Introduction to Revelation.

FOREWORD

Who is this commentary written for?I have tried to write this commentary for two distinct groups of people. The first group are those who simply want a recommended way of understanding Revelation and are not interested in struggling with loads of detail and alternatives. People in this group will find what they need in the first 6 sections of the Introduction (though they may decide to skip the detail on “Understanding the seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath”), in the Summary that precedes each chapter or section of the Commentary, and in the Conclusion.

The second group are given a toolkit which enables them to see detailed is-sues of interpretation chapter by chapter and verse by verse, so they are able to form their own view as to what Revelation is saying, without comments being filtered to correspond with my own conclusions as to what is the “right” or the most probable in-terpretation. This group will want first to read or dip into all the sections in the Intro-duction.

I have confined the toolkit to a conservative evangelical approach to the Bible and its doctrine. For example, I have not included interpretations that explain away Christ’s return.

What is my own stance on interpreting Revelation?My stance is very much that taken by David Pawson (see below, “my sources”). I as-sume that John was the Apostle who wrote the 4th Gospel and the epistles bearing his name. Also, that he wrote Revelation to be readily understood by the ordinary Chris-tian of his day as he heard it read, who would be Greek-speaking, would probably have a good understanding of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ teaching, may have known John at first or second hand, and have a fair familiarity with the Old Testament in its (LXX) Greek translation (as I think John assumes this), but would not have access himself to any part of the OT or NT in written form. However, as with any of the NT writings, because we believe they were inspired by the Holy Spirit I believe they can yield further insights given the more detailed study that 21st Century Christians can bring to bear with the help of cross-referenced study Bibles and concordances and commentaries!

I have therefore assumed that we should start with the straightforward mean-ing of the text as a whole, as it would be heard, and of particular passages in the light of the whole text. For more information on how I approach interpreting Revelation, see the rest of the Introduction.

What sources have I used?Besides my Greek Testament with its numerous cross-references (I used the Nestle-Aland “Novum Testamentum Graece”, 27th edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft 1993, which has much more thorough cross-references than other Greek Testament that I have used), I have made use of and would like to acknowledge the value of:

· Hodder & Stoughton’s NIV Study Bible, 1st edition 1987. Extremely useful notes and detailed marginal references. Whilst I have followed the NIV text where it seems to me to convey the meaning of what John is seeking to com-municate, I have frequently given my own (literal) translation of the Greek text in the hope that it will aid readers who cannot read the Greek for them-

selves to grapple with what it means. All my notes in my Commentary have made use of their notes and cross-references as my starting point in studying a passage. I have occasionally used “NIV” to show where I have made use of this Study Bible’s comments on a particular verse (10.2 is an example).

· Crossway’s ESV Study Bible and in particular the study notes on Revelation by Dennis E Johnson, Westminster Seminary California. The ESV transla-tion seems to me to achieve what is often regarded as the impossible by being both very close to the original language and readable. The articles and notes are very useful and strive to give the main alternatives to interpreting the Bible, verse by verse and chapter by chapter. There is a very thorough and de-tailed introduction to the book of Revelation. The online version of the ESV is also extremely useful, particularly the concordance. Its only disadvantage is that it is based on English words, not the Hebrew or Greek words of the text.

· David Pawson, “When Jesus Returns”, Hodder & Stoughton 1995. I have found his book particularly valuable for expounding a premillennial interpreta-tion of Revelation and the NT as a whole in which the saints are resurrected (the rapture) as Christ returns to earth to reign - an interpretation which he calls “Classical Premillennialism” because this interpretation was the starting position of the early Church Fathers. He also demonstrates the weaknesses in the argument for reinterpreting God’s promises to Israel as being finally ful-filled in the Church (see later sections of the Introduction for an explanation of these terms).

· G. B. Caird, “The Revelation of St John the Divine”, Adam & Charles Black (London), 1966 edition, in the Black’s New Testament Commentaries series. It includes a bibliography of scholarly works on Revelation. Though I cannot agree with aspects of Caird’s theological position, in particular how he inter-prets passages about Jesus’ coming, he presents extensive material on the po-litical, religious & cultural background of the times in which John wrote Reve-lation, including the nature of apocalyptic literature of that era and its use of symbolism, and therefore how John’s hearers might have understood the mes-sage. He thoroughly analyses the OT sources on which John may have been drawing and what this suggests about understanding the symbols and metaphors in Revelation.

· “Prophetic Witness”, the monthly journal of the Prophetic Witness Movement International (PWMI), which promotes the premillennial pre-tribulational re-turn of Christ and the literal fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel. Central to this is the rapture (removal) of the Church by Christ prior to the Tribulation events in Rev 6-19 and the final persecution of the saints. In other words, Christ’s return is in two stages, first in secret “for” the saints (the rapture), and later (after the Tribulation) in public “with” the saints (his return to reign). Many of those who write in the journal also have a dispensational understand-ing of God’s dealings with man, though this is not part of their statement of belief. Though I disagree with their interpretation of the rapture and with the dispensational perspective, I have found the magazine very informative and thought-provoking and I frequently find myself checking parts of my Com-mentary to see whether it takes into account their interpretation of particular passages.

· Tom Wright, “Revelation for Everyone”, SPCK 2011. Whilst I do not agree with his amillennialist interpretation, I found his book really helpful in seeing

how to apply Revelation to our work with the Lord now. The book is ex-tremely readable.

· Walter Scott, “Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ”, Pickering & In-glis, 4th edition (no date, but probably early 20th Century). Mainly used by me to ensure that I have understood a dispensational interpretation of Revelation which he sets forth in detail as the correct way of understanding the book in particular and OT & NT prophecies in general. I am aware that dispensation-alists often vary on the detail of how to interpret various prophecies, so where I have quoted an interpretation I have found in Scott, I have attributed it to him by name.

· William Hendriksen, “More than conquerors: an Interpretation of the Book of Revelation”, Tyndale Press 1962. A very well referenced book in terms of support for his particular interpretation, which is that Revelation consists of 7 parallel sections, each of which interprets the entire church dispensation from the first to the second coming of Christ. The book is extremely valuable for grappling with what Revelation means, even if, like me, you disagree with his 7 parallel sections interpretation which I think forces an unnatural interpreta-tion especially on ch 20.

· Victor Pearce, “Evidence for Truth: Prophecy”. Published by Eagle (Inter Publishing Service (IPS) Ltd, Guildford, Surrey, 2nd edition, 1998. The book is a treasure-trove of enthusiastic interpretations of a wide range of prophecies in the OT and NT, including Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation. His evangeli-cal faith in the Lord’s saving power shines through the work. I have referred extensively to his views on how particular parts of Revelation should be inter-preted and may be fulfilled, even where I have disagreed with them.

· The Bible Project’s video on Revelation. This is an online resource, which relies on cartoon-style drawings whilst you listen to the audio interpretation of Revelation, chapter by chapter. I have only listened to the resource as far as chapter 10. For those wishing to understand Revelation and who find written study guides or commentaries off-putting, this is a good starting point. In-evitably for this type of presentation, it is only able to put across one particular interpretation of a passage.

· “Handbook of Biblical Prophecy”, edited by C.E.Armerding & W Ward Gasque, Baker Book House (Michigan) 1977. A collection of very useful es-says from a range of scholars of a conservative evangelical persuasion on un-derstanding Biblical prophecy.

Where I am conscious that I am quoting or utilising a distinct view of one of these sources, I have acknowledged it in the Commentary section. I am aware that there are many other Commentaries and study guides on Revelation, and am in no way imply-ing that the list above are “the best”. How to use this commentary.The Commentary is divided into five documents: chapters 1-3, 4-7, 8-11, 12-14, 15-18, and 19-21 (with a Conclusion and Index). They are available in Word. To help the reader to move around each document I have inserted $1, $2, and so on at the start of the notes to Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and so on in this Commentary. All the user has to do is to use the “Find” or “Go to” command followed by, for example, $4 to be taken to the start of Chapter 4 in the Commentary’s notes.

Bible references in bold are those that I consider the most important for under-standing the portion of the text in question.

I have used underlining to highlight a particular interpretation of a passage, in the hope it will aid understanding.

In a Conclusion section, I have set out what, to my mind, are the messages of hope in Revelation for those facing persecution and suffering – the most likely condition of the people for whom John wrote Revelation.

The Index directs the reader to subjects in Revelation that recur several times, by in-forming them of the leading note in the Commentary that tackles the subject. You will find at that note where else in Revelation that subject occurs, as well as refer-ences to the rest of the OT and NT that (I hope) will aid understanding.

Footnotes are of two kinds:- further information on interpreting the passage that I have judged is too detailed to

put in the Commentary notes;- indication that there is an entry in the Index that relates to the footnoted verse. For

example, the footnote to 1.1 (“to show his servants what must soon take place”) in-cludes: “servants - believers in Jesus, 7.3”. This indicates that there is a detailed note on Rev 7.3 in the Commentary that discusses the meaning of servants in Reve-lation.

Finally, there are currently 5 Annexes:Annex 1: “Other end-time prophecies”. Notes on Daniel ch 2 and 7-12, and Zechariah ch 12-14. I intend to add to this.Annex 2: “The origins and meaning of Babel (Babylon) of the OT and NT”. This includes notes on interpreting the various OT prophecies on Babylon.Annex 3: “The events of Christ’s second coming”, followed by an article, “What will happen to mankind when Christ returns?”.Annex 4: “Events of Israel’s Restoration. Israel, the Jews and their restoration: the events prophesied in the OT and their fit with the end-time teaching in the NT”. This is still a work in progress.Annex 5: “Events happening to Jerusalem and Israel in the last years of this age.”

INTRODUCTION.

The Introduction has the following sections:- What is the Revelation of John?- Understanding the seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath- What is the focus of Revelation?- Why did John write Revelation?- Why did the Lord give the contents of Revelation to John at this time?- What was the situation John’s readers were in/facing?- How far did John write and how far are the contents of Rev. meant to address this

immediate situation?- Is Revelation apocalyptic literature, and what does this mean?

- How should we interpret the symbolism in Revelation?- How should we understand the predictions in Revelation?- Should we simply read Revelation as it is and let the word speak to us without all

this analysis?- Why are there so many references and allusions to the OT and how should we un-

derstand them?- Is there clear evidence in Revelation of John reinterpreting OT prophecies in the

light of Jesus’ life and work?- What is the significance of the saints’ suffering in the NT and particularly in Reve-

lation?- Is Revelation the church’s equivalent from the Lord of the book of Daniel?- Did John believe that the church had replaced Israel as God’s chosen people?- How should we interpret the physical & material promises to Israel?- How should we interpret the Kingdom of God/Heaven?- How do we understand Revelation chapter 20, that Christ will reign on earth a

1,000 years with his resurrected saints?- Will there be an apostate church in the days before Christ’s return?- Are the Beast and the False Prophet in Rev 13 found in other parts of the NT and

OT?

What is the Revelation of John?

“Revelation” (or “Apocalypse”, using the Anglicisation of the Greek word) of John” is the title of the last book of the NT. But actually it is (1.1) “The revelation of (i.e. belonging to? Or about? Or both?) Jesus Christ given him by God”. Most of the con-tents of Revelation are John’s description of what he saw and heard in a series of vi-sions, in some cases explained to him by angels (see 1.1-2).

In overview, Revelation consists of:1.1-8, an introduction.1.9-end, a vision of the glorified Christch 2-3, letters from Christ to each of 7 churches of Asia, addressing their current situation or what is imminent for each and either commending or correcting them.ch 4-5, a vision of God’s throne-room in heaven and of the Lamb receiv-ing a scroll. This appears to be the programme which will bring to an end the present evil age and finally establish the kingdom of God on earth (though some understand it differently).6.1-19.10, a series of visions consisting first of the 7 seals of the scroll be-ing opened (6.1-8.1), each triggering its own event on earth. Then 7 trum-pets are sounded (8.2-11.19), each bringing a warning or judgment upon earth. Finally John sees 7 bowls of God’s wrath poured upon the earth – the 7 last plagues are the most severe of all (15.1-16.21). The three series are interspersed by visions that explain in more detail just what is happen-ing in the heavenly realm and on earth.

19.11-22.5: 7 visions which, in sequence, describe Christ’s return and de-struction of the final world ruler (“the Beast”), a 1,000 year reign with Christ of the resurrected martyrs. At the end of the 1,000 years there is a final rebellion of the nations which God supernaturally defeats. Then the resurrection and judgment of all the dead, and eternal punishment along-side Satan for all who are not in the book of life. Finally, there ensues the new heaven and earth. This 7th vision is much longer and describes the new Jerusalem, the home of all believers in Christ, descending from heaven and God dwelling with men for eternity.22.6-end, a concluding section which reiterates the purpose of Revelation and its focus on Christ’s return (“I am coming soon”) and exhorts its hear-ers to keep the words of the prophecy.

Revelation therefore has a structure of five series of seven 1.

A straight reading of Revelation suggests that the book has a broad chronological pro-gression. This is confirmed by the natural interpretation of 1.19:

“write what you have seen” - John’s vision of the glorified Christ in 1.12-18“and what is” - how the Lord sees the 7 churches in Asia, ch 2-3. The most natural interpretation is that this deals with the churches as they were in John’s day, “warts and all”. They were real letters to real churches. But, just as the NT Epistles are inspired by the Spirit to be instructive and relevant to the church till Christ returns, so it is likely that Rev 2 & 3 is likewise intended by the Spirit – see my notes on 1.4, “the seven churches”.“and what will take place after these things” (ch 4 to 22.5).

This last section falls naturally into 3 sections: Ch 4 & 5 are an introduction – to heaven’s throne-room / control centre and the scroll of what God has decreed will usher in the saints’ reign on the earth.Ch 6 and 8.1 describe what God has decreed in the scroll, i.e. it is the countdown to Christ’s return and the saints’ reign with him, and ch 7, 8.2-19.10 continue that theme. How long this countdown lasts we are not told, except that the final part will last 3 ½ years – either literal years or a short time limited by God (see the notes at the start of ch 11: “Background to 11.1-3: the 42 months and 1,260 days”).19.11-22.5 describe what happens on and after Christ’s return: the main time blocks are his millennial reign with the saints, followed by the Eter-nal State in the new heaven and earth.

The above structure is marked by the occasions when John is allowed to see inside the heavenly throne-room, which appears to have been within the heavenly temple. They are at 4.1 (which results in the opening of the seven seals) at 8.2-5 (then follow the seven trumpets being blown), at 11.19 (John then sees the signs of the woman Israel, the dragon Satan and the entry of the two beasts), and at 15.2-8 (introducing the 7 bowls to be poured onto the earth, the final bowl culminating in Christ’s return). John sees “heaven opened” at 19.11, at the start of the passage describing Christ’s return and his millennial reign with his resurrected saints. There is no such statement before

1 For the significance of “seven” in Revelation, see the note at 1.4 in the Commentary.

the Eternal State in the new heaven and earth is described (21.1-22.5), perhaps be-cause now the new Jerusalem brings together heaven and earth.

Within 6.1-19.10, we discern 3 series of judgments or plagues - the seals opened one by one, the trumpets blown, and the bowls of wrath poured out - which describe what God will bring about on the earth. Interspersing them are a variety of visions that show John in more detail just what is happening in heaven and on earth from heaven’s perspective during and leading up to these judgements/plagues. Each judgment/plague in each series appears to be in chronological order, but a careful reading shows that the trumpet series does not have to follow chronologically after the 7th seal, nor does the first bowl plague have to follow chronologically after the 7th trumpet. The bowl plagues are called “the seven last plagues” (15.1), which might suggest that they come later than seals 1-6 and trumpets 1-6. But these two series are nowhere called “plagues” in Revelation (apart from elements of the 6th trumpet judgment which are referred to as “plagues” in 9.18 & 20), so the bowl plagues don’t have to follow them in order to be “the last plagues”.

However, what is noticeable (see Pawson) is that the 7th seal’s opening (“there was silence in heaven for about half an hour”) and the 7th trumpet sounding followed by the heavenly announcement that “the kingdom of the world has become of our Lord and of his Christ”, lead us to expect the Lord’s return to be the next event. So, all 3 series usher in Christ’s return. The last bowl plague is followed by the an-nouncement of the wedding of the Lamb and the final series of 7 visions (19.11-22.5) which describe Christ’s return and the events that will follow it. Wright compares the 3 series and the interspersing visions to several different angles of vision on the single great reality.

It is impossible, however, to come up with a more detailed chronological pat-tern for 6.1-19.10 than the above that is convincing. There are clear connections in terms of the events unleashed by the seals with Jesus’ teaching on the events leading up to his return in Mt 24 and parallels in Mark and Luke (see the table at 6.1 in the Commentary); but again it does not look possible to me to merge them all into a sin-gle time sequence, though there have been a number of attempts especially by those who hold that the trumpet judgements follow the seals, and the bowl judgments fol-low the trumpets.

Different and in some cases more elaborate structures to Revelation than what I have set out above have been proposed, in general related to the way that the predic-tions in Revelation are interpreted. They often give useful insights, but I don’t find any of them compelling 2. The fact that they differ from each other suggests to me

2 Suggested structures I have encountered in my studies are summarised below:• Johnson in the ESV Study Bible for 4.1-22.5 sees 7 sections: 4.1-8.1 (the Lamb and the

scroll: current and coming woes; precursors of the end); 8.2-11.18 (the angels and the trumpets: warnings of coming wrath); 11.19-14.20 (the woman, her son, the dragon and the beasts: the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan); 15.1-16.21 (the bowls of God’s final wrath); 17.1-19.10 (Babylon the prostitute); 19.11-20.15 (the defeat and destruction of the beasts, the dragon and death); 21.1-22.5 (“All things new”). This structure lends it-self to a cyclical interpretation of Revelation, rather than a broadly chronological one, which sees each section as explaining the meaning of the age of the church (from Christ’s first coming to his return). But such an interpretation is not necessarily required by this structure.

• Ironside (PWMI Magazine, March 2016 ed), from a futurist perspective, proposes a sim-pler version of the above, in which the seventh seal includes the seven trumpets (8.2-11.18), which with the sounding of the 7th trumpet bring the reader to the end of all things - the world-kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, going right on to the time when the dead

that they are not a natural way of understanding the prophecy that is Revelation. It seems best to me to stick with the simple structure outlined above and to attempt to let the visions given to John speak for themselves.

will be judged, the saints receive the new Jerusalem in the new heavens and earth, and death and Hades are destroyed. But then it is as if God turns the scroll over (5.1, it is written on both sides), and we get (in 11.19-14.20) a second view of the events portrayed by the seals’ opening and the trumpet judgments. Then follow the bowls of wrath plagues (ch 15 & 16), the doom of Babylon described in detail (ch 17 & 18), then (ch 19) the Lord’s descent from heaven with the armies of heaven to establish his millennial kingdom.

• The Bible Project interprets the seals, trumpets and bowls as three cycles of seven - three sets of divine judgments - each cycle depicting God’s kingdom and justice coming on earth as in heaven. John, in this interpretation, has woven all the cycles together, so that the bowls come out of the 7th trumpet and the 7th seal, and the trumpets emerge from the 7th seal. Rather like nesting dolls, each seven contain the next seven. Each cycle depict the same time period - from the Resurrection of Christ until His return - from differ-ent perspectives, and each conclude with final judgment and matching conclusions.

• Pearce (in his historicist, symbolic interpretation) sees a structure to Revelation of 4 pan-els on Christ’s triumphal arch (he cites the arch of triumph of Galerius, now the entrance to Thessalonica, Greece, where each panel depicts battles leading up to victory). The 4 panels to Revelation are: the letters to 7 churches, symbolising the total history of the Church with its triumphs and failures from John’s day until Christ’s return; the 7 seals, symbolising the history of the Roman Empire, 96 AD until the apparent triumph of the gospel through the blood of the martyrs in 313 AD and judgment on the empire; the 7 trumpet warnings, symbolising the attack on the truth by false religions from 6th Century until Christ’s return; and the 7 bowls of wrath, symbolising the reply to false religions 1495 AD until Christ’s return. Each “panel” is interspersed with God-given illustrations or para-bles to show what the panels mean. In addition, he holds that the whole of Revelation also has a futurist, literal interpretation.

• Hendriksen holds that Revelation consists of 7 sets of visions all running in parallel and all giving perspectives on the the Church age, from Christ’s first until his second coming. The sections are: ch 1-3; ch 4-7; ch 8-11; 12-14; 15-16; 17-19; 20-22. These in turn, he feels, fall into two groups: ch 1-11, where the theme running through is the struggle among men, between believers and unbelievers; and ch 12-22 present the deeper back-ground to this struggle upon earth, revealing that it is the outward manifestation of the devil’s attack upon the Man-child and then upon the Church through his helpers, the two beasts and the great harlot.

Understanding the seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath.

Each series can each be divided into groups of 4, 2 and 1. The first four share a com-mon nature. Seals 1 to 4 present in the symbols of the 4 horsemen the human agen-cies employed in executing the judgments (Scott), and are announced by each of the 4 living creatures in turn whom John has seen in ch 4 around God’s throne. Trumpets 1 to 4 each affect one-third of the natural world, but not directly men; and trumpets 5 to 7 are termed “Woes”. In Bowls 1 to 4, God uses the natural elements themselves to pass judgment on mankind which has abused them instead of stewarding them as God’s image-bearers (Wright). In each series the last judgment stands apart from its predecessors in its nature: a dramatic pause after the seals, an announcement of the Kingdom of God by the 7th trumpet and the announcement, “It is done! (OR “it has become!”) by the 7th bowl.

The seals & the trumpets are interrupted after no. 6 by visions which include the spread of the gospel message, the martyrs and their fate (see ch 7 and 11.1-14). There is a much briefer interruption (one verse, 16.15) after the 6th bowl is poured out, perhaps because now the end has come 3.

There is an escalation in the severity of the impact as the three series progress. The seal judgments, except for the 6th, are limited in their impact (see esp. 6.8, “one fourth of the earth”) compared with “one third” impact of the trumpet judgments (see 8.7-12 and 9.15,18), which are themselves limited compared with the worldwide and catastrophic impact of the bowl judgments 4. As each series progresses there is also an escalation of impact.

