CORNERSTONE ADULT LEARNING COMMUNITIES FALL 2011 READING REVELATION RESPONSIBLY © 2011 David W. Opderbeck Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution / Share Alike

INTRODUCTIONS Thoughts and impressions: Rev What sorts of feelings, impressions, and emotions to these chapters evoke for you? How might these chapters relate to the theme announced in Rev. 1:17-18 (“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 Hades.”) After first reading these chapters, how would you answer the question: “so how should we now live?”

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Approaches to reading: Futurist: all or most of the events described will “literally” be fulfilled in the future Preterist: all or most of the events described have already been fulfilled For most full preterists, this means Christ has already secretly returned Partial Preterist: some of the events described have already been “literally” fulfilled, mostly relating to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 Most partial preterists still expect a future return of Christ. Some take the remaining events as “literal” future events, others see them as symbolic Symbolic: all or most of the events described are symbolic of spiritual realities the Church has faced and will face throughout its history

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION How can we navigate these different approaches to reading? Recall the importance of “diachronic” reading – reading along with the Church. Has the Church historically identified something of primary importance that should remain in the center of any reading? The Nicene Creed: On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION How can we navigate these different approaches to reading? A diachronic “theological” reading suggests that the future return of Christ will close the present age and consummate history in the final judgment. In my view, groups that assert a full preterist reading in which Christ has already secretly returned also tend to adopt unhealthy doctrines concerning the nature and mission of the Church that seem to deviate substantially from historic Christian faith, and such readings should be strongly avoided

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION How can we navigate these different approaches to reading? A diachronic “theological” reading suggests that the future return of Christ will close the present age and consummate history in the final judgment. In my view, a sort of partial preterist reading makes the most sense when applied to some of Jesus’ eschatological teachings (e.g., Matthew 24) rather than to Revelation. Jesus clearly anticipated and warned of the destruction of Jerusalem, and this seems to be at the heart of much of Jesus’ eschatological teaching narrated in the Gospels. Revelation was probably for the most part composed after that event and is addressed primarily to the Church as it existed subsequently (including its growing tension with its Jewish roots).

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION How can we navigate these different approaches to reading? A diachronic “theological” reading suggests that the future return of Christ will close the present age and consummate history in the final judgment. In my view, the best approach is a kind of dynamic between “futurist” and “symbolic” readings. The text is strongly “futurist” in that it proclaims the future return of Christ in the consummation of history – as the Creed states, to “judge the living and the dead” and to finally establish his Kingdom, which will “have no end”. But the text is also strongly “symbolic” in that the visions of judgment prior to Christ’s return primarily refer to spiritual realities encountered by the pilgrim Church rather than to a “literal” sequence of events preceding the return of Christ

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION A Hermeneutical Refresher / Reminder: Genre: includes “epistolary,” “apocalyptic,” and “prophetic” genres Apocalyptic in the First Century: e.g., the book of 1 Enoch; the Dead Sea Scrolls; 2 Enoch; 2 Esdras Christian letters in the First to Third Centuries The Messianic Age and the hope of the renewal of Creation and the destruction of evil Jesus, the Messiah who overturned Second Temple Jewish expectations The Church, history, and suffering: the paradigm of the Cross The false power of Rome and the True King

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION A popular futurist reading of the judgments:

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION A popular futurist reading of the judgments as a sequence of events – some questions: What does this sort of reading say about the purposes of God for creation? What does this sort of reading say about the purposes of God for history? What does this sort of reading say about the nature and mission of the Church? Does this sort of reading seem consistent with the narrative of the whole canon of scripture? Does this sort of reading seem consistent with God’s revelation of Himself in the person of Christ? Are there important parts of this reading (e.g., the “rapture”) that don’t appear in the text, or that seem inconsistent with the text’s overall picture of the consummation of history (e.g., the timing and nature of the resurrection and judgment)?

