9/17/23
We’re reading through Revelation along with NT Wright’s Revelation for Everyone. These notes include discussions of topics of additional interest and attempt connections with more Old Testament material.
Revelation 1-5 Questions
What is being sealed up in the scroll?
NT Wright’s answer in Revelation for Everyone is:
We rightly guess, however, that it contains God’s secret plan to undo and overthrow the world-destroying projects that have already gained so much ground, and to plant and nurture instead the world-rescuing project which will get creation itself back on track in the right direction. Is there anybody out there who deserves to open this scroll? Is there anybody who has not, themselves, contributed in some way to the problems of creation, to the age-old spoiling and trashing of God’s beautiful world? (pg 52)
Last week, to answer the question, we read excerpts of Daniel 7 and 10. This week, we also read Daniel 12:
“At that time Michael,
the great prince who watches over your people,
will arise.
There will be a time of distress
unlike any other from the nation’s beginning
up to that time.
But at that time your own people,
all those whose names are found written in the book,
will escape.
Many of those who sleep
in the dusty ground will awake—
some to everlasting life,
and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence.
But the wise will shine
like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.
And those bringing many to righteousness
will be like the stars forever and ever.
“But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.” (NET)
Is Jesus portrayed as an angel? How is Jesus described in Revelation 1-5?
Recommended reading: Daniel 7 and 10, Zechariah 1:2-6
In Revelation 1-5, John paints a composite picture of Jesus using material from ~10 different Old Testament passages including views of him as the Ancient of Days, the cloud rider, a divine warrior, the transfigured one, a stone with seven eyes, Jesse’s/David’s root, one with a rod/sword of judgment coming out of his mouth, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, one who was pierced, the Lion of Judah, a sacrificial lamb, and a spiritual being with luminescent qualities.
One more question from last class we didn’t have time for in this one:
Has the breaking of the seals already happened? - “already but not yet”
NT Wright believes Babylon the Great was Rome. I would argue it is Rome but also Persia, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Shechem, Sodom and Gomorrah, Babel, and the city Cain named after his son. In Genesis 3-11 we see several generations of people who behave in a manner that is a twisted inverse of God-given paradigms we find in Genesis 1-2. Cities and, later, empires are founded by men who pursue power through violence, sexual abuse, enslavement, making a name for themselves and other anti-God’s paradigm attributes, anti-God, anti-Christ.
So, have these things already happened? I would submit, yes, in the era of the destruction of the Temple by the Roman Empire, but also no, because there will be a final judgment of the anti-Christ empire-like elements on the Earth at that time.
Put another way - can you think of a story where people rebel against God, the land is affected, God’s relationship with his people is threatened, God brings exile or death to the rebellious people and preserves a remnant he will bring back into the land to continue in relationship with him? There are probably ten such stories in the Old Testament.
So, how do we ensure we are not subject to judgment? We can be like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Caleb and Joshua, David, Nehemiah, and Daniel. We can faithfully pursue, not what we see as good, but what God sees. As in Psalm 1, we can meditate on his word to make our small piece of the Eden garden or Revelation’s paradise here and now.