S T O R I E S F R O M M Y H E A D
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the writings of R.B. BANFIELD
All Bible quotes are literal translations by the author.
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Copyright © R.B. Banfield, 2019, 2022
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Except for personal reference or book review, no other part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.
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This book is more than a verse-by-verse Bible commentary. It exposes the works of darkness that are active in this world, together with some of the ugly truth that is now coming to light as we speed to the time of the end.
“Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled.’”
Ezekiel 12:23b
A PROCLAMATION
The same prophets who declared that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey, be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, be deserted by his friends, say or do nothing in protest, and have his hands and feet pierced before his enemies, also said that he will split the Mount of Olives with his feet, crush his enemies as an iron rod crushes pottery, destroy the devil, renovate and restore the earth back to its former beauty and perfection, and reign as King in Jerusalem. His return to this world will be with power and great glory, as startling and obvious as when lightning flashes across the sky. It will happen at some unknown hour when the world will be in deep darkness and on the verge of self-destruction. He will personally bring light back into the world and cast the dark away, receiving for himself those who trusted in him, even to “love not their lives unto death.”
(Quotes for the above: Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:8-10; Psalm 41:9; John 13:18; Zechariah 11:12-13; Matthew 27:10; Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31; Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:62-63; Psalm 22:16, Matthew 27:31; Luke 24:39-40; Zechariah 12:10; John 19:37; Zechariah 14:4; Psalm 89:23; Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 35:1-6; Psalm 2:6; 10:16; 29:10; 47:2, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Matthew 24:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10; Matthew 25:6; Revelation 21:23-25; 12:11)
Introduction
The Book of Revelation is a document of just under 12,000 words. It can be read in one sitting, but to understand it is another matter. Many sincere people take their entire life trying to comprehend the visions, and fail. Some people devise elaborate and long-winded explanations that equally fail. Others are satisfied with the tenuous ideas of others, while some people are brave enough to build on old and shaky foundations. There needs to be a clear view, unhindered by any fear over a truth that might be unsettling.
What has clouded a clear view and caused confusion is that the answers have been buried under avalanches of voluminous errors. These were errors written by people who meant well, but they should not have been so authoritative about what was so uncertain. It was like they had a jigsaw puzzle in which the picture was predetermined to their own ideas, and they went to extremes to make the pieces fit the way they wanted. Invariably in such a process, there will be pieces left over, pieces out of place, pieces forcefully wedged into where they should not be. The finished article should have no pieces left over, and all in the correct places, and most importantly, it should look the way it does on the box.
The great majority of Christians choose to completely ignore Revelation. It has a few nice quotes, such as “I stand at the door and knock,” and some fearful ones, like the so-called “devil’s number” 666. But for the most part it’s like a wartime no-man’s-land for the casual reader, who feels like a weary soldier uncertain to step out of his trench for fear that he may fall into hidden traps, and see man-faced locusts, horrific beasts and horrible suffering, and just downright confusion.
Once an answer to a mystery is found, there can come with it some disappointment. Many times, the answer was obvious, and right in front of us. It was missed because it was overthought and misapplied, and even deliberately hijacked. This is the same with Revelation, that once its mysteries are found and clearly seen, the answers can seem to be an easy achievement, because yes, they were right in front of us the entire time.
One of the inspirations for this book was the realisation that there were two events in the modern world that indicated that the way biblical prophecy has been interpreted was not only wrong, it was way off the mark. If the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 were indeed the fulfilment of parts of Revelation chapter 8, then we have two very important indicators. The first indicator was that when prophecy is fulfilled, it is almost always ignored until many years have passed. The second and greater indicator was that biblical prophecies do not need to be fulfilled in chronological order.
There is also a third indicator, which is equally important. In Revelation 17:9-10, when the angel said to John that he would explain what the vision meant, there was not one, but two meanings given for the beast’s seven heads: they were “mountains” and they were “kings.” Significantly for those who seek to fully understand Revelation, the angel was stating that there may be more than one interpretation of each sign and symbol. What is presented in this book is not claimed to be the end-all answer to each vision, since there may be more than one fulfilment.
In this regard, I have determined that it is highly likely that both the Mongolian Empire of the 13th Century and the Black Death of the 14th Century were indeed foretold in Revelation. To my knowledge, despite both events being immeasurably important to world history, there was no teacher, scholar, or author, who felt that either one of those events had any significant bearing on prophetic fulfilment. Furthermore, I also believe that many events of the 12th, 13th, and 14th Centuries were also prophetic, and were also missed by the great majority of Bible exponents.
PREVIOUS VIEWS
Most studies of Revelation separate the letters to the seven churches (2:1-3:22) from the rest of the book without a valid reason. Many conclude that the letters belong to various points in history, which renders them irrelevant to the current modern age. If each of the seven churches corresponded to certain eras in the history of Christianity, the Christians who lived during each era would have had no idea that it was referring to them. Harsh though it might seem, the actual reason for these teachers to dismiss the letters to history is because they don’t know what else to do with them.
The main interpretations can be put into four groups, as follows:(1)
IDEALISM (that Revelation is nothing more than an allegory of good and evil) attracts people who are spiritually minded, and yet it allows you to read anything you want into the text. Almost everything found in Revelation is found in the rest of the Bible, so by that reasoning, is not the entire Bible merely an allegory of good and evil, and none of it should be taken literally?
PRETERISM (which says that Daniel was fulfilled in the 2nd Century BC, and Revelation in the 1st Century AD) was introduced by the Jesuit priest Luis de Alcazar(2) in 1614. Preterists insist that Revelation was written about the year AD 65, without a scrap of evidence, other than they need that date to be true for their entire viewpoint to be true. This date is central to their teaching, and they have a habit of belittling evidence that supports the long-believed AD 96 date. It is a viewpoint favoured by the scholarly-type of students, probably because it has a veil of authority and seriousness, while other views can seem popularist, and even childish. When the Preterism teachings are analysed, it can be seen that everything must be wrapped in heavy allegory, to make it fit with the 1st Century AD. There is also the worrying problem that it renders Revelation’s visions as irrelevant to today’s world.
FUTURISM (that says that most of Revelation will happen in the future, after the Rapture of the Church) was introduced by the Jesuit priest Francisco Ribera(3) in 1590, and then by the Jesuit priest Manuel Lacunza(4) in 1790. It was Lacunza’s view, that included the idea of a “secret” Rapture(5), that gained popularity in Protestant churches.(6) This version of the Rapture was later incorporated with the teaching of Dispensationalism,(7) to create the idea of a future Great Tribulation, and that Christians will need to be taken out of the world. This is not a popular teaching in places in the world where there is already Christian persecution. It is also a view in which we need to pay no attention to history, which makes us miss a whole lot of really interesting stuff.
