Revelation 11-15

Revelation 11

Like Ezekiel, John is commanded to measure the temple, “but unlike Ezekiel, there is no indication that he actually does this.” (Ian Paul, Revelation, pg. 194 Kindle) As in Ezekiel, this temple is an eschatological temple, and the numbers and measurements are more metaphorical than literal.

The outer court has been given over to the Gentiles:

“The mention of Gentiles who trample uses the same language as Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in Luke 21:24: ‘Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’ The parallel passage in Matthew 24:15-16 connects this with the ‘abomination of desolation’ at the end of the half-week in Daniel 9:27:

‘So 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)

‘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 at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.’ (Dan. 9:27)

John describes this ‘time of the Gentiles’ which Matthew connects with Daniel’s time of desolation as 42 months, which in a calendar of twelve months per year equates to three and a half-years, or a ‘half-week’ of years (as in Dan. 7:25; 9:27; 12:7). The significance of the number 42 within the biblical canon is that it is the number of ‘stations’ or places where God’s people camped during the journey through the wilderness according to the listing in Numbers 33…” (pg. 197)

11:3-6

The two witnesses: two is the number for true witness (Deut. 17:6), witness or testimony “is the distinctive characteristic of both Jesus and his people in Revelation.” The two witnesses are a metaphorical description of the people of God.

666: A triangular number

1,260 days or 42 months: Rectangular number, which are double triangular numbers.

Sackcloth: apparel of repentance

Two olive trees: allusion to Zechariah 4:3-14 (represents “governor Zerubbabel and the priest Joshua, who were leaders of the first group of Jews to return from exile in Babylon in the late sixth century BC. They are pictured as providing the olive oil to feed the golden lampstands of the temple—that is, they are the ones maintaining the worship of God…by the end of the vision (in Zech. 4:14), the two images appear to have coalesced into one, and John follows this by identifyinf the witnesses as olive trees with two lampstands…” (pg. 199)

Fire coming from the mouths of the two witnesses: Allusion to Jeremiah 5:14 (“I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.”) and Elijah who is a ‘prophet like fire’ whose ‘word burned like a torch’ (Sirach 48:1)

In other words, Revelation is the first to use the word “slay” metaphorically, in a non-violent way, meaning to slay with one’s words. (see also Rev. 19:21, cf. 21:24) The prophets also “torment” by their words “just as the demons were tormented by the threat of Jesus’ deliverance (Mark 5:7).” (pg. 203)

The prophets are like Elijah and Moses. They “shut up the sky” like Elijah, turn the water to blood like Moses.

11:7-14

The beast will make war on them and conquer them and kill them: allusion to “the attack and apparent victory of the little horn over the saints in Daniel 7:21.” (pg. 200) The beast conquers through violence, but the people of God conquer through words (“through non-violent resistance and faithful witness, following the example of the slain lamb.” (pg. 201))

The bodies of the two witnesses: bodies are left in the open, not buried, to humiliate or warn.

Sodom and Egypt: Figuratively referring to Rome/Babylon

Three and a half days: could be understood as the three and a half years, or simultaneous with the three and a half years: “in the texts from which this time period is borrowed in Daniel, days and years are interchanged…”

The inhabitants of the earth: opposed to those “dwelling in heaven” (Rev. 13:6)

Celebration and exchange presents: They make a holiday of the death of the prophets similar to Saturnalia in December each year where “seven days of feasting were accompanied by the sending and receiving of gifts…” The celebrations are cut short when the prophets are risen from the dead, alluding to Ezekiel 37, which is a symbolic image of resurrection, but also connected to Jesus rising on the third day. The martyrs will die as Christ, resurrect like Christ, and ascend into heaven like Christ.

The earthquake: God’s judgment (Ezekiel 38:19)

The number of those who died: a symbolic number, the complete and divine number.

11:15-19

The kingdom of God has been brought from heaven to earth.

Destruction of those who destroy the earth: “expresses God’s commitment to the created order.” (pg. 209) God’s purpose is “redemption and renewal (‘I am making everything new’, 21:5), and not its destruction.” Those who destroy the earth are excluded from the new creation.

The temple in heaven was opened: “final visibility and openness of the presence of God when he comes.”

Lightning, thunder, etc.: references to Mount Sinai and judgment.

