1:3. Blessed: Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein;
for the time is near, (RSV).
The blessing to “he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy” indicates that it
originated in written form rather than the oral form often used by the other
prophets. Since John was in exile it
was necessary that he address his audience in writing. Since their native tongue was Hebrew/Aramaic, the letter was probably written in Hebrew.
What is
the special blessing for those who read, hear and keep the words of this
prophecy? This blessing is related to the fact that “the [appointed] time,
(kairos), is near.” If we take “the
appointed time” to mean the time foretold by Daniel and confirmed by
Christ of the judgments
of God upon Jerusalem, then we can see that the blessing is that those who
heed this prophecy will be delivered from the “wrath to come,” and will escape the judgments coming upon
Jerusalem.
Eusebius tells us that
there was an “oracle” that ordered the Christians to leave the city, just before the Roman seige. This
oracle was circulated in Jerusalem at the time of
the Roman invasion (3.5.4).[1]
What was that “oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons,” that was so
influential as to cause the entire local church to emigrate? I believe that “oracle
given by revelation” is contained in the Book of Revelation which we now have
as the final book of our Bibles. The word “revelation” or apokalupsis may also be translated “oracle.”
Eusebius says that the war
began in the twelfth year of Nero, which Williamson notes was 66 AD,[2]
and that the Christian exodus was “before
the war began.” He no doubt means the Roman war against Jerusalem to put down the
rebellion; the rebellion against Rome had been going on for some time. The historians Kee, Young, Froelich, says: “Presumably it was just before
the siege began (underlines mine) that the Christians decided to flee to a
place of safety.”[3]
The time of the flight, therefore, may have been at some point “before the
siege,” which began in April 70 AD. Other indications are that it may have been
in the summer of 68 AD. (See also Commentary at 18:4 “Flight to Pella.“)
Other
accounts show that after the city was under siege and Titus offered their life
to anyone who would voluntarily come out to him, the warring factions of Jews
inside the city stood guard at the gates and did not allow anyone to pass out
to Titus. Some they robbed and some they ripped open in order to obtain any
gold pieces they might have swallowed in their effort to get it out of the
city. It thus became impossible to leave the city. However, the account goes,
this band of Christian Jews "were found" in
another place across the desert from Judea.
This may have
involved a bodily translation as in Acts 8:40: “…but Philip was found at Azotus,” which may indicate that he was bodily translated from
one place to the other. This may well have been the signal fulfillment of the “catching
away,” or “rapture” that points to the greater, future fulfillment when the
Christians of the whole world are surrounded and closed in by their enemies,
when Christ will translate
them, not to another city in the world, but to the clouds. The discrepancy
between the dates 66 and 68 AD may
be that one was using lunar years and the other solar years.
The
passage in 2Thessalonians 2:3-4, (written
about 51 AD),
concerning “the great falling away,”
(KJV), “the rebellion,”
(RSV), is speaking of that pending rebellion against Rome which resulted in the
war. The “man of lawlessness” is the
wicked High Priest who fomented the rebellion.
Clearly
it is the wicked city Jerusalem that is intended
in Revelation 11:8 where it is “allegorically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord
was crucified.” Just as righteous Lot was called out of
Sodom before the city could be destroyed, and just as Israel was called out of
Egypt and did not suffer the plagues upon it, so now the Christians are being
called out of Jerusalem, (11:12).
The war
for the Christians, however, was not only that against Rome, but also, on the
fleshly level, the war of the “Jews” against the Christians. This war, as
recorded in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, had been waged throughout the New
Testament era and was especially vicious in the days immediately following
Pentecost. After the martyrdom of Stephen, the Christians
were dispersed, (Acts 8:1), and persecuted throughout the empire wherever they
went to preach in the synagogues.
The war
against the Christians flared up again in Jerusalem in the year 62 AD when James, brother of Jesus, was executed by official action of the High Priest, (ibid.
239).[4]
This opened a new era of Jewish persecution of
Christians which intensified until its climax in the destruction of the city in
70 AD, a period of approximately seven years (ibid. 239-241). This fulfilled
the “time of trouble” foretold by
Daniel, (12:1), and Jesus, (Matt. 24:21). In Daniel 7:25 the
saints “shall be given into his hand for
a time, two times, and half a time,” the 3 ½ years before their
deliverance.
Roman
persecution of Christians was actually the result of the Jewish war against the
Christians. The image of the Church throughout the
empire had been greatly damaged by the false accusations from the Jewish
synagogues. Nero’s wife, Poppaea, had become indoctrinated by Jewish priests and would,
therefore, have adopted their hatred of Christianity. Nero, perhaps at Poppaea’s instigation, began his
persecution of Christians, as distinct from “Jews,” after the great fire in
Rome in 64 AD.
