The book of Revelation is supposed to be a revealing, an unveiling, a disclosure. That's what the word apocalypse means in Greek. When modern readers hear the word apocalypse, they receive a somewhat different idea because of the changes made to the word over the last two thousand years. Now the word apocalypse seems to refer to a mega-catastrophe, an annihilation of some sort, or an end of time scenario. While many people see this modern meaning of the word apocalypse in some of the reported visions of the book of Revelation, it is important to remember the meaning of the word apocalypse to the people the book was originally written to.
As the book opens, apocalypse appears as the first word.
αποκαλυψιϛ ιησου χριστου ην εδωκεν αυτω ο θεοϛ δειξαι τοιϛ δουλοιϛ
αυτου α δει γενεσθαι εν ταχει και εσημανεν αποστειλαϛ δια του αγγελου αυτου τω δουλω
αυτου ιωαννη
(A disclosure from Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants of what needs to happen quickly and that was given for delivery through a dispatched messenger to his servant John.)
The rest of the chapter sets forth what the book will illustrate. Understanding the first chapter then reveals the organization and purpose for the rest of the book.
The first order of business in knowing how to view the book is noticing what the book's first word alludes to. It means disclosure without question, but there is more to the word. Apocalypse was a category, a genre of literature. This genre was distinctive and recognizable. It had certain identifiable characteristics that were evident in all the works of the genre. Someone who represented God's people received visions and mysteries. These visions and mysteries were delivered by a heavenly being whose responsibility was to also disclose their meanings. The visions were usually fanciful, having symbols created to convey ideas. In some cases, miniature allegories rested inside the visions. The intent of the storyline and the impact of the symbols were meant to comfort and asssure God's people that He saw their needs and would act on them. Oppression against his people would be crushed. Apocalypses were popular in Judaism and in Christianity for about 400 years, 200 BCE to 200 ACE. Representative books can be found in the Old Testament, the Old Testament apocrypha, the pseudipigrapha, the New Testament, and the New Testament apocrypha.
The natural question is, How do I know that Revelation belongs to this genre of literature? The characteristics above are very pronounced in Revelation, and the image of Jesus in verses 12-17 is drawn from several of the apocalyptic books, Daniel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Enoch, and 2 Esdras.
A another question then arises. Is Revelation, like the other apocalyptic books, symbolic in nature rather than literal in nature? Given the characteristics of all of the other books, and the symbolic interpretation used in understanding them, it seems rather logical to say that John's Revelation is not different from them. The understanding from its first word on is that the images are symbolic and are to be interpreted by the heavenly beings that appear to John or are interpretable from their use in prior apocalypses.
One other verse of great importance in chapter one is verse 19. It stands as the purpose of every vision and mystery to follow.
γραψον ουν α ειδεϛ και α εισιν και α μελλει γενεσθαι μετα ταυτα
(So write what you have known about, what is happening now, and what could happen as a result.)
The purpose had three parts to it. The first part pertained to John's position or role as the last and only living apostle, possibly the last and only living eyewitness of Jesus. If anyone knew about the things of Jesus, it was John. He had been there. Also, he had been an integral part of nurturing and guiding the followers of Jesus in Asia around the area of Ephesus. He knew about what the Christians had faced in Asia as they followed Jesus. The second part was about the current state of affairs in Asia. John knew not only about the churches's development, but their current state of affairs. The third part was about drawing a trajectory line and following logic. If John knew the past and present, he could connect the dots and draw a dotted line for what would happen if nothing changed. It was an a + b = c statement. It wasn't a trajectory line of what was certain to happen. It was a trajectory line of probability if things didn't change.
The third part, α μελλει γενεσθαι (what could happen) matches what was said in verse 1, α δει γενεσθαι (what needs to happen). The Christians of Asia were suffering various forms of persecution. These are mentioned in the letters that followed in chapters 2 and 3. Such things were death at the hands of the Romans (Antipas was mentioned by name), slander from the mouths of the Jews, and misleading teaching on the part of church leaders who also called themselves apostles. There were other things to too. The Christians needed assurance that loyalty to Jesus was worth the persecution. If they died, was there an better afterlife with Jesus? If they were slandered by Jews, was there any truth to Jesus not being the son of God? If apostle leaders were saying it was OK to eat meat offered to idols, was it wrong to do so?
So, John had to write his fellow believers to assure them that Christianity was worth its calling. One of the best ways to do that would be to write in a style that Christians would understand and that Romans wouldn't. Persecution was picking up. He himself had survived an attempt on his own life. So he needed definitely to write some words of assurance without jeopardizing the people who would read his words because his remarks were to stand against the persecution. An apocalypse would be such a form that Romans wouldn't recognize. He would use that literary style to convey his ideas. The very first word from his pen would alert his readers to the genre.
A tasty morsel is found in the last two words of verse 19, μετα ταυτα (as a result). Although after this is a possibility for a translation if the words before it were about time, as a result is a better translation since the words before can be seen as events rather than time. As a result was more assuring for those finding it hard to follow Jesus. Knowing that things from the ensuing letters and visions were tentative, that they were possible coming events if nothing in the environment changed would give hope that either things would change or that God would act if nothing changed. Verse 1 contained the words, α δει γενεσθαι εν ταχει (what needs to happen quickly) because Christians faced immediate challenges to their faith. If nothing was going to change, God's actions in favor of his people needed to happen quickly.
As it turned out, not long after John died, the emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius eased the persecution against Christians for the next half-century. The saints's prayers were answered and the disclosure of events in Revelation were delayed or canceled because of the faithfulness of John's generation of Christians. The images were very meaningful over the next two hundred year period because of several other emperors's attempts at ridding the empire of Christians. Early church leaders for the next two centuries referenced parts of Revelation. And, in the end, by 325 BCE the Roman emperors fully embraced or fully allowed for the Christian faith.
If I look to Revelation for a message for my personal life, I see that I, too, go through periods of challenges to my faith. I plead for God to intervene or give understanding for what is happening. I ask for his quick relief. During these periods of my life, I identify with the Christians in John's time and find comfort in his visions, especially in scenes like the one in Revelation 7 where God asks the four angels holding the winds at the corners of the Earth to stop everything until his people have been given their white robes. At that point, all is well that ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment