Central to the Christian thesis is the divinity of Jesus. Little wonder critics such as Bertrand Russell[1] and Signal[2] complain - ‘no amount of Christian theological acrobatics will ever solve the problems engendered by the historical reality that a promised imminent fulfilment made two thousand years ago did not occur as expected by the New Testament. Simply stated, Jesus is never coming back, not then, not now, not ever’.
There seems little doubt the early followers believed Jesus would return soon. For although the Old Testament prophets announced the coming of God’s kingdom in the distant future by the time we get to John the Baptist we find a very different expectation - ‘the axe is laid to the root of the tree’ and ‘His winnowing fan is in His hand’ (Matthew 3:10,12). This was the essence of John’s ministry - a call to repentance and baptism because the kingdom of heaven was near (Matthew 3:2).
Similarly, in his retelling of the Olivet Discourse Matthew makes it clear that these events were expected to happen soon - 'Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened (Matthew 24:34).'
Here Russell's objection is well noted - but I believe his conclusion is too hasty because he does not seem to give due consideration to the symbolic nature of Matthew's paraousia (Greek word for presence, arrival or official visit) - 'you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64)’.
Before we can interpret the symbolism that lays behind Matthew's paraousia we first need to understand how his intended audience would have interpreted this text. There is some uncertainty here, but since his intended audience were first century Jews, we can at least tentatively intuit that Matthew's intended audience would have understood his treatment of the paraousia through the lens of Old Testament motifs. If this reasoning is sound, we too should attempt to apply the same lens (at least as best we understand it).
For example, in Daniel we find - ‘one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence (Daniel 7:13)’. Here the prophesied messiah was not descending to earth - so it follows that these particular clouds were not literal - so perhaps Matthew was not being literal either?
Similarly in Isaiah the Lord is described as ‘riding on a swift cloud (Isaiah 19:1)’ while according to the Psalmist the Lord ‘makes the clouds his chariot (Psalms 104:3)’, Ezekiel prophesied; ‘the day of the Lord is near-a day of clouds (Ezekiel 30:3)’ while Joel proclaims; ‘the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand-a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds (Joel 2:1-2 see Acts 2)’. In each of these examples clouds takes on an extended meaning beyond simply the literal.
For example, in Daniel we find - ‘one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence (Daniel 7:13)’. Here the prophesied messiah was not descending to earth - so it follows that these particular clouds were not literal - so perhaps Matthew was not being literal either?
Similarly in Isaiah the Lord is described as ‘riding on a swift cloud (Isaiah 19:1)’ while according to the Psalmist the Lord ‘makes the clouds his chariot (Psalms 104:3)’, Ezekiel prophesied; ‘the day of the Lord is near-a day of clouds (Ezekiel 30:3)’ while Joel proclaims; ‘the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand-a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds (Joel 2:1-2 see Acts 2)’. In each of these examples clouds takes on an extended meaning beyond simply the literal.
Matthew also makes reference to Daniel in his re-telling of the Olivet Discourse - ‘seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this; from the issue of the degree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one, the ruler, comes there will be seven sevens, and sixty two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary….He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:24-27).’
Payne[3] points out ‘the most noteworthy feature of Daniel’s prophecy is the inspired prophetic calendar that accompanies it. Daniel predicted a lapse of seventy weeks of years or 490 years for the accomplishment of the redemptive work (Dan 9:24). The beginning point would be indicated by the commandment to restore Jerusalem (v25), an event that was accomplished, a century after Daniel, in the reign of the Persian Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC), under Nehemiah (444BC). But there had been an earlier attempt, in the same reign to restore the city walls, which had been thwarted by the Samarians (Ezra 4:11-12, 23). This attempt seems to have been made under Ezra (458BC), on the basis of the extended powers granted him in Artaxerxes’ decree (7:18, 25, even though nothing explicit is said about restoring Jerusalem). Daniel went on to predict that from this commandment, to the Messiah, would be seven weeks and three score and two weeks (9:25), or 69 weeks of years, equalling 483 years. From 458BC this brings one to A.D. 26, the very time which many would accept for the decent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus Christ and the commencement of his ministry. Versus 26 and 27 then describe how, in the midst of the final week (that is of the last seven year period and therefore in the Spring of A.D. 30), He would bring to an end Old Testament economy by His death. There could hardly have been a more miraculously accurate prediction than was this! The 490 years then conclude with three and a half years that remained, during which period the testament was to be confirmed to Israel (Acts 2:38). It terminated in A.D. 33, which is the probable date for the conversion of Paul. At this point, the Jews, by their stoning of Stephen, in effect cut themselves off from the eternal blessings of inheritance under the newer testament (Rev 12:6, 14); and shortly thereafter, within that generation, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70’.
For DeMar[5] ;
‘The allusion in Matthew 24:29 is unmistakable; Israel’s judgement was to take place before that generation passed away…….some cataclysmic event was on the horizon, and the first century church was being warned to prepare for it. There is no getting around this language and the ultimate conclusion; that many of the verses that many believe are yet to be fulfilled have been fulfilled.'
The synoptic gospels can best be summed up by the phrase ‘His kingdom come’. But due to the symbolic nature of the synoptic gospels in relation to this subject we cannot conclusively derive what that coming entailed; other than to say that whatever the paraousia entailed, the authors of the synoptic gospels believed it was imminent.
Perhaps other New Testament texts can shed more light? In his letter to Rome Paul's primary concern was to unite Jews and Gentiles. He tried to do this by reducing them to the same level of need (1:18-3:20); for all are sinners so all fall short of the glory of God. Next Paul argued that religious laws and rites were exclusive, but faith was available to everyone; that is why God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles (3:21-4: 25). And finally Paul reminds both Jews and Gentiles of their common Adamic heritage (5:1-7:6). Here, just as Adam united all mankind in death, Jesus, who is the new Adam, united all mankind in life.
Perhaps other New Testament texts can shed more light? In his letter to Rome Paul's primary concern was to unite Jews and Gentiles. He tried to do this by reducing them to the same level of need (1:18-3:20); for all are sinners so all fall short of the glory of God. Next Paul argued that religious laws and rites were exclusive, but faith was available to everyone; that is why God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles (3:21-4: 25). And finally Paul reminds both Jews and Gentiles of their common Adamic heritage (5:1-7:6). Here, just as Adam united all mankind in death, Jesus, who is the new Adam, united all mankind in life.
Paul's point is that all men, whether Jew or Gentile are enslaved - it is only through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we can hope to experience liberty. What we see in Paul then is the same commitment that we found in the synoptics - namely ‘God’s kingdom come’. Although Paul also fails to provide explicit data on the paraousia, his obvious expectation that it was imminent does means that -
‘our best Bible scholars are largely united in realising that the New Testament writers were not anticipating the end of the world and the destruction of the space-time universe. They were anticipating the end of the world as we know it and the beginning of a new historical – spiritual age or era. For them the blessed hope outlined in the gospels focussed on several soon-to-be-fulfilled historical realities, not one far reaching history – ending one.[6]’
According to the synoptics and a nuanced reading of Paul Jesus did not want to take souls away - He wanted to bring His kingdom here. In this sense the atonement furnished through His death and resurrection was not designed to rescue souls from decay and change (which has not happened); but rather to facilitate a new genesis that would interrupt the process of moral decay and change (which did happen).
This new genesis means to partake in a new exodus, to pass through the waters of baptism (rather than the Red Sea), to eat a new Passover meal (Eucharist) and to be liberated from the principalities and powers that enslave us. It means to become a citizen of Christ’s kingdom that was inaugurated in that generation (Mark 1:15).
But how does this theme which is evident in the synoptic gospels and in Paul's letter to the Romans fit John's writings - most specifically how does it fit the iconic imagery of his apocalypse?
On first pass it should be noted that John's Revelation was written in the genre of Jewish apocalyptic. According to McLaren reading it without understanding its genre would be akin to watching Star Trek as a historical documentary[7].
This new genesis means to partake in a new exodus, to pass through the waters of baptism (rather than the Red Sea), to eat a new Passover meal (Eucharist) and to be liberated from the principalities and powers that enslave us. It means to become a citizen of Christ’s kingdom that was inaugurated in that generation (Mark 1:15).
