Marianne Meye Thompson
The last book of the Bible is perhaps also the most perplexing. Called "Revelation," it is often read as a blueprint of the catastrophes of the end times. But the book's full title, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ:' makes clear that the preeminent figure in this work is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, King of Kings and Lord and Lords, whose victory is won through the blood shed on the cross, not the battlefield (5:8-14). In the meantime, the church suffers harassment, persecution, alienation, and even martyrdom as it awaits the return of the Lord. And for these difficult times, the church needs the encouragement that God will ultimately triumph over all the forces of evil, oppression, and injustice. Revelation provides such a reminder.
The book of Revelation has the characteristics of three genres, including epistolary, prophetic, and apocalyptic literature. In many ways it functions as do the letters of the New Testament. Its recipients are "the seven churches that are in Asia" (1:4), and chapters 2-3 contain a specific letter to each of these churches. John, the author of Revelation, knows about their specific circumstances and writes words of comfort and exhortation to call them to obedience and faithfulness in the face of various threats. Some of the churches (Ephesus, Laodicea) are referred to elsewhere in the New Testament (Acts 18-19; Ephesians; Col. 4:15), and others (Smyrna, Philadelphia) are known from the writings of early church fathers such as Ignatius (ca. A.D. 11o).
The author also refers to his writing as a prophecy (1:3; 22:6-7,18-i9) and warns that the words of the book are to be kept. While Revelation discloses and prophesies judgment and salvation, it is above all a book which, like the writings and words of all the biblical prophets, intends to admonish, correct, and encourage its readers. It calls for repentance, obedience, faithfulness, and perseverance. Revelation is not a code that needs to be cracked but a proclamation that must be heard and obeyed.
Revelation also belongs to a genre of ancient Jewish and Jewish Christian literature designated by modern scholars as apocalyptic. The most common interpretive errors are to take the symbolism literally and to confuse the symbols of the book with its message. John was not predicting a time when, one by one, these symbols would "come to life" and begin to be realized in historical events. Instead, he was using symbols from his time and place to depict the Roman Empire as a beastly threat to the church. Revelation does not predict wars on the battlefield but conflicts that occur daily and repeatedly as the church struggles to bear faithful witness in a hostile environment.
Revelation has been subject to a wide variety of interpretations. The preterist approach suggests that the book be read entirely against its ist-century backdrop, taking into account specific historical figures and events, and stressing what is known about the situation of the church in the Roman Empire toward the end of the ist century. Historicist interpretation thinks of Revelation as a symbolic presentation of church history from apostolic times until the return of Christ. Such an approach has allowed the identification of the antichrist with a variety of historical figures, including Islam, the pope, and Hitler. There is virtually no way to validate such interpretations, for they change as world history changes. Futurists find in the book a message primarily, if not exclusively, for the final generation of Christians. Not surprisingly, virtually every generation of believers has had some who thought they were the "last" generation. And those who adopt a thoroughly symbolic (or idealist) reading interpret Revelation as a graphic description of conflict between good and evil, God and Satan, throughout all of history.
The Aegean island of Patmos, a place of exile for Roman political prisoners. (www.HolyLandPhotos.org)
John likely wrote Revelation during the rule of the Roman emperor Domitian (A.D. 8196). Rome's military victories had brought it enormous wealth, power, and influence, but John calls the church to see through the veneer of worldly success to the corrupt empire beneath. One of the most graphic - and, for the church, threatening - demonstrations of Rome's corrupting power was the spread of state-sanctioned cults of the deities of the empire and its tolerance of the cult of the emperor. In 64-65, Emperor Nero tortured and crucified Christians in Rome. Christians were singled out as scapegoats, deemed by some as both antisocial and atheistic for their refusal to honor the gods of the Roman state. Toward the end of the century Domitian began to exhibit tendencies that led John to see him as a second Nero. In Revelation, John portrays the conflict of the church with a beastly, corrupting empire and self-glorifying emperor, anticipating both great suffering or tribulation as well as the ultimate victory of Jesus Christ.
MARIANNE MEYE THOMPSON
The Churches of 1 Peter and Revelation