Note: Part 2 of a three-part series on keys for understanding the book of Revelation. Part 3 will appear in the May issue of Ministry.
In the first article (January 2003) we noticed that John alluded consistently to the Old Testament in describing his symbolic visions of "what must soon take place" (Rev. 1:1, NIV). This referral to the Hebrew Scripture contains John's first theological key for understanding his apocalyptic visions. Such use of the Old Testament points us not only to the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith but also to its Old Testament literary and theological contexts.
The book of Revelation assumes that the God of Israel is the "God and Father" of Jesus Christ (1:1, 6), and that God's plan for the world will be realized through His Messiah, who participates in the unique identity of God (compare Rev. 1:8, 17; 21:6; and 22:13). From the start the "Apocalypse of Jesus" adopts and redefines the course of salvation history as outlined in Daniel's book (Rev. 1:1, 19; Dan. 2:28, 29; 10:21).
But how could the Jewish Christians be absolutely sure that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah of prophecy and that the crucified Jesus was now ruling from the throne of God in heaven? How could they be assured that Jesus is the King-Messiah while His people were thrown before hungry lions or burned at the stake under Roman rule?
John received this certainty of faith in his inaugural vision: "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and of Hades'" (Rev. 1:17, 18, NIV).
Here John testifies that the risen Lord identifies Himself completely with the historic Jesus, whom John had known personally, on whose breast he had leaned, and whose testimonies he recorded in the fourth Gospel. John's identification is based on the historical resurrection of Jesus from the dead. As "the firstborn from the dead" (Rev. 1:5, NIV), and "the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20, NIV), Christ is the source of the Christian's faith and hope (see 1 Cor. 15:20- 26). A personal testimony from the risen Lord inspired the saints to take courage and persevere in faithfulness to Christ till the end.
The blood of Christ, the Lamb
John begins to praise his Lord as "him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power for ever" (Rev. 1:5, 6, NIV). This doxology recognizes Jesus' atoning death out of love for humanity. The shedding of "His blood" on the cross has set the believer "free" from bondage to "sin," a phrase that reminds of Israel's historic release from Egypt as the house of bondage: "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt" (Exod. 12:13, NRSV).
John makes his implied allusion to Jesus as the antitypical Passover Lamb more explicit by giving Jesus 28 times the title: "the Lamb" (Rev. 5:6, 7, 12, 13, etc). The symbolic title "the Lamb" affirms the validity of His death as "a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45, NRSV), the heart and core of the apostolic gospel (see John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7; 15:1-4; Rom. 3:25; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Heb. 1:3; 9:14, 22). By this main symbol for Jesus, John indicates that the gospel is the controlling theme of the Revelation. Roy C. Naden rightly states: "Throughout the book this symbol of Jesus keeps our eyes focused on our only Source of redemption." 1
John assures the saints that they will over come the devil "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" in the face of death (Rev. 12:11, NRSV; cf. 6:9), that they are written in "the Lamb's book of life" (21:27, NRSV), will sing with Israel "the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (15:3, NRSV), and shout "Hallelujahs" at the future "marriage of the Lamb" in heaven (19:7, NRSV).
On the basis of His accomplished work of redemption, Jesus calls His followers to be His witnesses in all the world (see Acts 1:8). To the church at Pergamum He assures: "I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives" (Rev. 2:13, NRSV).
Jesus as priestly "Son of Man"
In his inaugural vision, John saw Jesus ministering in the midst of "seven golden lampstands" as one "like a son of man," dressed in a priestly robe with a golden sash across His chest (1:13, NIV). Remarkably, John adopts Daniel's description, "one like a son of man" (Dan. 7:13, NIV), to identify his risen Lord who ministers as a King-Priest for His church on earth. This priestly application of Daniel's "Son of Man" is a gospel interpretation that was new to Judaism. Clearly, John is not applying Daniel's Son of Man exclusively to the final judgment. He is commissioned by the heavenly Priest to write in a book "what you see" and to send it as a prophetic-apostolic letter to seven local churches located in the Asia Minor of his time (1:11).
The Apocalypse of Jesus thus had immediate relevance for the church in John's time as well as for the church of all times "until" the Lord comes. Christ's emphasis on "holding fast" what the church had received, was His reference to the apostolic gospel (1 Cor. 15:1, 2). Faithfully holding fast to this gospel will enable each believer, by the "keeping" grace of Jesus, to be victorious in the trial that will come in the end time "on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth" (Rev. 3:10, NRSV).
Those who are losing sight of Jesus in self-righteous complacency and are living in a spiritual self-deception, are urged to invite Him back as their Savior and Lord. Especially the Laodicean church is in serious danger of losing the gospel itself (Rev. 3:14- 21). As the "faithful and true witness" Christ pleads with them: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking" (3:20, NRSV). He counsels "to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see" (3:18, NRSV).
