The promised blessing
also makes it evident that God intends us to learn from and understand the
book. After all, what blessing can there be in something we do not understand?
Paul made this point plainly in 1
Cor.14:6-12 where he said " If I come to you and speak in tongues, what
good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or
prophecy or word of instruction?...If the trumpet does not sound a clear call,
who will get ready for battle?...Unless you speak intelligible words with your
tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking
into the air."
Revelation has been neglected to the detriment of
Christians. It
is the major source of Christian prophecy about what will come to pass
beginning with John's own day. The book details prophecies seen in briefer form
in other New Testament books. Unfortunately the reason we do not study
Revelation is that the apocalyptic imagery causes most to lose their way. Revelation
abounds with symbols and figurative language and in style is considerably
different from most of the New Testament. Apocalyptic literature must be
understood to fully understand Revelation. Even the name of the book comes from
the Greek title απoκαλυπσoσ (Anglicized as apocalypsos) which means "revealing"
or "disclosure."
God means for Revelation to be understood by Christians
who will spend the time to study His Word in depth. Other New Testament
books have individual passages which use apocalyptic imagery, so the idea
should not be foreign to us. As I noted previously,
one interpretive principle is that symbols and passages that have parallels
elsewhere in Scripture should be compared and the meanings abstracted. To see
how this can work, consider the following parallel passages from Matthew, Mark
and Luke:
Matt.
24 -
This apocalyptic passage
was understood by early Christians to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in
70 AD and fled when the Romans began the war in Judea in 66 AD until the arrival
of Roman armies at Jerusalem. There was a short time when the Roman armies
surrounded the city but did not invade, letting people enter the city for
Passover. Also, before the siege of Jerusalem began Vespasian returned to Rome
to become emperor, leaving his son Titus in command of the armies. This caused
a delay in the Roman military conquest as well. ("If those days had not
been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days
will be shortened"). It is obvious that early Christians understood this
apocalyptic prophecy.
Mark 13:14-30 - Jesus prophesied in apocalyptic imagery: "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken...Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." Clearly this cannot refer to the end of the world unless first century Christians are still around today. This is a parallel passage to Matthew 24 and also refers to the destructions of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Luke
21:5-33 - This is another passage parallel to Matthew 24 and Mark 13. In
this passage, Jesus was asked about His prophecy that not one stone of the
Temple would be left atop another. "When you see Jerusalem being
surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those
who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let
those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in
fulfillment of all that has been written." Since this is a parallel, it
represents an explanation of the apocalyptic imagery recorded in the other Gospels.
So how can we
understand apocalyptic imagery? Before going into depth on an analysis, we need
to understand the nature of apocalyptic writings. Apocalyptic passages contain
predictive and apocalyptic elements. The word apocalyptic is an adjective that
designates either a secular or an inspired book where the theme(s) is developed
through the use of symbols and visions. The following comparison/contrast
between prophetic and apocalyptic styles may be helpful:
Prophecy And
Apocalyptic Literature Comparison
|
|
Prophetic
|
Apocalyptic
|
In prophetic
writing/preaching moral issues are emphasized.
|
In apocalyptic
works the content is more predictive and the subject matter is more inclusive
and wider in scope.
|
Prophetic writings
are usually formatted as brief oracles (often poetic in nature) set within a
biographical autobiographical or historical context.
|
Apocalyptic
writings are usually in prose with occasional poetic interludes and are
usually continuous in their view of history. They generally cover longer time
periods and are more esoteric in nature.
|
Prophetic writings
point toward a culmination of a Messianic or redemptive nature.
|
They emphasize that
any spiritual and worldly powers that are adversaries of God are still under
His control and will meet defeat when they oppose Him.
|
Emphasize divine
intervention and control and plead for people to either be faithful or return
to God.
|
Also emphasize
divine intervention and plead for people to either be faithful but also tend
to focus on punishment and reward in End Times (eschatology).
|
Use allegorical
language that is generally easy to understand and clear to the reader or
listener.
|
Characterized by
symbols revealed in dreams and visions that should instruct and encourage the
faithful.
|
It is important to
understand that apocalyptic literature (both secular and inspired) flourished
during times of crisis to God's people (either Jewish or Christians) when a
formidable enemy threatened the life of His people or their faith. It was
written during times of trial and stress. Because of the threat to His people,
the comfort was placed into symbolism which those who knew Scripture could
understand but which those who did not understand Scripture could not
interpret.
