Between the Cross and the Throne E-Book

Matthew Y. Emerson

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Transformative Word
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 284

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Revelation is often considered one of the most confusing books of the Bible, and consequently it's regularly overlooked or ignored. But no longer. In Between the Cross and the Throne, Matthew Emerson walks us through the book of Revelation, unpacking its complex imagery and pointing out major themes. In conversational tone, he reminds us that Christ died, but he has risen. The Lord reigns, but evil persists. We live between Christ's ascension and his final conquest--and that should give us hope.

Leseprobe

BETWEEN THE CROSS AND THE THRONE

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

TRANSFORMATIVE WORD

MATTHEW Y. EMERSON

Edited by Craig G. Bartholomew

Between the Cross and the Throne: The Book of Revelation

Transformative Word

Copyright 2016 Matthew Y. Emerson

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Print ISBN 9781577996583

Digital ISBN 9781577997139

Series Editor: Craig G. Bartholomew

Lexham Editorial Team: Lynnea Fraser, Elliot Ritzema, Abby Salinger

Cover Design: Jim LePage

Back Cover Design: Brittany Schrock

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.Introduction

2.Revelation as Literature

3.The Drama of Redemption

4.The Portrait of God and His People

5.The Portrait of God’s Enemies

6.The War of the Lamb

7.Reading Revelation Today

8.Conclusion

1

INTRODUCTION

In most Christian circles, the book of Revelation is either wildly popular or completely avoided. Some churches turn to it for clues about the end times, attempting to correlate their newspaper headlines with certain passages of John’s Apocalypse or Daniel’s visions. On the other hand, many Christians respond to Revelation with sentiments that mirror Dorothy’s in the Wizard of Oz: “Dragons, beasts, and harlots, oh my!” However, this book is neither a decoder ring for the end times nor an avoidable, weird addition tacked on to the biblical canon. Rather, it is a book that was and is vital for the Church; it assures us, even as we face tribulation, of the triune God’s victorious reign and the imminence of Christ’s return.

Overview

John, who Church tradition has identified with John the Elder and the apostle, wrote Revelation late in life while in exile on the island of Patmos. In this book, John recounts a vision he received from the risen Jesus. Throughout, he urges readers to hold fast to their confession that Jesus is Lord in spite of opposition from Rome and Caesar. Most, if not all, of the book uses figurative images and language. For instance, John often refers to churches as “lampstands,” angels as “stars,” and Satan as “the Dragon.” John draws these images primarily from the Old Testament, especially from the book of Daniel. These word pictures allow us to visually and imaginatively understand the fundamental conflict of the world—the war between God and Satan.

PATMOS AND THE SEVEN CHURCHES

John’s vision begins with the image of the exalted Christ, who stands gloriously victorious in the midst of his churches (Rev 1:9–20). Jesus, who has already conquered Satan through his death and resurrection, then exhorts each of the seven churches that comprise John’s audience to stand firm against all opposition—both spiritual and physical (Rev 2 and 3). John is then taken up into God’s throne room, where he sees the entire people of God and all of creation worshiping God (Rev 4). The people also acknowledge Jesus as the Lamb who was slain and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the one who is worthy to open the scroll of God’s judgment because of his death and resurrection (Rev 5).

OUTLINE OF REVELATION

1.Introduction (Rev 1)

2.Letters to the Seven Churches (Rev 2–3)

3.Visions of the Throne Room (Rev 4–5)

4.The First Cycle of Judgment: The Seven Seals (Rev 6:1–8:5)

5.The Second Cycle of Judgment: The Seven Trumpets (Rev 8:6–11:19)

6.The War of the Dragon and the Lamb (Rev 12–14)

7.The Third Cycle of Judgment: The Seven Plagues and Seven Bowls (Rev 15–16)

8.A Tale of Two Women: The Harlot and the Bride (Rev 17:1–19:10)

9.Armageddon and the End of All Things (Rev. 19:11–20:15)

10.The Renewal of All Things in the New Creation Kingdom of the Lamb (Rev 21:1–22:5)

11.Conclusion: Persevere in the Faith Because Jesus Is Coming Soon (Rev 22:6–21)

The rest of the book follows three cycles of God’s judgment on his enemies—(1) seven seals (Rev 6:1–8:5); (2) seven trumpets (Rev 8:6–11:19); and (3) seven plagues or bowls (Rev 15 and 16). Each of these cycles shows God’s judgment on those who do not follow Jesus as king, but each cycle also demonstrates God’s faithfulness and mercy. God is faithful to his people, who are represented by the 144,000 (Rev 7) and the two witnesses (Rev 11:1–14), and he is also merciful to the nations, as his judgment is intended not only to show his wrath but also to call all to repentance.