If we now look in more detail at the three series, we see some common features, but also some differences. First, the common features:• they are each initiated from the heavenly temple (ch 5; 8.2-5; ch 15)• The altar in heaven features in the 5th seal (the souls of the martyrs under the al-

tar, 6.9), in the introduction to the trumpet judgments (8.3ff) and in particular of the 6th trumpet (9.13f), and in making a response to the 3rd bowl judgment (16.7). It is clearly the altar of burnt offering in 6.9 and the incense altar in 8.3ff and 9.13, but the identity of the altar in 16.7 is unclear. It seems that the altar in heaven combines the functions of the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense 5

• each series are connected with the wrath of God, but that theme becomes increas-ingly clear as the visions progress from the seals (where it is mankind’s perception by the 5th seal that they are experiencing the wrath of God: see 6.16f), to the trumpets (see 11.18, unless this is looking forward to the bowls or to Christ’s re-turn) and finally to the bowls which are “filled with the wrath of God” (15.7; 16.1). See John’s comment at 15.1, when the bowl plagues are introduced: “seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished” (ESV).

• the final seal, trumpet and bowl are accompanied by the manifestations that mark a theophany - God coming in judgment to deliver his people (8.5; 11.19; 16.18) 6

3 So Pearce, commenting on ch 11.4 Though this escalation may be overstated. The description of the bowl judgments does not actually say that the whole world is affected by them. For this argument, see the end of the note on 16.2-21.5 See the note at 6.9 for a discussion of the meaning of the altar in heaven in Revelation.6 see the notes at 4.5 on the significance of thunder, voices, lightnings, earthquake & hail. But whereas the manifestations seem to mark the end of the trumpet and bowl series, that at 8.5 may mark the start of the trumpets rather than the end of the seals being opened.

• at the end of each series the kingdom of God and the saints replaces on earth the kingdoms of the world . This is not explicitly stated on the opening of the 7th seal (8.1), but I think it can be assumed from 5.10. It is proclaimed on the sounding of the 7th trumpet (11.15, 17). It is not explicitly stated at the end of ch 16, but the destruction of the institutions of the beast and of the world as the bowls are poured out and the final battle at Armageddon when Christ returns (16.14,16, described at 19.19ff) culminates in Christ’s reign with his resurrected saints in 20.4ff.

But there are also differences between the three series:• the 4 living creatures in turn announce the impact of the opening of seals 1-4 (6.1-

7). They do not feature in the trumpets series, but one of the living creatures gives the bowls of wrath to the seven angels (15.7).

• The Lamb opens each of the seven seals, but it is angels who blow the seven trum-pets and pour out the bowls of wrath. Angels hold back the destructive winds in 7.1 (see note), but destroying angels feature in delivering the 6th trumpet judg-ment (9.14).

• the prayers of the saints, symbolised by incense (5.8; 8.3f), appear to trigger the seals and the trumpet judgments, but not the bowl plagues.

• certain of the trumpets and bowls are meant to impact on that portion of mankind that has (so far) resisted the gospel message: see 8.13, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth” 7, the 5th trumpet judgment excluding those bearing God’s seal (9.4); the failure to repent as a result of the trumpets 1-6 and bowls 4, 5 & 7 (9.20f; 16.9,11, 21); and the 1st bowl being on those bearing the beast’s mark (16.2).

• the saints are protected from certain of the trumpet judgments and bowl plagues: see 7.1ff where the “servants of our God” are marked with a seal, which protects them from the 5th trumpet judgment; and the 1st bowl plague falls only on those bearing the beast’s mark (16.2). Yet the 5th seal’s opening reveals the martyrdom of the saints (6.9ff). Does this indicate that the saints are protected from all the trumpet judgments and bowl plagues, but not the opening of the seals?

• A purpose of the trumpets and bowls appears to be to bring people to repentance (see 9.20f; 16.9,11,21), though the two series appear to fail to do so.

• There are similarities in content between the events unleashed by the seals and Je-sus’ teaching on the signs preceding his return in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 - see the table at the start of ch 6 of the Commentary. But we don’t see the same similarities in the content of the trumpets and bowls.

• there are distinct similarities in content between each of the trumpet judgments and the corresponding bowl plagues (see the table at 16.2 for the detail), but the seal openings stand apart.

• the bowls of wrath are described as plagues (15.1, 6, 8; 16.9, 21). That term is used for elements of the 6th trumpet judgment (9.18, 20), though it is unclear whether all the trumpet judgments are to be seen as plagues. The use of this term reminds us of the plagues of Egypt and the content of most of the trumpets and bowl plagues has parallels with those plagues. (For the detail, see the table at 16.2.)

• The theme of God’s retribution and righteous judgment only appears with the bowls (15.4; 16.4-7, 19). See also the worship at 11.18 (following the 7th trum-pet), that, “the time has come . . for destroying those who destroy the earth”, which we see fulfilled as the bowl plagues progress until the climactic destruction of the 7th bowl.

7 see the note at 3.10 for the significance of this phrase

So in the light of the above, how should we understand the three series and their rela-tionship to each other? This will be affected by how we understand Revelation as a whole and the nature of its predictions (see the section further on in this Introduction on the predictions). So those who take a futurist interpretation will see the trumpets and bowls series, like the seals, as the countdown to Christ’s return and therefore de-scribing prophetically the end of the current age. Historicists will see each series as describing prophetically part of or the whole of the church age (the period from Christ’s first coming, or from Pentecost, to his second coming). I have summarised in the Commentary at the start of ch 6 (the seals), ch 8 (the trumpets) and ch 16 (the bowls) a range of interpretations held on that series.

In overview, the three series of seals, trumpets and bowls are John’s panoramic view of God working out his purposes and of divine judgment, whereas the other visions that intersperse them in ch 6 to 16 tend to be close-up studies of detail.

It is tempting to see the three series as warnings, plagues or judgments that re-late only to that portion of mankind that do not know God, or who have actively re-belled against him, whereas the focus is on the saints in the visions that intersperse the three series. Certainly the three series make very limited reference to the saints other than their martyrdom in the 5th seal. Caird maintains that John believed that, where all else failed, the death of the saints would bring men to repentance (see 12.11). 9.20f after the 6th trumpet says that men did not repent, but Caird sees the 7th trumpet as be-ing delayed (10.1-11.14 comes between the 6th and 7th trumpet, and see in particular 10.5ff) to give martyrdoms the chance to bring about this repentance, and holds that that repentance is described in 11.13. Caird also points to 2.16, 21; 3.9; 14.6; 15.3f & 18.4 as pointing to the repentance and conversion of those who have formerly been enemies of God and his people. I would see the great multitude saved in 7.9 and the 144,000 believers in 14.1-5 being firstfruits of a great harvest as showing that the saints’ witness bears much fruit, but connecting that directly with martyrdoms in Rev-elation is not as straightforward as we might think. (For a more detailed discussion of Caird’s view, see the section below, “What is the significance of the saints suffering in the NT and particularly in Revelation?” See also the discussion in the Commentary at 7.9.).

In terms of the escalation of the impact of mankind of the three series, Caird makes the point that God limits the self-destroying operation of evil to give men every possible opportunity for repentance (see 2 P 3.9), but in the end allows evil to run its destructive course to a close. This explains why God does not cut any shorter the suf-fering and martyrdom of his persecuted saints - that he does not do so is clear from 6.11.

For further discussion on each of the three series, see the notes in the Commentary at the start of the seals (6.1), the trumpets (8.2 and 8.6) and the bowls (15.1 and 16.2).

What is the focus of Revelation?

The focus of Revelation is Christ’s return – his second coming. This is in line with the rest of the NT which present his return above all else as the Christian’s hope. Af-ter an introduction reminiscent in 1.4-6 of how Paul started off his letters, John sets out what Revelation is all about: “Behold, he is coming . . .!” (1.7). Once we have read all of Revelation we can see that Christ’s return, described in 19.11-21, is in fact

the pivot of world history. Prior to this, in 4.1-19.10 we see and are given understand-ing of what will happen on earth and in the heavens that culminates in his return. We enter into our inheritance with Christ in his millennial reign (20.1-6), but realise that this will only reach its fullest and perfect form with the new heavens and earth (in 21.1 onwards).

John in the conclusion (22.6-13) recaps on what he set forth in 1.1-8. Consider the parallels:

22.6, “the Lord sent his angel to show to his servants what must become soon”, picks up 1.1, “God gave to him to show to his servants what must become soon, . . . having sent through his angel to his servant John”.22.7 (and 22.12& 20), “Behold, I am coming soon”, picks up 1.7, “behold, he is coming with the clouds”.22.7, “Blessed is he that keeps the words of this prophecy”, picks up 1.3, “Blessed is he that reads . . the prophecy and those who keep what is writ-ten in it”.22.8, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things”. Picks up 1.9, “I, John, . . . I heard (v 10) . . . I saw (v 12) . .”22.10, “do not seal up the words . . for the time is near”, picks up 1.3, “blessed is he that reads and those who hear the words . . for the time is near”.22.13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, picks up the same declaration in 1.822.16, “I Jesus sent my angel to testify to you (plural) these things for the churches”, picks up 1.1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ . . having sent through his angel”; also 1.2, “the testimony of Jesus Christ”, and 1.4 & 11, “to the . . churches”

Jesus coming soon is how Revelation ends. It is the focus of the book. We realise once we reach the end that it is all about the saints’ reward (see 22.12 and onwards), and the Lord – and John’s – concern that all his saints should overcome and enter into that reward. The parallels between the beginning and the end of Revelation confirm for me that we are right to see Christ’s return as set forth in 1.1-8 as the focus of the whole book.

Why did John write Revelation?· Because God gave him a revelation “to show his servants what must soon take

place” (1.1 = 22.6) and told him to write it on a scroll and send it to the 7 churches (1.11. See also 1.19 and the introduction to each of the messages to the church in ch. 2 & 3). The command, “Write!” is repeated at 14.13; 19.9 & 21.5.

· Because he was told by the angels in the vision that he “must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings” (10.11). The contents of 11.1 onwards are probably John’s response to this command, as they concern the destiny of all peoples and nations. “Again” implies that he had already prophesied, referring to the contents of Revelation up to 10.11.

· Because he was told (22.10) not to seal up the words of the book or scroll (probably meaning all that John had written), “because the time is near” (22.10; so too 1.3).

Why did the Lord give the contents of Revelation to John at this time?

Because of Amos 3.7, “Surely the Lord does nothing without revealing his plan (OR secret) to his servants the prophets”.We can also deduce the following from the message of the book itself:

· Because Revelation revealed “what must soon take place” (1.1 = 22.6). It was important that the Lord’s servants heard its contents and kept them (i.e. took to heart and acted accordingly) because “the time is near” (1.3; repeated in 22.10). That event was Christ’s return, and the whole panoply of events that would culminate in His return (see notes on 1.1 & 1.3 below).

· Because he wanted his local churches to come through the coming time of tribulation filled with overcomers (ch 2 & 3; 12.11; 15.2; 21.7). Caird holds that John wrote as a pastor to give courage and hope to men facing persecution – the one imminent event that John expected - and the book is designed to give them theological understanding of the place of their sufferings and struggles in God’s great plan of redemption of the world.

· To help his church withstand the coming times of persecution, testing and tribulation (2.10; 3.10f; 13.10; 14.12, 14-19), be it intimidating violence (by the Beast, 11.7; ch 13), Satanic deception (12.9; 20.3; by the False Prophet, 13.14; 19.20) or the pull of the world and all its allurements (“Babylon”; 17.2-5) that were coming and gain their reward (22.12), even if it meant martyr-dom.

· He wanted none of those believing in him to lose their crown (3.11) or be blot-ted out of the book of life (3.5; see also 16.15) and suffer the eternal fate of the cowardly and unbelieving (21.8).