Secular Apocalypses
Secular apocalypses
became common among the Jews from the Maccabean period (circa 200 B.C.) until
about 200 A.D. Secular Jewish apocalypses were patterned after the book of
Daniel. Collectively these writings are known as the "Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha" of the Jews. (Pseudepigrapha = work written under a
pseudonym). They include among others:
·
I
and II Enoch (possibly alluded to in Jude
14-15).
·
Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs.
·
Psalms
of Solomon.
·
Assumption
of Moses (possibly alluded to in Jude
8-9).
·
I
and II Esdras.
·
The
Sibylline Oracles.
From this category,
the uninspired works which were held in respect became collected into the
Apocrypha (which also includes non-apocalyptic writings such as Tobit, Judith,
Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and I and II Maccabees). The rest, which were less
accepted, became known as the Pseudepigrapha.
Christians also wrote
in apocalyptic style. Some of these were collected Into New Testament
Apocrypha. These include the following:
·
Apocalypse
of Peter.
·
Vision
of Isaiah.
·
Shepherd
of Hermas.
·
V
and VI Ezra.
·
Apocalypse of Paul.
Inspired Apocalypses
The inspired
apocalyptic books of Scripture in the Old Testament canon as it is generally
accepted today are Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah (although other books include
apocalyptic passages). In the New Testament, Revelation is the only inspired
apocalyptic book (although other New Testament books include apocalyptic
passages). Note that these were all written during periods of severe
persecution and were all designed to convey the message that God is in control.
Their messages were designed to be understood by the faithful as reassurances
but also to be obscured from outsiders (who would be judged).
· Daniel
and Ezekiel (along with Jeremiah which has some apocalyptic imagery) all wrote
during the period of Babylonian Captivity. God's people (Judah) were in
captivity to the powerful Babylonian Empire and needed encouragement. Daniel
and Ezekiel both wrote from the heart of the Babylonian Empire, while Jeremiah
wrote more to the homeland area of the Jewish people.
· Zechariah
prophesied during the Persian Empire when the Jews returned to Judah to rebuild
the Temple. The people were facing great persecution, and the purpose of the
writing was to reassure the Jewish people that the Temple will be rebuilt, the
kingdom of the Messiah will be established, and God's chosen people will be
triumphant.
· John
wrote Revelation during a time of severe persecution of God's people
(Christians) by the great world empire of Rome.
The Use of Symbolism in Apocalyptic Writing
Both the secular and the inspired apocalyptic writers used an elaborate system of cryptic symbols and figures of speech for the expression of spiritual ideas. The writer was faced with the task of seeing the invisible and portraying the inexpressible. The symbols and systems of interpretation, while clear to the initiated, were hard to understand for outsiders (including modern readers). The symbolism both of the secular and also of the inspired apocalypses is a system in which qualities, ideas, principles, etc. are represented by abstract images. The code of the symbols was as much a code as anything encrypted by secular means. It allowed safe communication which was unintelligible to those who do not know the code. Since understanding the symbolic code requires understanding God's Word in depth, anyone who would do an honest attempt at understanding it would need to be exposed to the power of God's Word. Some important notes:
· The
symbols cannot be interpreted in the same manner as prose where the surface
meaning is evident.
· The
symbols follow the same pattern of usage throughout Scripture. I discussed this
in detail in my post
on understanding the mountain symbol.
· One
of the main usages of symbolism is the symbolism of numbers. I plan to discuss
this more thoroughly in a later post.
Evidence That God's Teachings Hidden From Outsiders While
Revealed to Faithful
Many will object that
God does not hide His teachings. I will agree that in general that is true, but
God does not reveal all of His plans to those who are outside His people and
particularly obscures things from both human and spiritual adversaries. Here
are some examples that are not related to apocalyptic symbolism:
1. Parables - The purpose of parables was to reveal
God's will to those with faith, trust, and right heart but to conceal from enemies/opponents
- including the Jewish and Roman secular leadership in Israel and even from
religious leaders of the time who were nominally God's people
Evidence:
Mark
4:10-12 - The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to
those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever
seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!