Chapter 12: The Woman Clothed with the Sun, the Child, and the Dragon

The story is clearly connected to biblical imagery, but there is also a pagan myth to which it is connected: the story of Leto, Python and Apollo:

“Python, a huge dragon, was warned by an oracle that he would be destroyed by one of Leto’s children. Leto was a lover of Zeus who was married to Hera. When Hera learned that Leto When Hera learned that Leto was pregnant, she banished her; Leto gave birth to her twins, Artemis and Apollo, on the island of Delos… Python pursued her in order to destroy her offspring, but she was carried away by Aquilo (Latin for the north wind) and protected by Poseidon with waves. When four days old, Apollo hunted down Python and killed him with arrows…This story was used as imperial propaganda, particularly by Domitian, to portray the emperor as Apollo, the son of the gods and defeater of the chaos monster.” (Ian Paul, Revelation, pg. 214 Kindle)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5-CaOLInvk&t=33s

If you haven’t noticed yet, John often blends Old Testament, New Testament, and pagan myths, which he subverts. Here he takes characters from the biblical story, and inserts them in the plotline of the Leto myth, thus subverting the propagandic way the myth is normally used. He displaces “imperial power from the role of Apollo by the Davidic Messiah” and the empire is the chaos monster, the dragon.

12:1-6

-The woman is pregnant, crying out in labor (allusion: Isaiah 26:17 and 66:7-9; Micah 4:8-10 and 5:3)

The dragon: “archetypal image of primeval chaos in many cultures.” (pg. 216) In the Python/Leto myth, the Leviathan or serpent in the Old Testament (Psalm 74:13-14; 91:13; 104:26; Job 7:12; 26:13), sometimes identified with kings (Jeremiah 51:34; Ezekiel 29:3; 32:2). It’s red color is the color of the red horse that took peace from the earth.

Seven heads/ten horns: “combination of the heads and horns of all four beasts in Daniel’s vision of the beasts emerging from the sea in Daniel 7:2-7…” (pg. 217)

Seven diadems: “signify a claim to power…”

Sweeping  third of the stars out of the sky: (Allusion: the little horn in Daniel 8:10; a reference to Antiochus IV Epiphanes who desecrated the temple sacrifices, which Jesus anticipates to be reenacted in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14); Connection to the fourth trumpet where a third of the stars turn dark.

Ready to devour her child: Satan’s opposition to Jesus and his birth and ministry.

“Just as Leto fled from the pursuing Python and was offered sanctuary by Poseidon, so the woman here flees to a place prepared for her by God… The wilderness [was a time of testing, God’s loving protection, and wooing of his people]. The 1,260 days (in the second half of the narrative described as the Danielic ‘time, times, and half a time’, 12:14) connects this period back to the time of trampling and testimony in 11:2-3, which is now depicted as a time of nurture and protection. This symbolizes the time from Jesus’ resurrection and ascension until his return, which John has characterized as a time of ‘suffering and kingdom and patient endurance’ (1:9).” (pg. 218)

12:7-9 War in Heaven

Michael: “one of the four or seven ruling angels” or archangels

Names of Satan

Snake: Tempter, slanderer, father of lies, deceiver

Dragon, or chaos monster:

Devil (diabolos): meaning slanderer

Satan: meaning accuser; accuser of God’s people

Beelzebul: Lord of the flies; leader of the demons

Belial or Beliar: Worthless one

The morning star that fell from heaven: he fell from heaven in defeat because of the cross

“Though Satan no longer has a place in heaven, he does continue to exercise power on the earth. John is recasting the temporal paradox of the Christian life into a spatial one. The time that the followers live in is one of testimony and victory, yet at the same time one in which they experience suffering and apparent defeat. In spatial terms, they are heaven-dwellers who are before the throne in heaven and constitute the temple of God, and are protected from the power of Satan who has no place there. And yet they continue as members of many tribes, languages, people and nation, living in their various cities on earth where Satan, for a short time (12:12), wields his limited power.”

(Ian Paul, Revelation, pg. 220-221)

“In the past, Satan’s accusations of God’s people could be countered (Job 1:8) or forgiven (Zech. 3:1-4) by God, but now the accuser himself has been expelled, and no more accusations will be heard. ‘Therefor, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1).” (pg. 222)

We “now enjoy freedom from the fear of accusation”. We have been given victory through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, our “faithful witness to the truth and transformative power of the death of the lamb.” We don’t shrink from death because we are followers of Christ who “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (1:5). Our lives are ones of sacrifice, cross-shaped lives, and it’s by this kind of life that we conquer Satan and demonic powers of this world.

