Understanding the book of Revelation

Understanding the book of Revelation: Three interpretative keys

The first in a three-part series dealing with ways of grasping the meaning of Revelation

Hans K. LaRondelle, Th.D., is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

Editorial note: This is, the first in a three-part series. Parts 2 and 3 will appear in the March and May issues of Ministry.

Revelation is the most difficult of all New Testament books to interpret, primarily because of the elaborate and extensive use of symbolism."1 With this challenging statement George Ladd begins his commentary on the last book of the Bible. Many scholars agree with Ladd. However, there are at least three interpretative keys, that help us understand the difficulties in this book.

John wrote the descriptions of his apocalyptic visions in Revelation in a thoroughly Hebraic style of Greek because he actually thought in Hebrew: A meticulous analysis of John's Greek syntax shows that as a rule he used the Hebrew text of the Old Testament as his original source.2 This fact obliges us to seek for the theological meaning of John's systematic allusions to the Old Testament and its history of salvation.

As a Hebrew Christian, John adopted Israel's covenant language and style of expression. This was completely familiar to Jewish Christians acquainted with Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. One important literary feature is illustrative of this and has hermeneutical significance: "The parallelism of the style is too obvious to be ignored. The author repeatedly breaks forth into verse in which the parallelism of Hebrew poetry is carefully observed."3

More than 600 times the Apocalypse alludes to Israel's covenant history. This fact points to the first key for understanding the book of Revelation: John's symbolic visions have their roots and theological meaning in the Hebrew Bible! Knowledge of the Older Testament is therefore absolutely essential for grasping the meaning of John's prophetic language in Revelation. "The Old Testament in general plays such a major role that a proper understanding of its use is necessary for an adequate view of the Apocalypse as a whole."4

Creative use of the Old Testament

We need not impose some preconceived philosophical interpretive method on the book of Revelation, such as literalism or allegorism. But we do need to ask those questions that reveal John's own method of uniting the Word of God in the Hebrew Scriptures with the testimony of Jesus Christ in the. New Testament, and how he blends Israel with the apostolic church of Christ.

John presents three interpretative keys at the beginning of the book itself. The opening statement contains the master key: "The rev elation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place ... that is, the word of ;God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 1:1, 2, NIV).

A close reading of these words indicates the three keys that are in John's mind and that become guidelines in helping us understand the Apocalypse: God, Jesus Christ, and their unified revelation to the church.

Let us first consider each of these divine authorities in their mutual relationship. (1) The new revelation of Jesus was given to Him by God, "his God and Father" (1:6, NIV), the covenant God of Israel. This implies that the Old Testament remains the foundational Word of God.

(2) This God reveals a new orientation of salvation history, because He entrusts His sovereign rulership to the risen Lord Jesus, who now reveals God's plan to His servants.

(3) John summarizes all he was shown as "the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (1:2, NIV). This double phrase coordinates God and Jesus Christ on the same level of divine authority, because the grammatical construction of both parts of the phrase is similar.

Both God and Jesus now reveal their united testimony as a sacred trust to the church to receive and to hold fast as her supreme standard of faith and worship, even in persecution and in the face of death. With some variations, John uses this twofold phrase as his key signature to describe the faithful church in times of apostasy and persecution through out the book of Revelation (see Rev. 1:9; 6:9; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4).

John's literary style of developing his theme

How does John present his interpretative keys within the Apocalypse? Any self-proclaimed principle of interpretation will prove to be inadequate, as Martin Kiddle rightly warns: "We realize now that it is futile to attempt to manufacture a substitute key, as though the book must be made to reveal what we think it ought to reveal. Instead, we must attempt to get back into the mind of the writer, to appreciate his outlook, his reading of the times in which he lived, and his remedy for them."5

It is John's style to sum up the main theme of his book in his introduction or prologue, and then to develop it at length in his visions. For example, observe the striking similarity between the prologues in John's Gospel (John 1:1-18) and the Apocalypse (Rev. 1:1-8). In both prologues John testifies of the divine glory and authoritative testimony of Christ (John 1:1-3, 18; Rev. 1:1, 5).

While in the Gospel of John the prologue culminates in the glory of the Incarnation ("And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," John 1:14, NKJV), the prologue of the Apocalypse ends in the glorious return of Christ ("Look, he is coming with the clouds," Rev. 1:7, NIV). The Apocalypse thus functions as the continuation of the gospel story and builds on the earthly testimony of Jesus.

At the end of the first century, it was no longer necessary, as it had been earlier, to argue that Jesus Christ had fulfilled the Messianic promises of the Old Testament and that the church was the chosen heir of its promises. The urgent question now was the consummation of the Old Testament promises in the return of Jesus.

Revelation's primary connection with Daniel

John proclaims that his book is the Apocalypse "of Jesus Christ which God gave him." This opening statement informs the church that the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ has the same inspiration and authority as that of the Hebrew Scriptures. At its conclusion the Lord identifies Himself by appealing to the prophetic Word of God: "'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David and the bright Morning Star'" (Rev. 22:16, NIV).

