Revelation and Human Reality Session 51 A-level Amphitheater LLUMC Jan 8, 2011, 10:30-11:30 AM

Open Door REVELATION 19  Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened REVELATION 4-5  Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! (Rev 4:1 NRS)

Bookends of the Story Revelation 4+5 Revelation 19 Rev 8-18

The Rider on the White Horse - 1  NRS Rev 19:11-13 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.

The Rider - 2  NRS Revelation 19:15-16 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, "King of kings and Lord of lords."

The Armies of Heaven  NRS Revelation 19:14 And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

Description  his eyes are like a fiery flame (v 12);  has many diadems on his head (v 12);  wears a robe dipped in blood (v 13);  a sharp sword issues from his mouth (v 15a) 1.In whose blood is his robe dipped, his own or the blood or his opponents? 2.Is the sword in his mouth a weapon of violence?

The Rider’s Blood-Stained Robes - 1  Isaiah 63:1-3 Question: "Who is this that comes from Edom, from Bozrah in garments stained crimson? Who is this so splendidly robed, marching in his great might?" Answer: "It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.“

The Rider’s Blood-Stained Robes - 2  Question: "Why are your robes red, and your garments like theirs who tread the wine press?" Answer: “I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their juice spattered on my garments, and stained all my robes.”

Question  The slaughtered lamb in Rev 5:6 is a victim of violence. Is the rider on the white horse not a victim but a perpetrator of violence?  “Jesus did not destroy the wicked in his earthly life, but he would return with supernatural power to complete the task.” John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination (2d. ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 278.

Wisdom (75 BC-40 AD)  “Thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth.” (Wisd. 18:15 RSV ) RSV

Targums (150 BC--)  “He [i.e., the King Messiah] girds his loins, [and] goes out to battle against those who hate him; and he kills kings and rulers, and reddens the mountains from the blood of their slain; and he whitens his cloak with the fat of their mighty ones; his garments are rolling in blood.” Syrén, Targums, 111–12

“A Robe Dipped”  Gen 37:31-33 Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son's robe or not.” He recognized it, and said, “It is my son's robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”

Whose Blood?  “In the difference between Yahweh’s garments being sprinkled with blood and Christ’s robe being dipped in blood lies all the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the difference between the conception of God judging his enemies by shedding their blood and the conception of his judging them by shedding his blood for them.” Hanson, Wrath of the Lamb, 176.

Whose Blood?  “Almost certainly it is his own blood, that of the slaughtered Lamb…This then is a vision of the Christ who conquers not by killing his enemies but by allowing himself to be killed, and who invites his followers to do the same.” Boxall, Revelation, 274. Cf. Rev 12:11; 13:10; 14:4

Name and Identity  “faithful and true” (v 11)  a name inscribed, which he alone knows (v 12b)  “the Word of God” (v 13b)  “King of kings and Lord of lords” (v 16)  What does it mean to have “a name…which he alone knows”?

A Name No One Knows  Revelation 2:17 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

The Unbearable Prospect of the Unknown Name  Rev 14:1; 22:4; John 17:6  The name that no none knows is a pre-revelation reality; it is a name not known in the absence of revelation.  The name that no one knows is, in the perspective of the Gospel of John and Revelation, a name that people think they know only to be confounded by the revealed reality.

Tasks judges in righteousness (v 11b) 2.wages war in righteousness (v 11b) 3.smites the nations with the sharp sword projecting from his mouth (v 15a)  Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Tasks will rule the nations with a rod of iron (v 15b) 5.will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty (v. 15c)  Is this a picture of destruction inflicted from without, or of self-destruction?

The Rider on the White Horse 1.Revelation 19 and Revelation 4+5 relate to each other as bookends. 2.The slaughtered lamb of in ch. 5 is the same person as the rider on the white horse in ch Isaiah 11:1-11 echoes in Rev 5 and What sets the ‘shoot from the root of Jesse’ apart is the way he does his work. 5. The name no one knows is just that.

The Armies of Heaven  NRS Revelation 19:14 And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.