But how does this theme which is evident in the synoptic gospels and in Paul's letter to the Romans fit John's writings - most specifically how does it fit the iconic imagery of his apocalypse?
On first pass it should be noted that John's Revelation was written in the genre of Jewish apocalyptic. According to McLaren reading it without understanding its genre would be akin to watching Star Trek as a historical documentary[7].
The original readers of Revelation were second temple Jews governed by Rome. John could not criticise Rome without risking certain death. But if he did not speak up then his people would remain oppressed. The apocalyptic was John's solution to this dilemma; for through it his oppressed audience could still hear about this new hope without risking certain oppression and possible death.
Remarkably, when we read the apocalypse with an eye to its cultural setting, rather than as a prognostication about a future cosmos ending event, the visions transform from nonsensical images into a pragmatic list of warnings and promises.
To illustrate, lets pick up the narrative with the image of a horsemen who rode a white horse - ‘He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer (Rev 6:2)’.
Remarkably, when we read the apocalypse with an eye to its cultural setting, rather than as a prognostication about a future cosmos ending event, the visions transform from nonsensical images into a pragmatic list of warnings and promises.
To illustrate, lets pick up the narrative with the image of a horsemen who rode a white horse - ‘He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer (Rev 6:2)’.
If we apply the cultural key we can intuit that the conquering kings symbolised John's oppressors - most likely the Caesars. Since Augustus was the first Caesar to receive the title Pontifex Maximus in 12 CE, he most naturally represents the first horseman of the apocalypse.
Of course this association is not convincing but according to Beale[8] ‘the pictures are not to be mechanically harmonized into one big visual picture, but the interpretative idea of each image is to be considered and related to one another. The purpose of the combination is to overwhelm the imagination and to express ideas that together transcend pictorial visualization’. So to see if the images can become convincing let's give them a chance to build.
The second seal is the rider of the red horse. ‘And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and the people should kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword’ (Rev 6:3-4). Following the historical sequence Tiberius, a warring Caesar who reigned from 14 to 37 CE was the rider of the red horse.
The third seal is the rider of the black horse. ‘And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand (Rev 6:5-6)’. Next in line Caligula (37 to 41 CE) was cruel and in-just. According to Cassius Dio[9] Caligula’s extravagance exhausted the states treasury that Tiberius had accumulated and so to fund his continued extravagance he falsely accused and killed citizens with the sole intent of seizing their estates[10].
The forth seal is the rider of the pale horse. ‘And the name who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth[11], to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth (Rev 6:7-8)’. Acts 11:28 may describe that fulfilment; ‘Agabus stood up and through the spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread across the entire Roman world (this happened during the reign of Claudius)’. Historians know that in the fourth year of Claudius’ reign (41 to 54 CE) the famine was so severe in Judea and the price of food so inflated that a great many did perish (Orosius, Hist VII 6,9).
The fifth seal are the slayed saints. ‘I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held (Revelation 6:9-11)’. According to the succession of Caesars Nero fits the fifth seal for in 64 CE he ordered the first official campaign to eradicate Christians. The campaign lasted 42 months; ‘exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months (Revelation 11:2-3 see also Daniel 9:27).’
Then came the sixth seal; ‘behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind…hid themselves in the caves and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day His wrath has come, and who is able to stand (Revelation 6:13-18)?’
The sixth seal echoes the Olivet Discourse; ‘for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places (Matthew 24:7)’ which in turn heralds back to the prophets. ‘I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers (Jeremiah 24:10)’ and; ‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments-sword and famine and wild beasts and plagues-to kill its men and their animals (Ezekiel 14:21).’
Isaiah described the Babylonian invasion with similar language; ‘the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light (Isaiah 13:9-10)’.
The imagery of ‘the sun, moon and eleven stars (Genesis 37:9)’ then depicts the chosen line of Israel. By adding catastrophe to this well established motif John alludes to the failing of Israel.
Revelation 7 then describes the gospel being preached to the Jews (Romans 1:16, 2:10) which happened before Cestius surrounded Jerusalem.
