Book of Revelation: Looking Beyond

Book of Revelation: Looking Beyond Revelation is could easily be considered the most controversial book in the New Testament; if not the entire Bible itself. Many have tried in vain to understand what the book is trying to tell us. There are essentially two different schools of thought regarding revelation. The first is that the book is historical in nature that it symbolically tells about the events that were happening around Rome at the time. The other view is that it is prophetic and reveals things yet to come. This review will examine the book of Revelation and what is known about its author and literary style that can give us clues as to its meaning.

This analysis will support the thesis that both the historical and futuristic camps of thought have merit, but that a third perspective offers the greatest chance for understanding the intent of the message. The thesis will examine the larger themes and motifs that occur in the book without dwelling on a verse by verse exegesis. Exegesis of this book causes many more misunderstandings than it clarifies. The symbolic nature of the text leads to an easy analysis of the themes and motifs of the book.

This analysis will support the thesis that the author intended a much broader interpretation of the book than either a historical or prophetic interpretation can deliver. It will support the thesis by comparing and contrasting the historical and futuristic viewpoints on the Book of Revelation in search of Common themes.

Authorship and subject

This work is intended to be a book review of the Book of Revelation. Being such, one would expect the writer to spend considerable time introducing the author and opening with some type of discussion on the subject of the book. In the case of the Book of Revelation these two tasks are not as easy as they would seem. There are many theories in existence among Bible historians about whom the actual author so the book was. Part of this argument stems from the difficulty in dating its exact time of writing.

Other books of the New Testament give clues as to when they were written. We may know when the person lived, when they were in a certain location or other details that help us to pinpoint their time in history. They may point to certain historical events that give us clues as to the time of writing by naming a certain Roman Emperor or battle. These clues help us to paint an accurate historical picture of other books in the New Testament.

The controversy over the author and time of writing of the Book of Revelation does not stem from a lack of historical clues, but rather from the fact that they are obviously hidden in the cryptic language of the text. One can only surmise the reasons for the symbolic nature of the book. The two views of the Book of Revelation help us to understand these two differing theories as to the author of the Book of Revelation.

If one takes a historical perspective on interpretation of the book, then it is easy to make certain assumptions that may help to decipher the evidence. For instance, if one considers the political events and persecution of Christians that occurred during the time of Nero, then it would appear as if the writer were using a symbolic language that would only be understood by true believers to hide the work and perhaps himself from Nero's forces.

Another Christian would understand the symbols and meaning behind the text. However, one from a different religious origin may think it to be a type of gibberish and the writings of a mad man. It would not be likely to be taken seriously, if it were even understood at all. This form of symbolic communication would serve as a code to those that had the proper background to understand it, and would serve to hide it from those that would seek to destroy it.

If one takes a futuristic perspective on the book, then the authorship of the book takes an even more obscure turn. The author reveals himself twice in the text as being named John. He does not use his formal name such as "John of Ephesus" or "John the son of Ephesus," for example. One could take several perspectives on this as well. If the author did not feel the need to tell the reader his full name, it may have been because the reader was familiar and would have automatically known who was writing. If the book were written by the Apostle John, as many believe, then there would have been no need to use his formal name for those that knew him. This is key evidence in support of those that feel that Book was written by the same John that wrote the Gospel of John.

However, if one agrees with the historical perspective of the book then it may be that the author did not reveal their formal name so that they could remain hidden from Nero's army. This perspective has produced numerous theories on who John actually is. There are many possibilities that have not been considered as well as some that appear to be popular. The exact identity of the John in the Book of Revelation depends entirely on how one interprets the symbolism of the text and what events they represent. There are many ways to interpret the Book of Revelation if one takes the historical perspective. One would assume that the historical perspective would offer the most concrete answers to authorship, but it does not. The historical perspective must rely on outside sourced to draw conclusions. The author of the Book of Revelation is difficult to discern, if one eliminates all assumptions and personal opinions.

