Download - Revelation Special Lecture #1
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Dr. Dave Mathewson
Gordon College/Denver Seminary
REVELATION SPECIAL LECTURE #1
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INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION
• Close literary analogies to Revelation
• No modern parallels: newspapers, novels, poems
• Two approaches as to how has it been treated in church history?
• 1) Many have ignored it: to many it still has 7 seals, not certain how to read it, too confusing
• Retreat to safer ground of Gospels or Pauline epistles
• John Calvin wrote on all NT except Revelation
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INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION
• 2) Obsessed with it
• How Revelation matches up with events of our own day, infatuation/fascination with decoding Revelation
• Left Behind Series for example
• Revelation is viewed like a crystal ball by which to figure out the future
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INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION
• Both of those approaches should be rejected
• Put Revelation back in its original context
• What did this book mean in its original context?
• How would the original audience have understood it?
• Who is the author? Who are the readers? What situation precipitated the writing of the book?
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AUTHORSHIP
• John is the author—Church Fathers mention several “John’s” in the early church
• One of the most popular is the Apostle John
• Whichever “John” he is well-known to the churches
• He doesn’t claim apostolic authority, instead he claims the authority of an OT prophet, he draws on OT forms
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INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION
• Did the NT writers know they were writing Scripture?
• The writer of Revelation knows he is writing something authoritative on the level of OT prophetic Scripture
• Dating
• Dated early in the time of Nero (ca. 60’s AD)
• Most date it in the reign of Domitian 95/96 AD
• In that case the last book written in NT
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REVELATION CHARACTERISTICS
• Symbolism
• Vision of locusts: head of human, hair of a woman, teeth of a lion, tail of a scorpion, dragon and serpents, strange creatures and symbols
• Where did John get these symbols?
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REVELATION CHARACTERISTICS
• Use of the Old Testament
• Almost every verse has reference to OT
• Weaves prophetic books into his vision without introductory formulae
• Often the meaning of the symbol depends on OT background
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PRIMARY PURPOSE OF REVELATION
• Minor feature predicting or forecasting the future
• 1) Revelation was a response to Roman domination and emperor worship
• Rome was the dominant world power, replacing Persia, Babylon and others before it
• Rome was known for providing peace and prosperity
• The Roman emperor emerged as the savior of the world as the great patron of all people
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PRIMARY PURPOSE OF REVELATION
• Vibrant emperor cult, emperor worship often tied into commerce and trade
• Emperor worship permeated society
• Christians lived in that environment and were at times pressured to worship the emperor
• It would be an affront not to show respect to the emperor who provided so much good; debt of gratitude owed to him
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PRIMARY PURPOSE OF REVELATION
• This push to compromise caused problems for many early Christians
• Is it a harmless activity?
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REVELATION AND CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
• Some have said Revelation addresses persecution of early church
• Suffering persecution at the hands of imperial Roman
• But at this point most persecution was local and sporadic
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REVELATION AND CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
• Most persecution comes from local leaders who would find it an affront not to show homage to the emperor
• At least one person [Antipas: Pergamom] had died for Christ
• No official sanctioned widespread persecution
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THE 7 CHURCHES
• Rev. 2-3 mention 7 churches in 7 cities in Western Asia Minor/Turkey
• Letters to 7 churches
• All of these cities are situated showing great allegiance to imperial Rome and emperor worship with temples dedicated to the worship of emperors in each city
• Ephesus had a temple dedicated to Domitian
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RESPONSES TO ROMAN RULE AND EMPEROR
• 2 possible Responses
• You could resist, that could bring about some types of persecution
• Far greater problem: most Christians tempted to compromise to Roman ideology and rule; they could render allegiance to both Jesus and the emperor
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RESPONSES TO ROMAN RULE AND EMPEROR
• When you read the letters to the 7 churches only 2 are suffering persecution
• The other 5 churches have problems with mixed allegiance to Roman rule and emperor worship
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7 CHURCHES OF WESTERN ASIA MINOR
• So to belong to cities you would feel compelled to render allegiance to the Roman emperor showing support of Roman rule and ideology including your job
• This was a plight for Christians
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WHAT IS THE MAIN THEME OF REVELATION?
• Suffering and persecution is one major theme
• Main: Who is worthy of our worship and allegiance? Is it Jesus Christ or the Emperor or human institution?
• Revelation tries to convince them that only Jesus Christ is worthy of worship
• It is a wake up call to get them to understand what is going on in their first century context
• No other human or institution is worthy of worship
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MAIN POINT OF REVELATION
• Revelation is an unmasking or revealing of the true nature of Roman rule
• John is not just predicting the future. What he is primarily doing is exposing the true nature of Roman rule
• John is functioning like an OT prophet
• OT prophets unmasked true nature of human empires: Babylon, Persia, Egypt
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MAIN POINT OF REVELATION
• OT prophet exposed the arrogance of foreign empires and the problems of compromise
• Now there is another empire that is emerging that is surfacing that is arrogantly sets itself up over the world like other ancient empires, it’s a blood-thirsty beast out to get Christians, power and wealth
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MAIN GOAL OF REVELATION
• Revelation is exposing the arrogance and pretension and corrupt ideology or Rome and to get Christians to see its true nature of Rome and not to give into it allegiance
• It is for Christians in the first century an unmasking and exposing Roman rule and its ideology so that Christians will be able to resist it
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• When is the last time you read or wrote an apocalypse?