John's Apocalypse thus claims to be the heavenly "testimony of Jesus Christ" for the church, in which the risen Lord reveals God's determined plan for the church age. Jesus identifies Himself as the Davidic Messiah, promised by Israel's prophets (Isa. 11:1 and Num. 24:17). Jesus' testimony will therefore be in essential harmony with God's prophetic Word.

What then is the content of His testimony for the churches waiting for His return?

John reveals: "to show what must soon take place [Greek: ha dei genesthai]." These words are an explicit allusion to the same words used by Daniel to the king of Babylon: "'There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what Will happen at the end of days'" (Dan. 2:28, 29, NRSV), "'what shall be hereafter'" (verse 45, NRSV, ha dei genesthai, LXX). 

Daniel's and John's use of the word "must" [dei] for the future of humankind is of profound significance. They do not mean the blind necessity of fate but the plan and providence of Israel's God for the eternal future of humanity.

"This God not only knows the future, He also "'changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings'" (Dan. 2:21, NRSV), and has determined the outcome of history after His own will (see Dan. 2:44, 45).

Walter Grundmann clarifies: "It is the dei of the mysterious God who accomplishes His plans for the world in the eschatological consummation."6 This divine "must" of God's plan includes not only the scourge of human warfare (Matt. 24:6), but centers primarily in the blessing of the Messiah's atoning death (Matt. 16:21; Mark 10:45), the proclamation of the gospel of God's kingdom (Mark 13:10), and the promised "universal restoration" of Paradise (Acts 3:21).

John's allusion to Daniel in Revelation 1:1 strongly suggests that Revelation must be understood in conjunction with Daniel's symbolic visions about the future plan and purpose of God. This Danielic frame of reference is an integral part of the first key of knowledge for under standing John's Apocalypse.

Recent scholarship has confirmed that Daniel is "the most influential" of all the Hebrew prophets to which the book of Revelation alludes.7 This does not mean that both apocalyptic writers convey the same limits of divine revelation. The New Testament apocalypse advances Israel's prophetic faith through a new interpretative principle of fulfillment in salvation history: its Christological fulfillment.

The historic fulfillment of Israel's Messianic prophecies in the earthly ministry of Jesus had already been the : central burden of Jesus' testimony in the four Gospels. Revelation's burden is to reassure the church of Christ that Israel's end-time prophecies will find their ultimate consummation in Christ and in His new-covenant people. This is apparent from a comparison of the promises made to the churches in the seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3 with the promises realized in the New Jerusalem visions for the followers of God and the Lamb in Revelation 20-22. Thus Revelation assures the "soon" fulfillment of Daniel's sealed prophecies.

Comparing Daniel 2:28 and' Revelation 1:1, for example, illustrates the close connection between the two books: "what will happen at the end of days"; "what must soon take place"; "what shall be hereafter" (Dan. 2:28, 45; Rev. 1:1, NRSV).

Apparently, John replaces Daniel's phrase "at the end of days" (NRSV) ["in days to come," NIV], or "what will take place in the future" (2:45), by his word "soon" or "quickly." John's new emphasis on a "soon" fulfillment of Daniel's symbolic forecast marks a decisive progress in salvation history. While Daniel's book was "sealed until the time of the end" (Dan. 12:4, NRSV), John announces the inauguration of the fulfillment of Daniel's vision of the future that will bring the kingdom of God on earth.

John's vision of Christ's continuous ministry

John proclaims that God has taken a new initiative in salvation history in Jesus Christ, through His death, resurrection, and exaltation in heaven.

This new act of God in Christ is the defining moment for the Christian faith. John therefore calls his Lord "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Rev. 1:5, NRSV).

These titles unify Jesus' earthly witness and His present and future ministries in heaven. In his subsequent vision of the scroll with seven seals in God's hand, John focuses specifically on Jesus' new role as the Ruler over all humankind as the critical juncture in salvation history (Rev. 5).

Significant in all this is the repeated emphasis on Jesus' worthiness to rule over humanity and the universe: "See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals" (Rev. 5:5, NRSV). Such designations of the risen Lord can be understood only from the Hebrew Scriptures and from their Messianic promises (see Gen. 49:10; Isa. 11:1-10). How does John clarify Jesus' victory on earth?

John describes the "conquering [nikao]" of Jesus in terms of His death: "Then I saw between the throne...and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes" (5:6, NRSV). John views a slain Messiah. In other words, the "Lion"- Messiah has conquered by becoming the sacrificial "Lamb" of God! The nature of this "conquering" of Jesus is crucial for John, because it becomes the model for each Christian to "over come" in the seven letters to the churches (see 3:21; 2:7,11,17; etc.).