12:13-17

“The Python-Leto myth is continued in the reference to the eagle, since Leto is carried to safety by the north wind Aquilo (which sounds like aquila, the Latin for ‘eagle’). But it is also an allusion to the exodus motif that we have seen in previous chapters, in that her flight is facilitated by being given the two wings of a great eagle, just as God carried his people from Egypt ‘on eagles’ wings’ (Exod. 19:4, an image also used for the return from exile in Isa. 40:31)…Though this is a time of protection from God, it is also a time when the oppressor appears to triumph…” (pg. 224)

-The river spewed out is meant to convey the attempt to sweep away God’s people with war and violence. In some Old Testament passages the earth swallows up people in judgement, “but here it comes to the aid of the woman.” The earth swallows up those who destroy the earth (11:18).

-The dragon is enraged because nothing he has done has worked so he turns towards the rest of her offspring, the church. (allusion: Micah 5:3)

“In the literary equivalent of a political cartoon, John’s vision report takes a piece of imperial propaganda and inverts its effect.” (pg. 225)

Chapter 13: The Beasts from the Sea and the Land

13:1-10 The Beast from the Sea

-The first seven verse draw from Daniel 7. The beast coming out of the sea is from Daniel 7:3. The difference is that the four creatures of Daniel 7 are combined into one creature: “The ten horns and seven heads represent the sum of the four in Daniel… every head makes the same claims to take the place of God.” (Ian Paul, Revelation, pg. 231) One thing about the dragon and the beast is that they parody “the one seated on the throne and the lamb…” Here, the parody emerges most clearly when one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound. The purpose of this scene is to mimic the Christ. In fact, the same word for wound (sphazo) is found in 5:6 speaking of the lamb. Some scholars see this as “an allusion to the myth of ‘Nero Redivivus’, which is more clearly suggested in Revelation 17…it was thought that Nero did not die in AD 68 but was still alive and would lead Parthian armies to invade from the east.” The fatal wound alludes to the death of the beast, which could lead to civil war following Nero’s death.

-People who worship the beast (the emporer) are also worshipping the dragon “because it is the dragon that gives the beast its powers.”

The mouth speaking proud words: allusion to Daniel 7:8: “Even though the heavenly war has been won already, there is a continuing conflict on the earth, and paradoxically the beast has the appearance of conquering God’s people through violence and coercion, even as they actually conquer through faithfulness to the testimony of Jesus.” (pg. 232) The “forty-two months” is meant to point back to 11:1-2, where the outer court was being trampled. The authority of the beast is “given” by God; so God is still ultimately in control. This provides some interesting nuance to Romans 13 where Paul says that God has given the government authority and that they should not be resisted.

Vs. 9-10: Allusion to Jeremiah 15:2: “the rhetorical impact is to discourage violent response…” (pg. 233) “John’s vision report encourages his audience to continue to trust in God and remain faithful because, despite the apparent triumph of the evil empire, God is still sovereign and his judgement will come.” (pg. 234)

13:11-15 The Beast from the Land

Coming out of the land: “would evoke local power structures in Asia on which Rome depended for the exercise of its rule, and which in turn benefitted from Roman rule…” (pg. 235) Asia was coerced to worship Rome, and as long as they did they received Rome’s benefits. The beast looks harmless (a parody of the lamb), “but in fact (like the beast from the sea) shows its real character by speaking like a dragon…” (pg. 236) It is essentially a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The parody of the lamb continues: the beast performs signs like Jesus. The Dragon, beast of the sea, and beast of the land are like the unholy trinity, each “sending” the other.

-Again this beast is also wounded by the sword and yet lives, likely referring again to Roman civil war.

Fire from heaven and giving breath from heaven to the first beast: think wizard of Oz; the image of the first beast is animated through “the use of ventriloquism in the ancient world as part of pagan religion and in particular as part of the imperial cult…” (pg. 237) These are magic tricks akin to what the sorcerers did in Egypt in the time of Moses. These signs parody the work of God. Personally, this makes me think of when Christian groups fake miracles; this to me is a parody of the work of God no different than what Rome was doing. Today, magic could be associated with technology. What we are able to achieve through technology leads us to suppose we don’t need God any more. If anything from the last century has been clear, it is that technology without submission to Christ leads to more pain and destruction for humanity.

13:16-18 The Mark of the Beast

-The beast’s domination is universal, just as God’s judgement and invitation to redemption are universal (6:15; 11:18). Being branded with a mark in the ancient world could be to humiliate a people, or to make it where “there is no part of life when the question of loyalty to the beast can be avoided.” (pg. 238) Placing the mark on the right hand or forehead was a parody of Exod. 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8. Here, the mark is referencing the difference between those with God’s “seal” and those with the “mark” of the beast, meaning the mark they have indicates the one they follow.