Revelation also includes two extended images of the struggle between the Church and the followers of Satan; these wars are figuratively depicted as being between a woman and the Dragon’s servants (Rev 12–14) and between the Harlot of Babylon and the Bride of Christ (Rev 17:1–19:10). The final section of the book includes the battle of Armageddon (Rev 19:11–21), a description of the millennium (Rev 20:1–6), the final judgment (Rev 20:7–15), and the new creation (Rev 21–22).

The Theological Center of Revelation

Christians in the first century faced a variety of challenges, including religious rejection by the Jews, culture clashes with Graeco-Roman social practices, and outright political opposition from Rome. The situation today is not much different for many Christians around the world, particularly with the threat of persecution in biblical locales like Turkey and Iraq.

Revelation depicts trials as being rooted in the work of Satan, who attempts to draw people away from Christ and toward destruction. John, who personally experienced persecution and the power of the emperor, writes to remind his readers that God, not Satan, is ultimately sovereign and victorious. They therefore should remain faithful to Yahweh even while the enemy assaults them from every side.

John’s first-century audience might have wondered amid persecution and the devastation of the world how the claim that “Jesus is Lord” could be true. We might wonder a similar thing today. And although we are often tempted to react to hardship and suffering by questioning God’s good providence, John insists that God reigns supreme even in the midst of all of sin’s effects. The fundamental proof of this is found in the person of Jesus, who is both the source of John’s vision and its central character and message.

Jesus Christ took sin, death, and the grave on himself, thus suffering with and for his people on the cross, but he also decisively defeated the enemy in his victorious resurrection. He is “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth,” the one “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father,” and the one who “is coming with the clouds … who will be seen by all, even those who pierced him” (Rev 1:5–7). Jesus’ death and resurrection make up the two-part work that demonstrates his empathetic suffering as well as his victory over all rulers, principalities, and powers.

It is because Jesus, the second person of the Trinity in flesh, has died and risen that we, as believers, can hope in the midst of suffering, knowing we have both a high priest who has suffered like us and a victorious king who will one day crush his enemies. The Lion of Judah, who is also the Lamb who was slain, shows the people of God that they can overcome the evil one because he has already overcome death, hell, and the grave. We can stand firm because he has already stood firm, and we can fight the Dragon’s servants because Christ has already bound their master.

Further, this same Jesus will return again, when he will utterly destroy the one he has already defeated, the Dragon, as well as all the Dragon’s followers. Then he will wipe every tear from all of his people’s eyes and renew all things. This is the theological center of Revelation—because Jesus has already won the war on our behalf, and because he is coming again, Christians can stand firm even in the midst of persecution and temptation.

SUGGESTED READING

□Revelation 4–5

□Daniel 7 and 12

□Revelation 21:1–8

Reflection

Do you tend to embrace or avoid reading Revelation? What factors have led to shaping your attitude toward this book?

________________________________________________​________________________________________________​________________________________________________​

How is Revelation applicable to the entire Church?

________________________________________________​________________________________________________​________________________________________________​

2

REVELATION AS LITERATURE

Today, many Christians avoid John’s vision of the end of all things, most likely because of his consistent use of unfamiliar imagery and figurative language. Most of us, especially modern Western Christians, are simply not familiar with this type of literature. Our unfamiliarity with the Old Testament—from which John draws most of his imagery—coupled with modernity’s focus on the objective and scientific, makes it difficult to grasp what John is doing in Revelation. For instance, Revelation 8–9 and its description of mutant locusts is difficult for modern readers to understand; in many cases, readers either avoid it and the book altogether or they try to make it match with today’s headlines—and in this case, with current military technology. Yet John explicitly uses distinct literary devices, a narrative, Old Testament allusions, and specific genres to help us grasp what he is doing in the book. Instead of being a book to avoid or a contemporary prediction chart, when we understand John’s methods, Revelation can be seen for what it is—a testimony to the Triune God’s work in Christ. Understanding how John uses each of the literary devices mentioned will allow us to further explore the theological message of individual passages and the entire book. In other words, we need to understand John’s work as literature in order to understand it narratively and theologically.