HISTORICISM (that each verse represents a piece of history, that apparently ended in the 18th Century) was the prevailing view of the Protestant Reformists, who effectively used it to remove themselves from the Catholic Church. Nowadays, the viewpoint is mainly associated with the Christian sect Seventh Day Adventism, whose in-depth study is clouded by their obsession that there is something wrong with Sunday church attendance, and that Christians should keep the Law of Moses. They also still believe the erroneous date-setting by followers of William Miller. It is worth noting that in articles or books, any inclusion of the year 1844 is always a giveaway that the author is Adventist.
What is true? With the exception of Preterism, which asserts that the Revelation prophecies were fulfilled before they were written, parts of all three views have some merit. Revelation is what will happen in the future from John’s time, as say both the Futurists and Historicists, and it also contains many of the deep spiritual wonders that is central to Idealism. But all four views have deep and troubling flaws. Preterism mocks the thought of a fulfilment future of John’s time. Historicism claims that it happened a couple of centuries ago. Futurism insists that it will happen in the future and is dismissive of history. Idealism does not think that the details matter. To say that a major event in Revelation might have happened before our eyes, the Futurist will dismiss it under the basis that we have not yet entered into the Last Week of Daniel because the Rapture hasn’t happened. The Historicist will dismiss it because the signs of the times are found in Gibbon’s Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. The Preterist will dismiss it because the signs of the times are found in Josephus.
It’s time for another interpretation.
Footnotes
1. These are the general teachings, since every teacher will have their own ideas, and some of the details of not based on anything realistic and can be ludicrous. Each one suited the time in which they were popular, but each one has now become obsolete. Historicists agree with the Protestants who rejected the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Idealists agree with those who want to ignore history and the world around them, and look to what appear to be spiritual teachings. Futurists agree with a fantastical outlook to the future that became popular in the 1970s. Finally, Preterists attract those who want to bury their heads in the past and reject Revelation as having any modern relevance.
2. Since the very first stated goal of the Jesuits was to “destroy Protestantism,” is does not take too much deduction to see that this new interpretation of Preterism was an attack on the popular Protestant theology of the day, namely Historicism, which held that the Papacy was the embodiment of the Antichrist, and the RCC was the fulfilment of Great Babylon. Alcazar taught that the prophecies of Daniel had been fulfilled, that Nero was the Antichrist, the first eleven chapters of Revelation concerned the Romans and the Jews, chapters twelve to nineteen was an overview of Roman paganism, and that the New Jerusalem was the RCC.
3. Ribera wrote that the world will be corrupted by one man in the future, for a literal three-and-a-half years.
4. Lacunza, from Chile, wrote under the pseudonym Juan Josafa Ben-Ezra, pretending to a converted Jew, and his book The Coming of the Messiah in Majesty and Glory was banned by the RCC, which was an obvious misdirect.
5. The belief that Christians will be secretly removed from the world before God’s judgements come in the literal form as described in Revelation, for seven years. This idea was popularised by Edward Irving (1792-1834) after finding and translating into English Manuel Lacunza’s book.
6. The most influential Protestants to push this early version of Futurism was Samuel Roffey Maitland (1792-1866), James H. Todd (1805-1869), and John Henry Newman (1801-1890). All three were very pro-Catholic, but Newman himself converted to Catholicism, eventually becoming a cardinal, and was canonised as a saint in 2019.
7. Futurists must be dispensationalists, otherwise there is no point to their system of interpretation. John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was connected with the Plymouth Brethren sect, was the man to thank for giving the world the invention of dispensationalism, which supposed that the present “Church Age” will be done away with, and a new type of believer will be created, after the Rapture. In what must have excited men like Darby, Irving’s Secret Rapture idea fitted very nicely, and other men, such as Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921), ran with it. The Scofield Reference Bible of 1909, a book littered with futurist footnotes, was the main source of educating gullible students. Apparently ignorant of its origin, places such as the Moody Bible Institute and the Dallas Theological Seminary used the book to produce adherents to futurism. Hal Lindsey, a graduate of the Dallas Theological Seminary, greatly popularised futurism and the secret rapture in his mega-selling book The Late Great Planet Earth (1970). In more recent times, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins pushed the same theme in their popular Left Behind series of no less than sixteen novels, which are not at all anti-Catholic, since the pope is included in the Rapture.
THE REVELATION PARALLELS
As we find as we go through the mysterious and wonderful book that is Revelation, it is not only the most exciting book of the Bible, it is also the most conclusive, as it exemplifies every prophecy concerning the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there was no Revelation, the majority of the text could be reconstructed from the rest of the Bible, so not only is it legitimate scripture, it is highly important. Although it is full of varying imagery, many themes are repeated, and many symbols point to the same events. What we find in the end, is that the book is a fairly straightforward and simple story of the world; both its history and its present state.
The more one studies Revelation, and understands its depth and complexity, we can see that it is impossible for it to have been the composition of a mere human being. It conceals obvious truth behind confusing spiritual and supernatural images in many remarkable ways, and it does so while telling a compelling story.
A common mistake in trying to interpret the visions is believing that the visions are meant to be fulfilled in a chronological order, but there is no reason to follow this idea. There is a clear and simple answer to the mystery of what Revelation means, and it is found in realising that there are four distinct sections.
1) Revelation 1:1 to 9:21
2) Revelation 10:1 to 16:21
3) Revelation 17:1 to 21:8
4) Revelation 21:9 to 22:19
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Many people would prefer to find seven sections,(8) thinking that seven is a sacred number, and yet the number four is also significant in the Bible. To name a few, there are the four Gospels, the four corners of the Earth, the four living creatures, the four winds, and the four horsemen.(9)
The purpose of this book is to harmonise these four sections by showing how they parallel each other. The first section begins with a Delegated Angel, and ends after the Angel with the Sixth Trumpet. The second section begins with a Strong Angel, and ends after the Angel with the Sixth Bowl. The third section begins with John meeting “one of the seven angels,” and he is “carried away in the spirit,” and ends with a judgement warning. The fourth section also begins with John meeting “one of the seven angels,” and he is “carried away in the spirit,” and ends with a judgement warning. The first parallels with the second, the third parallels with the fourth. But also, parts of the first parallels with parts of the fourth, and parts of the second parallels with parts of the third.