Seventh-day Adventists and the gospel emphasis
Seventh-day Adventists at first gave a one-sided emphasis to the law of God, without giving due emphasis to the gospel in their oft-cited, man dating Scripture verse: "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12, NRSV).2
When many in 1888 began to recognize the fundamental importance of the "eternal gospel" in their man date, Ellen White wrote in 1892: "The Laodicean message has been sounding. . . . Justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ are the themes to be presented to a perishing world," 3 and, "He invites us to buy the white raiment, which is His glorious righteousness; and the eye salve, that we may discern spiritual things. Oh, shall we not open the heart's door to this heavenly visitor . . . ?"4
This concern of the heavenly Christ places the apostolic gospel at the center of His letters to the church. Such is the priestly ministry of Christ for His church: to make it a shining light of saving and sanctifying truth in all the world (cf. Matt. 5:14; Rev. 18:1).
The gospel connects Revelation's early messages with its later visions
John first describes Jesus as one "like a son of man" (1:13, NIV) ministering as our Priest in heaven during the church age. Later John views the future coming of Daniel's "one like a son of man" with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand, as the divine King-Judge (Rev. 14:14-20; 19:11-15). John thus distinguishes between two different offices of the heavenly "Son of Man": His priestly ministry of intercession and assurance during the church age, and His concluding work as the Judge of all men at His second coming. This twofold application of Daniel's "Son of Man" to Jesus' work as Priest and Judge unites the letters and the visions in an indivisible unity.
John must send the entire Apocalypse ("what is now and what will take place later" [1:19, NIV]), the seven letters together with the visions, to those churches that in their spiritual condition represent the church universal. Each letter contains Jesus' pastoral counsel to "hold fast to what you have," "only hold fast to what you have until I come," "until the end" (2:10, 11, 13, 25, 26; 3:11, NRSV). John testifies that he himself was banished to Patmos for holding fast to "the word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (1:9, NRSV).
Recent studies have shown that both sections of the book of Revelation illuminate and interpret each other. Roberto Badenas concludes: "A comparison of the letters to the seven churches (2:1-3:22) and the vision of the New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5) demonstrates that the links between the two passages are many. . . . What the letters promised to the members of the churches is fulfilled in the citizens of the New Jerusalem, according to Revelation 21-22."5
Along with this, G. K. Beale observes that the seven letters are integrally related to the visionary body of the book: "The concluding promises of the letters overtly anticipate the end of the book and the final paradisial vision (cf. chs. 19-22)." 6 He calls the letters "the literary microcosm of the entire book's macrocosmic structure." 7 This implies that the symbolic visions of chapters 4-22 function as interpretative portrayals of the warnings and promises stated in the letters to the individual churches that come in chapters 1 and 2.
Such a substantial correlation between the letters and the visions affirms that the apostolic gospel remains the unchanged test for the church age from the beginning till the very end. The last generation is explicitly commissioned to revive the "eternal gospel" as the last warning message to the world (14:6, 7; 18:1). The last generation of God's people must again express their loyalty to the apostolic gospel, just as the first generation of Christians did by being faithful witnesses to Christ and His testimony (compare 1:9; 2:13; and 12:17:20:4).
Connecting Daniel and Revelation, Son of Man, and Judge
John concludes the prologue of his Apocalypse with the climactic theme of his book: "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail" (1:7, NRSV).
Here John evidently alludes to Daniel's vision of the world judgment in chapter 7. Daniel saw "one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven" to the Ancient One in the heavenly courtroom, where He will receive the authority to execute the final judgment over all humankind (Dan. 7:13, 14, 27, NRSV).
Revelation 1:7 gives Daniel's "Son of Man" an end-time fulfillment in the second coming of Jesus. That identification of Jesus with Daniel's celestial figure had been introduced already by Jesus during His earthly ministry, when He gave this testimony under oath before the high priest Caiaphas: "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64, NRSV).
John now reaffirms the coming of the Son of Man "with the clouds" from heaven to earth (Rev. 1:7). That future "coming" expands Daniel's vision, because Daniel had seen the Son of Man coming only to the Ancient of Days in heaven. Now John sees Him coming as the King-Judge to planet Earth, where every living being will then witness the awesome splendor of His appearance as the King of kings and Lord of lords (also 6:12-17; 19:11-21).
John repeats this end-time fulfillment of Daniel 7, when he describes a later vision: "I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one 'like a son of man' with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand" (Rev. 14:14, NIV). This vision vividly portrays Jesus' return as both King and Judge: He wears "a golden crown on his head" and has a "sharp sickle in his hand" to reap "the harvest of the earth" (14:14) and to gather "the clusters of the vine of the earth" (14:18, NRSV).
The feature of a "sharp sickle" is an apparent pointer or allusion to Joel's judgment vision that portrayed Yahweh's world judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat: "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great" (Joel 3:13, NRSV).
This creative blending of different judgment visions in the Old Testament into a new Christ-centered consummation illustrates John's interpretive approach. He gives Daniel's and Joel's judgment visions a Christological fulfillment that exalts Jesus to divine glory and redefines the test of truth as faith in Jesus as the God-sent Messiah and obedience to His testimony (see Rev. 1:2, 3, 9; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4). John thus reformulates Israel's judgment prophecies by means of his Christological gospel principle.