What was the situation John’s readers were in/facing?· 1.9, “sharer in the suffering (lit. tribulation), kingdom and patient endurance in

Jesus”. i.e. persecution. John wrote Rev. in the closing years of the Emperor Domitian’s reign (which was 81-96 AD), according to Irenaeus. This is the only early evidence external to Revelation itself as to its date. It was first in Domitian that the demand for emperor-worship was openly made. As this is a prominent theme in the book, most scholars accept this date. Other, earlier dates depend on deductions from Rev 11.1f that the Jerusalem temple was still standing, so Rev. was written in the latter part of the Emperor Nero’s reign, (which was 54-68 AD) the first emperor to persecute the church. OR, based on the Beast’s 7 heads in 17.10 (see my notes there), in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD).

· Ch 2-3, the specific situations in the 7 churches. These were: suffering caused by persecution (2.10, 13); coolness in love for Jesus (2.4); spiritual compla-cency - lukewarmness (3.15) and even deadness in faith (3.1); false teaching (2.6, 15) and compromise with surrounding paganism (2.14f, 20-24).

How far did John write and how far are the contents of Rev. meant to address this immediate situation?The answer to this determines how we interpret much of Revelation. OR is Revelation a prophetic description of a longer timescale, designed by the Lord who gave the rev-elation (1.1; 22.16) for the church throughout the ages and perhaps specifically for the church in the last generation before Christ’s return? OR is it both? (The same argu-ment applies to much if not all of the OT prophetic books, including Daniel. Most evangelical scholars believe that they were triggered by specific situations that the au-thors wrote to address, but that God gave them revelation and content that in some

cases included long-term predictions and warnings & encouragements based around them that as well as being for their contemporaries are for believers down the cen-turies.)In interpreting Revelation in the light of our attitude to these questions, we have to be wary of circular reasoning. There is a danger in deducing from a passage what was the situation faced/addressed, then reading back into how we interpret that very same passage what we think was the situated addressed/faced.

Is Revelation apocalyptic literature, and what does this mean?For a readable summary of what constitutes apocalyptic literature and its distinctive features, see Dennis E Johnson’s Introduction to Revelation in the ESV Study Bible.There is also a more scholarly and technical article in the New Bible Dictionary (IVP).

Jewish apocalyptic literature flourished in the centuries after the completion of the books accepted as part of the OT. The most important feature of apocalyptic liter-ature that we see in Revelation is its extensive use of visions that conveyed their meaning through symbolism. However, the symbolism was often fluid (see for exam-ple Rev 17.9f where the beast’s seven heads have two interpretations); so in under-standing Revelation we must not interpret symbolic terms rigidly as if they were a code. Fortunately, Revelation itself provides the clues for interpreting many of the symbols, or we can readily see from their occurrences elsewhere in the Bible what they are likely to mean. (See the next section, “How should we interpret the symbol-ism in Revelation?”)

Some interpreters argue that Revelation is apocalyptic literature and that there-fore to accept at face value much of what is written there will mislead the reader, be-cause apocalyptic literature did not describe what would happen in such terms. But the challenges to the hearer/reader in many parts of Revelation to heed what is re-vealed and to act accordingly (e.g. 1.3; 22.7) and the command “not to seal up the words of the prophecy of this book” (22.10) do not make sense if the genre was such that straightforward understandable was not possible. And I think it unlikely that John’s contemporaries in the churches in Asia were on the whole skilled in interpret-ing Jewish apocalyptic literature (see the section of the Foreword, “What is my own stance on interpreting Revelation?”), so I find it hard to believe that the Spirit would prompt John to write in a genre where straightforward understanding would be mis-leading. Also, if Pawson is right in that John was furiously writing down what was being revealed to him, and that there was a minimum of later editing/improvement by him 8, this seems to rule out a later recasting of what he saw and heard into the apoca-lyptic genre.

Finally, if we have to “Aim off” by not accepting anything literally, even in passages which do not appear to be symbolic, we leave ourselves open to perils of subjective interpretation.

How should we interpret the symbolism in Revelation?As in earlier apocalyptic literature, John uses symbolism more than any other book in the Bible. Instead of portraying characters and events directly, he usually portrays them indirectly by means of symbols. For example, Jesus is a lamb, the seven churches of Asia are lampstands, Satan is a dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns, and so on.

8 See the section below, “Should we simply read Revelation as it is and let the word speak to us without all this analysis?” for this argument.

However, the meaning of many of the symbols are described to John. Where this is not the case, occasionally studies into how John’s contemporaries might under-stand them can give us insights. But generally if we go to the OT we can find ways of understanding these symbols. Also, we would expect that the features of NT teaching on “the end times” would also be present in Revelation, and that can guide us on in-terpreting symbols. After using these approaches, the number of symbols that remain mysterious are few in my judgment.

How should we understand the predictions in Revelation? Predictions by definition are future to the readers in John’s day, but how far ahead of them did the predictions stretch? And are they past, present or still future to us who read them 20 centuries later? It is now recognised that there are 4 major ways of in-terpreting Revelation, based on how these questions are answered. They are:

· Preterist . They regard the predictions as fulfilled by Jerusalem’s fall in 70 AD or during the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, and Revelation as written to prepare Christians of John’s day for this. Partial Preterists accept that some of Revelation’s predictions are still future - Christ’s second coming, the resurrection of believers at the end of history, and the new heavens and earth.

· Historicist . They believe the predictions cover the entire “church age” until the 2nd coming of Christ and the new heaven and earth. Some scholars vary this approach by believing that Revelation covers the whole of church history more than once, constantly returning to the beginning and going over the events from another perspective. – a cyclical approach.

· Futurist . They hold that ch 2-3 relate to churches in John’s day (some see them as predicting different periods in church history to the end of the church age), but believe that the central block of predictions (6.1-19.10) applies to the last few years leading up to Christ’s second coming. Then comes Christ’s reign on earth for a 1,000 years with his resurrected saints (20.1-6). At the end of the 1,000 years comes the general resurrection, the last judgment and the new heavens and earth.

· Idealist . They do not believe that there is correlation between passages in Revelation and particular events; rather, they see Revelation as picturing the eternal struggle between good and evil, between Christ and his Church on the one hand, and Satan and his evil conspirators on the other, from the apostolic age to Christ’s second coming. So the truths in it can be applied to any cen-tury. However, this approach can tend to treat Revelation as “myth”, not as speaking of real (albeit future) events. The stories contain truths which at times have to be dug out of the narrative, leaving behind some of what is there as being the package rather than the content. It is usually connected with the Greek philosophical view that separated the spiritual and physical, the sacred and secular, eternity and time. This view saw history as cyclical, which cut out the concept of an “end time”, or a climax or conclusion to history.

There are strengths in each of these interpretive approaches and elements in each can often be used together. Different passages in Revelation may require different ap-proaches. The student has to study the context and keep asking, what meaning was intended by the divine author and John the human writer? Questions I have found my-self asking in seeking to understand a passage include:

· What is clearly meant to be symbolic and what is to be taken at face value? And can a passage be both?

· Whether and how far an apparently concrete term or event should be inter-preted in a spiritual sense, rather than the plain sense?

· Is there more than one meaning to a particular passage?· How far should we confine interpretation to how we think the reader in John’s

day (i.e. without a complete, cross-referenced Bible at his elbow) would have understood the passage?

· Where a passage alludes to an OT text or to a concept elsewhere in the OT or NT, how far did John or the inspiring Spirit intend us to apply that truth in un-derstanding the Revelation passage? AND how far should we see an OT pas-sage as being fulfilled in the sense and context in which it is used in Revela-tion, and is the way it is used in Revelation the only way we should understand that OT passage? OR did John at times simply write and think in OT phrases and language without any further significance?

Should we simply read Revelation as it is and let the word speak to us without all this analysis?Pawson makes the point strongly that Revelation was written to be read aloud to the congregation in a local church (see 1.3, “blessed are those who hear it . . “). The aver-age believer would not have been educated as a scholar. Most would have been gen-tiles and unlikely to have a detailed understanding of the OT. Very few would have ready access to any of the OT text. Hearing the prophecy read aloud would mean they would not have the opportunity to go over and over what a passage might mean. Yet John expected them to understand and heed what he had written - see 1.3; 22.7 and the ending of each of the 7 letters to the churches in ch 2 & 3. There would be some symbolism they would understand that we don’t, but that would be all. So, interpreta-tions that are complex and depart from a straight meaning of the sentences are un-likely to be what John wished to communicate. Which means that the average be-liever today who understands the gospel message ought to be able to understand the overall message of Revelation without serious problems.

So why bother with a commentary like this one? Because there is another an-gle to understanding Revelation. Pawson holds that the peculiar (ungrammatical and striking) Greek which John wrote – quite different from the Greek of John’s Gospel and Epistles and the Greek of any other NT book – was because he was writing down furiously what he was seeing and hearing as the visions were given him. See 10.4 where John is about to write what he has just heard the seven thunders saying, but is told not to. See also the frequent prompts to him (which he recorded!) to write down what he was seeing & hearing (1.11,19; 14.13; 19.9; 21.5). The text of Revelation is not therefore the product of meditation and reflection on what he had seen and heard. The eminent critical scholar R C Charles (see Caird) argued that John’s Greek had the hybrid grammar of a man thinking in Hebrew whilst he wrote in Greek, which is not incompatible with Pawson’s view. Also, consider the implications of the warning in 22.18f against anyone adding to or taking away from the text – unique in the NT – which suggests that John was seeking to record exactly what he was seeing and hear-ing, knowing it was straight from the Lord himself.

If we accept the orthodox Evangelical position on the verbal inspiration of the whole of the Bible, then as with the other books of the OT and NT there are further insights to be gained through reflection, meditation and analysis of His word, particu-lar comparison and analysis with other parts of the inspired word – provided we seek

to do this in submission to the Lord and led by his Spirit (see the warnings in 1 Corinthians about relying on human wisdom and reason, 1 Cor 1.20 to 2.16). BUT if any interpretation that we arrive at by such a process is incompatible with a straight-forward understanding of the text, it is unlikely to be what the Lord intended in giving Revelation to John for the church.

Why are there so many references and allusions to the OT and how should we understand them?Revelation has more use of OT phrases and allusions to people, events and concepts in the OT than any other book in the NT. There are 6 OT books in particular to which Revelation alludes:

OT book No. of allusions in Rev

No. of chapters Ave no. allusions per chapter

Psalms (1) 108 150 0.7

Isaiah 155 66 2.3

Jeremiah 74 52 1.4

Ezekiel 110 48 2.3

Daniel 83 12 6.9

Zechariah 33 14 2.4

(1) Psalm 2 (has 12 verses) has the most allusions: 7 in all. Psalm 79 (13 verses) has 6 allusions.

See the section, “How should we understand the predictions in Revelation?” (last bul-let point) for the challenges this poses. Caird holds that this is one of the ways in which John reminds his readers (originally, hearers) that the events they must live through are part of God’s all-embracing purpose. He proposes that:

- His allusions to the OT imply that we can and should interpret history as al-ready foreshadowed in the prophetic writings;

- His use of typology, especially of the Exodus story (see note at 8.6) points to an eternal pattern in how God orders history;

- His frequent references to the Babylonian creation myth (see note at 4.6 on the sea of glass) show the imminent crisis of persecution as part of the age-long battle between good and evil, light and darkness;

- His use of eschatological language to to assert that history is moving towards an end and therefore has a meaning.