Matt.
13:10-17 - Why do you speak to the people in parables? He replied, “Because
the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you,
but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
This is why I speak to them in parables."
Luke
8:9-10 - The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given
to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not
see; though hearing, they may not understand.
Psalms
78:1-4 - My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I
will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of
old-things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will
not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the
praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
John
9:39-41 - Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so
that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some
Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we
blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty
of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
So Jesus taught things that were obscured
from the Jewish leadership because they first rejected hearing what He and
through Him what God had to say. Their hearts were not attuned to truly
following what God wanted. That should give us pause to reflect on our own
hearts. Do we really want to understand God's Word or are we like the Pharisees
and believe we see when our hearts are not attuned to God?
2. Progressive Revelation - God did not reveal everything at
once, but chose to reveal elements of His plan in the fullness of time. The full
nature, requirements and scope of God's redemptive plan for mankind was deliberately
hidden until Christ's death and resurrection. This concept is known as progressive
revelation. Another term for it could be revelation by stages.
Evidence:
Col.
1:25-27 - Paul was commissioned to "present to you the word of God in
its fullness - the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations,
but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people… To them God has chosen to make known among
the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory…"
I
Cor. 2:6-14 (especially verses 7, 8, and 14) - No, we declare God’s wisdom,
a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time
began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory...The person without the Spirit does
not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them
foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through
the Spirit.
God intentionally hid the sacrifice of His
Son from those opposed to Him (and even obscured it from the disciples before
the crucifixion). If he had fully revealed his plans, both the human rulers and
the opposing spiritual enemies of God would have never allowed Jesus to be
sacrificed. Instead, God forced His enemies into actually accomplishing their
own destruction while they were thinking they were destroying His Son.
3. God Did Not Fully Reveal His Will to the Prophets or to
the Angels
- Similar to what I discussed above, God clearly stated that He did not reveal
everything either to His prophets or even to the angels who serve Him in
heaven.
Evidence:
I
Pet. 1:10-12 - It was not revealed to prophets or to angels but now is
revealed to all how God would bring salvation for mankind, even though both the
prophets and angels wanted to know. Instead, God saved that for those of us who
want to do His will and follow His Son.
Matt.
13:16-17 - Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see
but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Eph.
3:7-13 - God chooses "to make plain to everyone the administration of
this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all
things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God
should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
realms..."
It is evident from both the above and from
the previous point that God intentionally did not reveal His Will or His plans
to the prophets or angels. But Scripture is also clear that he has revealed all
of these things to us.
4. Some Things Still Hidden Until End of Time - God has not
revealed when the end will be, even to the angels, even to His Son. Those who
try to say they can determine when the end will be are at best foolish and
misguided. Even if they think they are trying to tell us God's will, in truth
they are arrogant and saying they have information that God has told us we will
not know until it is time.
Evidence:
Mark
13:32 - But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
God Has Revealed All We Need
While it may not be
possible to fully understand or agree on the "meaning" of all of the
apocalyptic visions of Revelation, a Bible student who approaches the book
prayerfully and with a good Scriptural background can understand and interpret
the principal concepts and ideas contained within Revelation. There will always
be some disagreement about specific points, but the main themes of the book can
be understood and mastered. This is essential to counter much false teaching of
the present era.
Deut.
29:29 - "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things
revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law." Although this was specifically directed to Israel
under the law, the truth still applies today. God has revealed to us all we
need and in fact has revealed virtually everything to Christians.
John
12:37-41 - Even though Jesus performed miracles (which have always been one
sign that a prophet was speaking for God), many of the people (particularly the
leaders) refused to believe. Because of their refusal, God allowed them to
deceive themselves.
Matt.
11:25-27 - You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children...No one knows the Son except the Father, and
no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to
reveal him.
John 16:13-15 - Jesus is our prophet and the Spirit is our interpreter in Christian age. Prophecy (God's Word directly revealed or illuminated by Spirit as in book of Revelation) is given by authority of God. The Spirit is speaking to us "what is yet to come".
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