When
the Romans knew that the
Christians were a distinct group, then they became subject to the enforcement
of worship of the emperor. Since the Jews had been granted the status of a
privileged cult, they were exempt from emperor worship. Christians were allowed
this status also so long as they were considered “Jews.” When the Christians
began to deny that they were “Jews” it left them without the covering of the
privileged status. At about this time, however, the “Jews” revolted against
Rome and declared their independence, forcing Rome to move militarily against them.
This left the Christians in the position of disobedience to Rome because of
refusal to worship the emperor and enmity to Judaism because of
refusal to deny Christ. They were faced with two powerful enemies who were
also at war with each other, – a time of trouble such as the nation had never
seen!
The message of Revelation gives the blessed
assurance of Christ’s deliverance, reminiscent of Christ’s words in Luke 21:28:
Now when these things begin to take place, look up and
raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near, (RSV).
The
passage in Luke 17:34-37 seems to
indicate that deliverance is not to be merely a matter of one’s own volition,
or watchfulness, but that some “will be
taken” while others “will be left.”
In reading Josephus’ account it seems that indeed there were people who did
escape the City and others who could not. These passages themselves would have
been sufficient to warn the Christians to avoid the City, or flee from it where
possible.
Some
will object that the “end of the age”
does not pertain only to the fall of Judea and Jerusalem but to the whole
earth. For example, “for it (that day) will come upon all who dwell upon the face
of the whole earth,” (Luke 21:35 RSV). There
are two things that must be pointed out in this regard: (l) the word “earth,”
in the Hebrew is ’eretz which is sometimes translated “earth”
and sometimes “land.” It could therefore
refer to the whole land of Judea, or to the whole planet earth. (2) It
may in fact refer to both in their proper time and order; that is, first to the
whole land of Judea in the first century, then to the whole world after the
Gospel has gone to the
whole world, in the end of the Gentile age. This is
according to the pattern: “The Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile),” (Rom.
2:9-10).
A
further objection is that, at His “coming,”
Christ is to establish
His Kingdom in the earth. This may be answered by pointing out that, at the
destruction of the fleshly nation, Christ’s Kingdom fully replaced it in the
earth. After that time, there was no other nation of Israel, no other heirs
to the promises. But just as the physical nation had occupied a limited
space in the world, so Christ’s kingdom at that time was not all-pervasive of
the world systems. His kingdom has, however, like the little stone cut out by
no human hands that broke in pieces the great kingdoms of the earth in Daniel 2:34, continually
increased and will ultimately fill all the earth and replace every kingdom of
this world,[5]
the Blessed Kingdom of those
who hear the message of Revelation.
1:3: Hear: Blessed are those who hear, and who keep
what is written therein, (RSV).
Just as
God does not speak without results, so in Biblical thought, man does not truly hear without keeping,
or observing, what has been heard. To “keep” that which was heard requires
an appropriate response. In Biblical communication, if the response is lacking,
one has not completed the act of hearing. The Hebrew meaning of “hear” is more
like our word “heed.”
The
hearing of the ears initiates a challenge to the will. The will then must
either assent or dissent. To assent is to accept or comply passively. This is
the first step toward “keeping” or “doing” the Word. However, according to
opportunity there must also be, not only the readiness to will, but also a
performance of the deeds. Only with the performance is the act of “hearing”
complete. The great shema to Israel
was not only an admonition to “hear” but also to “do”: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy might” (Deut. 6:4-5).
The
controversy concerning faith versus works is due to the lack of understanding,
amongst the Christians from gentile backgrounds, of the Biblical meaning of “hearing.” James taught the true sense of the word declaring
that “…faith without works is dead,”
(James 2:26). And: “Be ye doers of the
word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves,” (James 1:22).
[1] As cited in Kee, Young and
Froehlich, Understanding the New
Testament, 245. Kee believes however that the ‘oracle’ may have been the
apocalyptic sections of the synoptic gospels, i.e. Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21.
[3] Kee, Young, Froelich,
Understanding the New Testament,
243-5, cites Eusebius (3.19) that one secular account describes the
flight of the band of Christian Jews who survived in Jerusalem up to this period of time. This was probably
called ‘the synagogue of the saints.’ (See also Commentary on 18:4, “The Call
to Come Out.”)
[4] ‘The Jerusalem church itself seems to have been subjected to
an unprecedented persecution by Jewish authorities in the years
immediately following the death of Paul....’ Paul
was probably killed during Nero's
persecution of Christians in AD 64 (ibid. 228, 247).
[5] Daniel's prophecies
are largely concerned with the then future first coming of Christ and the subsequent destruction of the physical
nation in the first century AD. The ‘end of the age,’ as predicted by Daniel,
was literally the end of the fleshly nation, except for the Promised Seed, Christ. Daniel's
prophecies are not duplicates of the Book of Revelation except in the fact that the end of the fleshly
nation is a sign of the end of the entire world which is yet to happen.
This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context, available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It is also available online at www.amazon.com and www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.
This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context, available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma. It is also available online at www.amazon.com and www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.
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