The name and number of the beast is also the number of a person: “the triple repetition of the number 6 (in Greek hexakosioi hexekonta hex) would have been clear to John and his audience. The frequency of the number 7 in the text symbolizing completeness strongly suggests that the number 6 symbolizes ‘falling short’ or inadequacy of some kind. Moreover, 666 is the thirty-sixth ‘triangular’ number, that is, one that can be formed by arranging this number of objects into an equilateral triangle of side 36. This fits with John’s wider numerological scheme whereby square numbers symbolize the things and people of God, the triangular number symbolizes opposition to God, and rectangular numbers like 42 and 1,260 (which look similar to square numbers but are equal to twice the corresponding triangular number) symbolize the overlap of the ages, when God’s people experience the joy of the kingdom of God but also the suffering that comes from opposition…” (pg. 239) The text itself tells us that 666 is in reference to a person’s name: “The practice of gematria (the Hebrew term, in Greek isopsephia) whereby the numerical value of names and titles was calculated by adding up the values of the individual letters, was widespread, well established and entirely natural in a world which did not have a separate number system but used the value of letters for calculation.” (pg. 240) 666 is the number for the Emperor Nero by transliterating “Greek into Hebrew letters and then adding the values of the letters, and doing the same with the word ‘beast’, since the beast and the person are being identified (the number of the beast…is the number of a person).”

Below, I’ll use Ian Paul’s chart on page 240 to show examples of gematria in the book of Revelation:

1.      Beast: therion (Greek): TRYWN (Hebrew transliteration): 400+200+10+6+50=666

2.      Nero Ceasar: Neron Kaisar (Greek): NRWN QSR (Hebrew transliteration): 50+200+6+50+100+60+200=666

3.      Angel: angelos (Greek):  ANGLS (Hebrew transliteration): 1+50+3+30+60=144

“This text speaks to God’s people in every age, not instead of referring to Nero, but through doing so.” (pg. 242)

Chapter 14: The 144,000

144,000: Also referenced in Revelation 7:4, marked on their foreheads with the seal of the living God, and now with the name of the lamb and his Father’s name.

Q: Is the statement that “they did not defile themselves with women” misogynistic?

A: For one, this statement is clearly symbolic. John does not think salvation is for men only, which seems unlikely in light of 7:9. Second, there is a translation issue here. The word for virgins used here was, until the second century, only used applying to women in the New Testament and external literature (pg. 246). So unless the date of Revelation is very late, the virgins not defiling themselves with women, are women? In an earlier article, we discussed dating. We know that Irenaeus said Revelation was written during the end of Domitian’s reign around AD 92. To me, this is the most likely date that Revelation was completed. If this is the case, the word for virgins (Parthenos) is figurative for the church (later referenced as a bride, and by Paul [2 Cor. 11:2]) and adultery, whether homosexual or heterosexual. There are other references to consider: the connection of adultery with idolatry throughout the Old Testament, the prohibition of sexual relations for those going to war in the Torah (since the 144,000 are depicted here as an army). So the virginity is figuratively referencing the church’s union with Christ. The verse, pulled out of context, certainly reads as misogynistic, but once you understand the context, it is not.

Firstfruits: Allusion to Lev. 23:10-17; They are living sacrifices to God

No lie found in their mouths: Allusion to Isaiah 53:9

Q: Is the 144,000 only referencing martyrs?

A: The martyrdom is both literal and symbolic. It references literal martyrs, but also all Christians who are ready for martyrdom and live lives as living sacrifices to God. In Revelation 7 the 144,000 becomes the multitudes just as the lion transforms into the lamb. Numbers should not be taken literally in Revelation. You only need read chapter 11 to see that two prophets refers to the whole people of God, and in chapter 12 this becomes one woman.

Made the nations drink her wine: Allusion to Babylon in Jer. 51:7-9

Q: Is the phrase “smoke of their torment rises forever and ever” referring to eternal conscious torment?

A: Difficult to sustain in light of 19:3, since the city is not perpetually destroyed. Rather the wording depicts the eternal effect of the destruction, not the eternal process of destruction (cf. Isa. 34:10). (pg. 250)

14:6-20

Q: What role do the angels and Christ play in the spread of the gospel? Why does it not only depend on us and our efforts? What is our role and what is in God’s hands?

“Jesus’ return will come like a thief in the night for those it catches unawares (1 Thess. 5:2), but for the people of God he will come as a friend in the day (1 Thess. 5:4-5).” (pg. 256)

Revelation 15-16:21 The Pouring out of the Seven Bowls

The imagery of this chapter is really tying together other imagery from Revelation so far. The sea of glass is meant to call to mind Exodus images of God’s people leaving Egypt.