But Caird maintains that John is constantly reinterpreting the OT, especially its prophetic promises, in the light of Jesus’ earthly life and death, as only this event pro-vides the key to the divine purpose. I have pointed out in the course of the commen-tary where Caird sees this happening. In particular, Caird argues that the OT led the Jews of John’s day to expect a Messiah overthrowing God’s enemies and fulfilling God’s plan for the world as the Lion of Judah, but Revelation presents to us a Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter (5.5f) – the Lamb is by far the most frequent term used to describe Christ in Revelation. Caird sees 5.5f as the key to all John’s use of the OT, as if John was saying, wherever the OT speaks of “Lion”, we should read “Lamb”. So, wherever the OT speaks of the Messiah’s victory or the overthrow of

God’s enemies, the gospel tells us that the only way of God achieving these ends is the way of the Cross and we should interpret accordingly the passages in Revelation that employ such concepts.

I argue (see the commentary) that Caird frequently carries this too far. Whilst most evangelical Christians would accept reading the OT in the light of the NT and its presentation of Jesus, it leads Caird at points to an extensive re-interpretation of Reve-lation away from a plain reading of the text, including the meaning of Jesus’ second coming. His reinterpretations include:

- The OT prediction of the Messiah ruling (even smashing) the nations with a rod of iron (employed in 2.27; 12.5; 19.15), but the only weapon the Lamb wields is his Cross and the martyrdom of his followers;

- The seven spirits of God (1.4; 3.1; 4.5) can be let loose in the world only as the eyes of the Lamb (5.6);

- The “Red Sea” through which the Lamb’s followers achieve their Exodus is the bloodbath of their own deaths as martyrs (15.2; 14.18)

- The Beast from the Abyss can be overcome only by being allowed to conquer (13.7, “it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them”) and so to burn itself out.

Is there clear evidence in Revelation of John reinterpreting OT prophecies in the light of Jesus’ life and work?All the NT writers interpret the OT in the light of Jesus’ coming, life and work, in-cluding seeing many prophecies as fulfilled in him. I have tried to identify instances where John in Revelation goes beyond what we see elsewhere in the NT, or where the OT plain meaning seems radically altered. The only one I could find was in Rev 1.7, “and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples (lit. tribes) of the earth (OR land) will mourn because of him”, Q Zech 12.10. John may be reinterpreting this to mean, not the inhabitants of Jerusalem (as in Zech 12.10), but all the peoples of the earth. BUT that is not the only interpretation of this verse (see the commentary).

I have concluded, therefore, that the reinterpretations that Caird finds in Reve-lation are the result of him applying his own theological beliefs – always the risk for anyone trying to understand and interpret Revelation.

What is the significance of the saints’ suffering in the NT and particularly in Revelation?Are Caird and others right in interpreting Revelation to bring out as a central theme the redemptive role of the saints suffering as the means by which many will be brought to faith in Christ and evil be defeated? In the rest of the NT, the persecution and resultant suffering of the saints has a number of purposes or consequences. See the analysis below, in which purposes or consequences found in Revelation are in bold:

- It is sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Rom 8.17; 2 Cor 1.5; 4.10ff; Gal 6.17; Phil 3.10; 1 P 4.13), even carrying around in our bodies his death (2 Cor 4.10f)

- It will lead to us sharing in his glory (Rom 8.17f; 2 Cor 4.17; 1 P 1.6f; 4.13)- There will be eternal rewards: the crown of life (Rev 2.10); reigning with

Christ for 1,000 years (Rev 20.4)). See too the rewards and the inheritance of “the overcomers” (2.7 & the other 6 letters to the churches; 15.2; 21.7) (more generally, see 7.14-17; 11.18; 22.12).

- We will be “kept from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Rev 3.10)

- It refines our faith (1 P 1.7; Rom 5.3; 2 Cor 1.9)- It leads to holy living (1 P 4.1f)- They are divinely sent judgment intended to purify the saints (1 P 4.16f).- It enables us to console and encourage other saints who are in trouble (2 Cor

1.6)- The life of Jesus is revealed in us – which works life in others. It is for their

benefit (2 Cor 4.10ff, 15)- It “fills up what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of

his body, the church”, i.e. in carrying the gospel to a lost world so that they may obtain salvation (Col 1.24; 2 T 2.10; see Eph 3.13)

- It is “suffering for the gospel” (2 T 1.8; 2.8f; Acts 5.41; 9.16; 15.26; 21.13; Rev 6.9)

- It brings about the repenting and turning to the Lord of others (implied by Rev 11.1-13?)

- It results in the expulsion of Satan and his angels from heaven to earth (Rev 12.7-12). This results in Satan’s “time being short”: his reign of terror on the earth via the Beast only lasts 3 ½ years before Christ’s return and his being bound and imprisoned for 1,000 years (20.1-3). But that this expulsion results in others being saved during the 3 ½ years is not stated. It seems likely that the 144,000 “firstfruits” seen in 14.1-5 standing on the heavenly Mount Zion with the Lamb signify a much greater harvest to follow of converts to Christ in the final period before Christ returns, but again there is no explicit connection with the expulsion of Satan or with those saints who have died martyrs’ deaths. We do not know when the “great multitude that no-one could count . . who have come out of the great tribulation” (7.9-14) are converts from the last 3 ½ years or saints from before that period who keep their faith during that in-tense persecution.

- Their blood (i.e. martyr’s death) will be avenged by the Lord (Rev 6.9ff 16.6; 17.6 with 18.5f, 20, 24; 19.2)

So, from the above analysis, the saints’ faith, witness and willingness to die for the gospel (12.11) bring about the Lord’s return and his (millennial) reign (12.10), but there are only hints in Revelation that it brings about others turning to the Lord in faith. Likewise in the rest of the NT there are hints that suffering for the gospel leads to others obtaining salvation, but no unequivocal statements. Caird’s thesis, therefore, seems to me to be overstated.

This is not to dispute the evidence from church history that martyrdoms are followed by many more becoming believers - as in the celebrated saying, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”.

Is Revelation the church’s equivalent from the Lord of the book of Daniel?Besides both books being in the genre of apocalyptic literature, there are a number of parallels:

· Both belonged to and wrote their prophecies for people dominated by a for-eign power that was liable to demand worship.

· Both prophesied coming times of persecution & suffering.· Both helped their people understand suffering and persecution by prophesying

way ahead of their time, including especially the close of the age and God’s fi-

nal victory. (I take the whole of Daniel as being written at the dates set out in the book.)

· the sequence in both of kings/empires until the close of the age.· The frequent use by John of images in Daniel – e.g. the beast, proxies for 3 1/2

years· Both saw the triumph and consummation of the eternal Kingdom of God, with

the coming Son of Man (Dn 7.13f) / returning Christ (Rev 1.7 etc) as the di-vine person who brings it in.

Consider too the contrasts:· Rev 1.1, “to show his servants what must soon take place”, compared with the

long timescales revealed to and explained by Daniel – ch 2 & 7 (4 world em-pires), 9.24 (70 “weeks” of years); 11.2-35 (a long succession of kings)

· Daniel’s anxiety, perplexity and lack of understanding (7.28; 8.27; 12.8); he was told to “seal up the words until the time of the end” (12.4, 9). In contrast, John received revelation (1.1) and explanations (e.g. 7.14) and must have be-lieved he understood and was able to communicate understanding to his read-ers (see the blessing on those who “keep these words”, 1.3; 22.7), and was told, “Do not seal up the words . . because the time is near” (22.10).

· Revelation’s emphasis on “the time is near”, whereas Daniel’s visions were concerning “the last of the days” (2.28), “the time of the end” (8.17,19; see 11.40; 12.4), “the distant future” (8.26), “at the end of the days” (10.14), “the time of the end for it will still come at the appointed time” (11.35).

· The 3 ½ years of tribulation was revealed to Daniel only in cryptic form and lying at the end of a lengthy timescale (at least 70 x 7 years, Dn 9.24-27); but in Revelation it is explained in detail and as being imminent.

· Daniel was written for the purpose of encouraging Israel to faith and en-durance; Revelation was written for the church which included believing Jews but was predominantly Gentile.

Revelation therefore continues and builds on Daniel. Christians even in the first gen-eration of the Church were in “the last days” (see my notes on 1.3 and 2.5), so what was hidden from Daniel is now explained and the saints enlightened so they can over-come and enter their destiny. It is right, therefore, in my view, to understand Revela-tion symbolism as having the same meaning or being an understandable progression from what is in Daniel. I think that this intimate use of Daniel is because the Lord through Revelation wants to make it clear how the saints down the ages, Jew and Gentile, and in particular in the generation in which the Lord returns will share in God’s kingdom and the pain and suffering involved in bringing it in. Daniel is unique among the OT books in be-ing written (in ch 2-7 which were written in Aramaic) explicitly for the nations and not just Israel. Revelation (and of course large portions of the NT) continue this tradi-tion.

Note too that John in Revelation has, on my count, 83 allusions to the book of Daniel. Given the length of Daniel compared with other OT books that Revelation al-ludes to, this is a much greater number of allusions relatively than to any other book. This shows how central Daniel’s visions were to John.

Did John believe that the church had replaced Israel as God’s chosen people? Replacement Theology is the term given to the belief that the Jewish leaders’ rejec-tion of Jesus as the Messiah at his first coming meant that from henceforth and for all eternity God’s chosen people would be the Church (which includes individual Jews

who trust in Jesus as the Messiah & Son of God) and all the promises to Israel not ful-filled by 70 AD (the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish nation) should be in-terpreted as being fulfilled in and through the Church, which is the now the Israel of God. This belief necessitates a spiritual interpretation of most of those promises to Is-rael, which goes beyond the inclusion of believing Gentiles in God’s promises to his people Israel. How we answer this question affects how we interpret Revelation at numerous points. How we interpret OT promises should be led by how the NT un-derstands those promises. Clearly, the insights we have from the New Covenant, the contrast between law and grace and salvation being for everyone that believes regard-less of race will affect how we understand those promises.

But there are numerous statements of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants that make it clear that it was everlasting and unconditional (Gen 17.7; Lev 26.44; Deut 4.31; 9.5f; 2 Sm 7.15; Ps 89.34; 94.14; 105.8f; 106.45; 111.5; Am 9.8f; Jer 30.11; 31.35ff; Ezek 16.60; 20.44; Mal 3.6). Though God would scatter them among the nations when they broke their part of the covenant, God would never break his and would bring them back from the four corners of the earth (Deut 32.26; Isa 11.12). Such a worldwide dispersion and return did not happen during the Babylonian exile and return, but is happening today with the establishment of the State of Israel. It was to a people restored to their land that God promised a deliverer from Zion (Isa 59.20f), a new covenant (Jer 31.1-40) and his outpoured Spirit (Joel 2.28-32). Jesus foresaw their restoration: see Mt 23.39; Lk 21.24; Acts 1.6f; Mt 19.28 & Lk 22.30. See Paul’s argument in Rom 9-11. The future destiny of Jews and Gentiles who be-lieve in Jesus is identical (Jn 10.16; Rev 21.12ff). They will be one people living un-der one (new) covenant 9.

