The book of revelation is the final book in the Christian canon, i.e. the last book in the new testament. For an analysis of the other books Christian books, see The word according to Christianity (a page on this site).
A valid criticism of the previous books of the bible is that they are not really relevant to modern times. They are useful if you want to determine when you are allowed to cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk or that stealing is suspect, but for many other issues, there really isn’t that much there for the modern-day reader. There’s also the problem of the other books being terribly vague when it comes to the eternal plan and when that will happen. Thankfully, god thought of that and brought everything together in this, the final, and revealing book of his magnum opus.
Or did he…?
The chapter starts with “The revelation of jesus christ, which god gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass“. How is “shortly” defined? It is believed that the book of revelation was written around 95 CE and since we are now in the second quarter of the 21st century, is 1,930 years reasonable for “shortly”? Based on the timeline of events around the era that the author(s) lived, the best part of two millennia doesn’t sound like “shortly”. It’s much more likely that the author(s) who invented the book just wanted to believe that the events they were creating were to happen soon. Also keep in mind that this book was written at least 60 years after jesus is supposed to have lived.
And speaking of “authors”, who is supposed to have written the book of revelation? We are told in the final bit of the first verse that the work is being told to “his servant john”. Of course no one knows anything about the “john” in question, and strangely, that john doesn’t seem to have too much familiarity with the other books in the old and new testaments. In other words, the work is not definitively attributable to any historical person.
The author(s) seemed to anticipate authenticity issues as they next “confirmed” that john “bare the record of the word of god, and of the testimony of jesus christ, and of all things that he saw“. There are known to be between two and five “johns” in the bible, so it’s a pity that the authors didn’t give more details as to which one they are claiming recorded the chapter.
We’re then told that the book contains a prophecy and that we are lucky to be able to read it because “the time is at hand“. So according to the authors, “at hand” is covered by the passing of 1,930 years (and counting)? And what’s all that about a “prophecy”? Didn’t the omniscient creator of the universe know what would happen? A prophecy is a prediction of an event, so shouldn’t god have been able to make a definitive statement of the events to come?
Then there’s something about peace and grace being directed to the seven churches in Asia and to the seven spirits that are before his throne. In this context, Asia is taken to be Asia-minor, which is modern-day Turkey. The seven churches are: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. It’s not explained why things should be centralized on Turkey or those churches. It’s also not explained what the seven spirits are although some have speculated that they are angels (of course).
Note the early use of the number seven. When it doubt, try to inflict importance on a work via the mysterious and unexplained use of numerology. There’s a lot more of that to come in this book.
We’re then reminded that jesus was the “faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead” and how he was a “prince of the kings” who “washed us from our sins in his own blood“. Even better, jesus has transformed them into spiritual kings and priests who have direct access to god for ever and ever.
The book is an ebb and flow of topics that the author(s) took stabs at, and they often went too far in their enthusiasm for the subject. The next part of the text is an example of “too far” because apparently “he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him“. That’s another example of how the author(s) were ignorant iron-age men who thought they were living on a flat Earth. It isn’t possible for every eye on a spherical planet to see an individual, no matter how high they are in the clouds. If they did realize they were on a globe, who were they happy to miss out on the sighting?
We then get a reminder that the author(s) were making this stuff up because they suggested that all this “revelation”‘ was going to happen very soon when they wrote that the guys who pierced jesus (along with everyone else) would wail when they saw him in the clouds. Note to the author(s): the guys who (supposedly) pierced jesus are long gone and are in no position to see him arrive at this point in the prophesied proceedings.
The lord then provides a bit of godly gloating by stating that he is the almighty “alpha and omega” (the beginning and the end). Well, we’ve all read about the “alpha” bit, but sorry to say that there’s no sign of the “omega”.
In case we were wondering, john then states that he was a suffering believer and preacher on the island of Patmos (a small, mountainous island off the coast of Turkey). Things then begin to get trippy as john states that one day he heard (behind him) a “great voice, as of a trumpet“. The voice claimed to be that of god and told him to write what he saw in a book and send it to the seven churches (in Turkey). Presumably that would have required seven books?
Firstly, john turned and saw seven golden candlesticks and standing among them was jesus who was wearing a long dress garment that had a golden girdle. He had white hair, fiery eyes, and his feet were made from brass. His voice had the sound of “many waters“. He was holding seven stars in his right hand and a two-pronged sword was emerging from his mouth. He had a countenance as of the full sun. It’s not explained how someone could have a voice that sounded of water when there was a sword coming out of his mouth?
The seven-stars thing is interesting. It must be remembered that “revelation” was written during the high Roman period, and it is extremely likely that the author(s) were rebelling against Roman authority. Many roman coins depict seven stars, and the following example (circa 82 CE) was therefore in existence just over ten years before “revelation” was written. It seems very likely that john was writing in response to what he saw as Roman oppression.
The seven-stars-in-the-hand description also points to the ignorance of the author(s) who believed that stars were tiny objects stuck in the firmament just above the Earth’s surface. A god would have known better than to suggest that seven of them could be placed in someone’s hand. The smallest known stars are approximately 10% the mass of our sun and are therefore way too big to be handled.
Upon seeing jesus, john “fell at his feet as dead“. Perhaps jesus was checking for a pulse when he put his right hand on john and told him not to be afraid because he (jesus) was the first and the last. Furthermore, jesus explained that he had been resurrected and that he would live forever and be able to judge and resurrect the dead.
The chapter concludes with jesus encouraging john to write down what he was seeing, and by providing a brief explanation of all things seven: stars (which were angels) and candlesticks (which were churches). Finally, an explained metaphor!
(More coming soon…)