John's universalizing hermeneutic
Six times John stresses that the final harvest will be a harvest of "the earth" (see Rev. 14:14-19, NRSV). John thus unmistakably teaches a universal fulfillment of the national and Palestinian portrayals in the Old Testament. Revelation 14:14-20 is a telling example of the worldwide extension of God's judgment because of the global witness of the gospel by the faithful church (see Matt. 24:14; Rev. 14:6, 7; 18:1).
Another illuminating example of John's gospel key is his allusion to Zechariah's judgment vision, when he announces that "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him," along with the universal mourning because of him (Rev. 1:7, NRSV). Some five hundred years before Christ, Zechariah had predicted: "And I will pour out a spirit of com passion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. . . . The land shall mourn, each family by itself" (Zech. 12:10, 12, NRSV).
Zechariah announced a shocking event in Jerusalem's future: She would reject and "pierce" her own Messiah, and afterwards "mourn for him as one mourns for an only child" (Zech. 12:10). John alludes to this remarkable Messianic prediction, and adds his universalizing emphasis: "every eye will see him" and "all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him" (Rev. 1:7, NIV).
John explicitly expands the original meaning of Zechariah's prophecy to a worldwide scale. To reject Israel's Messiah and because of Him to "mourn" or "wail" is no longer limited to Israelites. John extends Zechariah's prediction to all nations. He thus enlarges the traditional concept of "Israel." What Zechariah predicted for the 12 tribes of Israel, John transfers to all the "tribes of the earth" (Rev. 1:7, NRSV), who assume the role of either a repentant or a remorseful Israel.
John's systematic universalizing of Israel's covenant promises teaches a generally overlooked principle of prophetic interpretation. John discloses that the apocalyptic consummation will not be Israel-centered but Christ-centered, no longer Palestine-centered but worldwide in its extension for the church of Jesus Christ!
The Christological fulfillment of Israel's Messianic prophecies implies the ecclesiological fulfillment of Israel's election. 8 Christ explicitly confirms that His church is the true Israel of God when He declares: "The seven lampstands [of the Hebrew temple] are the seven [Christian] churches" (Rev. 1:20). Israel's divine calling to be the light of the world is now by Christ's divine authority renewed for the Christ-believing Israel of the 12 apostles, the church of Jesus, the Messianic people of God. They are called to testify of the saving light of His gospel "as a testimony to all the nations" (Matt. 24:14, NRSV).
The purpose of the Hebrew symbols in the Christian Apocalypse is to reassure the church of her continuity with Israel's calling (see Isa. 49:6) so that God's eternal plan for all humanity will be gloriously fulfilled. God knows no failure because of Jesus! Jesus is the "guarantee" of God's covenants with Israel (see Heb. 7:22).
The two complementary keys
In summary, the book of Revelation affirms two indissoluble keys for understanding its symbolic portrayals: (1) The symbols receive their theological meaning from the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) and Israel's salvation history; (2) the Hebrew terms and images of that Bible and the literal nation of Israel receive a christological, ecclesiologi cal, and universalizing fulfillment through the apostolic gospel.
Some interpreters of the book of Revelation apply only the first key, that is, they acknowledge John's use of Hebrew imagery and terminology but then literalize those ethnic and geographic portrayals to the Jewish people and their national enemies in the Middle East for our time. Such "absolute literalism" in prophetic interpretation is defended by Dispensationalism and popularized in the New Scofleld Reference Bible (1967).
Other interpreters apply only the gospel key and ignore Daniel's root context and John's portrayals of "what must soon take place." 9 Such extreme interpretations point up the need for a comprehensive key that unites both Testaments in an indivisible unity. John has added a summary key as a safeguard against any one sided interpretation. All he had seen in his visions he summarized in this significant phrase: "the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (1:2, NIV).
1 Roy C. Naden, The Lamb Among the Beasts (Hagerstown, Md: Review and Herald Pub Assn., 1996), 25.
2 See George R, Knight, A Search for Identity The Development of Seventh-day Adventist Beliefs (Hagerstown, Md. Review and Herald Pub. Assn , 2000). 108, 109
3 Ellen White in The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1953-57) 7:964
4 Ibid.
5 Roberto Badenas, "New Jerusalem The Holy City," in Symposium on Revelation, book II. Daniel and Revelation Committee Series, vol. 7, FB. Holbrook, ed (Hagerstown, Md. Review and Herald Pub. Assn , 1992), 264, 265, see his diagram on 265.
6 G K Beale, John s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation. JSNT Suppl. Ser. 1998, 299,
7 Ibid.. 300.
8 For an in-depth treatment of the Christological, ecclesiological, and universalizing principles of interpretation, see H. LaRondelle, The Israel of God in Prophecy Principles of Prophetic Interpretation. Andrews Univ. Monographs Studies in Religion, Vol. XIII (Berrien Springs. Mich. 1 Andrews University Press. 2001), 10th pr, chapters 5, 7, 9.
9 For an example, see G. Goldsworthy, The Lamb and the Lion (Nashville. Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1984), 146,
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