The revelation of Jesus Christ: the risen Lord among the lampstands

Revelation names its author as John, writing from Patmos, a small island in the Aegean off the coast of the Roman province of Asia (western Turkey). From the second century, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus identified him as the apostle, the son of Zebedee, and Irenaeus said that as a boy he had heard Polycarp, who had known John. In the third century Dionysius of Alexandria argued from differences of Greek style that the author was not the author of the Gospel of John. Some modern scholars suggest 'John the elder' or an otherwise unknown prophet of that name. The evidence does not settle the question, and the class speaks simply of John. What matters for reading is that he claims prophetic authority and a first-hand vision (1:2, 1:9).

The date is disputed. Most scholars place the book near the end of Domitian's reign, about AD 95 or 96, because Irenaeus, writing about AD 180, says the vision was seen at the end of that reign. A minority, including most preterists, argue for the late 60s under Nero, shortly before Jerusalem fell in AD 70. They point to the measuring of the temple in chapter 11 and to the 'seven kings' of chapter 17, which they count from the emperors. Their opponents answer that the early testimony is clear and that pressure to honour the emperor suits the 90s better.

The audience is seven real congregations in Asia, listed in the order a messenger would travel the road from Ephesus north and then round to the south-east. Their cities were proud of loyalty to Rome, several had temples for the worship of the emperor, and public life ran through guilds and festivals with religious meaning. John is on Patmos 'because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus', which most take to mean banishment for his preaching. How widespread organised persecution was in Asia is debated. Some see sporadic local hostility, such as the death of Antipas (2:13), rather than a campaign. Either way the book gives a church under pressure to compromise a view of its situation from heaven's side.

Revelation names three genres in its first four verses. It is an 'apocalypse' (verse 1, Greek apokalypsis, an unveiling), a 'prophecy' (verse 3) and a letter (verse 4, with sender, recipients and greeting). As a letter it was written to be understood by its first recipients. As prophecy it speaks for God into present choices and does not only predict. As apocalypse it uses visions and symbols, mostly drawn from Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Isaiah, to disclose what is hidden behind the visible world.

• The first rule is therefore to ask what an image meant to a hearer steeped in the Old Testament.
• The second is to note where the book explains itself, as it does in verse 20: the stars are angels and the lampstands are churches.

The book has a frame. Chapter 1 and chapter 22 both speak of what must 'soon' take place, both bless the one who keeps its words, and both have Jesus say that he is coming. Between them come series of sevens: letters, seals, trumpets, bowls. Four broad approaches have been taken to the whole. Preterists, such as David Chilton, Kenneth Gentry and R. C. Sproul in his partial form of the view, hold that most of the book was fulfilled in the first century, in the pressure of Rome and the fall of Jerusalem. Their strongest argument is the book's own time-language ('soon', 'near') and its address to seven named churches. Historicists, including Edward Bishop Elliott and many Reformation writers, read it as a map of church history from John's day to the end. Their strongest argument is that it calls itself prophecy and that Daniel's visions of successive kingdoms plainly span history. Idealists, or spiritual readers, such as William Hendriksen, read the images as recurring realities across the whole age between Christ's comings. Their strongest argument is that the book's language is symbolic from start to finish and that its sevens seem to cover the same ground from different angles. Futurists, whether dispensational such as John Walvoord and Charles Ryrie, or historic premillennial such as George Eldon Ladd, read chapters 4 to 22 mostly as events before and at Christ's return. Their strongest argument is that much of the book describes a climax which no earlier period has plainly seen. Many recent scholars, such as G. K. Beale and Richard Bauckham, draw on more than one approach and are sometimes called eclectic.

The millennial views bear on this chapter in a limited way, since the thousand years waits until chapter 20. Amillennialists, such as Augustine, Anthony Hoekema and Kim Riddlebarger, read 1:5 and 1:6, where Christ is already 'ruler of the kings of the earth' and has made believers 'a kingdom', as the present form of the reign. Postmillennialists, such as Jonathan Edwards and B. B. Warfield, expect the gospel to bring a long era of blessing before Christ returns. Historic premillennialists agree that the kingdom has begun and add a future reign after his return. Dispensational premillennialists distinguish the church's present status from a future earthly kingdom centred on Israel. Our understanding of the chapter, which rests on the text and not on a scheme, is that the reign of Christ is stated as already begun (1:5, 1:18), and that the coming of verse 7 is the horizon toward which the whole book moves. The readings differ on how the visions between those two points are to be mapped.

Verses 1 to 3. 'This is the revelation of Jesus Christ' can mean given by Jesus or about Jesus, and both are true. The chain of disclosure runs from God to Christ to an angel to John to the servants. 'Servants' (douloi) is the Old Testament word for the prophets, here used of all believers. What 'must soon come to pass' echoes Daniel 2:28-29, where God shows what must happen in the latter days; John adapts Daniel's 'latter days' to 'soon'. 'The time is near' is read as literal nearness in the first century (preterist), as constant imminence for every generation, or as the sense that the last days began with Christ. One person 'reads aloud' and others 'hear', a picture of a congregation at worship.

Verses 4 to 6. Grace and peace come from three. 'Him who is and was and is to come' expands the divine name of Exodus 3:14 and looks forward. 'The seven Spirits' echoes the sevenfold Spirit of Isaiah 11:2 and the lamp of Zechariah 4, and most take it as the one Holy Spirit in fullness. Jesus is given three titles that answer Psalm 89:27 and 37, where David's heir is the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth, and a faithful witness. Jesus witnessed in his life, rose as firstborn from the dead, and already rules the kings, Caesar included. The doxology says he 'loves us' now and 'has released us from our sins by His blood', a finished act, and 'has made us to be a kingdom, priests'. That is the Sinai charter of Exodus 19:6, now given to a people from every nation.

