This blog is an online presentation of a study conducted with a group of seniors in Glen Abbey United Church, Oakville, Ontario, Canada, during the fall and winter of 2005-2006. It may be used freely with attribution.
Rev. John Shearman
United Church of Canada (Retired).
Monday, January 12, 2009
THE HOLY CITY
John’s final vision describes the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, “coming down out of heaven … bright with the glory of God.” His human eyes could only see the radiance as a walled city built of precious jewels. From foundation stones to gates, its measurements repeated the number twelve or its multiples. Vs. 14 states the reason: there is theological significance to the number.
Twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel and of the apostles. John’s whole apocalypse held that the Christian church was the new Israel built on the foundation of the apostles, i.e. as Caird put it, “the apostolic tradition, the revelation of God of which the apostles were eye-witnesses and guarantors.”
We cannot take this description as we would take a photograph or even a replica of the actual city of Jerusalem. It is not intended to be taken literally in any way. John may never have seen Jerusalem before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. What he envisions here is the eternal presence of God. It is the holy place – if something spiritual can ever be so described – where no temple is needed because God is there. Everything that can be offered to God is there and all that is unfit for God is excluded.
In the closing segment of John’s vision two primary models from the Old Testament come to the fore again: Ezekiel’s vision of the new Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden. God will not be content with a handful of martyrs. Into the holy city, all peoples and nations and all the treasures of the nations will be welcomed because they have been redeemed by Christ.
The epilogue presents readers with a warning that what John has written is the truth and also a challenge to put their lives in order while the opportunity for change remains.
Twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel and of the apostles. John’s whole apocalypse held that the Christian church was the new Israel built on the foundation of the apostles, i.e. as Caird put it, “the apostolic tradition, the revelation of God of which the apostles were eye-witnesses and guarantors.”
We cannot take this description as we would take a photograph or even a replica of the actual city of Jerusalem. It is not intended to be taken literally in any way. John may never have seen Jerusalem before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. What he envisions here is the eternal presence of God. It is the holy place – if something spiritual can ever be so described – where no temple is needed because God is there. Everything that can be offered to God is there and all that is unfit for God is excluded.
In the closing segment of John’s vision two primary models from the Old Testament come to the fore again: Ezekiel’s vision of the new Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden. God will not be content with a handful of martyrs. Into the holy city, all peoples and nations and all the treasures of the nations will be welcomed because they have been redeemed by Christ.
The epilogue presents readers with a warning that what John has written is the truth and also a challenge to put their lives in order while the opportunity for change remains.
THE NEW CREATION
In Chs. 21 & 22 the end of John’s visions reveal the new creation and the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven. There have been passing intimations of this ending in promises to the faithful martyrs, the white-robed multitude, the triumph songs of Moses and the Lamb, the wedding feat of the Lamb and his bride. Now John reveals with certainty how the story is to end. The sea, death, grief, suffering, all that is opposed to God’s purpose will be no more.
The invisible barrier between humanity and God is gone as God’s dwelling is with us. We are at last to be blessed by God’s eternal presence as it had been prefigured in the earlier experiences of Israel, the covenant people of God, and the Incarnation.
The hope of the world rests in God forever making all things new. Paul spoke of this happening in each person as we are transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16-18; 5:16-17; Col. 3:1-4). John sees this same transformation occurring on a cosmic scale. Above all else, he believed that from start to finish all of this is the work of God.
As Prof. Caird wrote: “Blind unbelief may see only the outer world, growing old in its depravity and doomed to vanish before the presence of holiness; but faith can see the hand of God in the shadows, refashioning the whole. The agonies of the earth are but the birth-bangs of a new creation.”
Perhaps this is the most important revelation that we should learn from this climactic vision in John’s long apocalypse. In the end, The Book of Books is the same as in the beginning - God. Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, and now stands at the right hand of God, is at the centre of it all. Those who do not wish
to believe depart to their assigned place – Babylon, the symbol of all that opposes God.
The invisible barrier between humanity and God is gone as God’s dwelling is with us. We are at last to be blessed by God’s eternal presence as it had been prefigured in the earlier experiences of Israel, the covenant people of God, and the Incarnation.
The hope of the world rests in God forever making all things new. Paul spoke of this happening in each person as we are transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16-18; 5:16-17; Col. 3:1-4). John sees this same transformation occurring on a cosmic scale. Above all else, he believed that from start to finish all of this is the work of God.
As Prof. Caird wrote: “Blind unbelief may see only the outer world, growing old in its depravity and doomed to vanish before the presence of holiness; but faith can see the hand of God in the shadows, refashioning the whole. The agonies of the earth are but the birth-bangs of a new creation.”
Perhaps this is the most important revelation that we should learn from this climactic vision in John’s long apocalypse. In the end, The Book of Books is the same as in the beginning - God. Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, and now stands at the right hand of God, is at the centre of it all. Those who do not wish
to believe depart to their assigned place – Babylon, the symbol of all that opposes God.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT
Scholars, like countless less scholarly readers, have found ch. 20 exceedingly difficult to understand. There seems to be a pause in the final dénouement of divine judgment. The pause lasts for a millennium after which the great dragon, Satan, (i.e. the personified power of evil) is again released to wreck havoc on the earth. During this hiatus, the martyrs reign with Christ while others wait for their resurrection.
