Wrestling with Revelation
“It seems necessary to say at the outset that no one should approach the Revelation without a proper degree of humility!”
Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
“Revelation is widely popular for the wrong reasons, for a great number of people read it as a guide to how the world will end.”
Raymond Brown
Introduction to the Book of Revelation
The last book of the Bible, Revelation, “often ends up sounding like so much mythological mumbo jumbo.”[1] “In Reformation times, Luther assigned Revelation to a secondary status; Zwingli denied that it was Scripture; and it was the only New Testament book on which Calvin did not write a commentary.”[2] Perhaps Calvin simply ran out of time, dying before he could write on Revelation; or maybe fear or wisdom (or a combination of the two) led him to refrain. Whatever the case, things have changed since the 16th century: Revelation today is a popular resource for persons who speculate about the end of the world. What are we to make of it?
Author and Audience
Revelation’s author is self-identified as John of Patmos; Patmos is an island southwest of present-day Turkey on which John had visions (1:1, 4, 9; 22:8). Little is known about John. He does not include himself among the first twelve disciples of Jesus (21:14), and his writing differs from that of the author(s) of the Gospel of John (see Eugene Boring, Raymond Brown, Lewis Donelson). His familiarity with the Old Testament (from which he frequently borrows imagery) indicates that he was a Jewish Christian. His original audience was seven mainland churches (1:4; 2:1-3:22).
Date
Most biblical scholars date Revelation to the last decade of the 1st century, when Emperor Domitian ruled (James Efird, Boring, Brown, Brian Blount). Some scholars argue for either an earlier or a later date. These alternative dates are attractive because Revelation speaks of the persecution of Christians by Rome, and it seems that Christians were not persecuted as heavily under Domitian as under the earlier Nero or the later Trajan.
Genre
The book of Revelation combines the genres of apocalyptic (1:1—the Greek word translated “revelation” is apokalypsis), prophecy (1:3), and epistle or letter (1:4; 22:21) (Boring, Brown, Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart). Although strange to 21st-century ears, apocalyptic literature was common in the 1st century. Its language is symbolic (Efird, Boring, Fee and Stuart, Gorman), ironic (Maier), and possibly cryptic—that is, it may have hidden or coded meanings (Fee and Stuart). Its content is typically dualistic (good versus evil) and expectant of a better future for a suffering people (Efird, Boring); this future is not necessarily the end of history, as apocalyptic may or may not include eschatological (eschaton means “the last thing”) themes (Efird, Donelson, Maier). The genre of prophecy has as its focus truth-telling about the present, especially when a hard word needs to be heard—“to prophesy does not primarily mean to foretell the future but rather to speak forth God’s Word in the present.”[3]
Outline
Much of the imagery in Revelation is fantastic rather than realistic, and some of it is bizarre—it’s not easy to interpret. But there is a narrative logic to this letter that can be outlined in three parts. First, God speaks—loudly (1:10)—to the seven churches, using John as a mouthpiece in an effort to get their attention. Then, God judges Rome and, by extension, “all the Romes that would follow the great empire’s metaphorical lead...mimics of the same idolatrous belief that some humans maintained about their own superior, Almighty status.”[4] Finally, God wins, establishing in its fullness the kingdom that dawned with Jesus.
I. God Shouts (1:1-3:22)
Aug. 21 1:1-20
Aug. 28 2:1-29
Sept. 4 3:1-22
II. God Judges (4:1-18:24)
Sept. 11 4:1-5:14
Sept. 18 6:1-8:1
Sept. 25 8:2-10:11
Oct. 2 11:1-19
Oct. 9 12:1-13:18
Oct. 16 14:1-20
Oct. 23 15:1-16:21
Oct. 30 17:1-18
Nov. 6 18:1-24
III. God Wins (19:1-22:21)
Nov. 13 19:1-20:15
Nov. 20 21:1-22:21
Recommended Reading
Blount, Brian K. Can I Get a Witness? Reading Revelation through African American Culture. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
Boring, M. Eugene. Revelation. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1989.
Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Doubleday, 1997.
Donelson, Lewis R. From Hebrews to Revelation: A Theological Introduction. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
Efird, James M. How to Interpret the Bible. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1984.
Fee, Gordon D. and Douglas Stuart. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.
Gorman, Michael J. Reading Revelation Responsibly. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2011.
Maier, Harry O. Apocalypse Recalled: The Book of Revelation after Christendom. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.
[1] Brian K. Blount, Can I Get a Witness? Reading Revelation through African American Culture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 5.
[2] Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 809.
[3] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 253.
[4] Blount, Can I Get a Witness?, 117.
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