Genre

To better interpret Revelation, let’s first look at its genre—or genres, since John uses at least three different genres throughout the book. Revelation is a letter, a prophecy, and an apocalypse.1 As we read and seek to understand Revelation, it helps to grasp the significance of these literary genres and the specific literary devices associated with each of them.

GENRE

The term “genre” refers to the category of literature in which a book can be placed. For instance, types of genres in Western literature include poetry, novels, epic, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, comic book, and so on. As with Western literature, biblical literature can fall into a variety of genres. Identifying the genre or genres of a book can be helpful in determining what types of literary devices the author will use.

Letter

The book of Revelation is written as a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).2 This letter-like quality can be seen primarily in the introductory material (Rev 1–3) and the conclusion (Rev 22:6–21). John exhorts his audience in the middle of the book (e.g., Rev 13:10) and ties Jesus’ appeal to the seven churches to overcome (Rev 2–3) to specific events in the body of the book and to its conclusion in Revelation 21–22.

The details of the introduction and conclusion are particularly relevant for understanding the book’s character as a letter.3 John’s opening address (Rev 1:1–8) and concluding plea (Rev 22:6–21) are both strikingly similar to the introductions and conclusions of other New Testament letters.

GREETINGS IN NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS AND REVELATION

Rev 1:4

“Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come …”

Col 1:2

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; 2 Thess 1:2; Phlm 3

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thess 1:1

“Grace to you and peace.”

Titus 1:4

“Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.”

1 Pet 1:2

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

2 Pet 1:2

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

Jude 1:2

“May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”

Much like we see in Paul’s letters, John’s introductory material is expanded in the body of the book and repeated in the conclusion.4 And like the General Letters that immediately precede Revelation in the New Testament, John continually emphasizes testing, perseverance, rejecting false teachers, and overcoming.5

What does this tell us about Revelation, and particularly about how to read it? First, it tells us that John had a particular audience in mind. Historically, the audience was made up of seven particular churches with specific theological and ethical situations that needed to be addressed. These churches were experiencing repeated persecution by a number of different groups. They were not only persecuted by the government, but by false teachers who constantly attempted to infiltrate their congregations. The Jews who had rejected Christ also rejected them. In addition, they were immersed in the Graeco-Roman culture, which exhibited different morals and encouraged alternate religious beliefs. Thus, the Christians from these seven churches were continually tempted by false teaching, pleasure seeking, and persecution to stray from Christ and his teaching. They were confronted with a choice between the power of God and the power of Satan, manifested in doctrinal, social, and political ways.6 John had a specific message for this audience: Remain faithful to the Almighty Triune God until the end.

Second, because the number seven symbolizes universality in Revelation and other apocalyptic literature, it is highly likely that John also wrote his book with a more universal audience in mind. The fact that John writes to seven churches is probably an indication that he intends Revelation to be an exhortation not only to these seven specific churches but to God’s entire Church throughout space and time.7 Certainly there are indications that John is speaking against Rome in his book, but this apocalyptic and prophetic letter is intended for all believers, whether they are citizens of the first-century Roman Empire, residents of 21st-century China, or anything in between.

Prophecy

Revelation also falls under the genre of prophecy, and John patterns his book after the ministry of the Old Testament prophets. For instance, his prophetic call in Revelation 1:10–19 (repeated in 10:1–11) resembles the prophetic calls of Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel. Both of Revelation’s visionary prophecies, as well as the oracular prophecies in the midst of those visions (e.g., Rev 7:14–17; 14:8–10), are patterned after Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah.8 John also connects his vision to the message of the Old Testament prophets through a literary device called “recapitulation”: John seeks to summarize and consolidate the message of all the Old Testament prophets in his own book through the use of figurative images.9

This is important to note as we read Revelation because, although many readers think of the future when they hear the word “prophecy,” John has a much more comprehensive scope in mind. The Old Testament prophets did not speak only of the future but of the past and the present as well. They were concerned not only to speak to Israel and the nations about what will happen but also about what God had already done for them, to them, and through them, and therefore how they should respond to him at that moment.