The surrounding of Jerusalem by Cestius reminded the Christian's of Jesus' warning on the Mount of Olives; ‘when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matt 24:15-16)’.
But how do you flee a city surrounded by the Roman army? According to Josephus such an opportunity arose when Cestius temporarily retreated from the walls of Jerusalem ‘without any just occasion in the world’.
Whiston[12] believes ‘there may be another very important, and very powerful providential reason be here assigned for this strange and foolish retreat of Cestius; which if Josephus had been now a Christian, he might probably have taken notice of also; and that is, the affording the Jewish Christians in the city an opportunity to calling to mind the prediction and caution given them by Christ about thirty three years and a half before, that when they should see the abomination of desolation stand where it ought not; or, in the holy place; or, when they see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, they should then flee to the mountains……nor was there, perhaps, any one instance of a more unpolitic, but more providential conduct than this retreat of Cestius, visible during this whole siege of Jerusalem.’
Whiston[12] believes ‘there may be another very important, and very powerful providential reason be here assigned for this strange and foolish retreat of Cestius; which if Josephus had been now a Christian, he might probably have taken notice of also; and that is, the affording the Jewish Christians in the city an opportunity to calling to mind the prediction and caution given them by Christ about thirty three years and a half before, that when they should see the abomination of desolation stand where it ought not; or, in the holy place; or, when they see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, they should then flee to the mountains……nor was there, perhaps, any one instance of a more unpolitic, but more providential conduct than this retreat of Cestius, visible during this whole siege of Jerusalem.’
The seventh seal which consisted of seven trumpets then sounded. The first trumpet signifies the Roman catapult which bombarded Jerusalem[13]; ‘there came hail and fire mixed with blood and it was hurled down upon the earth (Revelation 8:7)’.
The second trumpet describes the sea becoming like blood. Josephus records the events as retold by Holford[14] ‘the Jews fled before his army to their ships; but a tempest immediately arose, and pursued such as stood out to sea, and overset them, while the rest were dashed vessel against vessel, and against the rocks, in the most tremendous manner. In this perplexity many were drowned, some were crushed by the broken ships, others killed themselves, and such as reached the shores were slain by the merciless Romans. The sea for a long time was stained with blood.’
The third trumpet was wormwood; a symbol for bitterness (Jeremiah 9:15, 23:15, Lamentations 3:15) while the fourth adopts cosmological imagery; ‘a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars so that a third of them turned dark (Rev 8:12)’. In the world of apocalyptic imagery the destruction of cosmological objects describes the internal fracturing of Israel.
The fifth trumpet (the first woe) is then described in Revelation 9:5-10; ‘they were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like woman’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had the power to torment people for five months.’
According to Holford[15] ‘this memorable siege terminated on the eight day of the ninth month, A.D. 70: its duration was nearly five months, the Romans having invested the city on the fourteenth day of the fourth month, preceding’.
The Roman army fits the description of the locusts who wore crowns of something like gold, their faces were the faces of men, and they had the power to torment but not kill for five months (siege).
The sixth trumpet (the second woe) then sounded; ‘and the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard that number (Revelation 9:15-16)’.
The global connotation of the sixth trumpet stems from the phrase ‘to kill a third of men (anthropon)’. But here John uses the phrase contextually; so in our developing framework the phrase may be rendered locally. According to Josephus;
‘The number of those carried captive were ninety-seven thousand; as was the number that has perished during the whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the greater part of whom were indeed of the same nation but not belonging to the city itself; for they were come up from all the country to the feast of unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut up by the army, which, at the very first, occasioned so great a straightness among them that there came a pestilential destruction upon them, and soon afterward such a famine, as destroyed them more suddenly[16].
But how do we explain two hundred million horsemen? According to Bass[17] this ‘is a number designed to terrorize. And indeed, that is its achieved result. As Carrington says, it is the empire of hell. There never has been such an army and apparently never will be one.’
The angel then sounded the seventh trumpet which marked completion; ‘in the day that the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is completed, just as he has proclaimed to his servants the prophets (Revelation 10:7)’ and also a new beginning; ‘the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15)’.
