Revelation 1:9-20
Just as the first eight verses were saturated with Jesus, so too is the second half of the chapter. Just giving this passage a cursory glance reveals Jesus as powerful and beautiful - as worthy of our awe and worship. Although he appears in human form, he is very clearly worthy of our worship. This passage is also interesting because of the many references to the Old Testament (mostly Daniel, but also a few other things here and there). Where God is described in one way in the Old Testament, Jesus is in the New Testament. Jesus is proclaimed over and over to be the Messiah, to be the Risen King, and to be God. Furthermore, as N.T. Wright points out, this Jesus is not cuddly or represented as your "personal savior." He's pretty scary here. Smith points out that Jesus appears in human form to John and yet is obviously God.
Principle of suffering for Christians (vs. 9)
What of the Rapture? I come into this study highly skeptical of the Rapture. To me (and this is a very humble, uneducated opinion) it seems escapist and not consistent with the general theme of suffering found in Scripture. I am of course open to changing my mind. The principle of suffering comes up, though, in verse 9: "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." Other verses on suffering: John 16:33 - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 2 Timothy 2:12 - "if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us." Revelation 3:10 does throw somewhat of a wrench in my "don't like the Rapture" opinion: "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth." Of course, this verse is talking specifically to this one church. Obviously, in retrospect, they did not live through the tribulation. I will keep this in mind, though, and study it more thoroughly when I make it to chapter 3. In terms of the tribulation, the kingdom of God, and suffering, I really like Colossians 1:13: "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves." This verse seems to set up the principle of the kingdom of God being both here and also not yet, something that is also prevalent throughout the Gospels.
Apocalyptic literature
I did a little research into apocalyptic literature in general this week. It turns out that many biblical scholars believe the second half of the book of Daniel to have been written in sometime around mid-second century BC. The second half of Revelation 1 bears many similarities to prophecies found in Daniel, which would make sense since John was writing in a style very prevalent in the centuries previous to the life of Christ. Much apocalyptic literature was written from 200 BC to 200 AD, and most of it never made it into the Bible. Apocalyptic literature in general serves to reveal the coming judgment of God upon the world.
Side note on the above discussion: One of the things that I have really come to appreciate in recent years is coming to the Bible with an open, teachable mind. Part of that, for me, includes accepting that the writers of the Bible didn't think about objectivity and history and truth in the same ways that we modern Western Christians do today. And so although I was always taught to believe that Daniel wrote the entire book of Daniel in the 6th century BC, I love that there's the possibility that we're wrong, if only because other theories about dates and authorship may shed new light on the entire genre. One of the things I refuse to be is threatened by science or historical study. Whether it's the Creation account in Genesis or the authorship of the Pauline epistles or the date of apocalyptic literature, I don't much care about the "who" or "when" as much as I do about the "why" and "what does this tell me about God?" I believe the Bible to be inspired. I always will. As far as the specifics of how that works out, well, that's up for discussion as far as I'm concerned.
"In the Spirit"
In verse 10, John uses the phrase "In the Spirit" to refer to the context for the vision he then saw. This is how each of his main visions throughout the book are preceded. Usually in the New Testament (Acts specifically), this phrase refers to a trance. See Acts 10:10, 11:5, 22:17.
Symbolism in John's Description of Jesus (vss. 12-16)
In verses 12-16 John gives a pretty detailed description of the vision he sees.
- "seven golden lampstands" - refer to the seven churches that he later specifically addresses. In Exodus 25:37, the tabernacle is to have one lampstand with seven lamps giving light in front of it (think menorah). To me, this seems to be a step up from that. If the number seven is the number of perfection, this is perfecting perfection.
- "like a son of man" - son of man simply means human.
- "feet of bronze" - Immediately I thought of the statue in Daniel 2 - in that statue the feet were clay. These are bronze. Also, the vision in Daniel 10 talks about feet of bronze (vs. 6).
- "sound of rushing waters" - Ezekiel 43:2
- Revelation 1:14 is from Daniel 7:9.
- Much of this symbolism is taken straight out of the Old Testament and often right out of Daniel. It's fascinating how messianic prophecies from the OT become evidence for Jesus as messiah.
Next up: Revelation 2:1-7.
No comments:
Post a Comment