Gregory Beale explains this well: "Christ himself overcame by maintaining his loyalty to the Father through suffering and finally dying (cf. 1:5). He was physically defeated but spiritually victorious."8

In Revelation 5 John portrays how the Father in a solemn ceremony in the heavenly throne room has hand ed over His sovereign reign of the world to the risen Lord Jesus. The Lamb of God has taken the scroll [biblion] of God's eternal purpose from "the one who was seated on the throne" (Rev. 5:7, NRSV).

The crucified and risen Lord will now begin to open the seven seals of the heavenly scroll (6:1), because He is authorized to execute the judgments of God that will lead up to the final establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. In response, the entire universe sings anthems in worship of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 5:13, 14). Thus the vision of Revelation 5 functions as a surprising initial fulfillment of Daniel's prophetic view of the coming of the "Son of man" to the Father to receive His lordship over the church and the world, even before the final judgment begins.

Stefanovic explains this progressive fulfillment of God's prophetic Word: "With the taking of the biblion [scroll] the whole destiny of humankind is put into the hands of the enthroned Christ; hence it is indeed the heavenly book of destiny. On the basis of its contents he would judge, hence, the judgment book."9

Apostles and the prophetic word

The apostles confirm the progressive fulfillment of God's prophetic Word. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed that Jesus was exalted "at the right hand of God" as "Lord and Messiah," and that the predicted "last days," or the Messianic age, are seen to have arrived (cf. Mark 1:15).

The visible proof of Christ's heavenly enthronement was God's pouring out of the Spirit of prophecy on the Christ-believing remnant of Israel, in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Acts 2:16,17, 33-36; cf. Joel 2:28, 29). The apostolic author of Hebrews also affirms the progressive revelation of God: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:1, 2, NRSV; cf. Rom. 16:25, 26; 1 Peter 1:10-12). The God who inspired Israel's prophets has now spoken in a superior and fuller way in His Son, Jesus Christ.

John even raised the historic self-testimony of Jesus to the level of a testing truth for salvation: "For this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. . . . And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does riot have life" (1 John 5:9, 11, 12, NRSV).

Clearly, the connection between divine promise and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, between the Old and the New Testament, is one of progressive testimony as it continues to come from the same covenant God. The historic testimony of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, is the authoritative gospel key for understanding the intended meaning of the Word of God in Moses and the Prophets.

The testimony of Jesus, "the Alpha and the Omega" in the Apocalypse (Rev. 22:13), is the inspired Christological application of the apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel, Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah, as they speak beyond their setting in literal, historical Israel to the age of the church.

1 George E. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1972), 10.

2 See R. H. Charles, Studies in the Apocalypse (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1915), ch. 3; and The Revelation of St. Johnf International Critical Commentary (New York: Charles Scribners, 1975)l:lxvi; "John translates directly from the Old Testament text."

3 Charles, Studies, 88.

4 Gregory K. Beale, John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation. JSNT Suppl. Ser. 166. Sheffield Ac. Press, 1998, 61.

5 Martin Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John (London: Hoddet & Stoughton, 1946), xxii.

6 In Kilters Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 2:23.

7 Beale, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: NIGTC, Eerdmans, 1999), 77; John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation, ch. 2.

8 Beale, The Book of Revelation, 353.

9 Rankov Stefanovic, "The Background and Meaning of the Sealed Book of Revelation 5." Ph.D. Dissertation, Andrews University, 1995, 322.

 

 


Ministry reserves the right to approve, disapprove, and delete comments at our discretion and will not be able to respond to inquiries about these comments. Please ensure that your words are respectful, courteous, and relevant.

comments powered by Disqus
Hans K. LaRondelle, Th.D., is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

January 2003

Download PDF
Ministry Cover

More Articles In This Issue

God's Word: It's origin and authority

A review of the Seventh-day Adventist position on the reliability and authority of the Bible

Preaching: The challenge of a Christ-centered and holistic view of humanity

Applying our biblical understanding of the nature of human beings, to the way we preach.

Schizophrenia: What pastors need to know

Recognizing and dealing with this increasingly common mental illness in the parish

What makes pastoral supervision effective?

The principles and practice of effective in-field pastoral education

Transformed into a new person: The relevance of God

Rediscovering and implementing the real reason for the existence of the church and its ministry

Should we depersonalize another person's faith?

Treating people of differing faiths with respect and understanding

Ministry is to minister

An honest, realistic and encouraging view of everyday life in ministry

Pastor's Pastor: Hurry up and wait

Pastor's Pastor: Hurry up and wait

For Adventists to celebrate the 75th anniversary of any venture seems incongruous with our name. Although personally pleased with Ministry's continuing contribution as we reach our publication's diamond jubilee, my Seventh-day Adventist heritage leads me to apologize more than congratulate.

View All Issue Contents

Digital delivery

If you're a print subscriber, we'll complement your print copy of Ministry with an electronic version.

Sign up
Advertisement - SermonView - Medium Rect (300x250)

Recent issues

See All