Another possibility is that the author may not have revealed his name for literary reasons. The author emphasized that the visions that are presented are not his own, but that they are of divine origin. The author will not take credit for the visions, but places the credit entirely on God. The author may not have revealed his true identity because he did not want full credit for the work, but wanted to place the full credit on the true creator of the works. The only thing that we do know is that the author is John, but John who is still a topic of great debate.

The author of the Book of Revelation may be a topic of debate and some consider the subject of the book to be debatable as well. However, if one looks below the surface, the theme is clear regardless of the details. If one takes a historical perspective then there are many details that become important. This is also important for many that take a prophetic interpretation as well. The subject of the Book of Revelation is a warning. This hold true whether one feels that it is simply a cryptically coded history or whether it is a roadmap for things to come. The Book of Revelation was intended to serve as a warning.

The title of the book of Revelation tells the reader what it is about. The book is filled with the "revelations" or visions that came to the author. The word revelation means that the reader will gain some knowledge that has been revealed to them. However, the word alone says nothing about the means or origin of the revelation. In the case of the Book of Revelation the things that are revealed are of divine origin and revealed to an ordinary man. This book presents the revelations of the author to the reader so that they can gain insight into the intentions of the source of the revelations.

Purpose of the Book

The revelations that the author presents to the reader are not just for information only. They consist of a set of warnings that are meant to compel the reader into action. The subject of the Book of Revelations presents the visions in such as way that if the reader does not heed the word of God and obey the commandments, and then they are given a clear picture of what is to come.

From a historical perspective, the author presents the material as a mother would use a fable to teach their child not to tell lies. Revelation tells what happened to a group of people that did not listen to God. There is an underlying theme that if one does not change their ways then this is what will happen to them too. If one takes a prophetic perspective, the reader received the same warning about what will happen if they do not change their ways. Regardless of whether one considers the subject of the book to be about things to come or things that have already passed, the underlying admonishment to change one's ways remains the same. This is the most important theme that the author intended, regardless of who he actually was in real life. The book highlights the actions of the divine, rather than the actions of man.

However, if one takes the historical interpretation of the Book of Revelation, the moral content is not lessened. It then stands as an example of what happens to one if they continue to act in a certain way. It is another example of God's punishment and wrath for those that do not obey his word. In this case the author would have been speaking about the many Gods and idol worship of the Romans at the time.

Whether one takes a historic perspective or a futuristic perspective, the moral lessons of the Book of Revelation remains intact. The intent of the author to change the reader's mind was cleat. This was not simply reading meant to entertain. One must also consider that the author would have had a limited readership at the time of his writing. The ability to read and write was limited to the upper classes of society. A majority of the population was illiterate and relied on those with a higher education to relay events, news of the day, and moral lessons.

In the final verses of Revelation the author admonishes the reader not to change the text in any way as it is the word of God. This would be even more important if the reader were expected to disseminate the knowledge to the masses. The author obviously intends the work to be read to a select few and then this message will be spread to the masses by this group of readers.

Summary

The Book of Revelation begins in the traditional manner with formal greetings to the audience. The book then goes on to recite seven letters to seven churches as received by John while on the island of Patmos. The details of these letters spell death and destruction for the seven churches if they do not repent and return to the commands of the one true God. After these admonishments and personal criticisms directly addressed to the seven churches, God launches into a series of disasters that occur in groups of seven. These disasters lead to the final battle between good and evil. The beast reigns for a time before the ultimate destruction. After the earth is destroyed the new city is built. Peace and order are restored to the kingdoms of earth. There are many more details in the visions, but they are not important to the discussion of this analysis. When one breaks the story into its elements, it is easy to see the pattern of an epic.

Analysis

The book is written in future tense. It talks about what will come to pass, not what has already passed. This is an important point to consider in this analysis as well. If one interprets the use of tense literally, then it would appear to completely undermine the historical perspective altogether. The author was intent on keeping the book consistently future tense, so that it represents things to come, not things that have been.

However, there is another way to look at the use of tense from a historical perspective as well. The author may have been attempting to get his work discredited by those that would destroy it. To those that were of different faith, claiming to know things that would happen in the future may seem to be a bit unbelievable. Using future tense may have been a means to keep his enemies off the trail.