The prophets wanted Israel and the nations to understand all of time in relation to the rule of Yahweh, and this is no less true of John’s prophecies in Revelation. John certainly speaks about what will happen in the future, especially in Revelation 20:7–22:5, but he also speaks about and provides the proper interpretation for what has happened in the past. The clearest example of this is found in Revelation 12:1–6, where John clearly uses figurative imagery to describe the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But while there are references to both past and future in Revelation, like many of the Old Testament prophets, John is supremely concerned with speaking to his audience’s present. For readers of Revelation, this is crucial. We need to read John’s vision with an eye to the present of first-century Christians and to our own contemporary context. Any interpretation of the text that could be deemed irrelevant to or unable to be grasped by first-century readers is likely to be missing John’s point.

Apocalypse

Finally, John’s Apocalypse is just that—an apocalyptic book. This means at least three things.10 First, apocalyptic literature is typically presented as a vision given to the author through angelic intermediaries. This does not mean we should doubt that John really had a vision given to him by God’s messengers, but it does mean that John intentionally connects his book to the apocalyptic genre by using this and other common apocalyptic literary devices.

Second, apocalyptic books tend to make heavy use of figurative imagery. In Revelation, this includes abundant use of Old Testament images as well as a symbolic use of numbers.11 As we read Revelation, then, we need to understand how John intends to convey theological truths using those symbolic images. For instance, the two witnesses in Revelation 11 symbolize the church and its martyr-testimony to the world about Jesus Christ.12 Instead of seeking to discern two specific men who will stand outside the temple in Jerusalem in our future, it is more appropriate—given the apocalyptic genre of the book and John’s repetitive use of imagery—to focus on the spiritual and theological significance of these images and the message they are intended to convey.

Third, apocalyptic books focus on the end of history. The question of Revelation is: “How will Yahweh deal finally and completely with sin, death, and Satan?” In other apocalyptic books, this is wrapped up in Yahweh’s final judgment—a judgment that occurs with his return to Israel at the end of time. For John this is no less true, but the difference is that John sees Yahweh’s return and eschatological—that is, end times—act of salvation in two stages: the first and second coming of Christ. The end of history begins with Jesus’ life and work and ends with his bodily return. There is thus an already/not yet tension to this eschatological climax, and John is primarily concerned with how to live in between the times, between Satan’s defeat in the death and resurrection of Christ and his final destruction at Jesus’ return. While John certainly speaks of what we often think of as “the end”—Jesus’ return and final judgment (Rev 20:7–22:5)—he is predominantly concerned to urge his readers to live in this present, when Satan has fallen but has not yet been utterly destroyed (Rev 12:7–17).

These three genres—letter, prophecy, and apocalypse—give the reader clear indications of John’s audience and purpose. While John is certainly writing a situational letter to a first-century audience and encouraging them to persevere as they face particular trials, his use of prophecy and apocalyptic imagery indicate that he intends his message to be read, believed, and followed by all Christians, then and now. For Christians in the first or twenty-first century, the application of Revelation is the same: Stand firm in the Lord Jesus Christ, come what may from God’s enemies, because the Trinitarian God will make all things right when Christ returns.

Literary Devices

Another tool in reading biblical literature is to identify the literary devices used by the author; these often closely relate to genre. In John’s case, both the prophetic and apocalyptic genres support three important literary techniques that are vital to understanding Revelation.

