The Book of Revelation: Class 6
The Last Things
Course Review. Thus
far, we have covered six sections of Revelation:
·
The (then) present situation of the Churches in
·
The future of the Church based on the actions of the
·
God’s warnings to
·
The seven scenes leading up to the final judgment (Class
4)
·
The seven bowls of God’s wrath (Class
4)
·
Last Class Review (Class
4).
1.
Using
Old Testament imagery of
2.
John saw
that the harlot
3.
John
provides several clues to his symbolism, and the identity of
4.
Finally,
the fall of
Today’s Class (Class 6)
This last section
of Revelation is John’s vision of the end of history. The setting is in heaven, and as the curtain
rises, we see preparations for a great banquet.
The text It begins with and adaptation of Ps
134 and the wedding feast of the Lamb:
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
(Rev. 19:7-8, NRSV)
This imagery
falls in line with John’s use of other Old Testament imagery, particularly
Hosea. It is also in keeping with the
New Testament imagery of the heavenly banquet.
In today’s class we will cover the following:
|
Topic |
Text
of Revelation |
|
19:11-21 |
|
|
20:1-10 |
|
|
20:11-15 |
|
|
21:1-8 |
|
|
21:9-22:5 |
|
|
22:6-21 |
The King of Kings
and Lord of Lords enters the scene. He
is named as the “Word of God” and is the rider of the white
horse (see the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Class
2). A graphic illustration of him can be found at http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image24.asp.
His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems;
and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood,
and his name is called The Word of God. (19:12-13)
The Word of God
(a.k.a., the Lamb, Jesus), defeats the beast of the earth and the false prophet,
as well as the kings of the earth and their armies (the ten horns described
in Class 5). The beast and the false
prophet will be cast into the fiery pool of burning
sulfur. The burning pool (or pit) is also described in 1 Enoch as a place of punishment for fallen
angels, false prophets, and evil doers.
Summary
and reflection. Note
that John was correct that persecutions would end, and that Christ would be
victorious when
This is perhaps
the most controversial section of the Book of revelation. What is the 1000 year reign of Christ that
John refers to that coincides with the 1000-year imprisonment of Satan?
The millennium is
the holy trinity of completeness. 10 equals completeness, so 10 ´ 10 ´ 10 =
1000 (Chapman, 123). Chapman
points out that John repeats himself in order to emphasize certain points.
The devil is chained, but not destroyed. Chapman seems to be an Augustinian in that he
believes that when the human will chooses evil over good, then the chains of
the dragon are loosened a little (Chapman, 123).
When the 1000
year reign is over the dead will be resurrected (note, however, that the holy
martyrs will be with Christ during the 1000-year reign). Also, at the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released and he will try to gain the confidence of
the rest of the nations (those beyond what John knows). This is Gog and Magog (a reference to Ezekiel
38, 39).
The devil will
finally be defeated, and thrown into the lake of fire. The unholy trinity (dragon, false prophet,
Satan) will be tormented for all eternity. For a depiction of the lake of fire see http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image32.asp
Returning to a
scene of heaven and to the imagery of scrolls, John sees a vision of God on his
throne in heaven holding the scroll of life.
The dead are judged according to their
deeds. Hades and death itself are cast
into the pool of fire, as were those who’s names are
not written in the scroll of life. Note
that those who suffer this fate suffer the second death, which is spiritual
death, the ultimate destruction.
The New Heaven and
Earth (21:1-8)
Using the imagery
of Isaiah (65:17-18), an entire new cosmological creation is born: a new heaven, and a new earth, and it is a
return to the idea of Genesis: God walking
with God’s people. And to the victor
(Christ), God will be his father. God
will be Alpha and the Omega (this is the same way God referred to Godself in
1:8.
God provides a
warning that there are several sins that will result in the second death:
Cowardliness
Unfaithfulness
Depravity
Murder
Unchastity
Sorcery
Idol worship
Deceitfulness
A holy city (the new Jerusalem) will descend onto the earth. For a painting of this, see http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image33.asp
It is interesting
that the description of the New Jerusalem is somewhat parallel to the new
temple described in Ezekiel. Ezekiel
wrote about his vision of the new
The numerical
descriptions in Revelation are used by John to show
that the
It is important
to note that the city has no
The city has a
river of life-giving waters, and a holy tree (like the tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil) (22:1-2).
The Epilog and Closing
(22:6-21)
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard
and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them
to me; but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you
and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.
Worship God!” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words
of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the
filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be
holy.” (22:8-11)
Daniel was told to keep his prophecy a secret (Daniel’s future was
a long way off). Not so with John, because
the future is high! The imminent return
of Christ is foreseen, and John’s people are told to worry about themselves
individually, and now worry about others (Let the wicked be wicked, you do what
is righteous [
The book ends
with a prayer and a threat. The promise
is the hopefulness in Jesus’ return: “The
Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And
let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (22:7).
The threat: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the
plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of
the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree
of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (22:18-19). In other words: “Don’t mess around with this scroll!”
And the cry of
hopefulness: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (
Summary
and Reflection. What is
meant about the return of Christ? Is
Christ really “gone” from us right now? Are we in the millennial period, or is that
figurative language of John reflecting back on the history of
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Updated 18 April 2003
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