To fully understand Revelation, these sections need to be read in conjunction. In doing so, the reader may find that what was assumed to be literal now matches with what was assumed to be figurative. It helps to understand this parallel system by understanding that the first two sections reflect the Hebraic style of poetry known (to Western scholars) as Synonymous (“the same”), and the first part of the last two sections reflect the Antithetic style (“the opposite”).(10)
In Revelation chapters 4 to 7, and 12 to 14, the Gospel of Christ was depicted in a powerful way—so powerful that it seems to have escaped the attention of most expositors, who probably studied too deeply and missed what was obvious. The Death, Burial, and Resurrection of our Lord not only ensured our eternal salvation, it radically altered human existence, and the way God treats each and every one of us, and it also demolished the spiritual authority of the powers of darkness. These passages depict the response of God to a world that rejects his love and grace, in the form of four “destroying angels,” called the Four Winds. They are also seen as two “beasts” under control of the Devil, controlling the world.
The most obvious example of parallelism is found in the six calamitous events ushered in by the angels with either trumpets or bowls, in Revelation chapters 8 to 9, and 15 to 16. These two passages easily interconnect (which is detailed below). The only question we need to ask is what is the timing of these calamities. It is the position of this book that the majority of these six (and possibly all six) have already taken place.
Myriads of Bible prophecies foretell our Lord’s return, and it is repeated in Revelation chapters 19 to 22. The deceived world will try to fight and oppose him, but the battle will be so completely one-sided that it will be like a harvest of wheat. The earth, so disfigured and ruined by corruption and evil, will be transformed. Evil will be removed from the world, both humans and devils alike, and the good, the “meek,” will live and thrive in the Messianic Kingdom. Our Lord and his Apostles will rule the world from Jerusalem. After a long period of time, evil will return and inflame the world into rebellion for one last time.
Below is a basic outline of how the chapters of Revelation parallel:
1, 2, 3 ∥ 10, 11
4, 5, 6 ∥ 12, 13
7 ∥ 14
8, 9 ∥ 15, 16
17, 18, 19, 20 ∥ 21, 22
To summarise the first two sections: John sees a delegated angel (1:1 & 10:1) who has a face as bright as the sun (1:16 & 10:1), and a loud voice (1:10 & 10:3). His feet are like fired brass (1:15), and his legs like pillars of fire (10:1). There are seven lampstands (1:12), seven stars (1:16), seven churches (1:20), and seven thunders (10:3). John writes seven letters (1:19), and eats a little book (10:10). John is told to measure the temple but not the outer court that belongs to the Gentiles (11:1-2), and the churches are told to beware the Gentiles (3:9).
There will be an “hour of trial coming to all the world” (3:10), and the Gentiles will “trample the holy city for forty-two months” (11:2). The True Church is seen as Seven Lampstands (1:20) given authority over the Gentiles (2:26), and Two Lampstands (11:4) who have authority over the heavens and the earth (11:4-6).
The Messiah is seen as a Lion (5:5), and a Lamb (5:6), and a Baby pursued by the Devil (12:5). The Lamb’s judgement causes the stars to fall to earth (6:13), while the Devil is forced down to earth in defeat, and took “his angels” with him (12:7-9).
Four terrible spirits are seen as horsemen released into the world, causing war and death (6:1-8), and the Devil brings forth two beasts to do the same (13:1-18), and cause many martyrs (6:9-11 & 13:7-10). The second horseman causes war in all the world (6:4), the fourth horseman causes death in all the world (6:8), and the first beast causes war in all the world (13:7). The first horseman subdues (6:1), the third horseman causes economic control and hardship (6:6), and the second beast causes the world to follow the Devil (13:14), and controls who can buy and sell (13:16-18).
The True Church is given the seal of God (7:2-8), and are seen with the Lamb singing a new song (14:1-5). The Dead-in-Christ are blessed and will be given rest (14:13), and are seen as “a great crowd’” (7:9), who came out of “great trouble” and will be blessed (7:14-17).
Seven angels signal judgement (8:2 & 15:1). The first concerns the earth (8:7 & 16:2), the second concerns the sea (8:8-9 & 16:3), the third the “springs of waters” (8:10 & 16:4), the fourth the sun (8:12 & 16:8), the fifth causes darkness (9:2 & 16:10), and the sixth concerns the “great river Euphrates” (9:14 & 16:12).
To summarise the last two sections: They begin with the antithetic style. John is taken “in the spirit” (17:3 & 21:10) to a desert (17:3) and a high mountain (21:10), where he sees a Harlot (17:3) and a Bride (21:2). The Harlot has a secret name (17:5), but the Bride has God’s name (22:4). The Harlot is Babylon the Great (17:5) the enemy of God, but the Bride is Holy Jerusalem (21:10), the beloved of God. The Harlot seduces and subdues the kings of the earth (17:18; 18:3), but the Bride has the kings of the earth bring her their glory and honour (21:24). The Harlot will be thrown down and never return (18:21), but the Bride will be raised up and will be eternal (22:5).
The third and fourth sections that began with the antithetic style conclude with the synonymous style. John sees Holy Jerusalem “descending like a bride” (21:2 & 21:9), and God will be with his people and will live with them (21:3 & 22:3-4). There will be no more death or anguish (21:5 & 22:3). The words are true and trustful (21:5 & 22:6). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (21:6 & 22:15). Those who do not believe are sinners who will be judged (21:8 & 22:15). No other Bible analysis discussed why John repeats himself at the end of Revelation with two descriptions of Holy Jerusalem. He is not repeating himself. He is using Hebraic poetry.
Not only does Revelation parallel itself, it parallels with every other Messianic prophecy found in the Bible. Eve’s Messianic prophecy (Genesis 3:15) is found in chapter 12. Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy is found in chapter 11, and his Four Beasts prophecy is found in chapter 13. Ezekiel’s New Temple prophecy is found in chapter 22, and his Gog and Magog prophecy is found in chapter 20. Zechariah’s Flying Scroll prophecy is found in chapter 5, his Woman in a Basket prophecy is found in chapter 17, and his Second Parousia prophecy is found in chapter 19. Isaiah’s Redeemer in Zion prophecy is found in chapter 22. Throughout Revelation is our Lord’s Olivet Discourse prophecy; Paul’s Apostasy, Son of Perdition, and Rapture prophecies, and John’s own Antichrist prophecy.
