rule number one is that which the reader should bring to all the biblical documents, especially the Epistles, namely, that the interpreter’s first task is to seek John’s—and therewith the Holy Spirit’s—original intent as much as that is possible. The primary meaning of any text, including apocalyptic texts, is that which John himself intended, which in turn must be something the original readers would have been capable of understanding. And this is so even if those readers may not always have done so, as the Apostle Paul bears painful witness.4 Indeed, the original readers clearly had the advantage over us at this point. One may readily grant that because our book is prophetic in part, one should be open to the possibility, as with much biblical prophecy, that at points there may be a further, second meaning. But one can only know that after—not before—the event or situation occurs to which this further meaning pertains.
Furthermore, one must be careful in this case about using the concept of “the analogy of Scripture” (= Scripture should be interpreted in light of other Scripture). This is indeed a valid principle; but in the case of John’s Apocalypse the other Scripture is almost always other eschatological passages, which themselves are often interpreted poorly. One must always be aware that John does what other apocalyptists did: he reinterpreted earlier images so that they have new meaning, precisely because in John’s case he is also speaking as a Christian prophet.
That leads then to some final suggestions about the interpretation of apocalyptic images, which in fact are of several kinds. Some images are constant—in the same way that an American political cartoon with an elephant and a donkey always refer to the Republican and Democratic parties. Thus, for example, when John speaks of beasts coming out of the sea or the land, he is always pointing to political empires. Some images are fluid, and do not mean for their later readers what they meant in their sources. And still other images are specific, while some are general. Therefore, interpreting the images in a first-century apocalyptic work is the most difficult of one’s tasks. But the key to this task in the case of John’s Revelation is to hold fast to the images he himself interprets, since these must serve as the starting points for all others. Here is a listing of the ones John himself gives us:
1:17–18 The One like a son of man = Christ, who alone “was dead, and is . . . alive for ever and ever”
1:20 The seven golden lampstands = the seven churches to whom John is writing
1:20 The seven stars = seven angels (or messengers) of the seven churches
7:14 The numberless multitude = those who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb (= the redeemed people of God worldwide)
12:9 The great dragon = Satan
17:9 The seven heads of the beast = seven hills on which the woman sits (a clear allusion to the city of Rome, famous for its “sitting on seven hills”); but it also becomes a fluid image and thus = seven kings
17:18 The great harlot = the great city (on seven hills), and therefore Rome
It is especially important at this point to urge the reader to see the visions as wholes, and not allegorically to press all the details to have special meaning. After all, John is trying to say something by way of whole visions, and some details are simply either for dramatic effect (as in 6:12–14) or to add to the picture as a whole so that one cannot miss John’s own point.
Finally, with little doubt the most difficult hermeneutical issue for readers this late in time is to deal with the close tie John presents us between the temporal events he foresees and the eschatological context in which he places the whole picture. Modern readers must note well that for many of the events “prophesied” here, we are now “between the time” of the two events. That is, some of the temporal events here prophesied have already occurred, while we still await the final eschatological fulfillment.
Finally, as noted in the preface, the translation used throughout is the updated NIV that is to be published in 2011, to which I have prior access as a member of the translating committee, and which is used here by permission of the publishers.
1. See, for example, 13:7, 10; 14:12–13; 16:5–6; 18:20, 24; 19:2; and 20:4.
2. Jeremiah 51:45.
3. As 2 Thess 1:3–10 also makes clear.
4. See 1 Cor 5:9–11.
Revelation 1
The Introduction
The opening chapter of John’s Revelation does what a good introduction to any book is expected to do: lay out the major players and the plot, while giving a few hints as to what will unfold along the way. John’s introduction, which includes all of chapter 1, does exactly that, although at this point the plot is more difficult to discern than are the players. At the same time this opening chapter introduces some of the “apocalyptic furniture” that will become an essential part of the story. This is especially true of the “son of man” (v. 13)—imagery taken from Daniel 10—and of the churches themselves who appear as seven golden lampstands. But these are mild images in comparison with many that will follow, which are very often bizarre, as for example in 13:1, where we are introduced to the understandable image of “a beast,” including the fact that it has heads and horns; however, a beast with “seven heads” and “ten horns” we do not know, and for the most part have considerable difficulty “seeing” even with the imagination.
What is striking about this introductory chapter, therefore, is how little one here encounters the kinds of imagery that the reader will meet later on with full force. Indeed, if one were to read only this chapter, plus the next two sections (chs. 2–3 and 4–5), one could feel quite at home, since most of its imagery falls into categories or images that are either understandable or at least manageable on the basis of one’s prior knowledge of the Old Testament. In which case the occasional apocalyptic image is not especially startling. But all of that changes at chapter 6, and will continue so through chapter 17, with a single recurrence in the great battle of 19:11–21. Otherwise, from 18:1 to the end the imagery is very much like that of the Prophets, where “real” (as distinct from “bizarre”) images become the general rule to the end of the book. All of this to say that ordinary readers, who have had no acquaintance at all with apocalyptic, should not presently sense they are stepping into a whole new world. That will come eventually, but is somewhat rare at the beginning.
The Revelation as Apocalypse and Prophecy (1:1–3)
1The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.
John introduces his book with the word that is responsible for its name, Apocalypsis, which in Greek means simply “revelation.”1 But in these opening sentences the reader is also faced with some of the idiosyncrasies of John’s style, which at times leaves the reader guessing as to John’s own intent. Thus he begins here with three Greek nouns, without modifiers or definite article. So did John intend “the revelation”
