We’ll continue this journey by trying to introduce some very new and big ideas in small doses until we get used to them. Again, I would recommend beginning a study about these things by utilizing the resources I recommended when we introduced Revelation. But let’s start with where we left off the discussion last time:
To 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 and ever! Amen.
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him,even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”So shall it be! Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
John starts by making what seems to be an obvious allusion to the person of Jesus — the one who has freed us from our sins and made us to be a kingdom of priests. About Jesus, John makes two connections directly from the Old Testament. However, John doesn’t just pull the phrasing he wants from any book in the Tanakh; he pulls the references from other apocalyptic books. In doing this, John not only makes it clear about the genre of literature he’s engaging and the ideas he’s working with, but also sets the stage by connecting the context of struggle and perseverance to the context of his audience who is also struggling to persevere. It’s almost as if John is saying, “Remember, we’ve been here before. Let me quote to you from books that were written during similar struggles.”
And in case you were curious about the exact quotations, “coming with the clouds” is pulled from Daniel (chapter 7) and the idea of “those who have pierced him will mourn” is pulled from Zechariah (chapter 12).
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. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
John connects himself to his audience by rooting this vision in his own suffering. John talks about how he received this vision while he was exiled on Patmos. By the way, many people think John was on Patmos when he wrote Revelation, but this is incorrect; John says he “was” on the island of Patmos. You don’t get a whole lot of time to write letters when you’re in exile, but John references his time on Patmos — in the midst of his own suffering — as the time when he received this vision of encouragement. Fitting.
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
Let’s pull this paragraph apart. We need to quit reading these passages as westerners and realize that John is intentionally using apocalyptic literature to speak to his audience. What I’m trying to impress upon you is that John is using ancient apocalyptic books to get his material. He’s not merely accurately describing his visions (although I would assume he is). He’s doing something much bigger than that, and it’s very intentional.
“golden sash around his chest” = Apocalyptic book of Daniel
“eyes were like blazing fire” = More Daniel
“feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace” = Still Daniel
“voice was like the sound of rushing waters” = Apocalyptic vision of Ezekiel
“double-edged sword” = A reference to God from Isaiah
Also, a note about “seven stars.” This happens to be a reference from Greco-Roman culture and their pagan understandings of the Zodiac. In short, they understood the skies to be a swirling ocean and the stars (which moved, giving the impression of floating on this “ocean”) were those who had gone before. Astronomers of their day also noticed there were seven stars that did not move according to the same pattern (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn). Obviously, the Greco-Romans connected these to their pagan gods and mythology, but to say you “hold the seven stars in your hand” would be a way of saying you control the universe. It was a Roman way of saying, “I know how to get you where you want to go.”
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 now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
With another reference to the seven stars, John closes what will be the first chapter of Revelation. He also makes mention of seven lampstands, which he tells us represent the seven churches. This was a common image for a community of God’s people, the lampstand (or menorah) often symbolizing the presence of God which lives and dwells in the community of his people (especially after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70). But what we often miss is the obvious connection to the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah, one of the most apocalyptic books in Tanakh, begins with the vision of a man walking among the myrtle trees (which also symbolize the people of God). John’s play here is another obvious nod toward the Old Testament, the apocalyptic genre, and his intent throughout the book of Revelation. We will want to keep our eyes open for these plays as we go through John’s vision.
I often tell my students there is very little new material in the book of Revelation. It’s all drawing off of what was recorded before in the Old Testament. If we’ll learn this valuable lesson, we will have a much easier time understanding what we typically think is an incredibly perplexing letter.
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