I believe that Revelation can most naturally be interpreted alongside interpret-ing the OT prophecies about Israel as being fulfilled by that physically and spiritually restored nation with believing Gentiles sharing their inheritance, as explained by Paul in Romans 11 and Eph 2.11-3.7. Consider the following in Revelation:• the role of Israel in 7.2-8; • the temple of God and the 2 witnesses resembling Moses and Elijah in 11.2-13;• the woman who gave birth to the Messiah in ch 12;• the physical location of the last battle with the returning Christ (16.16 with 19.19);• “the city He loves”, i.e. Jerusalem, in 20.9;• the gates of the new Jerusalem bearing the names of the 12 tribes of Israel (21.12)

alongside the foundations of the walls being the 12 Apostles;• possibly the significance of the 24 elders around God’s throne (see note on 4.4).In addition, if 1.7 should be translated, “all the tribes of the land will mourn . . .”, in line with Zech 12.10, then Israel’s future response to their returning Messiah come right at the start of the prophecy. We can see in Rev 1.4-7 a fusion of the fulfilment of the promises to Israel with the fulfilment of the promises to Jesus’ followers. From the perspective of the people of Israel, there is the fulfilment of three things: (i) their calling to be a “kingdom of priests” (Ex 19.6); (ii) the promise of the consummation of God’s kingdom, which is also the kingdom of the saints, with the coming of “one like a son of man” (Dan 7.13f,18), and (iii) the prophesied response of the tribes of Is-rael to their crucified Messiah (Zech 12.10-14). From the perspective of Jesus’ fol-lowers, there is the fulfilment of their longing and expectation for him to return as

9 This paragraph draws on David Pawson’s book, “When Jesus Returns”, Hodder & Stoughton 1995, in which he gives five reasons why Christ will return physically to the earth, and his saints with him. The paragraph summarises the second reason, “to convert the Jews”.

ruler of the kings of the earth and for them to reign with him and function as priests to God - functions that they carry out already in his kingdom now, but which still await a glorious consummated fulfilment. Seen this way, the two perspectives blend into one - and have one fulfilment. All this is made possible because Jesus the promised Mes-siah has already come, lived as the faithful witness and died to free by his blood both Israel and the Gentiles from their sins and to overcome death for them. We are now one people, sealed in his new covenant by his blood, and fulfilling all the promises.

In fact, the whole of Revelation comes over in a new light if we regard God’s faithful people since Pentecost until the present as one continuous people from and therefore sharing the heritage of his faithful ones in OT times, a people which now in-cludes Gentile believers and is the NT church. I suggest that John wrote Revelation from that standpoint. (For the implications of this position, see the last part of the arti-cle below, “How should we interpret the Kingdom of God/Heaven?”.) Let us ask ourselves, how would a Jewish Christian understand Revelation in John’s day, one who knew the OT, and who was looking forward to Christ his Messiah’s re-turn, “who must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3.21). I suggest the follow-ing:

1.4, “the seven churches”: the word ‘ekklesia’ was the word regularly used by the LXX to translate the Hebrew ‘qahal’ , “congregation” or “assembly” of God’s people (e.g. Dt 23.1, “assembly of the Lord”; 31.30, “assembly of Is-rael”)1.6: the OT designation of Israel as “a kingdom and priests”, Ex 19.6, natu-rally applies to them;1.7: “even those who pierced him” recalls the nation of Israel’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion (though the agents were Roman soldiers). It is possible that the whole of 1.7 is about Israel at the time of Christ’s return and we should read, “all the tribes of the land will mourn”. See the commentary.1.9: “companion (lit. “fellow-sharer”) in the kingdom”, i.e. the Kingdom of God, the same kingdom as David and his descendants on his throne ruled as God’s earthly representative, of which Jesus is the final Davidic King and the supreme representative of God the Great King1.12, “7 golden lampstands”: In Zech 4.2 the lampstand is the symbol for Is-rael, the people of God1.13, “one like a son of man”, pointing to Dan 7.13 who in his coming and “the saints of the Most High receiving the kingdom” joins together both the faithful in Israel in OT times with all who accept Jesus the Son of Man as their king in and since the NT.2.5: the threat to “remove your lampstand” would make vivid sense to a Jew-ish Christian who knew his people’s history. He would recall how the north-ern tribes of Israel went astray, refused to turn from idolatry and were cut off by the Lord. It might also bring to his mind how both kingdom ended up in exile and only a remnant continued as God’s people. Also he would call to mind Jesus’ judgment on the Jews of his day (in the Parable of the Tenants, Mk 12.1-12) that he would “give the vineyard to others”.2.9 (also 3.9), “those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan”: the real Jews are those who proclaim Jesus as their Messiah and King.

3.5, “I will never blot out his name from the book of life” – a book which con-tained the names of the faithful in and from OT times (for references see the note on 3.5).3.7, Christ is the one “who holds the key of David”.3.12, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God”.3.12, “I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem”.7.3-8, the 144,000 servants of God from all the tribes of Israel – included in the multitude from every tribe, tongue, people and nation of 5.9 and 7.9. Has this multitude been the fruit of the final generation of the church fulfilling Christ’s great commission to make disciples and Mt 24.14 (the “good news of the kingdom” being preached in the whole world)?7.14, the “great tribulation” would be seen as the “time of distress” of Dn 12.1 in which “your people . . will be delivered”.11.15, “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”: the Messianic kingdom of the ideal Davidic king foretold by Isaiah ch 9 & 11 and Psalm 2 and fulfilling Daniel 7.11.17f reads like a summary of Isaiah and the other Prophets as they described in prophecy the end of this age, the restoration of Israel and the coming reign of God & his king.12.1-6, the woman would be seen as the true Israel, out of which Jesus the Messiah came.12.7, Michael is the great prince who protects the people of Israel (Dan 12.1), which would confirm that the time period now described in Revelation is the “time of distress” of Dan 12.1.12.10, “now have come the salvation . . and the kingdom . . “ would immedi-ately indicate that Daniel 7.11 to end was being fulfilled and the kingdom of the saints was just round the corner.12.14, the “time, times and half a time” would confirm the above that Daniel 7 was now being fulfilled.Ch 13, the Beast and its persecution of the saints would further confirm the above. The prophesied extreme suffering of the saint (also in 14.12) would be seen as Dan 8 and 12.1 entering their final fulfilment (8.17, 19, 26 state it con-cerns “the time of the end” or “many days”).16.14 & 16, the kings gathered to Armageddon for the battle on the great day of God Almighty, following on from the judgment described with the harvest and winepress metaphors (Rev 14.15-20) would strongly suggest that Joel 3 was being fulfilled.Ch 17 & 18, Babylon would be viewed first of all as the oppressor of God’s people who held them in slavery outside their inheritance, but whose fall was prophesied at length in Isaiah and Jeremiah and would, at the time of the end (the subject of Rev 6-19), allow the return of God’s people Israel to their God-given inheritance and their restoration to faith in him.19.1-7, the shouts of praise, Halleluia, would bring to mind the well-known Psalms 135 and 146-150 that celebrated God’s deliverance of his people and his reign as King and commanded all the faithful and indeed all mankind to praise him.19.7, the marriage of the Lamb would bring to mind that Israel was destined to be God’s bride and he had promised to draw her back to him (Isa 54.5-7; also 62.4f; 50.1; Hos 2.16-19)

19.9, the wedding supper would remind him of the promised Messianic ban-quet in God’s Kingdom (see Lk 14.15 and Jesus’ answer in the Parable of the great banquet; also Lk 13.29; 22.16.)ch 20, the 1,000 year reign of the saints would remind him again that Daniel 7 was being fulfilled, and the resurrection of the martyrs of the resurrection prophesied in Dan 12.Ch 21, the new Jerusalem, would draw him to all those OT promises about Jerusalem / Zion and her glory, where God reigned and dwelt among his peo-ple, that were yet to be fulfilled.22.16, “I am the root and the offspring of David” (see also 5.5) would bring to mind that the ideal king in the line of David and his glorious reign including over the nations, prophesied in the OT, was to be fulfilled and was the glori-ous destiny of God’s people – the kingdom of God on earth.

As well as the above, the multitude of allusions to the OT in Revelation would all re-inforce this thesis of one continuous people of God expecting their inheritance.

How should we interpret the physical & material promises to Israel?The promises to the people of Israel in the OT combined the spiritual (e.g. knowing God’s love, being his people, having the Spirit, worshipping Him) with the material (they were given a land with specific boundaries; they would, under their Messiah as King enthroned in Jerusalem, rule over the nations). The NT emphasises the spiritual promises to believers, including Gentiles; but material promises are still there and in fact make up an important part of believers’ hope. Critically, Jesus promised to return to this earth in his resurrected, material body in the same way that he ascended to heaven (Acts 1.11). Also, Christians whether alive or dead when Christ returns will be resurrected and given new physical but imperishable bodies – Christ’s resurrected body is the pattern (1 Cor 15; Phil 3.21. Jesus will return to the earth and resurrected believers – you and I – will be on the earth with him (1 Th 4.14: “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep through him”). When he comes (Mt 25.31-46) all the nations (OR Gentiles) will be gathered before him and he will separate one from another, to determine who will take their inheritance, the kingdom prepared for them. The implication is that, just as Christ will return to this earth, so this inheritance and kingdom will be on this earth.

However, the Church Fathers, especially those from the Eastern wing of the Church, under the influence of Greek philosophy, increasingly spiritualised the mate-rial promises. Augustine championed this approach and it became the orthodox theol-ogy thenceforth until the Reformation and beyond. Calvin in particular incorporated it in his theology, alongside replacement theology. That theology maintains that the Church since Pentecost has replaced Israel - the Jews - as God’s people, and that therefore all the promises to Israel must be reinterpreted as fulfilled in the Church.

In the light of all the above, how should Christians who take the Bible seri-ously understand the physical and material promises to Israel in the OT? Dispensa-tional theology (it first appeared in 1830) tackles this issue by dividing world history into 7 “dispensations”, in each of which God relates to humans on a different basis. This enables its proponents to see a very different and earth-based destiny for Israel – a literal fulfilling, they claim, of all that is in the OT prophets - from that for the Church, which they see as spiritual and heavenly. The best-known aspect of their the-ology is their contention that Christ’s return will be in two stages. The first stage will be the rapture, his coming in secret for his true Church, for true believers, which will occur suddenly and will take them out of the world for the last few years until Christ’s

return in glory, which every eye will see - the second stage of his return. Therefore, on this interpretation, those who come to faith in Christ before the rapture, the first stage of his return, will not have to endure the trials and tribulations of the saints on earth described in Rev 4-18, as they will be in heaven with their Lord until the second stage of his coming, when they will return with Christ. The two-stage interpretation of Christ’s return is now held by many students of prophecy who would not call them-selves Dispensationalists and who would not follow certain other aspects of their the-ology 10.

However, the Dispensational belief system as a whole goes considerably be-yond what is plain from the Bible and in particular gives inadequate weight to aspects of Jesus’ teaching on “one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10.16), and Paul’s teaching in Rom 11 on the “full number of the Gentiles” being grafted into one olive tree. It also has difficulty with the Letter to the Hebrews’ teaching that the old covenant is obso-lete and ageing” and “will soon disappear”, including the whole Mosaic sacrificial system. Whilst understanding and holding together all the prophecies (OT as well as NT) about Christ’s return does present challenges, seeing that return as in two stages is not the natural way to understand their meaning 11. And, critically, it tempts Chris-tians to disregard the plain reason why Christ gave Revelation to John for the church, which was to prepare believers for the trials to their faith that would face them in the run-up to his return. I suggest that it is truer to the Bible as a whole to understand the fulfilment of all the promises to Israel within the Classical Premillennialist under-standing in which Christ’s return is a single event 12 and the OT prophecies about Is-rael as being fulfilled by that physically and spiritually restored nation with believing Gentiles sharing their inheritance, as explained by Paul in Romans 11 and Eph 2.11-3.7 13.