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Some reasons why the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl judgments do not represent a “literal” sequence of events Sequence of sevens: symbolic number of completion Other mytho-symbolic numbers: the 144,000 witnesses (Rev. 7) and the number of the beast (666) References to circumstances contemporary to the first hearers Recapitulation: the judgments repeat each other Consistency with over-arching canonical narrative of creation- fall-redemption Consistency with over-arching canonical narrative of the covenant people / Church and the “powers” of evil / the “world”

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the 144,000 (Rev. 7) 12 tribes, 12 x12,000 witnesses = a vast multitude of witnesses, the complete number of all the people of God The recapitulation of this vision in 7:9: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the two witnesses (Rev. 11) 1,260 days = three and ½ years = “time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 12:7). 3 ½ is a “broken seven” – a symbol of imperfection. This therefore is the entire imperfect, sinful period before the eschatological “Day of the Lord” – the final judgment. It is not 3 ½ “literal” years – it is a symbol for a period of imperfection that will come to an end. Some of the activity associated with the witnesses alludes to the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures – water to blood (Moses); shutting off rain (Elijah). Some of the symbols associated with the witnesses allude to symbols in the Hebrew Scriptures – the two olive in Zechariah 4 are Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor: the office of Priest and the office of Prophet: Messianic figures who pointed to Christ

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the two witnesses (Rev. 11) The presence of “two” witnesses echoes the requirement of Torah that two witnesses are required for testimony to be valid (Deut. 19:15) as well as the basic “cell” of Christian witness in the Gospels (12 Apostles, 72 preachers (Mark. 6:7), “two or three gathered together” (Matt. 18:20)). Therefore: the witnesses are not identifiable individuals. “They are rather to be seen as types or figures of prophecy.” (Mangina, pp ). This is all about the Church’s witness to Christ in the presence of the powers that oppose Christ – consistent with the theme of the entire text. In short, we are the “two witnesses.”

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the “Woman, the “Dragon” and the “Beasts” (Rev ) The Woman: the people of God: Hebrew Scriptures – image of the “Daughter of Zion.” “She is Israel, Zion, Jerusalem, the church, the whole creation groaning in apocalyptic agony.” (Mangina, p. 150). The Child: Christ (“As Israel, the woman brings forth the Messiah.” Mangina, p. 150). Note that in 12:5, the child “was snatched up to God and to his throne.” The word translated “snatched up” here is harpazo, the same word used in 1 Thess. 4:17 to support the dispensationalist doctrine of the “rapture.” The “child” is clearly the Messiah, based on the reference to Psalm 2 (“You will rule them with an iron scepter”). This is the only reference to a “rapture” in Revelation.

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Satan (the Dragon), the Beast, and the Second Beast (false prophet): an “unholy Trinity” or anti-Trinity “The beast from the sea attempts to mimic Christ the Lamb, and together the dragon, beast and false prophet constitute an entire demonic Trinity parodying God, the Lamb, and the Spirit.” (Mangina, p. 166) Note that in 13:1 the dragon stands “on the shores of the sea.” Compare with Gen. 1:1 – “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” The unholy Trinity is the source of chaos and de-creation

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the “Woman, the “Dragon” and the “Beasts” (Rev ) The “number of the Beast” -- “666” = Gematria and the “number” of Nero If the beast / Antichrist refers to any identifiable historical figure, it almost certainly refers to Nero or another Roman emperor identifiable to the first hearers of the text. “The beast represents the military and political power of the Roman Emperors.” (Bauckham, p. 35) We will see next week that the “harlot of Babylon” of Rev. 17 is also a symbol of the Imperial power of Rome.

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Excursus on the “Woman, the “Dragon” and the “Beasts” (Rev ) For us today, the beast and false prophet are therefore types of the powers that oppose Christ. The beast “is the kingdom of the world, the human city, insofar as it embodies hatred of the Lamb and resistance to his righteous rule.” (Mangina, p. 167). Just as Christ is in history and not only at its end, the Antichrist is in history and not only at its end: “in the form of various satanic persons or institutions who prefigure his emergence.” (Mangina, p. 168)

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Do you find the symbolic-futurist reading of these chapters fruitful, helpful, strange, wrong? What is our hermeneutical “take-away” from these judgments? If the symbolic-futurist reading of these chapters is on the right track: What does the text suggest for how we should live today? What does it suggest about the nature of the Church? What are some “powers” that oppose Christ? How should we confront those powers?

THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION What is our hermeneutical “take-away” from these judgments? A few thoughts: The “powers” viciously oppose God: idolatry Lust / unrestrained sexuality Empire / political oppression Greed / unrestrained quest for wealth Violence / war, despoiling of creation Death: personification and summation of all the “powers” God’s victory over the powers – over death – is complete and sure Even in judgment, God is measured and merciful Note that the entire earth is not wiped out in these judgments Christ and the Noahic symbol of the rainbow Now is a time in between times: the full Kingdom of Christ is yet to come God’s people, who resist the powers and worship only God, encouraged to persevere and assured of victory and ultimately shalom if they do so