John, being of Near Eastern heritage was not a linear storyteller. When a point was to be made, it needed to be made from different perspectives. In this style of storytelling, it is the same conclusion drawn from roads separately travelled that makes the retelling convincing. And so it is at this point in the narrative that John take us back to the start to retell the story from a second perspective;
‘A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven; an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his head. His tail swept third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour the child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre (Revelation 12:1-5)’.
The woman is emblematic of Israel; the dragon who swept away a third of the stars (angels) is the devil; the child who will reign with an iron sceptre is Jesus - ‘and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great serpent was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him (Revelation 12: 7-9)’.
This 'battle' represents Christ's victory at Calvary. Enraged, the devil pursues Israel (Revelation 12:13) but God takes Israel ‘away from the presence of the serpent – for a time, times, and half a time (Revelation 12:14)’ which equates to the second half of the seventieth week Daniel described. It seems this three and a half year period was set aside as a final opportunity for Israel, like Nineveh of old, to hear the gospel and repent before the devil was again let loose.
The end of the 'redemption period' is symbolically marked by the beast coming out of the sea (the sea symbolises evil as it evoked the terror of leviathan). The beast had ten horns, seven heads and ten crowns. The multiplicity of horns, heads and crowns conjures an image of an empire or corporation; but John also gives the conglomerate image a human persona; ‘Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six (Revelation 13:18).’
Fortunately the beast is later interpreted for us - ‘and here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Revelation 17:9-11).’
Ovid, Claudian, Statius, Pliny, Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Tertullian and Jerome[18] all refer to the seven mountains as the Septimontium; making it clear the beast of the sea was Rome.
The seven kings of the corporate beast represent the Caesars of Rome. Before assigning titles I should point out there is some imperial dispute over who was the first Caesar. In this regard Josephus’ writings are instructive because he at least reflects the Jewish perspective. In his antiquities Josephus identifies Augustus as the second and Tiberius as the third Caesar. The list of Caesars from a Jewish perspective therefore includes Julius who died in 44 BCE then Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE), Tiberius (14-37 CE), Caligula (37-41 CE), Cluadius (41-54 CE), Nero (54-68 CE), Galba (68-69 CE), Otho (69 CE),Vitellius (69 CE) and Vespasian (69-79 CE).
Five are fallen; Julius to Claudius, so according to this list Nero, a contemporary of John, was the Caesar who was. In support of the list beginning with Julius, Nero’s name in Hebrew (Nrwn Qsr) does sum to six six six.
But was Nero sufficiently evil to be the human persona of the beast from the sea? Apollonius of Tyana[19] wrote of his character; ‘this beast, that is commonly called a tyrant, I know not how many heads it has, nor if it be crooked of claw, and armed with horrible fangs….And of wild beasts you cannot say that they were ever known to eat their own mothers, but Nero has gorged himself on this diet’. Tacitus[20] referred to Nero’s cruel nature that put to death so many ‘innocent men’ while Pliny the Elder[21] described Nero as the enemy of mankind. Surely Nero was a good fit.
We are then introduced to a second beast which rose out of the earth (its origin was from dust, from the creator, which is in contrast to the beast that came out of the evil sea). Revelation 13:11 describes the second beast as having two horns, spoke like a dragon, and exercised the ruling authority of the first beast making Israel worship the beast that came out of the sea.
The beast that came out of the earth deceived Israel into worshiping Rome rather than the true messiah (equated to a prostitute - Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 2:20, Hosea 9:1, Ezekiel 16:15-17) - ‘Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered we have no king but Caesar (John 19:15)’. The second beast, the prostitute, then represents apostate Israel that rejected its own messiah.
The beast that came out of the earth deceived Israel into worshiping Rome rather than the true messiah (equated to a prostitute - Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 2:20, Hosea 9:1, Ezekiel 16:15-17) - ‘Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered we have no king but Caesar (John 19:15)’. The second beast, the prostitute, then represents apostate Israel that rejected its own messiah.
John symbolised the unholy allegiance between the second beast (apostate Israel) and the beast from the sea (Rome) with a mark; ‘and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name (Revelations 13:13-17).’