If one is of a less literal, more symbolic interpretation of the Bible then there are many possibilities as far as the use of future tense is concerned. The first is that the events were about to happen within a short time after the writing of the book. John may have been reflecting the local politics and the direction that new Christian churches were headed. He may have been giving them a plan for survival in fear that they would be crushed in the upheaval.

If one interprets the events as things that have not yet happened, an apocalyptic view, then the same warning would apply to the modern church and modern man in general. Once again we are back the common theme of warnings in the symbolic interpretation. There is yet another possibility in the use of tense. It may be intended to serve a dual purpose. It may reflect things that have been as well as things to come. However, that is yet to be seen and no one can really know for certain. If one follows the hints suggested by the author, then it may well be possible to be both historical and prophetic in the modern sense of the word.

Let us now consider the viewpoint and world of the author. In order to understand the writings of any author one must step into his world for a short time. This is true of modern literary works well as historical ones. It goes without saying that everyone who listens to mass media in some form has been exposed to interpretations of the book of Revelation. They have appeared in popular magazines and the in the mass media in many forms. A majority of the opinions on the book of Revelation are based on the prophetic viewpoint. However, there have been some that were intended to debunk the prophetic viewpoints by linking them to historical events of the time. A review of the Book of Revelation would not be complete without examining these different interpretations that appear in the mass media.

The prophecy debunkers, as they will be called, rely on tying events in the book of Revelation to certain historic events. They claim that this discredits the usefulness of the book of Revelation as a map of things to come. The most common action is to then jump to an argument that they have gotten inside the world of the author by exploring the historical climate in which he lived.

However, one cannot rely on the historical events of the day to paint an accurate picture of the world of the individual. One must put our self in the place of the author in order to gain a true understanding. We are not living at the time of the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, but we can draw an important analogy to our own lives. By doing this we may come to understand the underlying meaning of the Book of Revelation.

Every day we are exposed to the mass media. We turn on the television and read the newspaper as a part of our daily lives. We have much more access to world events as they unfold. We are used to getting the news as it happened. However, in ancient times this was not so. News traveled slowly. Often the common person may not have heard about major events until months or years after they happened. We will assume that the author of the Book of Revelation is of the learned class; therefore he would have had access to the information before the masses would have heard about them.

However, in our own times, we know that there is a lot of talk about media bias. This has been particularly true of the recent fighting regarding the war between Israel and Hezbollah. One side may seek to persuade others to support them in several ways: by putting out only part of the truth, by exaggerating anything that supports their viewpoint, or by disallowing information that could harm them. Now let's take that argument back two thousand years. John may have been like the reporter behind enemy lines that wanted to get a certain viewpoint across. If he were caught, then it could be dangerous.

If one looks at the passages about the rapture, deliverance of the believers, and the rebuilding of the holy city, then it would appear as a passage of support for Christianity. It would appear to bring hope to those that seem to have lost hope. It is a comforting word that someday they will prevail and find ultimate happiness. Now let us go back to that perspective issue.

John obviously has much more information about regional and global events than the common person. We have established that he intended for the message to be passed on from a more learned group of readers to a less literate and uninformed population segment. It was clear that there was a great importance in the accuracy of the message as well. When we put these three elements together, one begins to conjure the picture of the deliverance of that message to the people. We do not know if the message was delivered to masses in a public square, or if it had to be delivered and passed from person to person secretively. However, we do know that it was passed and that it was meant to spur the recipient into action, even if that action were to do nothing but keep God's commandments to them.

Let us consider how the news that we hear affects us on a daily basis. We may hear of a world event and then rush to the television to turn it on and get the latest. We may immediately seek more information so that we know how to prepare some immediate or future response. We may hear a piece of breaking news and keep doing what we were doing. It may be that the news does not affect us directly or that the events are in the past or too far away to be of concern. All of these possibilities are potential responses of the recipients' of John's message as well. We do know that John felt at great urgency to get the new across, whether it was about what had happened or what is to come.