Footnotes:
8. William Hendriksen’s More Than Conquerors (1940) was a popular book in the Idealist school that promoted the idea of parallel sections, and insisted that there are seven. He stated: “A careful reading of the Book of Revelation has made it clear that the book consists of seven sections, and that these seven sections run parallel to one another,” but he provided no examples of this supposed parallelism. In another part he simply said, “The seven sections are parallel.” Aside from these two quoted sentences, Hendriksen gives no other explanation as to why there are seven, or why there needs to be seven. Significantly, he admits that, “The division of the Apocalypse into seven sections is favoured by many authors, although there is no unanimity with respect to the exact boundaries of each section.” No unanimity? They know there are seven sections but they cannot agree as to what they are? None of them can agree on the exact boundaries, as he called them? That is a nice way of saying that they are guessing where these “boundaries” actually are. It is not unreasonable to conclude that they would prefer the number to be seven, since they perceive that number as more spiritually significant, but they can produce no actual reason for seven.
9. There were 4 rivers in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:10), 400 years that Abraham’s descendants would be strangers in Egypt (Gen 15:13), to the 4th generation (Gen 15:16); Exodus 25-28 describes 4 gold cups for the Ark, 4 cups, curtains 4 cubits wide, 4 posts of acacia wood, 4 silver bases, and 4 rows of precious stones.
10. Genesis 40 detailed two dreams, a prophecy with opposite outcomes. Genesis 41 detailed the pharaoh’s two dreams with same number of images that both had the same meaning.
PART ONE BEGINNING
TESTIFIED
Revelation 1:1-2
(1:1) The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show his slaves what things must soon happen, and he signified it by delegating his angel to his slave John, (1:2) who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ — all that he saw.
For I neither learned it from man, nor was I taught; but by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:12
. . . by revelation he made known to me the secret, as I set down in brief, by the reading of which you are able to comprehend my understanding in the secret of the Christ.
Ephesians 3:3-4
Surely the Lord the LORD does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7
And the one seeing has testified, and his testimony is true, and that one knows that he speaks the truth, that you may trust.
John 19:35
John’s book began in a formal manner, with a summary of what will follow. This differs from the standard beginning of ancient manuscripts, and the majority of books of the New Testament, that would first feature personal details.
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The Greek word for revelation is Apokalupsis which means a revealing, or an unveiling. Although the foreboding English word Apocalypse was derived from it, Apokalupsis never carried the meaning of a cataclysmic disaster, but rather, good and beneficial things. It can also be translated Coming or Appearing. Also, it is plural, meaning a revealing, an unveiling, of many things.
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This book uses the Greek word Parousia to describe the time of the Lord dwelling on the earth.(11) His First Parousia was when he saved the world, but the Second Parousia will be when he rules it for the rest of time. This is the same as Second Coming or Second Advent.
Parousia is an interesting word, since it specifically means to arrive and stay, or to be near, or to be present. It was used throughout the New Testament to mean the time of the Lord’s return, and it was the only word used for that purpose. In Greek, the opposite word is Apousía, which means Absence. This current time is the Lord’s Apousía, as all of creation waits for his Second Parousia (Romans 8:19).
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It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not of John, who was merely the scribe—the one who got in the way, if you will. God the Father gave to him the Son to show his slaves the Christians what things must soon happen, from the 2nd Century AD onward, and he signified it by delegating his angel (literally “sending his messenger”) to his slave the Apostle John, who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ — all that he saw. That it was given to Jesus’ slaves means that the book of Revelation is intended for Christians to read, not unbelievers.
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The word Slave is usually translated Servant to soften the meaning, but in truth, both words mean the same. The very fact that Jesus is called Lord means that he is expecting his followers to become his slaves. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God [the Father] raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). You cannot make him your Lord without also making yourself his slave (or “servant,” if that makes it easier).
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This book uses the term True Church to describe the collective believers, the genuine “slaves” who God alone only knows.
Footnote
11. Paul used the same word to describe the time of the Antichrist, a literal translation follows: “And then the lawless-one will be unveiled (whom the Lord will consume by the spirit of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his parousia), whose parousia is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood” (2 Thes 2:8-9).
FORTUNATE
Revelation 1:3
(1:3) Fortunate is the one reading and those hearing the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things written in it; for the set-time is near.
But he said, “No, rather, fortunate are those hearing the word of God and obeying it!”
Luke 11:28
Fortunate is usually translated Blessed, which gives the impression that it is meant to be a spiritual approval or advantage, but the New Testament Greek word Makarios carried no such meaning. Makarios only meant that you will be happy for being better off, or that you will do well for yourself.(12) John said that it was a good idea to either read or hear the words of the prophecy.
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The one reading referred to the person in church meeting’s known as the Reader, who was assigned to recite from the scriptures. In the days of the Early Church, few people could read and no one had their own personal Bibles like Christians do today, and it would have been rare for them to have a collection of every New Testament book.
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John called his work the words of prophecy, and it is the only New Testament book to call itself Holy Scripture.(13)
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The set-time is near and known only to the Father. “And he said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or occasions which the Father placed by his own authority’” (Acts 1:7). It is a pre-planned and unchangeable time.(14)
Footnotes
12. The same word was frequently used in the Beatitudes (Mat 5).
13. While the Gospels and Acts were written as testimonials and histories, it is doubtful whether the authors placed them on the same level as the holy books, or the works of the prophets, as we now see them. Luke 1:3 stated that he wrote his book “because it seemed like a good idea.” The style of John’s Revelation shows that he intended his work to be viewed the same as Danial or Isaiah—actual holy scripture.
14. This has not, however, stopped people from guessing the day of the Second Parousia, and publishing egotistical books telling us all about it.
GRACE AND PEACE
Revelation 1:4-6
(1:4) John, to the seven assemblies in Asia: Grace and peace to you from the one who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; (1:5) and from Jesus Christ, the trustful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one loving us, and having washed us from our sins in his blood, (1:6) and made us kings and priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Now to the King forever, the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:17
“Grace and peace” was a common Christian greeting in John’s time.(15)
The one who is and who was and who is to come is God the Father. Some teachers (and even some translations) think this refers to Jesus, and the phrase “who is to come” refers to his Second Parousia. This is not correct, since the phrase was also used in Revelation 1:8, 4:8, and 11:17, and each time it referred to God the Father, and it means that he is eternal.(16)
The grace and peace greeting is from Jesus Christ; it is a message from the Lord through John. He is also the Trustful Witness, a phrase that can also be translated as the Faithful Martyr. Jesus became the Father’s martyr, the one who died because that was the Father’s will. As he said in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And he was separated from them about a stone’s throw. And going to his knees, he prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. But not my will, but yours be done’” (Luke 22:41-42).
