Revelations

The Book of Revelation, also called Revelation to John or Apocalypse of John, (literally, apocalypse of John; Greek, Apokalupsis Ioannou) is the last canonical book of the New Testament in the Bible. It is the only biblical book that is wholly composed of apocalyptic literature. Other apocalypses popular in the early Christian era did not achieve canonical status, except for the 2 Esdras (Apocalypse of Ezra), which is canonical in the Russian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches.

Introduction

After a short introduction (ch. 1:1-10), the book presents an account of the author, who identifies himself as John, and of two visions that he received on the isle of Patmos. The first vision (chs. 1:11-3:22), related by "one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle", speaking with "a great voice, as of a trumpet", is a statement addressed to the seven churches of Asia. The second vision, which makes up the rest of the book (chs. 4-22), begins with "a door … opened in the sky" and describes the end of the world-involving the final rebellion by Satan at Armageddon, God's final victory over Satan, and the restoration of peace to the world. Alternatively, according to the Preterist theory, the events of the latter part of the Apocalypse of John are interpreted as being fulfilled by events in the 1st century.

Revelation is considered one of the most controversial and difficult books of the Bible, with many diverse interpretations of the meanings of the various names and events in the account. Protestant founder Martin Luther at first considered Revelation to be "neither apostolic nor prophetic" and stated that "Christ is neither taught nor known in it", and placed it in his Antilegomena. John Calvin believed the book to be canonical, yet it was the only New Testament book on which he did not write a commentary.

In the 4th century

St. John Chrysostom and other bishops argued against including this book in the New Testament canon, chiefly because of the difficulties of interpreting it and the danger for abuse. Christians in Syria also reject it because of the Montanists' heavy reliance on it.

In the 9th century

It was included with the Apocalypse of Peter among "disputed" books in the Stichometry of St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople.[citation needed] In the end it was included in the accepted canon, although it remains the only book of the New Testament that is not read within the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church. See Biblical canon for details.

Religious skeptics have typically been highly critical of Revelation, often considering it the work of a mentally ill author. Typical in this vein is nineteenth-century agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll, who famously branded Revelation "the insanest of all books".

Scholars have also noted striking parallels with Mithraic Greek Magical Papyri literature, specifically the Mithraic Liturgy. Compare Revelation 1:13-16 to;

And a god descending, a god immensely great, having a bright appearance youthful, golden-haired, with a white tunic and a golden crown and trousers, and holding in his right hand a golden (700) shoulder of a young bull: this is the Bear which moves and turns heaven around, moving upward and downward in accordance with the hour. Then you will see lightning-bolts leaping from his eyes and stars from his body.

Revelation is divided into seven cycles of events

The number seven appears frequently as a symbol within the text. The chapters of Revelation present a series of events, full of imagery and metaphor, which detail the chronology of God's judgment on the world.

Exact interpretations of the chronology of Revelation vary extensively. The work may be interpreted literally, as a chronological list of events that will occur as the time of Revelation grows near. At the same time, the imagery can be seen to contain symbolic commentaries on the world during the historical period in which Revelation was written, or "pre-commentaries" on our world today.

Interpretations

Eastern Orthodox view

Eastern Orthodoxy has an interpretation that does not fit well into any of the above classifications. It treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadow. It rejects attempts to determine, before the fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals. The Book of Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is not publicly read by the Eastern Orthodox Church.


Anglican view

The Anglican/Episcopal view is that this book should be seen as a book of hope and also a book of warning. It gives hope to those Christians who are being persecuted, assuring them that their suffering is not in vain. It also warns those non-Christians of the coming events and what will happen to them. Revelation is an example of typical Jewish Apocalyptic literature. It uses symbolic imagery to communicate hope to those in the midst of persecution. The events which occur in Revelation are ordered according to literary, rather than strictly chronological patterns.


Latter-day Saint

Mormonism believes that the Book of Revelation reveals important prophecy about the last days, the millennium, judgment, the destruction of Babylon (Satan's forces of evil), and the triumph of Christ's forces of good. Distinctly Mormon views involve the nature of a divine inheritance in the afterlife for those who overcome by faith in Jesus Christ. They also view the first six seals as a representation of six-thousand years of earth's temporal existence, or being in a non-paradisaical state, with the seventh seal representing the millennium. This gives them a historicist view spanning a much larger period of time than the traditional historicist views of the book.[citation needed]


Paschal Liturgical view

This view, put forth by a few Catholic theologians, considers the liturgical worship, particularly the Easter rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. It is explained in The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse by Massey H. Shepherd and in Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper - the Mass as Heaven on Earth, in which he states that Revelation in form, is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple’s destruction had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean. They believe Revelation is intended to give insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth.