• No close modern literary analogy to Revelation?
• What kind of book or literary genre is Revelation that was familiar to 1st century readers?
• What was John doing in recording these strange visions of locusts, 7 headed beasts….?
• How do we read that?
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• Revelation is a combination of 3 literary forms
• 1) Apocalypses: Literary form from 200 BC to 200 AD
• Today we see it as mass cosmic destruction at the end of the world
• In first century would have identified it characterized by this:
• It reveals or exposes what is going on in the situation of the readers
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• What they see with their eyes is what is going on empirically but the apocalypse shows what is going on behind what they see in the empirical world
• “Apocalypse” means: unveiling, what you see empirically was not all that there is. Behind that world was a spiritual or heavenly world
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• Play analogy
• When you see a play you see what is happening on the stage.
• What you don’t see is what is going on behind the scene--it’s all behind the curtain
• What Revelation does is lift the curtain so you can see what is really going on behind the scene
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• Revelation lifts the curtain to the stage of history, behind first century Roman rule there is a spiritual world and a future beyond it
• Revelation gives them a glimpse behind the empirical world into the transcendent world in order to see their present world in a totally different light
• Now they can see behind the empirical world into the heavenly world to better grasp how to live in their world in a totally different light
• Unmasking the reality that lies behind the empirical world
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• John does that unmasking through the use of symbols
• Using symbols is more compelling: 7 headed beast out to devour people
• Not just to effect the intellect but to impact the imagination and emotions
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• 2) Revelation is a prophecy
• Like OT prophets who critiqued the culture of their times not just futuristic
• Like OT prophets it exposes the true bankruptcy of the world system and opposes God’s people
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• 3) Revelation is a letter
• It is communicating information that the first century readers understood
• It begins and ends like Paul’s first century letters
• 1:4, for example
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GENRE OF REVELATION
• In the same way Paul wrote to address a specific problem or need of churches or persons in first century so too the book of Revelation does
• Point is to try to reconstruct what was going on and what John was addressing in the first century that John is address
• Opposing compromise with Roman rule and emperor worship
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PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION
• 1) Should be interpreted symbolically not literaly—given the kind of literature it is
• It describes something beyond the experience of empirical reality
• John is not describing the first century or future in literal terms
• What do the symbols mean? What do they refer to? What is the seven headed beast trying to convey?
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PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION• 2) Any interpretation that John could not have intended
and his readers could not have understood is suspect.
• Some think the original readers couldn’t understand it but now we have the key finally at last, (vid. obsessed Revelation teachers today)
• If Revelation was a time-machine into our day then Revelation must have been completely out of the range of understanding of the first century readers
• No, Revelation was communicating a message that would meet the crisis of living life under Roman rule
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PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION
• 3) Don’t loose sight of the forest for the trees
• Read Revelation holistically and not get so much into the details missing the message of the whole
• 4) Don’t miss the main purpose: it’s not primarily about the future but how God’s people are to live in the midst of a pagan society
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PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETING REVELATION
• 5) Humility
• The main focus is very clear but the details one must hold our interpretation with a healthy amount of humility
• Given the variety of diverse ways Revelation has been understood in Church history, it is wise to interpret it with humility
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• Attempts to read Revelation according to ideological approaches: feminists, etc.
• 1) Preterists approach to Revelation
• All of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century
• Revelation is a commentary on the first century events except perhaps for Rev. 21-22
• It can still be applied to us
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• 2) Historical view
• Revelation is church history in advance
• John was predicting the entire history of the church starting with the 1st century down to the present day
• Forecast or church history written in advance
• As history goes on it has to be modified – not many hold this approach today
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• 3) Idealist approach
• Revelation is simply a symbolic description of the battle between good and evil
• It transcends any particular situation
• For John and his readers it fit the first century but such ideals could apply to anytime
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• 4) Futurist approach
• These approaches are not necessarily monolithic
• Revelation is primarily events in the future when Jesus comes back
• Preterist approach = Already Futurist approach = Not Yet
• Visions are awaiting to be fulfilled when Christ comes back
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• Which approach is correct?
• Combination of 2 or 3 is most likely correct
• Primarily addressing first century so Preterist approach has a point
• Yet some of Revelation is futuristic
• Opens up the present in light of future so idealists also have a point
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4 APPROACHES TO REVELATION
• Certainly truth in the idealist view
• Many of the symbols come to him from the OT
• Those symbols can transcend the first century and apply more broadly
• Best is an eclectic approach
• Preview of lecture Next Time