He became the first-born from the dead, resurrected by the Father (Galatians 1:1) to a body of immortality, the first man to be raised from the dead in such a way (Colossians 1:18), for everyone to follow if they believe in him (John 11:25). He then became the ruler of the kings of the earth, ruling by his Father’s side (Mark 16:19; Hebrews 12:2) as the conqueror of Death and Hell, the King of kings and supreme authority of all earthly rule (1 Peter 3:22).
He is the one loving us, the same as the Father who loves us. The Son loves us the same because he and his Father are the same (John 17:22). The one having washed us from our sins in his blood, the reason for his death. He died for our sins and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). The True Church has the authority to “join him in the heavenlies, and rule from his throne” (Ephesians 2:6), by making us kings and priests, as Peter said:
But you are a selected kin, a royal priestly order, a holy nation, a people for acquisition, that you may divulge the virtues of the one calling you out of darkness into his wonderful light; who once were not a people, but are now God’s people; who had not received compassion, but now received compassion.
2 Peter 2:9-10
The seven spirits (or, “the sevenfold spirit”) which are before his throne may refer to the Holy Spirit, since Seven is the Biblical number for perfection, and “holy” can mean Perfect. If so, then John is referring to the Holy Trinity at this point; the Father (“the one who is and who was and who is to come”), and Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit (the sevenfold spirit before his throne).
While this seems perfectly reasonable to the majority of Christians, some people have trouble with the concept of the Trinity. Since the Bible provided no clear teaching for or against, it remains ambiguous. From an early date, the concept caused many arguments, and doctrines, and splits in the faith, as men over thought the concept and started to conclude that Jesus was a created being, somehow at a level below the Father. All such argument is petty, and causes bitterness and resentment. We humans have no right to know, let alone argue about, the nature of God. He has revealed as much as he is going to reveal about himself to this fallen world. The focus of the Christian should not be in what can’t be known in this world, but in following the Lord’s guidance, and expecting his return.
Footnotes:
15. There were various ways of saying “Grace and peace to you” and sometimes they would add “mercy”: Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Co 1:2; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:2; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Tit 1:4; Ph 3; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 1:2; 2 John 3, 15; Jude 2. The early 2nd Century Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians has the phrase, “Mercy to you, and peace from God Almighty, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, be multiplied.”
16. Another similar eternal name was used in Exodus 3:14: “I AM WHO I AM.”
ASSEMBLIES
Revelation was addressed to the seven assemblies in the Roman province of Asia Minor, which is now western Turkey. There was no single building used as a church at that time, and Christian gatherings were held as dinner parties in people’s homes. Early Christian worship meetings were held in the simple homes of believers, without much access to the Bible, as they relied on the Holy Spirit to guide them. Each gathering was known by its host’s name, such as Chloe’s (1 Corinthians 1:11), and Nympha’s (Colossians 4:15). All the Christians of each city were identified as part of the “church” of their city, or even of an entire province, like the Galatians.
This book translates the Greek word Ekklesia to Assembly. The meaning of Ekklesia has changed from John’s time, when it carried no religious connotation. “Church” now means a building used for religious gatherings and rituals, or a collective denomination, and even a company or corporation. In John’s day, Ekklesia simply meant a gathering of people for any purpose, and when used by Christians the word only meant a group of Christians.
From the 2nd Century, Christian writers began to use the term Universal Church to describe all the world’s believers. Katholikos, which is translated Catholic, was frequently used in early Christian writings, but this in no way validates the Roman Catholic Church, which did not begin to exert its power until the late 4th Century AD. The Roman Catholic Church would like every mention of the word Catholic by the old writers to be an affirmation of Roman authority, but it simply does not mean that.
Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.
Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8 (c AD 107)
Modern readers may assume from the above quote that Ignatius of Antioch, who wrote it when he was on his way to Rome to be executed, was happily describing the authority of the Vatican, the Pope and all the Roman Catholic Church sacraments, when he was merely talking about the world’s Christians in a collective sense, and nothing more. All he said was, “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the universal Church.”
Since all bishops in the world were originally considered equal, the bishop residing in Rome was not given supremacy until many years later, when they gained the favour of the Roman emperor. Bishops of the early centuries of Christianity opposed the bishop of Rome whenever he demanded to have special authority. In the 2nd Century bishop Irenaeus of Lugdunum opposed Roman bishop Victor.(17) In the 3rd Century bishop Cyprian of Carthage opposed the Roman bishop Steven.(18)
Footnotes
17. Scholasticus, Socrates. Ecclesiastical History (5,22)
18. The famous quote “For neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops” (The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian) has long been disputed by Catholic apologists as not referring to the pope’s power, although that is exactly what the pope is.
AUTHORSHIP
Some Bible studies still use the name “John the Seer” to describe the author of Revelation.(19) This term was invented by people known as Anti-Chiliasts, who denied that there would be a literal future Messianic Kingdom of one thousand years. Early Christians who believed that the Messianic Kingdom would manifest on this earth through the presence of the returned Messiah, were tagged with the title Chiliasts. The Anti-Chiliasts of the late 2nd Century supported their view by claiming that Revelation was not written by John the Apostle, but by another John. Their misleading assumption was that an apostle could not have written something so controversial,(20) and yet neither Luke nor Mark were apostles and they wrote what was accepted as Holy Scripture. Why assume that John had a singular writing style?
The Anti-Chiliasts’ faith was built on what they thought was a more spiritually advanced view, which was connected with the Greek philosophers’ idea that the world and the body are inherently evil. They rejected, and saw as abhorrent, the idea that the Lord might establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem, and thought that it was something only believed by people with lesser understanding. They looked to the teachings of Origen of Alexandria, that those of a “higher mind” could understand the scripture on a spiritual level. A similar super-spiritualised view of Revelation persists today, known as Amillennialism, that teaches that the prophecies have either all been fulfilled or are allegory that has no importance in the modern world. That is why the historian Eusebius claimed that Papias of Hierapolis had only a “very limited understanding.”