Esoteric view

The esoterist views the Book as delivering both a series of warnings for humanity and a detailed account of internal, spiritual processes of the individual soul. The seven seals are the seven chakras and the consequence of opening them is the unleashing of the physiological forces that reside there. The Second Coming is thus a personal event, the integration of your spiritual self with your animal self, resulting in a fully conscious human.

Some scholars have noted the similarities of the myth of Revelation about a rider on a white horse with the Buddhist and Hindu myths of Kalki who is considered the last avatar in the cycle of ages and is also associated with the end of time.

The esoteric view also presents the Book as the Christian yoga (union) practices text on death and rebirth in Christ. The four horsemen are described as the four elemental forces (fire, water, air, earth) and are used in the spiritual purification of the body and mind. The characters of Revelation are considered anthropomorphized aspects of human consciousness.

Edgar Cayce had a similar interpretation.


New Church view

The doctrine of the New Church includes a work called Apocalypse Revealed [22], written by Emanuel Swedenborg. This view considers the Book of Revelation a prophetical account of the judgment on the Christian church and the establishment of a new Christian church. The imagery in the visions are seen as symbolic depictions of the spiritual event of Jesus' second coming, and the resistance to his advent among those in the Christian church who are in love of power, and in dead faith. Those who believe Jesus is God, and follow his commandments are seen as those who are of the new church. The struggle between the new Christian church with the established church is the seen as the spiritual theme underlying Revelation. Apocalypse Revealed goes through a detailed exposition of the correspondences of each figure in the book.

Radical discipleship

The radical discipleship view asserts that the Book of Revelation is best understood as a handbook for radical discipleship; i.e. how to remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus and avoid getting lured by worldly ways. In this view, the primary agenda of the book is to expose the worldly powers as impostors which seek to oppose the ways of God. The chief temptation for Christians in the 1st Century, and today, is to fail to hold fast to the teachings of Jesus and instead be lured into adopting worldly ways, values, and priorities - imperialism being the most dangerous and insidious. This perspective (closely related to Liberation theology) draws on the approach of radical Bible scholars such as Ched Myers, William Stringfellow, and Daniel Berrigan.

Alternative

Some interpreters surmise that the Vision of Heaven in Chapter 4 resembles a calendar and clock representation to set up the rest of the Chronology of Revelation. This timeless model includes distinct correlations to cyclic events such as the 24 hours of a day, (24 elders) the seven days of the week (seven lamps of fire) and the four seasons of the year (the four living creatures). This somewhat literal interpretation asserts that John is referring back to the Book of Genesis beginning at the rainbow (halo), "the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth" as an affirmation that the covenant still stands. In this covenant God promises to Noah that the Earth will remain and that the seasons would continue as periodic periods of warm and cool.

The interpretation expands to include the notion of the hour (1/24;th of a day) and the nearly universal acceptance of a seven-day week are symbolized here in a static form palpable to Mediterranean readers. Further treatment along these lines illuminate this passage as a timeless preface to the chronology to follow, establishing the principle that God exists outside of time: "who was and is and is to come", but is aware of the Human concepts that allow the marking of time. John's notion here supports also that Jesus is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). See also Hour and Calculating the day of the week[26]

In this school of thought, John is appointed by Jesus as a scribe after the order referred to in Matthew 13:52: "Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of Heaven, is like unto a householder who brings forth of his treasure things new and old" (KJV). As such, he delivers to his readers a context based in the Alpha (gr. protos-beginning-Genesis) as a basis for the Omega (gr. eschatos-end-Revelation) and the prophetic scriptures that follow to the end of the apocolype.[27]

Further transliteration indicates that the institution of periodic worship is practiced in Heaven by the four "living creatures" and the twenty-four elders. This interpretation supports the Earthly institution of daily and weekly worship that pervades the entirety of the Bible. Setting up a conceptual framework for periodicity allows the continuation of the text in the prophetic verses sequentially laid out in the opening of the seven seals on the scroll that follows...