John appears to believe that even though the great evil of his time, imperial Rome, may disappear, evil will still remain unconquered in the world. On the other hand, until all of creation is redeemed by love and brought under the reign of God’s sovereign love, God’s purpose in the history of the universe will not be complete.
The first thing John saw in his early visions was a great white throne (4:2). Now he sees it again (20:11). This time God’s final judgment is taking place. All the dead appear before the throne, there to be judged as the books recording the deeds of each one are opened. A book of life containing the names of the righteous was common in Hebrew apocalyptic literature and the New Testament (Ps. 139:16; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23). John saw another book listing everyone’s deeds, both good and bad. The dead were raised even from the sea, revealing that resurrection will be universal before the last judgment.
Much lurid detail has been read into this vision that goes much farther than John intended. His vision simply affirmed that there is to be a final judgment to be decided by God alone and cannot be usurped by any human. He makes clear, however, that those who are the enemies of God and live contrary to God’s nature and will do suffer the annihilation of the second death.
John appears to believe that even though the great evil of his time, imperial Rome, may disappear, evil will still remain unconquered in the world. On the other hand, until all of creation is redeemed by love and brought under the reign of God’s sovereign love, God’s purpose in the history of the universe will not be complete.
The first thing John saw in his early visions was a great white throne (4:2). Now he sees it again (20:11). This time God’s final judgment is taking place. All the dead appear before the throne, there to be judged as the books recording the deeds of each one are opened. A book of life containing the names of the righteous was common in Hebrew apocalyptic literature and the New Testament (Ps. 139:16; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23). John saw another book listing everyone’s deeds, both good and bad. The dead were raised even from the sea, revealing that resurrection will be universal before the last judgment.
Much lurid detail has been read into this vision that goes much farther than John intended. His vision simply affirmed that there is to be a final judgment to be decided by God alone and cannot be usurped by any human. He makes clear, however, that those who are the enemies of God and live contrary to God’s nature and will do suffer the annihilation of the second death.
REJOICING IN HEAVEN
On earth Babylon (i.e. Rome) has been judged. From heaven, John hears and sees great rejoicing of the martyrs, as in his vision in 7:9-17. But this time there is a difference. God alone receives the praise, and not the Lamb who was slain as well. This is the signal that the end has come. The victory of Christ on the cross and of the martyrs who died as witnesses to Christ is the victory of God’s love over all that stands in love’s way. As Paul also declared in Romans 8:31-39, nothing stands in the way of sovereign divine love.
John’s vision dissolves into yet another symbolic scene. Another song from the throne room celebrates the marriage supper of the Lamb. The image of a great feast or a marriage feast at the end of history is found in the Old Testament and other Jewish eschatological literature and in the New Testament (Isaiah 25:6; Mark 2:19; Matt. 22:1ff; Luke 14:15ff). The church, made up of the faithful martyrs who witnessed by their deaths, is not only invited to the marriage feast, but is actually the bride of Christ.
In 19:9-10 the one seeing the vision is rebuked for worshiping the angel. John thereby issues a warning against any form of idolatry. In other words, he acknowledges that anything or anyone other than God can be afforded the absolute worth or the absolute control of a person’s life that belongs to God alone. This is the standard that brought Jesus to the cross and the same standard to which the martyrs also witnessed.
The next scene is not a pretty one. It envisions the destruction of the destroyers by a rider on a white horse, i.e. Christ. His only weapon is the Word of God, the faithful confession of obedience to God alone. The only way to destroy all that opposes God is to proclaim the gospel of love in life and in death.
John’s vision dissolves into yet another symbolic scene. Another song from the throne room celebrates the marriage supper of the Lamb. The image of a great feast or a marriage feast at the end of history is found in the Old Testament and other Jewish eschatological literature and in the New Testament (Isaiah 25:6; Mark 2:19; Matt. 22:1ff; Luke 14:15ff). The church, made up of the faithful martyrs who witnessed by their deaths, is not only invited to the marriage feast, but is actually the bride of Christ.
In 19:9-10 the one seeing the vision is rebuked for worshiping the angel. John thereby issues a warning against any form of idolatry. In other words, he acknowledges that anything or anyone other than God can be afforded the absolute worth or the absolute control of a person’s life that belongs to God alone. This is the standard that brought Jesus to the cross and the same standard to which the martyrs also witnessed.
The next scene is not a pretty one. It envisions the destruction of the destroyers by a rider on a white horse, i.e. Christ. His only weapon is the Word of God, the faithful confession of obedience to God alone. The only way to destroy all that opposes God is to proclaim the gospel of love in life and in death.
LAMENT OF THE EARTH
In 18:9-19 the powerful people on earth join the lament. John cites kings, merchants and sea captains mourning the fall of the great city because they too suffer inestimable losses.