There are extant five books of Papias, which bear the title Expositions of Oracles of the Lord. Irenaeus makes mention of these as the only works written by him, in the following words: These things are attested by Papias, an ancient man who was a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book. . . . He says:
“But I shall not hesitate also to put down for you along with my interpretations whatsoever things I have at any time learned carefully from the elders and carefully remembered, guaranteeing their truth. For I did not, like the multitude, take pleasure in those that speak much, but in those that teach the truth; not in those that relate strange commandments, but in those that deliver the commandments given by the Lord to faith, and springing from the truth itself. If, then, anyone came, who had been a follower of the elders, I questioned him in regard to the words of the elders, what Andrew or what Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the disciples of the Lord, and what things Aristion and the elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I did not think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit me as much as what came from the living and abiding voice.”
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It is worthwhile observing here that the name John is twice enumerated by him. The first one he mentions in connection with Peter and James and Matthew and the rest of the apostles, clearly meaning the evangelist; but the other John he mentions after an interval, and places him among others outside of the number of the apostles, putting Aristion before him, and he distinctly calls him an elder. This shows that the statement of those is true, who say that there were two persons in Asia that bore the same name, and that there were two tombs in Ephesus, each of which, even to the present day, is called John’s. It is important to notice this. For it is probable that it was the second, if one is not willing to admit that it was the first that saw the Revelation, which is ascribed by name to John. And Papias, of whom we are now speaking, confesses that he received the words of the apostles from those that followed them, but says that he was himself a hearer of Aristion and the elder John. . . .
The same writer gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten tradition, certain strange parables and teachings of the Saviour, and some other more mythical things. To these belong his statement that there will be a period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth. I suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken mystically in figures. For he appears to have been of very limited understanding, as one can see from his discourses. But it was due to him that so many of the Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their own support the antiquity of the man; as for instance Irenaeus and anyone else that may have proclaimed similar views.
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3, 39, 1-13 (c AD 324)
Eusebius dealt with the chiliast problem by dismissing the entire Book of Revelation. And yet, the disciples of John and the leading writers of the following generation, believed and taught chiliasm. Papias clearly said that as a young man he “sought out” people who heard John when he was younger, and also what the elderly John was saying in Papias’ own time. Eusebius insisted that the “elder” John was a different person from the Apostle John. But the Apostle John has always been identified as the writer of both 2 John and 3 John, where he called himself “the elder” (2 John 1; 3 John 1). While Eusebius accused Papias of being of “limited understanding,” he admitted that Papias had written five books. Not only that, but Irenaeus held Papias in high esteem, and quoted from his books without any disclaimer that he might have had “very limited understanding.” Eusebius, in all his attacks on Papias, was not about to do the same with Irenaeus, and was clearly conducting such an attack because of a disagreement with his interpretation of the prophecies.
Who, then, wrote Revelation? There has never been any valid reason to doubt that the author was the Apostle John.
Footnotes
19. Also: John of Patmos, John the Revelator, John the Divine, or John the Theologian.
20. And with a different style of Greek, no less.
LITERAL FULFILMENT
This is a good point to look at the fulfilment and manifestation of Biblical prophecy. Most of the older churches around the world believe, as did Eusebius, that the prophecies about the Kingdom of God under the Messiah were meant to be entirely allegorical, that there would be no literal kingdom, that when the Lord returns it will simply be the end of this world. Not only does this disregard the interpretation by the Early Christians, it also disregards how much of Biblical prophecy has already been revealed. There are others, of course, but the following are the most obvious.
1) Isaiah 7:14 said that a virgin would conceive, which was fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 1:23.
2) Genesis 49:10 said that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, which was fulfilled with Jesus, and stated so in Matthew 1:1-16.
3) Micah 5:2 said that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 2:6.
4) Hosea 11:1 said that the Messiah would come out of Egypt, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 2:15.
5) Isaiah 9:1-2 said that the Messiah would be from Galilee, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 4:12-17.
6) Isaiah 40:3-4 said that the Messiah would be heralded by “one in the wilderness,” fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Mark 1:3.
7) Psalm 78:1-2 said that the Messiah would teach in parables, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 13:35.
8) Isaiah 35:5-6 said that the Messiah would heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and mutes, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 11:2-6.
9) Zechariah 9:9 said that the Messiah would be a king riding a donkey, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 21:8-10.
10) Psalm 31:18 said that the Messiah would have his friends flee from him, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Mark 14:50.
11) Psalm 22:16 said that the Messiah would have his hands and feet pierced, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in John 19:36-37.
12) Psalm 69:21 said that the Messiah would be given gall and vinegar, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Matthew 27:34.
13) Psalm 22:18 said that the Messiah would have his clothes divided and lots cast for them, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in John 19:23-24.
14) Isaiah 53:12 said that the Messiah would die for our sins and “make intercession for the transgressors,” and also be “numbered with the transgressors,” fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Luke 22:37.
15) Psalm 16:9-11 said that the Messiah’s body would not see decay, fulfilled in Jesus and stated so in Acts 2:31.
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And finally, perhaps the most strikingly literal of all was found in Zechariah:
And I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages, and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price they valued me.” So I took the thirty pieces and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Zechariah 11:12-13
This was fulfilled in Judas Iscariot (see Matthew 26:14-16; 27:6-10) when he was given thirty pieces of silver for betraying the Messiah. The money was used to buy land known as Potter’s Field, and then Judas died there (Acts 1:18-19). This is a great example of how prophecy can be literally fulfilled. More importantly, it is worth noting that it would have been impossible for anyone to have guessed how the fulfilment would take place. How can anyone, therefore, state with any certainty that the prophecies of Revelation were meant to be allegory and not have a literal fulfilment?
THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN
Revelation 1:7
(1:7) Lo, he comes with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes! Amen!
They will look on me, on whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10b
“And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will gaze at the Son of Man, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory.”
Matthew 24:30b
The Second Parousia will not be hidden or done in secret, but will be witnessed by every person, all over the world. The event will cause great distress to those who rejected him prior to his Appearing. Those who pierced him means the descendants of his enemies, both the Jews who rejected their Messiah and the Romans who killed him. Every eye will see him promises just that: nobody but nobody will miss him this time, unlike the First Parousia. The Lord’s return will mirror his Ascension; not done in secret, but out in the open with everyone watching.(21)
Indeed, therefore, they associating, inquired of him, saying, “Lord, will you restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?” And he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or occasions which the Father placed by his own authority. But you will receive power, the Holy spirit arriving on you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And saying these things, they looking at him, he was raised up, and a cloud took him from their eyes. And in his going, as they were gazing into the sky, lo, two men stood by them in white clothing, who also said, “Men, Galileans, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This Jesus, the one being taken from you into the sky, will in the same way come in the manner you closely looked at him going into the sky.”
