:1-21)Title & Theme (1:1)There are two common mistakes made regarding the title of the book. First, the book is often called Revelations. The title is actually singular, suggesting that the entire book is one unified revelation. Secondly, the book is often titled the revelation to John, when in fact the book is entitled, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation for which the book is titled is not the revelation (i.e. vision) given to John, but the future revealing of Jesus at his second coming. This reveals the overall theme of the book. Namely, this book is about the imminent return and revelation of Jesus Christ, when ‘every eye will see Him.” While there are numerous judgments, events and circumstances described in the book, it all points to this simple theme: He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20) Author (1:1, 4, 9-11)John (1:1, 4, 9)While the book is about the revelation of Jesus Christ, this vision of this revelation was shown by an angel to John. John is again affirmed as the author in 1:4 and 1:9. Church tradition has nearly universally accepted this John to be the apostle John. This is the same John who was the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” and who wrote the gospel of John and the three epistles of John. However, some bible scholars have suggested that this John was different the apostle John. There are two primary reasons for suggesting an alternate John. First, the Greek text found in Revelation is much less polished than that of the gospel and epistles attributed to the apostle John. Secondly, Dionysius, a bishop of Alexandria in the third century argued that the book could not have been written by the apostle John, citing again the stylistic differences between this book and the apostle's other writings. However, the majority opinion of the church fathers as well as the authoritative tone of the book provides us sufficient reason to state that the author is the apostle John. John describes himself in 1:9 as a brother and fellow participant in three things:
Specifically, the tribulation and subsequent perseverance is that John has been exiled to the island of Patmos because of he preached the word of God and testimony of Jesus. However, John should be considered more as reporter than an author. In verse 11 an angel tells John to write down all that he saw. As such, the symbols and structure of the book reflect what God showed to John and was not a result of John's creativity. Jesus Christ (1:5-8)To a great extent, then, we might more properly say that the book was at least co-authored by Jesus himself. In fact, in 1:5, it seems that at least the epistles to the seven churches (chapters 2-3) are letters from Jesus himself. Each epistle presents Jesus as the writer of the letter. Audience (1:4, 11)The book is addressed to seven churches located in Asia (1:4). These churches are named specifically by Jesus in 1:11 as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. All of these cities are located in the province of Asia, which is located in the western part of modern day Turkey. Ephesus was the capital of the province, but each of these cities was an important seat of government and/or commerce. The order in which the cities are presented begin with the largest and most important (i.e. Ephesus), and then move counterclockwise around the map. Date & Background (1:9-11)Date of the BookJohn considers himself to be a fellow partaker in the tribulations of these churches; tribulations which caused him to be exiled. The island of Patmos is off the coast of the province of Asia, and therefore whatever persecution John faced was also being faced by these seven churches. There is considerable debate as to the exact timing and nature of the persecution. In the first century, there were two major periods of persecution faced by the church. The first was under the reign of Emperor Nero, who in an attempt to divert blame, accused the Christians of starting the fire which destroyed most of the city of Rome in AD 64. Scholars who consider the persecution by Nero as the background for Revelation suggest an early date for the writing of Revelation based on supposed references to Nero in the text and a belief that the reference to the temple in chapter 11 presupposes that the temple had not yet been destroyed (the temple's destruction taking place in AD 70). However, both of these arguments are based on the preterist interpretation of Revelation (see Interpretation below). The second major period of persecution came under the reign of Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96). The early church father Irenaeus (AD 185) states that Revelation was written towards the end of Domitian's reign [1]. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who himself was a disciple of the apostle John. This evidence, along with church tradition which states that the apostle John was not in Asia Minor until late in life, indicate that the book was most likely sometime in the mid 90s. Persecution under DomitianAs the Roman army systematically conquered other nations, belief in the national gods who were to protect them waned. If the Roman emperors could defeat those gods, then the emperor must be a god himself. The first emperor to be deified was Julius Caesar. Augustus was also declared a god, but only after his death. Nero was the first to try to enforce the worship of him while he was alive. The emperor Domitian tried to enforce widespread worship of himself throughout the empire, leading to great persecution of Christians who refused to worship him. Domitian required that people worship him as their Lord God. However, Christians believe Jesus to be Lord and God and refused to participate in emperor worship. This was perceived as disloyalty to the empire, resulting in the second period of systematic persecution of the church by the Roman government. However, there is very little historical discussion of the nature of this persecution. PurposeJesus, in his message to the seven churches of Asia, calls believers by the title “the overcomers,” for they were those facing great trials and suffering for their faith. The message of Revelation is that those endure the persecution shall overcome it in the end. In the book of Revelation, John declares that Domitian is not their Lord and God. Jesus is the true Lord and God. Jesus will return someday and will defeat those who falsely claim to be Lord and God. Jesus will return someday and defeat those who persecute the saints. Jesus will return and the overcomers will reign with him. The book of Revelation to debates is not about timelines and geopolitical predictions. Revelation was not written to satisfy our curiosity as to the historical events leading up to the return of Christ. Instead, it is to serve as an encouragement to believers of all time that our faith is not in vain. The message of Revelation to those facing suffering, persecution, and death at the hands of an evil ruler and an evil empire is simple: “Jesus wins; Caesar loses. [2]” Interpretation (1:12-20)The proper interpretation of Revelation is one of the most controversial topics in all of