REVELATION 1 and 2:1-7

The last book of the New Testament and of the Bible is the Book of Revelation.  The word “revelation “ is a translation of the Greek word Apocalypse.  Apocalyptic literature forms a class of writings that were popular in the First Century.  Revelation is the only wholly apocalyptic book in the Bible, though Daniel, Ezekiel, and even the gospels contain apocalyptic elements.  The apocryphal books 2 Esdras and the Shepherd oF Hermas are apocalyptic.  

Apocryphal books are presented as an explanation of the "Last Things” to the writer.  They are highly symbolic, but this may not mean that they attempted to conceal secrets, but they used a commonly accepted “vocabulary” that is, however, difficult for the modern reader.

We looked as some cartoons, drawn and published for political purposes.  We had no difficulty with cartoons drawn in the 1940’s, but those a hundred years earlier were opaque.

Apocryphal books are often pseudepigraphical – examples are the apocalypses of Moses, Abraham, and Enoch .  Traditionally Revelation is ascribed to John the Evangelist, who is also identified as the writer of the Gospel of john and the Letters of John.  However, it was pointed out early on that the Greek of the Gospel and the Letters is impeccable, whereas the Greek of Revelation is very strange. 

Ireneaus dated Revelation to the later years of the emperor Domitian, but the book may well be earlier.  We worked through the prophecy of the temple contained in chapter 11, which seems to indicate that the book was written while the Jerusalem temple was under siege, though the author predicts that the  siege will be lifted “after 42 months” and after “the Gentiles’ had penetrated only to the outer courts.  Since in fact the Roman legions conquered the center of the temple in 70 AD, this suggests that the book is earlier than that.

An interesting puzzle is the prophecy of the “eight kings” in chapter  17:9-11.  Comparing this to a list of actual Roman emperors suggest that the book was written during the Year of the Four Emperors, when The author expects “one of the seven” to return “although dead”, which suggests a reference to the abortive rebellion under “Nero Revividus”.

Revelation contains short letters to the churches of the Roman province of Asia.  We looked briefly at the first – to the city of Ephesus.  Three members of our group have been to Ephesus, and told us of its great buildings including one of the Wonders of World – the Artemisium, or “Temple of Diana of the Ephesians”

Paul spent over two years at Ephesus, and it was a center of Chritian development for several hundred years.  “John” however, upbraids the Ephesians for having lost “the love you had at first”