Second temple Jews understood the mark on their forehead because it reflected an earlier sacred promise; ‘and it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the Lord bought you out of Egypt (Exodus 13:9).’
Those who did not have this mark - namely those who no longer aligned themselves with the teachings of apostate Israel or its ruling class were expelled from the Jerusalem synagogue - ‘they will make you outcasts from the synagogue; but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think he is offering service to God (John 16:2)’. Moreover since buying and selling was a ritual related to worship, exclusion from the synagogue meant exclusion from trade; and that meant 'that no man might buy or sell save he has the mark'.
Similar to the seven trumpets that followed the seven seals in the first vision John now describes seven bowls; ‘one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever (Revelation 15:7)’. The first bowl (Revelation 16:2) represents infliction.
The second bowl (Revelation 16:3) turned the sea to blood (compare this image to the second trumpet which also turned the sea to blood). The third bowl (Revelation 16:4) turned drinking water to blood (compare this image to the third trumpet wormwood which made drinking water bitter), the fourth bowl (Revelation 16:8) was the scorching sun (compare this image to the fourth trumpet in which a third of the sun was struck).
The fifth bowl (Revelation 16:10) represented darkness (compare this to the five months that followed the release of locusts from the Abyss after the sounding of the fifth trumpet) and the sixth bowl (Revelation 16:12) represented the drying up of the Euphrates to make way for the kings of the East (compare this image to the four angels and two hundred million mounted troops who were released from the Euphrates after the sounding of the sixth trumpet).
The seventh and last bowl represented the battle of Armageddon (compare this image to the seventh trumpet which marked completion) –‘the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying; it is done…..so Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath (Revelation 16:17-19)’.
Again the King James phrasing ‘the kings of the whole world (16:14)’ gathering for war gives the sense that the looming battle of Armageddon must consume the earth (and therefore could not have happened yet). But the Greek word oikoumene is the same as used in Matthew 24:14 and Luke 2:1 which does not necessarily refer to the entire globe but better describes an empire that was made up of all the nations (of the known world) which can readily be equated to many past battles that involved Rome.
Moreover the word Armageddon appears only once in the bible and is derived either from Har-Mageddon or Ar-Mageddon; either the mount (har) or city (ar) of Megiddo. The city of Megiddo may be the better translation because its association with Jerusalem’s judgment is typical of how the Old Testament associated Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon with Jerusalem’s past judgments.
'Josephus tells us that when Titus left Egypt with orders from his father [Vespasian] to subdue the Jews that he returned to Caesarea, having taken a resolution to gather all his other forces together at one place. Bear in mind that Caesarea was within sight of Mt Carmel, the mountain of Megiddo, and that those armed forces coming from the northern regions must pass through Megiddo before reaching the appointed place of gathering. Titus stayed in the regions around Caesarea until most of the forces from the north arrived, and then moved on to Jerusalem for the battle of the great day of God Almighty[22]’.
Once the battle of Armageddon (ar-Mageddon) commenced ‘great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone weighing about the weight of one talent (Revelation 16:21)’. (Compare this image to the hail and fire mixed with blood that was hurled down upon the earth in the earlier vision - Revelation 8:7).
According to Josephus[23] ‘the stones that were cast, were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlong and further….as for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stones, for it was a white colour’ (the colour of hail).
The beast and the ten horns; namely the empire of Rome then turned on the beast with two horns; the prostitute - ‘the beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth……in one day her plagues will overtake her; death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire (Revelation 17:16-18:8)’ [24].
The woman, the prostitute, who was the great city (Jerusalem) was destroyed in 70 CE by the beast from the sea (Rome) bringing with it the end of the temple age marking complete the inauguration of the new temple - Christ's body crucified.
Unfortunately, because many believers have failed to root John's apocalyptic images in Old Testament motifs, their resulting misplaced literalism has demanded that Revelation describe a future cosmic ending event. This out-of-context reading certainly gives Russell's objection force.
