Sometimes there is the picture of the conversion of the Gentiles through Israel. God has given Israel as a light to the Gentiles, that God’s salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). The coastlands wait upon God (Isaiah 51:5); the ends of the earth are invited to look to God and be saved (Isaiah 45:20–2). The Son of Man will be a light to the Gentiles (1 Enoch 48:4–5). Nations shall come from the ends of the earth to Jerusalem to see the glory of God (Psalms of Solomon 17:31).
Of all the pictures in connection with the Gentiles, the most common is that of the destruction of the Gentiles and the exaltation of Israel.
(9) In the last days, the Jews who have been scattered throughout the earth will be gathered into the holy city again. They will come back from Assyria and from Egypt and will worship the Lord in his holy mountain (Isaiah 27:12–13). The hills will be removed and the valleys will be filled in, and even the trees will gather to give them shade as they come back (Baruch 5:5–9). Even those who died as exiles in far countries will be brought back.
(10) In the last days, the New Jerusalem, which is already prepared in heaven with God (4 Ezra 10:44–59; 2 Baruch 4:2–6), will come down among men and women. It will be more beautiful than anything else, with foundations of sapphires, pinnacles of agate, and jewelled gates on walls of precious stones (Isaiah 54:11–12; Tobit 13:16). The glory of the latter house will be greater than the glory of the former (Haggai 2:9).
(11) An essential part of the apocalyptic picture of the last days was the resurrection of the dead. ‘Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt’ (Daniel 12:2–3). Sheol and the grave will give back that which has been entrusted to them (1 Enoch 51:1). The scope of the resurrection of the dead varied. Sometimes it was to apply only to the righteous in Israel; sometimes to all Israel; and sometimes to all people everywhere. Whatever form it took, it is true to say that now for the first time we see emerging a strong hope of a life beyond the grave.
(12) There were differences as to how long the messianic kingdom was to last. The most natural – and the most usual – view was to think of it as lasting forever. The kingdom of the saints is an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:27). Some believed that the reign of the Messiah would last for 400 years. They arrived at this figure from a comparison of Genesis 15:13 and Psalm 90:15. In Genesis, Abraham is told that the period of affliction of the children of Israel will be 400 years; the psalmist’s prayer is that God will make the nation glad for as many days as he has afflicted them and as many years as they have seen evil. In Revelation, the view is that there is to be a reign of the saints for 1,000 years; then the final battle with the assembled powers of evil; then the golden age of God.
Such were the events which the apocalyptic writers pictured in the last days; and practically all of them find their place in the pictures of Revelation. To complete the picture, we may briefly summarize the blessings of the coming age.
The Blessings of the Age to Come
(1) The divided kingdom will be united again. The house of Judah will walk again with the house of Israel (Jeremiah 3:18; Isaiah 11:13; Hosea 1:11). The old divisions will be healed, and the people of God will be one.
(2) There will be in the world an amazing fertility. The wilderness will become a field (Isaiah 32:15); it will become like the garden of Eden (Isaiah 51:3); the desert will rejoice and blossom like the crocus (Isaiah 35:1). The earth will yield its fruit ten thousandfold; on each vine will be 1,000 branches, on each branch 1,000 clusters, in each cluster 1,000 grapes, and each grape will give a cor (120 gallons) of wine (2 Baruch 29:5–8). There will be a situation of plenty, such as the world has never known, and the hungry will rejoice.
(3) A consistent part of the dream of the new age was that in it all wars would cease. The swords will be beaten into ploughshares and the spears into pruning-hooks (Isaiah 2:4). There will be no sword or noise of battle. There will be a common law for everyone and a great peace throughout the earth, and king will be friendly with king (Sibylline Oracles 3:751–60).
(4) One of the loveliest ideas concerning the new age was that in it there would be no more conflict between wild animals or between human beings and the animal world. The leopard and the kid, the cow and the bear, the lion and the calf will play and lie down together (Isaiah 11:6–9, 65:25). There will be a new covenant between human beings and all living creatures (Hosea 2:18). Even a child will be able to play where the poisonous reptiles have their holes and their dens (Isaiah 11:6–9; 2 Baruch 73:6). In all nature, there will be a universal reign of friendship in which none will wish to do another any harm.
(5) The coming age will bring the end of weariness, of sorrow and of pain. The people will not faint or pine any more (Jeremiah 31:12); everlasting joy will be upon their heads (Isaiah 35:10). There will be no such thing as an untimely death (Isaiah 65:20–2); no one will say: ‘I am sick’ (Isaiah 33:24); death will be swallowed up, and God will wipe tears from all faces (Isaiah 25:8). Disease will withdraw; anxiety, anguish and lamentation will pass away; childbirth will have no pain; the reaper will not grow weary and the builder will not be toilworn (2 Baruch 73:2–74:4). The age to come will be one when what the Roman poet Virgil called ‘the tears of things’ will be no more.
(6) The age to come will be an age of righteousness. There will be perfect holiness among human beings. This generation will be a good generation, living in the fear of the Lord in the days of mercy (Psalms of Solomon 17:28–49, 18:9–10).
The Book of Revelation is the New Testament representative of all these apocalyptic works which tell of the terrors before the end of time and of the blessings of the age to come; and it uses all the familiar imagery. It may often be difficult and even unintelligible to us; but, for the most part, it was using pictures and ideas which those who read it would have known and understood.
The Author of Revelation
(1) Revelation was written by a man called John. He begins by saying that God sent the visions he is going to relate to his servant John (1:1). The main body of the book begins with the statement that it is from John to the seven churches in Asia (1:4). ‘I, John,’ he says, ‘am the one who heard and saw these things’ (22:8).
(2) This John was a Christian who lived in Asia in the same sphere as the Christians of the seven churches. He calls himself the brother of those to whom he writes; and he says that he too shares in the tribulations through which they are passing (1:9).
(3) He was most probably a Jew of Palestine who had come to Asia Minor late in life. We can deduce this from the kind of Greek that he writes. It is vivid, powerful and pictorial, but from the point of view of grammar it is easily the worst Greek in the New Testament. He makes mistakes which even those with only a basic knowledge of Greek would never make. Greek is certainly not his native language; and it is often clear that he is writing in Greek and thinking in Hebrew. He has a detailed knowledge of the Old Testament. He quotes it or alludes to it 245 times. These quotations come from about twenty Old Testament books; his favourites are Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms, Exodus, Jeremiah and Zechariah. Not only does he know the Old Testament intimately; he is also familiar with the apocalyptic books written between the Testaments.
(4) His claim for himself is that he is a prophet, and it is on that fact that he bases his right to speak. The command of the risen Christ to him is that he must prophesy (10:11). It is through the spirit of prophecy that Jesus gives his witness to the Church (19:10). God is the God of the holy prophets and sends his angel to show his servants what is going to happen in the world (22:6). The angel speaks to him of his brothers the prophets (22:9). His book is characteristically prophecy or the words of prophecy (22:7, 22:10, 22:18–19).
It is here that John’s authority lies. He does not call himself an apostle, as Paul does when he wants to underline his right
