Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Revelation

Book Written:   Both HC and Baker link the time of writing to periods of religious persecution.  One such period is during Nero's reign  (54-68 A.D.) 68 A.D. and a later possibility is during Domitian's reign  (81-96 A.D.) in 96 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:   The author writes to seven Christian communities in Asia Minor:   Pergamum, Thyatira, Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, Ephesus and Laodicea.  Yet, these communities would not likely have been being actively persecuted at the time Revelation was written.  HC notes that the persecution under Nero affected mostly Christians in Rome.  HC says the evidence is scant that Domitian promoted any kind of official persecution of Christians in Asia Minor. Both HC and Baker remind that the book may be a warning of things to come.

HC refers to the author of Revelation as a member of the Johannine community, but certainly not the apostle John.  Here, Baker agrees that authorship is uncertain, perhaps attributable to a disciple of John, if not the apostle himself.  The author does identify himself as having been on Patmos, Ch. 1, 9.

Title:  From the Greek apokalypsis meaning 'revelation,' 'the revealing or disclosure of something hidden' as in Ch 1, 1 "the revelation of Jesus Christ." 

I've written a bit here about apocalyptic literature but here are a few helpful reminders concerning such literature since we're on this page.  Apocalyptic literature: depicts a conflict between Satan and God or between a present evil time vs. a better time to come; is told in the first person; is abundant in symbolism; may present an "interpreting angel."   Regarding symbolism, Baker reminds us that "almost every material thing mentioned stands for something else."  Definitely.  Babylon is Rome.  The 'great whore' is Rome.   The beast is the Roman empire.  The 'little scroll' is revelation. A lampstand is this, a dragon is that.  The number 7 is mentioned 57 times.   Baker also admonishes that we not presume the book of Revelation refers to or predicts present-day struggles.  The message of the book is specific to its historical time period.  
Posted by Amy De Rosa at 11:04 AM
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 30, 2013 at 9:23 AM

    Revelation's symbolism could indeed be applied specifically to its historical time period (so the beast was the Roman empire). But the use of symbolism also allows for later applications (so the imperial beastly government that "comes out of the sea" to dominate various other nations can also apply to later imperial beastly governments that dominate other nations).

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  2. Amy De RosaOctober 30, 2013 at 2:35 PM

    Hi: I agree with you. I found Baker's remark a little confusing, because he then went on to say that since the struggle of good vs. evil is always with us, we can apply the message of Revelation to "every age." Maybe he's cautioning against those who might say, for example, that "the Bible says" that, let's just say, Washington D.C. is the beast coming out of the sea. I'll take a closer look at what you've got about Revelation. It was a book that I didn't get much out of unfortunately.

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