Throughout the Commentary I have pointed out the particular Dispensational-ist interpretations of passages in Revelation which are known to me, together with al-ternatives, to enable readers to form their own judgment.

How should we interpret the Kingdom of God/Heaven?How we answer the two questions heading the last two sections affects how we deal with the tension brought out in the NT that the Kingdom is both present (see Rev 1.9) and future / “not yet” (see Rev 11.15). In what way do the saints “reign” both now and in the future and how will this change on Christ’s return?

10 it is often termed, “Pretribulational Premillennialism”, or the “pre-mill pre-trib” position, as it holds that Christ’s return for his church will be before the millennial reign of Rev 20 and before the tribulation period at the close of this age - see Rev 7.14 and ch 13. The statement of faith of the Prophetic Witness Movement International (see their website pwmi.org), of which the “pre-mill pre-trib” understanding of Christ’s return is a key part, does not use the word “dis-pensation” anywhere, though it is clear that some contributors of articles to their monthly mag-azine have a dispensational understanding of prophecy, Israel and the Church.11 See Annex 3 for my attempt to interpret all the scriptures about Christ’s return as a single event. This is often termed, “Classical Premillennialism”. Christ returns before the millennial reign of Rev 20 but after the the tribulation period at the close of this age - see Rev 7.14 and ch 13.12 The two main Premillennialist positions are described in the section below headed, How do we understand Revelation chapter 20, that Christ will reign on earth a 1,000 years with his resurrected saints?13 In the second half of Annex 3, I seek to develop this position further in terms of what the 1,000 years of Rev 20, often termed the “millennial reign” or the “millennial kingdom”, means for mankind.

To help us address this question, I have summarised below (with some additions) the helpful short article by John H Stek on God as the Great King in his introduction to the Psalms in the NIV Study Bible by Hodder and Stoughton. 1985:

- God from the beginning of creation is the Great King over all creation – the One to whom all things are subject. His reign is eternal.

- Ultimately he will not tolerate any power that opposes, denies or ignores him. He will come to rule the nations so that all will acknowledge him, purging the world of all rebellion to his rule. This is the consummation of his rule.

- As the Great King, God chose Israel to be his servant people. He united them with himself in a covenant as the initial embodiment of his redeemed king-dom.

- As the Great King and Israel’s covenant Lord, God chose David as his royal representative on earth. The Lord anointed him and adopted him as his royal “son” to rule in his name.

- God covenanted to preserve the Davidic dynasty. From now on, the Kingdom of God on earth was linked to the house of David by God’s decision and com-mitment.

- As God’s royal representatives on earth, in concept “seated at God’s right hand” (Ps 110.1), the extent of the Davidic kings’ rule was potentially world-wide (see Ps 2).

- As the Great King and Israel’s covenant Lord, God also chose Jerusalem, the city of David, as his own royal city, the earthly seat of his throne. So Jerusalem – Zion – became the earthly capital (and symbol) of the Kingdom of God. There in his royal palace, the temple, he sat enthroned among his peo-ple. There they could meet with him with praises and prayers and to see his power and glory. From there he brought salvation, dispensed blessings, and judged the nations. He was the city’s great Defender.

- In Jesus Christ, born of the house of David, but also God’s Son, there is the fi-nal Davidic King who will fulfil all the promises about God’s kingship over Israel and over the world

- The restored people of Israel will rule over the nations from Zion (Isa 49.23; 60.12). It is likely that this will only become a reality via Christ’s reign over the nations on his return, in which they will share. The NT makes it clear (it was prophesied in Dn 7) that the saints – those who remain faithful to Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, and who will gain their resurrected bodies on Christ’s return – will share in his rule over the nations (see e.g. Rev 2.26f) as they reign with him.

Those who, as I do, hold a premillennial understanding of Christ’s return (see the arti-cle below on interpreting Rev 20) might summarise God’s kingship as follows.

o God has always been, is now and will always reign as king over the earth.

o His throne is in heaven, but he is in the process of bringing together heaven and earth and restoring his chosen people to share his reign with him in a world where sin and rebellion is no more (Rev 22.5).

o Key to this is the bringing together of the human and the divine in Christ, the second Person of the Trinity.

o So also is Mt Zion and Jerusalem, to be fulfilled finally in the heavenly Jerusalem that combines the earthly and the heavenly and where God

and Christ (the Lamb in Revelation) will reign (Rev 22.1-4) among his people.

o Through the Davidic monarchy in the OT God provided the model that he would gloriously fulfil: the Davidic king ruling from Jerusalem with God the king’s delegated authority as his adopted son; God himself present with and enthroned in his temple on Mt Zion, his “footstool”, among his people.

o In the light of Christ’s first coming and the NT, we can understand all the above and also the present “interim position”, as it were, in these last days until Christ returns. Christ reigns now at God’s right hand on the heavenly Mt Zion, bringing all into subjection to his rule, both the willing (those who believe in him, his saints, who share his rule “in the heavenlies” even now) and the rebellious among mankind. But his reign is still to be consummated in the future: on his return to earth in his millennial reign with his saints, and finally, when all rebellion and rebellious tendencies will have been brought to an end, in the new Jerusalem in the Eternal State (Rev 21.1-22.5).

o The Parable of the wheat and the tares (Mt 13.24-30, 36-43 graphically describes the present age. In the world there exist side by side the “sons of the kingdom (of heaven)” and the “sons of the evil one (the Devil)”. But at the end of this age, on Christ’s return, they will be sep-arated and Satan will be forced to leave (Rev 20.1ff) 14.

How does the NT and salvation being available to the Gentiles as well as Jews affect the above? The simplest way, it seems to me, is to regard Jesus’ coming and earthly ministry as giving God’s historic people, the Jews, the opportunity to accept him as the Messiah and their coming king as prophesied in the OT. That opportunity after Pentecost was extended to all the Gentiles by the preaching of the gospel – the good news about Jesus, who he is, what he has done and what he will do. All, Jew or Gen-tile, who accept him as king are “a fellow-sharer in the kingdom” (Rev 1.9). John calls them “the saints” – as does Daniel 7 (using the Aramaic equivalent word).

John’s visions in Revelation explain to us how God the Great King’s rule will be con-summated (see 2nd bullet above) by means of Christ (“the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David”, Rev 5.5) returning to take up his reign over the nations and be ac-knowledged and served by all, and the part the saints will play in his reign:

- God the Great King’s eternal reign is depicted by the throne in heaven and he who is seated on it (4.2 et al). He is “the King of the ages”, 15.3.

- The consummation of the God the Great King’s reign is announced in 11.15, 17; 12.10; 19.6. It coincides with Christ’s return and taking up his millennial reign (19.11-20.6), but all rebellion will not be over until the end of the mil-lennial reign, the casting of Satan into the lake of fire (20.7-10) and the com-pletion of the last judgment and the destruction of Death and Hades (20.11-15) and the new heaven and earth (21.1-22.5)

- God’s eternal reign will thenceforth be in Jerusalem – the new Jerusalem unit-ing heaven and earth, where his throne will be situated (22.1, 3)

14 Taken from the first part of David Pawson’s book, “When Jesus Returns”, Hodder & Stoughton 1995. He sets out 5 reasons why Christ will return physically to the earth, and his saints with him. The third of these is, to conquer the Devil.

- Christ’s reign, fulfilling all the promises to David, is proclaimed in:1.5, “the ruler of the kings of the earth”; 17.14 & 19.16, “king of kings and lord of lords”3.21, “I overcame and sat with my Father on his throne” (fulfilled at Christ’s ascension and exaltation). See 7.17, “the Lamb at the centre of the throne”.12.5, “who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre”, fulfilled in his millennial reign (19.15)

- The consummation of Christ’s reign is announced in 11.15, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” and 12.10, “Now has become . . the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ”. He returns (19.11-16) and takes up his millennial reign with the saints (20.4).

- His reign continues for ever in the new Jerusalem, where will be “the throne of God and of the Lamb” (22.1, 3).

- The saints even now share the kingdom with Christ (1.6, 9; 5.10)- They will sit on Christ’s throne in his millennial reign and reign with him

(3.21; 5.10; 20.4, 6), ruling, i.e. exercising his authority, over the nations (2.27)

- “They will reign for ever and ever” in the Eternal State, the new heaven and earth (22.5).

However, the above interpretation depends on what is termed the premillennialist un-derstanding of the 1,000 years of Rev 20. This is not the only way in which that chap-ter is interpreted. See below.

How do we understand Revelation chapter 20, that Christ will reign on earth a 1,000 years with his resurrected saints? As a result of Christian theologians and scholars working through their positions and the implications of all the above questions, there emerged 3 broad views on how to understand Rev 20 and the millennium – and how we should interpret the consider-able portion of the OT prophets that speak of a future reign over the nations of God/his Messiah and the people of Israel on earth. It is clear from Ezekiel, Joel and Zechariah that this reign follows the return of Christ to earth. In Ezekiel, ch 40 to the end which describe features of that reign logically follow the Davidic king commenc-ing his reign (Ez 34.23f; 37.22-25). In Joel the blessings of that reign (3.18-21 follow on from the Lord dwelling in Zion (3.17). In Zechariah the reign from Jerusalem over the nations (14.16-21) follows on from the Lord’s return (12.10; 14.3-5) and becom-ing king over the whole earth (14.9). Despite this OT prophetic consensus, Christian scholars interpret the millennial reign in Revelation in three different ways. These are 15:

· A-millennialists deny that there will be any such reign. Evangelicals holding this position (it is the Reformed Calvinist position) still believe in the return of Christ, the day of judgement, heaven and hell, and finally an Eternal State of a new heaven and earth, but without seeing any real meeting between the king-dom of heaven and the kingdoms of earth in the millennium. They understand OT prophecies and Revelation’s visions as symbolising the blessings and trials of the NT church comprised of believers in Christ from every nation. The 1,000 years of Rev 20 symbolises the church age, a long era of witness and

15 Much of the detail of what follows is from Johnson’s Introduction to Revelation in the ESV Study Bible published by Crossway.

suffering from Christ’s 1st coming (when he bound Satan) until his return (when he will destroy him).

· Post-millennialist s transfer the millennium from the future to the present, with Christ’s second coming following this “millennium”. Classical postmillenni-alists held that the 1,000 years was still a future time, a wonderful coming age in which the gospel will triumph and thoroughly transform societies and cul-tures. Other postmillennialists think that the 1,000 years symbolises the histor-ical epoch that began with Christ’s ascension and that conditions in this long period will continually improve until they conclude with Christ’s glorious sec-ond coming. Postmillennialists spiritualise the millennium, with Christ ruling in heaven, not on earth, but he exercises his reign through His Spirit and the Church’s preaching of the gospel. At the end of this “millennium”, for a brief period before Christ returns, God will release his restraint on Satan and wicked humanity will make a defiant assault on Christ’s church. But Christ will return and destroy his enemies, administer the last judgment and introduce the new heaven and earth in the Eternal State.