biblical studies. The highly symbolic and prophetic nature of the book provides ample opportunity for speculation and conjecture. Revelation 1:19 states that John is to write about “the things which he has seen, the things which are, and the things which will take place after”. This suggests that the visions seen by John include both contemporary events as well as future events. However, he suggests that the future events “must soon take place” (1:1). The debate over interpretation then comes over which items in Revelation are contemporary with the time of the author and which are yet future events. Traditionally, however, there are four major interpretive methods which have been applied to the book of Revelation [3]. PreteristThe preterist viewpoint states that all the events described in Revelation are contemporary events. That is, the author was giving a spiritual and symbolic interpretation of the political events of his day. Most preterists believe Revelation to have been written during the persecution of Nero, and that many of the prophetic elements were fulfilled in the destruction of the temple by Rome in AD 70. Certainly, many of the prophetic elements in Revelation correlate with both the persecution of Nero and the destruction of the temple. However, the most important prophetic event, the return of Christ, did not take place following the destruction of the temple. As a result, this viewpoint is most widely held by scholars who do not believe in the literal return of Jesus. HistoricistThe historicist viewpoint states that the events described in Revelation have taken place throughout the church age. Various schemes have been developed over time to correlate events taking place in church history with events found in Revelation. This viewpoint was widely held by the reformers, such as Luther and Calvin. In their view, the pope was said to be the antichrist, and the Roman church is Babylon. However, there is a lack of consensus among those who hold to this view as to which events in church history correlate with which events in Revelation. This viewpoint tends to be held mostly by amillennialists (those who do not believe in the literal millennial reign of Christ on the earth). IdealistThe idealist viewpoint does not try to correlate the events in Revelation with any actual event. Instead, Revelation is seen as a symbolic description of the on-going spiritual battle between good and evil. Each event or symbol is to be interpreted allegorically as a great poetic drama in which the victory of Christ over Satan is assured. The idealist viewpoints suffer from the same problem as the historicist. There are numerous interpretations to the various symbols, most of which are merely conjecture. FuturistThe futurist viewpoint sees all the events from chapter 4 onwards as yet future events. The book then describes those events immediately leading up to and including the second coming of Jesus Christ. Critics of the futurist interpretation state that if the events describe far off future events, then they would not serve as an encouragement for the original readers. History of InterpretationThe futurist viewpoint was held by most of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus (AD 195) and Justin Martyr (AD 165). It fell out favor with the rise of the allegorical interpretations in the fourth century. The allegorical method remained the predominant viewpoint until the reformation. Luther and Calvin both suggested a historicist interpretation, so as to declare the pope as the antichrist. In the 17 th century, as part of the Counter Reformation, Catholic Jesuits started exploring preterist and futurist interpretations as a refutation of the reformers antipapal interpretation. Today, few biblical scholars believe in the historicist or idealist viewpoint. Most scholars today hold to either the preterist or futurist viewpoints. Many combine the two viewpoints. These preterist-futurists believe that the events leading up to the actual return of Christ were fulfilled by the Roman emperors (ending with Domitian), while the return of Christ, the millennium and the new heaven and earth are yet to be fulfilled [4]. Proper InterpretationWhile there are strong correlations between the events in Revelation and political events in the first century, there are also significant events which seem to be absent from this era. As such, while John probably expected the entire book to be fulfilled in the near future, these uncorrelated events suggest that these visions suggest a yet future fulfillment. That does not mean there wasn't at least a partial fulfillment in the first century. Nearly all biblical prophecy has both a near term and far future fulfillment. This is the hermeneutic principle of the “law of double fulfillment” or “foreshortening.” Examples of this are found in many Old Testament prophecies, which were fulfilled within the lifetime of the prophet, but which also served as prophecies of the coming Messiah (e.g. Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled both in Isaiah 8:3 and Matthew 1:23). In addition, the symbolism of Revelation is tightly correlated with that found in the prophecies of Daniel. Of those prophecies in Daniel which have already been fulfilled, these were fulfilled literally and not allegorically. Therefore, this study will primarily use a literal and futurist hermeneutic, with references to certain preterist interpretations in so far as they represent the near-term fulfillment of a yet future event. Structure (1:19)The book of Revelation is a highly structured book with clear markers throughout. The first marker comes in 1:19, where the vision is said to describe the following:
The advent of Jesus Christ in chapter 19 provides the major dividing point within the things which will take place after . Prior to the advent, there are three sets of seven judgments:
The judgments are not portrayed as sequential. Rather, each of the judgments end with the second coming of Christ. Rather than say that the trumpets follow the seals or that the bowls follow the trumpets, it would be better to say that the trumpets are contained in the 7 th seal judgment. Likewise, the bowl judgments are contained within the 7 th trumpet judgment, which is part of the 7 th seal judgment. Prior to and following each judgment is an interlude which describes the events in heaven taking place contemporarily with the judgments taking place on earth. In addition these interludes describe symbolically the cast of characters in the final drama. These characters include:
Concluding the events leading up to the advent of Christ is a description of Babylon, the city of the beast. This will be compared to the New Jerusalem, the city of Christ, which will come after his advent. Following the advent of Christ are two periods where Christ reigns as king:
The book then ends in chapter 22 with some final words of encouragement from Jesus, the promise of his imminent return, and a salutation from John. Footnotes
“For if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign."
[Next: The Epistles to the Seven Churches]
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