“Revelation and the Biblical Storyline”
Last week we took time to consider how the book of Revelation is to affect us as Christians, purging our imaginations through the use of symbolic imagery. This week we want to consider the place of the book of Revelation in the unfolding of the biblical storyline.
There are numerous ways to chart the unfolding of biblical revelation, all of which are helpful within their own right. For our study we want to consider the chiastic structure to the overall story of Scripture. Viewed from this perspective, the book of Revelation plays a vital role in tying up all of the Bible’s loose ends, with the last three chapters of Revelation paralleling the first three chapters of Genesis so as to form an inclusio. This is a literary device based on a principle also known as bracketing which consists of creating a frame by placing similar material at the beginning and end of a section or passage. Psalm 113 serves as an example of this technique which is employed to highlight a significant concept to which all of the rest of the material is thematically related (in the case of Ps. 113, the praising of the Lord). When considered in this way, we see that the story of the Bible begins and ends with God dwelling among His people. We also see that the person and work of Christ is the primary focus of the biblical storyline and is the means by which fallen man is restored to God so that He might once again dwell among them.
Given that the OT contained such great promises concerning the establishing both the rule of Messiah on earth as well as an eventual new heaven and new earth, the Bible would be incomplete without the book of Revelation to tie all of these things together in Christ. The book does this in an incredible way through the numerous allusions to OT prophetic passages within the visions John saw of God’s judgment and Christ’s return. Given the significance of this revelation, the Lord chose for himself a specific messenger through whom to deliver it to the churches.
Although many scholars debate whether or not John the son of Zebedee could really be the author, the earliest church fathers attest to this fact. Justin Martyr writing in AD 160 tells us as much in his Dialogue with Trypho. Likewise, Irenaeus who grew up in Smyrna and who sat under the teachings of Polycarp who was discipled by John also claimed that John wrote the letter. Given these witnesses as well as the similarities between Revelation and the Gospel of John, we are safe to read the book as the work of the apostle John.
The apostle John was one of the closest friends of the Lord Jesus during His earthly life. The closeness of their relationship is conveyed throughout the Gospel of John where he refers to himself as the one “whom Jesus loved.” As one of the three who comprised Jesus inner circle, John had great access to Jesus throughout His ministry and even bore witness to the dramatic events of His earthly life such as His transfiguration. According to church history, the apostle John lived the longest of all the disciples, perhaps as late as the end of the 1st Century AD. For this reason many, beginning with Irenaeus, date the book during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96 AD).
Having lived such a long life John was able to study the Old Testament in an in depth way in light of the coming of Christ. It is for this reason that both Revelation and his Gospel are so steeped in OT allusions and references. But John was no mere theologian; he was the bondservant of Christ who was suffering persecution at the hands of the governing authorities, as had his Savior. He tells us in Rev. 1:9 that he was on the island of Patmos, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea which according to the Roman historian Tacitus was the kind of island where the Romans imprisoned and exiled people. Eusebius, the 4th C church historian, claims that John was imprisoned here by Domitian but later returned to Asia to minister during his last days. In this sense, John truly was a fellow partaker with these Christians both in the tribulation they experienced, but also in the citizenship they possessed in God’s heavenly kingdom.
As we study this book together, may we hear the words of a fellow servant of Christ who was a witness to his suffering as well as to His glory. Join us this Sunday as we worship the risen Savior together!
Soli Deo Gloria.
Thomas