· Pre-millennialists accept Rev 20 in its plain, simple sense and hold that Christ’s 2nd coming will start a 1000 year reign with his bodily resurrected saints on the earth which will include believing Israel. During this whole time Satan will be bound and unable to deceive. They will rule over that portion of mankind and their descendants who survive the battle of Armageddon and other events at the end of the age and are allowed by Christ to enter his millen-nial kingdom. Sin, sorrow and death will still be present in the millennial reign - they will only end with the new heaven and earth - but society will be trans-formed due to Satan being bound and imprisoned. At the end of the 1,000 years Satan will be released and will instigate a revolt by the nations against this rule; but the rebels will be destroyed and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire. Then will come the resurrection of everyone else, the last judge-ment, the unbelieving going into eternal punishment and a new heaven and earth where God will live for ever with his people. Those who hold this view tend to fall into two groups. Classical Premillennialists (the position in the first two Christian centuries and the position that I support) hold that the resurrec-tion of the saints will occur when Christ returns to earth to reign; therefore the saints will go though a time of great tribulation before Christ returns in which many will be martyred. Pretribulational Premillennialists expect that Christ will first come back secretly to take believers from the earth to be with him in heaven before a great tribulation of 7 years. At the end of this 7 years, Christ will come back publicly to reign on the earth and he will bring believers back with him at that time.

Will there be an apostate church in the days before Christ’s return?

“Babylon” in Revelation is held by dispensationalists to be fulfilled in an apostate or counterfeit church in the last years before Christ returns. This chimes with their inter-pretation that the true believers will have been taken in the rapture to be with Christ in heaven before the events of these last years, which they see as “the great tribulation” (7.14). But there are other ways of understanding “Babylon” - see the notes at 17.1 - and I think that the NT does not teach a two-stage return by Christ 16. However, there

16 See Annex 3 on interpreting all the NT scriptures on Christ’s second coming.

are NT texts besides “Babylon” that might point to an apostate church in the final pe-riod before Christ returns. See:

Mt 24.10-13: “Many will turn away from the faith (OR take offence, fall away) and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness will be multiplied, the love (‘apage’) of most will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Mk 13.12f: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Chil-dren will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mt 10.21 is very similar).

Are these passages talking about society as a whole? OR are they talking about those who profess to be in the Church? The fact that ‘agape’ (“love”) is used in Mt 24.12 might suggest it is about those who profess to be Christians. However, ’agape’ is used with unbelievers as the subject in:

Lk 6.32: “for sinners also love those that love them”;Lk 7.42: “which of them will love him more?” (the parable about the two debtors forgiven their debt).Lk 16.13: “no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other . . .”

though in all other cases either God or believers in Christ as the subject.

Other passages in the NT that seem to teach a wide-scale falling away from the faith are:

2 Tim 3.1-5: “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves . . having a form of godliness but denying the power of it.” Given that Paul wrote this letter near the end of his life, he appears to be talking about a time period after his death, which suggests he is referring to the days before Christ’s return, rather than the whole of the period between the 1st and 2nd Coming (which is its meaning in Heb 1.1 17). That such peo-ple were around in Paul’s day (v 5) does not negate this argument.Lk 18.8: (concludes the parable of the persistent widow) “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” This suggests a time of spiritual decline and persecution. It is possible from the context that the translation should be, “ . . faith in the land (of Israel) 18”.Mt 7.21ff: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the king-dom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father . . .”. Is Jesus here talking about his judgment of those who are alive when he returns as King? If so, it suggests there will be professing Christians who will not be the real thing, yet they will do counterfeit miracles (see Mt 24.24 re false

17 The whole of the period between the 1st and 2nd Coming may be the meaning of “the last days” and similar expressions in Acts 2.17; 1 Tim 4.1; 1 P 1.20 and 1 Jn 2.18, as well as Heb 1.1. But NT Christians living as Jesus urged them to, on the basis that his return was immi-nent and to be expected (see also Rom 13.11-14, written c 57 AD, about 24 years after the Resurrection), would see no distinction between “the last days” being the run-up to Christ’s return - the next big event on God’s salvation calendar - and the interval between his 1st and 2nd Coming. This “imminent” focus is the headline message of Revelation too, I believe. See the section of the Introduction headed, “What is the focus of Revelation?” and the note in the Commentary on 1.3 (“because the time is near”).18 See the Commentary on 1.7 and the discussion on whether it should be “earth” or “land”.

christs and false prophets seeking “to deceive even the elect”; also 2 Th 2.9ff; Rev 13.13; 16.14; 19.20).2 Th 2.3: “that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed”. But it is unclear who are the rebels: is it mankind in general, the professing church, or the land of Israel? Other scriptures support it referring to Israel: see Lk 21.23 (“wrath against this nation”); Dan 8.23 19.

Those who interpret the 7 letters to the churches of Asia (Rev ch 2-3) as predicting the history of the Church from John’s day until the time of Christ’s return see the letter to the lukewarm Laodicean church as describing the condition of the Church at the end of the Church age.

Consider also the many passages in the Gospels on the consequences of not being ready for Jesus’ return 20 -

· That there will be believers in this category, is implied by Mt 24.37-41 & Lk 17.26-35; Mt 24.42-44 & Lk 12.35-40; Mt 24.45-51 & Lk 12.41-46; Mt 25.1-13; Mk 13.33-37; Lk 21.34-36; Rev 14.9-11; 16.15

· That the consequence is being left behind when others are resurrected in the Rapture is set out in Mt 24.37-41 & Lk 17.26-35; Mt 25.1-13. (NB These passages are hard to reconcile this with the amillennial and postmillennial the-ology of only 1 resurrection for all mankind that immediately results in the Day of Judgement)

· Another consequence is: being cut in two by the returning Lord and put with the hypocrites, or thrown into the darkness, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Mt 24.51; 25.28-30) – the same fate awaits Jews who don’t believe in Jesus (Mt 8.12; Lk 12.28), those who try and attend the Messianic wedding feast without an appropriate garment (Mt 22.13), the “stumbling blocks and doers of lawlessness” in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Mt 13.42), the bad fish in the parable of the dragnet at the consummation of the age (Mt 13.50)

· Another consequence is: cut in two by the returning master and assigned a place with the unbelievers (Lk 12.46)

· Another consequence is: for those shut out of the wedding feast, the Lord saying, “I do not know you” (Mt 25.13). See Jesus’ similar verdict “on that day” to those who did miracles in His name but did not do the Father’s will (Mt 7.23) and those who associated with Jesus but did no more (Lk 13.27).

· Another consequence is suffering God’s wrath and fury in fire (Rev 14.9-11)

· Another consequence is: losing one’s garments, going naked and being shamefully exposed (Rev 16.15)

It may well be that “backsliding believers” is an inaccurate description and that in ev-ery case we are looking at pressure as the Lord’s return nears weeding out apparent from true believers.

But this has to be held in tension with passages suggesting a large number of people coming to believe just before Christ’s return. See in particular:• The crowd of believers that no man can number who will come out of the great

tribulation, Rev 7.9-14

19 for other scriptures, see the discussion at the end of Annex 1 under the heading, “What is the evidence for rebellion and apostasy of the people of Israel at the time of the end?”20 For a discussion and interpretation of all the scriptures on Jesus’ return, see Annex 3.

• “All Israel will be saved”, Rom 11.26 (referring to the Jews becoming open to the gospel and grafted into the true people of God).

See the Commentary at 7.9 for a fuller discussion of this point.

Are the Beast and the False Prophet in Rev 13 found in other parts of the NT and OT?The details of the Beast in Rev 13 are very similar to the descriptions in Dn 7 of the “little horn” that sprang from the 4th beast in Daniel’s vision. The OT & the NT, in passages that are (or appear to be: some interpret them differently) about the end of the age, describe a number of rulers or religious leaders under different names, that oppose the people of Israel or (in the NT) the saints. It is not always clear how far these are the same person or people. Rev 13 has two: the Beast and “another beast”, later called the False Prophet. There is therefore a pressure on those who believe the OT is fulfilled in the NT to identify the OT end-time indi-viduals with either of these. Some, of course, may not have their fulfilment recorded in the NT. I have listed below all these rulers/leaders, to help readers make their own judgments:

OT AND NT:· Satan : also called (in Revelation) the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the

devil.· Gog of Magog, Ez 38 & 39; Rev 20.8

THE OT:· The “little horn” of Dn 7.7f, 11, 20-26 who springs from the 4th Beast (world

empire). (A)· The “horn which started small” of Dn 8.9-13, who is also the “king of fierce

countenance” of Dan 8.23ff (B) . Initially fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 BC), but with an end-of-the-age fulfilment awaited, at least for 8.23ff.

· “The ruler who will come” of Dn 9.26f, who must be related to Rome. (A)· “The king” of Dn 11.36-39. (B)· The King of the North of Dan 11.40

(Dn 11.5-35 prophesies a whole series of “kings of the north” – the dy-nasty of Seleucid rulers (in Syria) who ruled a quarter of the Hellenistic (Greek) empire of Alexander the Greek after his death. The last of them (11.21-35) is identifiable as Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 BC) who per-secuted the Jews and set up an altar to Zeus in the Jerusalem Temple. The identity of the “king of the north at the time of the end” (11.40) is not clear, but he may be an end-of-the-age Assyria (final fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies about Assyria). It is possible that “the king” of 11.36-39 is the “king of the north” of vv 40. The identity of “he”/”him” in v 40 final sentence and vv 41-45 is unclear, but he most likely is the “king of the north” (who may also be “the king” of vv 36-39).)

· The King of the South of Dn 11.40(Dn 11.5-35, as with “kings of the north”, prophesies a whole series of “kings of the south” – the dynasty of Ptolomaic rulers of Egypt, who squabbled with the “kings of the north” for the control of Palestine (Israel & Judah) which lay between their countries. The identity of the “king of the south” in Dn 11.40 is unclear.)

· The King of Babylon of Isa 14.4-21· “the Assyrian” of Isa 10.24-34; 14.25; 31.8 (or were these prophecies wholly

fulfilled in the miraculous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the Assyr-ian king Sennacherib in 702 BC?)

· “the overflowing scourge” of Isa 28.18 (or was this fulfilled by the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions that took the tribes of Israel and then Judah into ex-ile, 722 & 587 BC?)

· “the king” of Isa 30.33 (of Assyria? See 30.31). (B)· “the king” of Isa 57.9 (OR is this the idol Molech, as in NIV?). (B)· “the worthless shepherd” of Zech 11.15-17. (B)· Gog of Magog, Ez 38 & 39. See Rev 20.8 (and the note in the Commentary)

THE NT:· False messiahs: Jn 5.43; Mt 24.5, 24 (& parallels). Will perform signs & won-

ders· False prophets: Mt 24.24 (& parallels). As above.· The antichrist of 1 Jn 2.18, 22; 4.3, & 2 Jn 7. (B)· The man of lawlessness, son of perdition, the wicked/lawless one of 2 Th 2.4.

(B)· The Beast of Revelation – the final world ruler. (A)· The second beast or False Prophet of Rev 13.11-17; 16.13, 19.20; 20.10. (B)

Dispensationalists have traditionally held that the first Beast of Rev 13. will be a gen-tile who is the personal head of the revived Roman empire, fulfilling the prophecies marked A. He wields the royal and civil power of Satan. The False Prophet will be a Jew who will be accepted as king (he is the false Messiah) by the apostate Jewish na-tion and will rule from Jerusalem. He is the second beast of Revelation and fulfils the prophecies marked B. He the Antichrist of 1 John and “the man of lawlessness” of 2 Th 2 and wields the spiritual authority of Satan. However, this bringing together of particular OT and NT prophecies 21 is not the only way of understanding the end-time events culminating in Christ’s return.

21 It is the position taken by Dr F A Tatford, “Climax of the Ages”, an exposition of the book of Daniel (Prophetic Witness Publishing House, 2nd ed 1979).