Moreover the eschatological hope so evident in an apocalyptic historical reading is lost in the now popular futuristic, cosmos ending interpretation (reduction in nihilum). Left unchecked in the twentieth century, this reading has had the effect of reducing Christian faith to a world denying, even world despising Gnosticism - ironically the very form of heresy the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, warned about in his first epistle.
Instead of Russell's eschatology, what the biblical writers unanimously envisioned was the renewal of creation that would culminate with the defeat of death itself - and that on-going process was inaugurated in that first generation.
This is the message of John's gospel; this is the hope of the apocalypse; this is the message that resonates not only with the synoptics but also with Paul.
Unfortunately, because many believers have failed to root John's apocalyptic images in Old Testament motifs, their resulting misplaced literalism has demanded that Revelation describe a future cosmic ending event. This out-of-context reading certainly gives Russell's objection force.
Moreover the eschatological hope so evident in an apocalyptic historical reading is lost in the now popular futuristic, cosmos ending interpretation (reduction in nihilum). Left unchecked in the twentieth century, this reading has had the effect of reducing Christian faith to a world denying, even world despising Gnosticism - ironically the very form of heresy the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, warned about in his first epistle.
Instead of Russell's eschatology, what the biblical writers unanimously envisioned was the renewal of creation that would culminate with the defeat of death itself - and that on-going process was inaugurated in that first generation. This is the message of John's gospel; this is the hope of the apocalypse; this is the message that resonates not only with the synoptics but also with Paul.
[1] Why I am not a Christian; and other essays on Religion and Related Subjects Russell B 1957 Simon & Schuster
[2] Questions: How does the passage of time effect the Christian claim of a second coming of Christ. Signal Gerald Jews for Judaism WebSite
[3]The Imminent Appearing of Christ Payne J. B 1962 Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans 148-49.
[4] Dispensationalist theology tries to insert a gap after the 69th week to accommodate a future 70th week. A similar gap has also been applied to Genesis 1 in an attempt to accommodate an old earth. Neither is convincing.
[5] End time madness-the obsession of the modern church DeMar G 1999 American Vision
[8] The book of Revelations Beale PP57
[9] Roman History, Cassius Dio
[10] The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Caligula, Suetonius
[11] The phrase ‘the earth’ comes from the Greek word gḗ and is better understood as ‘the arena’ in which we live. The reference to a fourth of the arena – see also Acts 11:28 in which the famine was throughout the world, is consistent with a local rendering centred around Jerusalem.
[12] Note b in Josephus, Wars of the Jews 2:19:6, 631-32 William Whiston
[13] These weighed a talent or 30kg
[14] The Destruction of Jerusalem Holford G
[15] The Destruction of Jerusalem Holford G
[16] Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 5:12:3, 723
[17] Back to the Future: A Study in the Book of Revelation Bass R. E. Greenville, SC: Living Hope Press, 2004
[18] Before Jerusalem Jell Gentry KL 1989 Inst. Christian Economic
[19] Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 38. Cited in John A. T Robinson, ‘Redating the New Testament’ (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), p. 235, from J. S. Phillimore (Oxford, 1912) 2:38
[20] Annals 15:44 Tacitus
[21] Natural History 7:45 Pliny
[22,23] The Wars of the Jews Josephus
[24] The prophecy in Daniel 7:7-27 also speaks of the rise of a fourth beast, whom God said would be the fourth kingdom (Daniel 7:17, 23), or empire. Counting from Daniel's time, the first empire was the Babylonian, the second the Medo-Persian, the third the Greek, and the fourth the Roman Empire. The rulers of this fourth empire, represented by horns (see Daniel 7:24), are full of great boasts and blasphemies (Daniel 7:8). Eventually this beast would be slain and burnt - a prophecy of its destruction (Daniel 7:11), just as John prophesied its destruction in Revelation 19. However, before its final destruction, it is granted a reprieve for a period of time (Daniel 7:12). During that reprieve, the Son of Man (Jesus) goes before the Ancient of Days (God, the Father) and receives a kingdom that will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14). The saints of God will receive and possess that kingdom (Daniel 7:18). Then a wicked ruler that (Daniel 7:24) persecutes Christians will arise for a period of time (Daniel 7:25) before God finally brings judgment.
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