Acts 1:6-11
The use of the phrase “he comes with the clouds” is interesting. It seems that there is more intended by the word Cloud than merely the clouds in the sky. When the Apostles watched him leave, “a cloud hid him from their sight.” What were these mysterious “clouds”?
So therefore we also, having such a cloud of witnesses encompassing us, having laid aside every hindrance and the constantly-surrounding sin.
Hebrews 12:1a
The “cloud(22) of witnesses” was described by the writer of Hebrews (in chapter 11) as the great people of faith from the Old Testament. It is thought that “cloud” meant a multitude of people who were so close together that they gave the appearance of a cloud.
Matthew recorded an unusual event that has a connection to the “great cloud of witnesses.”
And the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split. And the tombs were opened up, and many bodies of the holy-ones who had fallen asleep were raised up, and coming forth out of the tombs after his rising, entered into the holy city and were shown to many.
Matthew 27:51b-53
It seems that what was meant by “he comes with the clouds” is that he will have his followers with him, as Paul said: “For if we trust that Jesus died and rose again, so also will God bring with him those having fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Footnotes
21. “Lo, he comes with the clouds” seems to be a reasonable description of the Lord’s Appearing, as Historicists, Futurists, and most Idealists believe, (if not for every believer) but the Preterist view sees this as foretelling the coming judgement of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70—so not the Second Advent at all.
22. Greek Nephos, same as Rev 1:7.
THE DIVINE NAME
Revelation 1:8
(1:8) “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the LORD God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
“This says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Armies, I am the First and I am the Last; besides me, there is no God.”
Isaiah 44:6
God the Father is the Alpha and Omega, using the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. (Some translations have “A and Z”) Many people misread this passage to think it is a title only for Jesus. Revelation 21:5-6 repeated the phrase, but it was said by “the one who sits on the throne,” which was again referring to the Father. It was not until Revelation 22:13 when the Son claimed the title for himself.
In this book the title for the Divine Name of God is translated in the capitalised form “the LORD God.” This is done purely as a speculative ascetic to fit with the Old Testament rendering of the sacred name YHWH. Known as the tetragrammaton (meaning “four letters”), the Old Testament name YHWH was commonly translated in modern Bibles as the all-capitalised word LORD. The same was not done in New Testament translations, whereas it probably should have been, notably when the Old Testament was quoted.
In its written form, Ancient Hebrew contained no vowel letters, probably since the words were so well established in their culture, but this caused the original pronunciation of YHWH to become lost. Modern translators compensated by inventing the names Yahweh and Jehovah. The ancient Greek translation Septuagint usually translated the Hebrew YHWH Elohim as Kyrios Theos (“Lord God”). The phrase was used ten times in Revelation, but it is found in only one other place in the New Testament, where either a Hebrew oral tradition or an unknown Hebrew text was quoted by Luke:
“This one will be great, and he will be called Son of the Highest; and the LORD God will give him the throne of his father David.”
Luke 1:32
Luke clearly used the Divine Name of YHWH Elohim, but he put it into the Greek form of LORD God. It was the same with John in Revelation.
JOHN’S PERSECUTION
Revelation 1:9
(1:9) I, John, your brother and co-participant in the trouble and in the kingdom and patient-perseverance of Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and because of the testimony of Jesus.
. . . confirming the souls of the disciples, imploring them to persevere in the faith, and that we must enter into the kingdom of God through many troubles.
Acts 14:22
And if children, also heirs; truly heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.
Romans 8:17
We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5, 30, 3 (c AD 180)
John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos, in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the apocalyptic vision; and in Trajan’s time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found.
Hippolytus, On the Twelve Apostles, 3 (c AD 220)
And he says unto me, You must again prophesy to the peoples, and to the tongues, and to the nations, and to many kings. He says this, because when John said these things he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the labour of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, therefore, he saw the Apocalypse; and when grown old, he thought that he should at length receive his quittance by suffering, Domitian being killed, all his judgements were discharged. And John being dismissed from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he had received from God. This, therefore, is what he says: You must again prophesy to all nations, because you see the crowds of Antichrist rise up; and against them other crowds shall stand, and they shall fall by the sword on the one side and on the other.
Victorinus, Commentary on Revelation, 10, 11 (c AD 270)
Patmos was the small island(23) where John received his revelations, but it was not where he would have written them. He used the past tense, that he was on Patmos, and it would have been after he was released when he wrote his book, when he was back in his home in the city of Ephesus.
Domitian was assassinated in the year AD 96 (September 18), after reigning for almost exactly fifteen years. The fear that he spread throughout the Christian community was much the same as what was caused by the Emperor Nero a generation before him. According to Eusebius, Domitian’s behaviour was the same as King Herod’s, in that he felt threatened by a possible rival, in the King of Israel.
There is modern doubt (mostly from the Preterist camp) if Domitian caused any kind of persecution at all, since the only witnesses were from Eusebius, who said that it was widespread and terrible, and Tertullian, who only said that “some people” had been banished. But Eusebius quoted the earliest known Christian historian, Hegesippus, who was active in the first half of the 2nd Century AD, as stating that such a persecution did indeed take place. We know that the Romans frequently liked to banish people as punishment, and what other reason would John have for being on a remote island like Patmos? It was also very likely that the persecution targeted only the Christian leaders such as the elderly John, and was nothing like the later violent acts under Diocletian that took place in almost every city of the Roman Empire, that persecuted all Christians.
Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome, and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred and enmity toward God. He was in fact the second that stirred up a persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us. It is said that in this persecution the apostle and evangelist John, who was still alive, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in consequence of his testimony to the divine word. Irenaeus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the so-called Apocalypse of John, speaks as follows concerning him:
“If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.”
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To such a degree, indeed, did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to mention in their histories the persecution and the martyrdoms which took place during it. And they, indeed, accurately indicated the time. For they recorded that in the fifteenth year of Domitian, Flavia Domitilla, daughter of a sister of Flavius Clement, who at that time was one of the consuls of Rome, was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia in consequence of testimony borne to Christ. . . . Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words:
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“Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero’s cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished.”
But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, voted that Domitian’s honours should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them. It was at this time that the apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition.
