In this essay prepared as part of his theology studies, Daniel Gullotta, takes a look at the Book of Revelation — the Apocalyptic last book of the New Testament…

When I read the Book of Revelation, there is an excitement I feel turning its pages and gazing upon its text. I love taking in all the wonderful imagery and symbols, reading of the glorious worship and praise given to God, feeling the struggles being faced by the Church with all the suffering and violence, rejoicing at the defeat of Satan, death and sin and ultimately reading in awe, wonder and hope of the new heaven and new earth.

Yet, when other people read this final part in the scriptures, they see it as some kind of cryptic eschatological blueprint for the 'End of Days', which must be deciphered and decoded in order to be correctly understood. I do agree with the terms, correctly understanding Revelation, but sadly so many people tend to miss the mark, not gripping the historical relevance of Revelation.

In today's world, there is a sector of society that seems to invest heavily in trying to interpret these so-called 'divine blueprints'. The most popular example of this is the hugely successfully novels of the 'Left Behind' series, by the American conservative evangelical Christians, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins — a series rooted in fundamentalist Rapture and Seven Tribulation theology. It amazes, yet even more so, scares me how many people do not understand the context and relevance which Revelations has to Church of the past, present and the future. This essay will explore the Book of Revelation, its contents, structure and style, its history within the early church, understanding some of its apocalyptic and symbolic themes, and examining our future through the eyes and heart of God.

A page from an illustrated text of the Book of Revelation held in the Vatican library

If you open up Revelations and start reading it from beginning to end, my guess is that you are going to leave it very confused and very disturbed. It is full of famines, diseases, wars, plagues, angels, demons, saints, sinners, martyrs, and evil, and might come across as a book devoted to the wrath of God being poured out against the world. Jesus in this text is almost unidentifiable with the one we find in the Gospels, being portrayed as some kind of warrior king and almighty judge. Revelations as a novel would read as a horror story, but we must understand Revelations isn't a novel.

The word apocalypse means 'unveiling' or 'revelation', which generally refers to the uncovering of some sort of divine knowledge or insight. The word apocalypse also refers to the genre of literature in which The Book of Revelation is written. Apocalyptic works were pieces of literature that held visions in dreams of people shown things in heaven, or given great insight on certain things — most popular being the Last Judgement and the Second Coming of Christ. Apocalyptic literature and writings are found all throughout the Bible, one of the most famous, if not the first piece of apocalyptic literature is the Book of Daniel, and other apocalyptic works have been discovered such as the Book of Enoch and the Apocalypse of Peter to name only two[1].

The Book of Revelation is the final book in the Christian Scriptures, and bears the original title in Greek, 'Apocalypse of John'. It was written around the year 96 CE, near the end of first century, and its author is traditionally attributed to the apostle John, however most would doubt this claim and some would identify him with the man known from Ephesus as 'John the Elder'. The author John (apostle or not), tells us that he wrote down his revelation, based on his Christian faith, while in exile on the Greek island of Patmos. The city of Ephesus was both the capital of Roman province within Asia and was the one of the earliest centres for Christianity.

This area was also an important region for the expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire and John, in the introduction, addresses several short letters to the churches in the Asia Minor — Ephesus (2:1-7), Smyrna (2:9-11), Pergamon (2:12-17), Thyatira (2.18-29), Sardis (3.1-6), Philadelphia (3.7-13) and Laodicea (3.14-22). It was also at this time that Christianity was facing considerable persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire, forcing many into hiding and or martyrdom and it was through this persecution that Christian Apocalypticism was deepened and flourished. While it is true that thousands of Christians were being persecution by the Roman Empire, many of them were also citizens of Rome. To most of the Roman citizen Christians, while pagan and emperor worship were cut off, one should practice obedience to the Empire, being a good citizen and also pray for the emperor[2].

Yet John took a very different attitude to the Roman Empire…

	Ancient Babylon. The name was used as a disguise for Rome.

John viewed that Roman authority and power as illegitimate and that the worship of the Empire was an act of idolatry. In his symbolic language, he depicts Rome has a great and mighty whore, bearing the title on her forehead, 'Mystery Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations'. She is described as being "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the martyrs of Jesus". Yet not only is Rome portrayed as a harlot but also that of Babylon, the empire which destroyed the first Temple and led the Israelites into exile.

John, writing after 70, Babylon became a kind of code man for Rome, as it was the second empire to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem. He continues this illustration of Babylon in reference to Rome in several phrases, such as describing her as a city with imperial might and destructiveness, a conqueror of conquerors and also as the whore being covered in scarlet clothing, holding a golden cup and her jewels sitting on seven hills. John hints at Rome all throughout this texts, for one, Rome was famous as (and still) the city of seven hills and secondly, one only needs to Google search "Roman Empire" to learn of its imperial triumph and success as well as it's lust for more wealth, control and power[3].

While the Book of Revelation holds much of historical content, the final chapters give us insights into the Early Church's hope and idea of Heaven. In John's vision, we see the Final Judgement, in which Jesus sits on the throne as Judge, condemning the evil forces of the Roman Empire and rewarding the faithful Church. The forces of evil as being cast into a great lake of fire, and a new earth and heaven are born without death or suffering.

In this new earth, heaven in a sense comes to earth and becomes one with her, where God dwells in the midst of creation in perfect and complete fullness, so much that the sun and moon are removed for the glory of God becomes their light! So much that even the lamb and lion lie together! So much that there is no longer any temples or churches or any place of worship, for the whole world becomes a place of worship! I believe that this new heaven and earth image is perfectly summed up by the fourth verse of the twenty-first chapter, when John writes:

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. [Revelation 21:4]

While I strongly believe the Book of Revelation stands as important part of the Early Church, I also believe it plays an important part in our own Church, here and now. We here in Australia sometimes can really take for granted the freedom we have when it comes to the way we practice our faith, when so many of our fellow brothers and sisters are suffering in ways that echo the words of Revelations. In countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, people are killed just for their belief in Jesus. Many of us can get caught up in the world ahead of us or behind, so much that we can forget about the world in front of us[4]! That to me is the central message of the Revelation — dealing with the world in front of us. I strongly dislike this idea of being 'raptured' away to some distant 'heaven' and being detached from this world as if it is some brutal and horrible place of evil. This to me is pure escapism in the face of the problems we face here and now.

If I have learnt anything from the Bible, it's definitely that God isn't the type to run away from a challenge and nor does he expect his people to do so! Rather he calls people to face them, meet them and amazingly even rise above them. God is a good who acts in the face of evil and calls us to act as well! The Book of Revelation, although it is gripping, it is a symbolic tale of God's healing power for us and all of creation, where we can choose to partake in God's plan for the future and for the church hope by loving one another in the same way God loves us. The hope in which one day we won't care about the sun or moon, or where and how we worship and the day when the lion and lamb lie together. Sharing in the hope that one day there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more hate, no death, only love and eternal life with God and one another[5].

Through the Love of God, all the evil of this world is undone, all people are welcomed into the Kingdom and no one is left behind.

REFERENCES:
1. F Just, Apocalypse: Definitions and Related Terms
catholic-resources.org/Bible/Apoc_Def.htm
2. L White, The Book of Revelation in Context
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/brevelation.html
3. A Collins, Rome as the Whore of Babylon
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/brevelation.html
4. Suffering & Persecution of Christians & the Persecuted Church
www.persecution.org/suffering/index.php
5. B Witheringthon, Literalism and the Last Days
www.beliefnet.com/story/52/story_5280_2.html

Daniel Gullotta is a student at ACU National, studying a Bachelor’s degree in Theology.

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©2007 Daniel Gullotta

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