The Romans succeeded because its leaders had the administrative genius to organize the most stable civilization that had ever existed. In particular, Roman roads enabled the imperial armies to travel quickly to any place where political unrest threatened.
Merchants and ship owners from around the Mediterranean basin traded stable foods and luxury goods not only with the capital city but wherever imperial garrisons were established. Even as far away from Rome as England and Germany, Roman villas dotted the landscape.
So John cites many examples of the rich trade flowing back and forth across the empire 18:11-17). In the remaining verses, 18:20-24, John describes his vision of the disaster to be brought about by Rome’s downfall.
This is prophecy, but was it a prediction? We often mistake the two. Scholars carefully distinguish between them, especially in apocalyptic writing such as Revelation. “The essence of prophecy,” Prof. R.B.Y Scott wrote, “is not prediction but the declaration of religious truth.” (The Relevance of the Prophets. Macmillan, 1947, 12.)Eternal moral and spiritual issues are at stake and inspired prophets declare God’s will and purpose for God’s people in critical times. Apocalyptic literature depicts mythological struggles between good and evil in successive crises leading to the transcendent end of history.
John did cast the downfall of Rome against the eschatological end of history. He also saw the glory of Rome as contrary to God’s purpose and Christian faith.
The Romans succeeded because its leaders had the administrative genius to organize the most stable civilization that had ever existed. In particular, Roman roads enabled the imperial armies to travel quickly to any place where political unrest threatened.
Merchants and ship owners from around the Mediterranean basin traded stable foods and luxury goods not only with the capital city but wherever imperial garrisons were established. Even as far away from Rome as England and Germany, Roman villas dotted the landscape.
So John cites many examples of the rich trade flowing back and forth across the empire 18:11-17). In the remaining verses, 18:20-24, John describes his vision of the disaster to be brought about by Rome’s downfall.
This is prophecy, but was it a prediction? We often mistake the two. Scholars carefully distinguish between them, especially in apocalyptic writing such as Revelation. “The essence of prophecy,” Prof. R.B.Y Scott wrote, “is not prediction but the declaration of religious truth.” (The Relevance of the Prophets. Macmillan, 1947, 12.)Eternal moral and spiritual issues are at stake and inspired prophets declare God’s will and purpose for God’s people in critical times. Apocalyptic literature depicts mythological struggles between good and evil in successive crises leading to the transcendent end of history.
John did cast the downfall of Rome against the eschatological end of history. He also saw the glory of Rome as contrary to God’s purpose and Christian faith.
LAMENT IN HEAVEN OVER BABYLON
Laments are songs of sorrow, grief and mourning. It may seem astonishing that John would express such feelings about the fate of Rome. But he was a Roman citizen himself and naturally shared some sense of its glory. This ambivalence comes to the fore in the second of the laments in 18:9-19.
The first lament (18:1-8) has two parts given voice by two angels from heaven. The first angel expressed prophetic grief that Babylon (i.e. Rome) has indeed come to such a sad end. This echoes similar words uttered about the fall of Babylon in Isaiah 21:9. The haunted scene inhabited by demons and wild animals in vs. 2 described the desolation well known to people of ancient times when great cities were overwhelmed by ruthless invaders.
In vs. 3 John gives the reason for Rome’s downfall. The empire had given peace and security to the Mediterranean world which enabled many of its subject peoples to share widespread prosperity. Idolatrous worship John likened to fornication seemed a small price for petty monarchs and merchants to pay for the privilege of luxurious trade with Rome.
A second angelic voice from heaven echoes Jeremiah’s summons to faithful Jews to leave Babylon because that city was about to fall to an invader. The seductive situation of Rome would receive double retribution for her arrogant lifestyle from which God’s people must dissociate themselves.
John believed that it was never too late for anyone to repent and turn back to God. To the bitter end, God’s grace remains open and God never ceases to welcome back prodigals. Jesus had shown this in his parables and actions. Long before that Hosea had also expressed this same everlasting mercy (Hosea 2:20-23).
The first lament (18:1-8) has two parts given voice by two angels from heaven. The first angel expressed prophetic grief that Babylon (i.e. Rome) has indeed come to such a sad end. This echoes similar words uttered about the fall of Babylon in Isaiah 21:9. The haunted scene inhabited by demons and wild animals in vs. 2 described the desolation well known to people of ancient times when great cities were overwhelmed by ruthless invaders.
In vs. 3 John gives the reason for Rome’s downfall. The empire had given peace and security to the Mediterranean world which enabled many of its subject peoples to share widespread prosperity. Idolatrous worship John likened to fornication seemed a small price for petty monarchs and merchants to pay for the privilege of luxurious trade with Rome.
A second angelic voice from heaven echoes Jeremiah’s summons to faithful Jews to leave Babylon because that city was about to fall to an invader. The seductive situation of Rome would receive double retribution for her arrogant lifestyle from which God’s people must dissociate themselves.
John believed that it was never too late for anyone to repent and turn back to God. To the bitter end, God’s grace remains open and God never ceases to welcome back prodigals. Jesus had shown this in his parables and actions. Long before that Hosea had also expressed this same everlasting mercy (Hosea 2:20-23).
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