Recapitulation

The prophetic genre provides John with a technique known as recapitulation. This literary device seeks to take earlier material, in this case from Old Testament books, and summarize and conflate them. The most prominent example of this is found in John’s picture of the Harlot of Babylon (Rev 17–18). In John’s description of her, he draws on the language and imagery used by various Old Testament prophets to describe Israel’s many enemies—Tyre, Sidon, Babylon, and Egypt.13 A similar situation occurs in the judgment cycles, when John draws mainly from the plagues of Egypt, but also from other instances of God’s judgment in the Old Testament (e.g., the locust swarm in Joel 1:4).14 John is attempting to describe events related to God, his people, and his enemies by conflating and summarizing the vast array of imagery found in Scripture. When reading Revelation, then, it is important not only to be familiar with Old Testament figurative imagery but also to realize that John is saying that the events depicted in his book are the consummation of all of that imagery—the final recapitulation to which they prophetically point.

Figurative Imagery

The apocalyptic genre provides the other two key literary devices employed by John: figurative imagery and symbolic numbers.15 The latter is essentially a subset of the former, but will be discussed separately here. The clue to the entire book, the key at the top of Revelation’s map, is recognizing that John uses pictures to describe reality throughout the book. In the center of the map key stands Revelation 1:20. After describing Christ holding seven stars in the midst of seven lampstands, Jesus tells John, “As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” John could not give us a clearer indication that his vision is a pictorial drama, and that to understand this visual story we must grasp his use of symbols. At the very least, here we are told that lampstands equal churches and stars equal angels.

Another key passage for understanding John’s imagery is Revelation 12:1–6. Here John describes the story of a woman giving birth to a child and being pursued by a dragon. Revelation 12:4–5, and especially the reference to ruling “the nations with a rod of iron” (see also Psa 2:9), indicate that the child is the Messiah Jesus, which would identify the woman as Mary. But because this description of Mary is figurative—“a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1)—we need to look closer at the imagery. We also see in this passage that Satan is described as a dragon who sweeps away stars, and again we need to remember John’s use of imagery—such as the stars representing angels in Revelation 1:20—in seeking to understand this description.

As we read Revelation, then, it is crucial to understand the images as John uses them and not simply to assume that they are speaking only about modern-day events that have no relevance to John or his audience. For instance, instead of saying that the locust plague unleashed by the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9:7–11refers to Apache helicopters, we ought to instead seek to discern the universal theological truth conveyed by this image that was still historically relevant to John’s first-century readers.

Numbers

Alongside this figurative imagery, John also uses numbers symbolically.16 This was a standard practice in apocalyptic works and was also used by the Old Testament prophets. The first place we see this numerical symbolism is where Jesus uses the number seven in his explanation of the stars and in the image of the lampstands (Rev 1:20). The Old Testament authors and other apocalyptic writers use the number seven to indicate universality. When Jesus speaks of seven churches, then he is speaking of not just seven individual churches but also the entire Church of God. Likewise, the seven particular congregations that John writes to, and that Jesus sends messages to, are representative of the universal Church of God.

SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS IN REVELATION AND WHAT THEY SYMBOLIZE

Number

Represents

2

the number of witnesses in the Old Testament

3

the Trinity (or its opposition)

4

creation

6

man, and possibly imperfection

12

wholeness or completion, especially of the people of God

In sum, to interpret Revelation we need to engage it as John wrote it—figuratively and symbolically. Recognizing John’s use of symbols and images does not negate the book’s truthfulness—far from it. Instead, Revelation describes reality using word pictures, and so our job as readers is to reorient our imaginations—our beliefs about the world and its powers—through understanding and appropriating John’s vision in our own day. When we are faced with the threat of martyrdom, the prospect of economic ruin, or even ridicule for our Christian faith from the larger culture, Revelation reminds us that, in spite of the uncomfortable or even dire nature of our present circumstances, the good and sovereign Trinitarian God is working all things together for good for those who love him.

SUGGESTED READING

□Revelation 1:9–20

□Daniel 7; 9

□Revelation 12–14

Reflection

How does Revelation 1:20 and its explanation of the stars and lampstands help us understand the rest of the book?

________________________________________________​________________________________________________​________________________________________________​

Revelation is a letter for a specific audience, one that is both historical and universal. How does this change the way you read and understand the book?