Verses 7 and 8

Two texts are fused. 'Coming with the clouds' is Daniel 7:13, and 'those who pierced Him' and the mourning come from Zechariah 12:10. John twists 'tribes of Israel' into 'tribes of the earth', widening the mourning, which may be repentance or terror. Futurists hear a literal return seen by all. Preterists hear Christ's coming in judgment on Jerusalem and on those who pierced him, in language the prophets used for God's judgments in history. Idealists hear a statement about the end that is also true of every vindication of Christ in history. 'Alpha and Omega' are the first and last Greek letters, God as beginning and end. 'Almighty' (pantokrator) renders 'LORD of hosts' in the Greek Old Testament.

Verses 9 to 11. John calls himself 'brother and partner', not apostle. 'Tribulation and kingdom and perseverance' together state the Christian condition: suffering now, kingdom already, endurance between. 'The Lord's day' (kyriake) is most likely Sunday, the day of the resurrection and of worship. A minority hear the prophets' 'day of the LORD', so that John is carried in vision to the end. 'In the Spirit' marks the prophetic state (Ezekiel 3:12). The trumpet voice recalls Sinai (Exodus 19:16). He is told to write on a scroll and send it to seven named cities.

Verses 12 to 16. The lampstands recall the tabernacle lampstand and Zechariah 4. 'One like the Son of Man' is Daniel 7:13, but the details borrow from two visions. White wool hair belongs to the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9), so Christ is given God's own features. The robe, sash, fiery eyes, bronze feet and voice like many waters belong to the man of Daniel 10:5-6 and to Ezekiel 1:24 and 43:2. The sword from his mouth recalls Isaiah 11:4 and 49:2, so that his word is his weapon. This is not a portrait of the Galilean Jesus. It is a collage of Old Testament glory that says who he is.

Verses 17 to 20. John falls as Daniel and Ezekiel did. The Lord lays on him the hand that holds the stars and says Isaiah's divine title, 'First and the Last' (Isaiah 44:6), then what only the crucified can say: 'I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever!' Keys mean authority, and death and Hades do not master him. Verse 19 is read by many futurists as the book's outline (what John has seen, 'the things that are' in chapters 2 and 3, and 'the things that will happen after this' in chapters 4 to 22). Others take it as a description of one vision, with the sense of what is and what is about to be. 'Mystery' borrows from Daniel 2. 'Angels of the churches' may be heavenly guardians, human messengers or pastors, or a personification of each church.

All the main readings of Revelation agree on what chapter 1 says about God and Christ. The Father, the Spirit and Jesus Christ together give grace and peace (verses 4 and 5). Divine titles belong to the Father in verse 8 and to the Son in verse 17. The crucified Jesus rose, holds the keys of death and Hades, and is already 'ruler of the kings of the earth'. He is coming, and he will be seen. The church is already a kingdom and priests, and it is also in 'tribulation'. Preterist, historicist, idealist and futurist writers, and amillennial, postmillennial and premillennial ones, all accept these claims. They are the Christian core that the rest of the course builds on.

What is debated is how the visions between this opening and the closing chapters relate to time. The readings differ on three matters: the sense of 'soon' and 'near' in verses 1 and 3, the scope of the 'coming' in verse 7, and whether verse 19 gives a chronological outline. These are real questions, and learned and devout interpreters have answered them differently for nearly two thousand years.

The chapter also gives the form that later Christian hope took, which theologians call 'already and not yet'. God 'is and was and is to come'. Christ has already won the victory and holds the keys of death, and he has not yet been seen by every eye. The saints are already a kingdom and still endure tribulation. Eschatology, the study of the last things, begins here with a person: the one who was dead and now lives, who is the first and the last, and whose coming ends history. Nearly every image in the chapter comes from the prophets, so the last book of the canon gathers up the Bible's major themes: creation and new creation, temple and city, exile and return, the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God.

The Old Testament connections here are ones the New Testament itself makes. The coming 'with the clouds' fulfils Daniel 7:13-14, which Jesus applied to himself before the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:62). The 'pierced' one fulfils Zechariah 12:10, which John's Gospel applies to the cross (John 19:37). The titles witness, firstborn and ruler of kings fulfil the promises to David's line in Psalm 89, and Paul also calls Christ 'firstborn from the dead' (Colossians 1:18). Features Daniel gave the Ancient of Days are given to the Son of Man, and Isaiah's divine title is on Christ's lips. John does not say that Jesus replaces God. He says that the one who died and lives shares the identity of the God of Israel.

The chapter gathers the New Testament portrait of Christ. He is witness, the risen firstborn, king over earthly kings, priest-maker who frees by his blood (verses 5 and 6), judge whose word is a sword (verse 16), and Lord who walks among his lampstands (verse 13), as God walked in Eden (Genesis 3:8) and promised to walk among Israel (Leviticus 26:12). 'I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever' compresses the gospel, and the keys are the fruit of the resurrection (Romans 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

The vision also reverses power. The ruler of the kings of the earth is the one crucified under a Roman governor, and he says to John what he said to the disciples after Easter, 'Do not be afraid' (Matthew 28:10).