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3, 17-20
It is interesting to point out that in the above quote Eusebius agreed that it was the Apostle John who was banished to Patmos, and not “John the Seer” who was a supposed second John of Ephesus who wrote Revelation, thus demolishing his own argument over authorship. Or did both Johns go to Patmos?
Footnote
23. The island is entirely of hills with little vegetation. Situated in the Aegean Sea, it is part of the nation of Greece, with a population of 3,000.
JOHN AND DANIEL
When John was on Patmos and visited by the Lord, he may have realised that the strange statement made to Peter, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is it to you?” (John 21:22), was a special prophecy for John, and that it was finally fulfilled with these visions.
But the question still remains: Why the imprisonment and persecution? There he was, living a good Christian life, serving God loyally, writing his Gospel and letters, when he was suddenly banished to Patmos, given a series of startling visionary experiences, and then taken back home again. The answer may be to show parallels between John and the prophet Daniel. Not only do their books of prophecy contain similar themes, and both have almost exactly the same word length, but John’s life mirrored many parts of Daniel’s life.
Daniel’s story began in 605 BC, the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah (Daniel 1:1), when he was described as a “young man” (Daniel 1:4). John was also a young man when he became a follower of Jesus (Matthew 4:21-22), and was probably the youngest of the apostles. Daniel received three years of training in the ways of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:5), whereas John learned from the Lord for a time period that was likely to have been three years. Another prophet, Joseph, was described as a “young man” when his story began, and his age was given as 17 (Genesis 37:2).
Daniel received the important 70 Weeks prophecy in 539 BC (Daniel 5:30-31), which was 66 years after arriving in Babylon. John wrote Revelation in AD 96, which was 66 years after AD 30, the fifteenth year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1), when he began as a disciple of the Lord. Was Daniel aged 17 in 605 BC? Was John aged 17 in AD 30? If so, then both were aged 83 when they received their greatest visions.(24)
The most famous story from Daniel was how he was saved from lions (Daniel 6:1-24), and so too was John saved from the lions of the Colosseum in Rome. His punishment from the Roman government was banishment., but only twelve years later, in AD 108, John’s student Ignatius was taken as a prisoner to die in the Colosseum.
Footnote
24. Although their ages are not really important. It is only mentioned because it may be of passing interest to show how similar the two men were.
WRITE
Revelation 1:10-11
(1:10) On the Lord’s day I was taken in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, (1:11) saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven Assemblies: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea!”
“Take up a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you.”
Jeremiah 36:2a
The Lord’s day meant the day of the Resurrection of Jesus, the first day of the Jewish week, the Sunday. There is no need for confusion with this, as some people believe that there is something bad in using Sunday as a day of worship. As Paul said, one may think one day is holy, and others may not (Romans 14:5), it should not be a point of contention. It was clear that John held to keeping Sundays as sacred, as well he would.(25)
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Taken in the spirit could mean John’s own spirit, in that he experienced something like a dream, or it was an intervention by the Holy Spirit. Either way, he was likely to have been in a trance when he saw these visions. The loud voice, like a trumpet(26) would be too loud to listen to with our natural ears, but not when in the dream-like state.
Write what you see in a book. In John’s day, the common type of book was in the form of a scroll, but there was also use of codex books; the Greek word Biblion can mean both. Similar to a modern notebook, with spiral binding, flat pages, and easy storage, the codex was becoming the preferred book in the late 1st Century AD.
The cities were ordered in Revelation according to how a traveller would visit them. Starting at the port city Ephesus, then north to the port city of Smyrna, further north to Pergamum, then head inland east to Thyatira, then south to Sardis and nearby Philadelphia, and then further south to Laodicea. Such a journey would take the traveller to no other city, but there were more than seven cities in Asia Minor at that time. The two most important were Magnesia and Miletus, to the south of Ephesus. The most notable omissions from Revelation were Colossae and Hierapolis, but they neighboured Laodicea (Colossians 4:13). The region was first evangelised by Paul about fifty years earlier.
Each city had a bishop (which simply means “overseer”) appointed by an Apostle or the local elders. Polycarp was the most famous bishop of the early 2nd Century, and he took care of the Christians in Smyrna, later publically dying there as a martyr. Reliable early tradition tells us that Ephesus was the elderly John’s home city, which probably had the strongest church. Smyrna also had a bishop named Thraseas, “a godly man” named Milito lived in Sardis, and Laodicea had a bishop named Sagaris.(27)
Footnotes
25. Beware the teaching of the Seventh Day Adventists who claim that going to church on a Sunday is somehow the Mark of the Beast. This has nothing to do with what is discussed in Revelation 13 concerning the Mark. Adventists heavily use Bible prophecy for evangelism and follows Historicism, and they misuse the book for their own agenda. They will always assign the year 1844 as special. 26. Dispensational Futurists will have you believe this mention of a trumpet is referring to the Rapture.
27. From the Letters of Ignatius.
FIRST AND LAST
Revelation 1:17-20
(1:17) And when I saw him I fell at his feet as if dead, and he put his right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be frightened. I am the First and the Last; (1:18) the living-one. I became dead, and lo, I am living forever and ever. I have the keys of Hades and death. (1:19) Write the things you have seen and the things which are about to take place after these things. (1:20) The secret of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are angels of the seven Assemblies, and the seven lampstands are seven Assemblies.”
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 29:29
And the LORD answered me, and said, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he who reads it may run with it. For the vision is for an appointed time, but it will speak at the end, it will not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, because surely it will not delay.”
Habakkuk 2:2-3
John became as if dead; the shock too much, even for someone who was as well acquainted with Jesus as was John. This was not the Lord he knew, even when he appeared after his Resurrection in the upper room and taught the disciples (Luke 24:36-49, Acts 1:3). The Lord in his full resurrected glory is the way we are told to think of him. “He died for all, that those living may live no more to themselves, but to the one having died for them and having been raised. So that from now on we know no one according to flesh; but even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, we now no longer know” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
He died and was raised again: “I became dead, and lo, I am living forever and ever.” He is not the baby in the manger, nor the carpenter from Nazareth, nor the non-traditional Rabbi from Galilee, nor the suffering sin-offering on the cross, nor the wrapped corpse in the borrowed tomb, but the One living for ever and ever, seated at the Father’s right hand, high above all authority and name that is named (Ephesians 1:21).
He has the keys of Hades (the Greek word for Hell) and death, meaning his triumph that was achieved by his Resurrection.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one trusting in me, even if he dies, he will live. And everyone living and trusting in me, will in no way die forever. Do you trust this?”
John 11:25-26