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Bobby
Valentine
Revelation Study Notes
October 27, 2005
Prologue (1.1-3)
* “Surely I am with
you (plural) always to the very end of the age” (Mt 28.20)
* Revelation asserts
that Jesus Christ is not dead. He is alive and “with us” even now
with us. He is not
silent but address his church. This is a fundamental word from the
Prophet John.
* “Revelation OF . .
.” As in English the Genitive can be understood either as objective
or subjective. There is significant difference in the meaning
between these two alternative a) objective = revelation about
Jesus b) subjective = revelation from Jesus
* Angels are common
features in apocalyptic literature (Dan 9.20-23; 2 Esdras 4.1; etc).
They will also play a role later in the book in chi’s 14-17 and
20-22
* The Beatitude
(v.3). Revelation was intended to read orally and in
worship. This verse pronounces a blessing on the “lector” who
reads the message to the assembled congregation.
Beatitudes are
important to John, he uses the form seven times in the book (1.3;
14.13; 16.15; 19.9; 20.6; 22.7, 17). The beatitude is a powerful
literary form first employed by the prophets (Isa. 19.25; 30.18;
56.2; etc) it was used in the Apocrypha (Sirach 25.8) and taken over
by Jesus.
Beatitudes are
performative language, they are not expressions of commonsense
conventional wisdom. They are in the indicative mood. It declares
something to be fact rather than exhorting (like “I do” in a wedding
ceremony). It does not merely describe something that happens it
makes it happen.
The blessing on the
reader points to a key background to Revelation, worship. The book
was read, heard, and reacted to in worship. The book itself is
filled with worship language and probably incorporates the very
hymns that John knew the churches were singing.
* “near” (1.3l &
22.10). What is “near?” Is it persecution? events described in the
book? the return of Jesus?
“The words of
the blessing of Enoch
according to which he blessed the chosen and
righteous
who must be present on the day of distress
(which is appointed) for the removal of al the
wicked and impious . . .
And he saw a holy vision in the heavens
which the angels showed to me
and I heard everything from them,
and I understood what I saw,
but not for this generation,
but for a distant generation which will come
(1 Enoch 1.1-2)
The Christophany or
Vision of Christ (1.4-20)
One way to look at
this section is to use traditional Reformed titles to outline the
section. Thus Jesus is revealed as
1) Prophet (v.1)
where he receives the word
2) King (v.5) where
he is king of kings
3) Priest (v.13)
dressed in priestly garments
* Seven Spirit before
the Throne (attached hand out)
* “witness” (v.5,
martus) Antipas (2.13) is not the first “martyr” rather Jesus is.
Because he “witnessed” (died) for the message we can rely upon it.
He did not stay dead but was “born from the dead” (resurrection).
* Lord’s Day . . . in
the Spirit (1.10; 4.2; 17.3; 21.10).
* The Function of
John’s vision is to authenticate his call and authority to deliver
such a controversial message. In this way it functions in a manner
similar to other “calls” to the prophetic ministry as in Isaiah 6
and Ezekiel 1.
* The Content of the
Christophany is similar to Daniel 7 the vision of one “like” a son
of man and the ancient of days.
* lamp stands more
than likely refer to a “menorah”
* keys of death. In
Hellenistic Anatolia, the ancient goddess Hekate was accorded
sovereignty as mistress of the cosmos and was thought to hold the
keys to Hades. John sees Jesus as striping her of this power . . .
Jesus defeats the principalities and powers in the NT.
Apocryphal Sidelights
2 Esdras 13.1-4
“After seven days
I dreamed a dream in the night. And lo, a wind arose from the sea
and stirred up all its waves. As I kept looking the wind made
something like the figure of a man come up out of the heart of the
sea. And I saw that this man flew with the clouds of heaven; and
wherever he turned his face to look every thing under his gaze
trembled, and whenever his voice issued from his mouth, all who
heard his voice melted as wax melts when it feels the fire.”
2 Esrdas 10.29-30
“While
I was speaking these words, the angel who had come to me at first
came to me and when he saw me lying like a corpse, deprived of my
understanding, he grasped my right hand and strengthened me and set
me on my feed and said to me, ‘What is the matter with you? And why
are you troubled?”
2 Esdras 6.17
When I heard this, I
got to my feet and listened; a voice was speaking, and its sound was
like the sound of mighty waters.”
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