________________________________________________​________________________________________________​________________________________________________​

3

THE DRAMA OF REDEMPTION

Narrative and Structure

Although Revelation is often identified by three genres, we could add a fourth: narrative. In Revelation, John tells a story—the story of Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death in his first and second coming. The narrative style is most evident in Revelation 12–14. But John also appears to see his book as the completion of the entire biblical narrative, connecting Christ’s work in his first and second coming with the story of creation and the fall (Gen 1–3).1 In particular, John’s vision of the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21–22 is the consummation of Christ’s work of redemption to restore and renew creation from the effects of the fall.2

In telling this drama of redemption—in which the Triune God rescues his people and his entire creation through the work of the incarnate Son—John uses a repetitive and interlocking structure.3 After introducing the book in chapter 1, recounting Jesus’ message to the churches in chapters 2–3, and describing the throne room of God in chapters 4–5, most of the book is taken up with the subsequent judgment cycles that occur because Jesus is found worthy to open the scroll in chapter 5. These cycles are repetitive, and so the events described in Revelation are not necessarily chronological; several times John tells the same story, ending at the same point, but using different imagery. The easiest way to see this repeating, interlocking structure is to examine the passages describing the last seal, trumpet, and bowl in each of the judgment cycles.

The Sixth Seal (Rev 6:12–17) When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

The Seventh Seal (Rev 8:1–5) When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seventh Trumpet (Rev 11:15–19) Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

who is and who was,

for you have taken your great power

and begun to reign.

The nations raged,

but your wrath came,

and the time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

and those who fear your name,

both small and great,

and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

The Seventh Bowl (Rev 16:17–21) The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

There are at least two relevant connections between these judgments that help us to understand the structure of Revelation. First, each of these contains apocalyptic imagery that shows Yahweh’s final end-times presence and judgment. This is especially evident in the language about hailstones, thunder, lightning, earthquakes, smoke, and fire. These images are indications of a theophany, or a “God appearing”—Yahweh has arrived.4 In other words, these images are indications of Christ’s second coming, or Yahweh’s consummating presence on earth.

In addition, the sixth seal and seventh bowl are particularly instructive, as they both contain descriptions of islands and mountains fleeing from God’s presence. This imagery speaks of the final, end-time judgment (i.e., the one found in Rev 20:7–15), or Yahweh’s “holy war” against all those who rebel against him.5 In each of these passages, as well as in the final judgment that begins in Revelation 20:11, we find creation fleeing from God. The silence in heaven that results from the opening of the seventh seal is also an indicator of final judgment. In the Old Testament Prophets, silence conveyed the sinful nations’ inability to defend themselves before Yahweh’s judgment, and so the silence of the entire world for a short period of time also points to judgment—and particularly that final, end-time judgment (see Psa 65:1–2; Zech 2:13).6

Second, and perhaps more important, each of these final judgments, in their respective cycle of seven, applies to the entire world rather than to just a portion. In the first five seal judgments, only a fourth of the earth is affected; in the first six trumpets, only a third; and in the first six bowls, only those with the mark of the beast experience the effects of God’s poured-out wrath. However, with the sixth and seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh bowl, the whole world experiences those judgments. In other words, the final judgment in each cycle appears to be just that—final. Therefore, the first thing we can say about Revelation’s structure is that the three major cycles of judgment in the body of the book seem to actually be describing the same reality using different imagery. These cycles (seals, trumpets, bowls) are bookended by Christ’s death and resurrection (Rev 5:5–6) and the final judgment at his second coming (Rev 20:7–15).

In the midst of these three cycles of judgment, there is another indication of structured repetition. Either just before or after the final judgment in each cycle, John gives a vision of Yahweh’s faithfulness to his people. In Revelation 7:1–17, God’s faithfulness is pictured using the language of 144,000 and “every tribe, tongue, and nation”; in Revelation 11:1–14 the imagery of the two witnesses is used; and in Revelation 14, right before the final cycle of plagues and bowls, John repeats the 144,000 imagery and also visualizes God’s great harvest at the end of time.7

What we have so far, then, is an introduction in Revelation 1–3, a picture of God’s sovereignty in Revelation 4–5, and then repeated cycles of judgment intertwined with pictures of God’s faithfulness in Revelation 6–11 and 14–16. What about the remaining sections, Revelation 12–13 and 17–22