Bible: Revelation

Context

Revelation is structured as a letter, or epistle, to seven churches, but in terms of content it is apocalyptic literature, a common literary genre among many people in the ancient world but especially popular among Jews and Christians from 200 BCE to 200 CE. About fifty examples of this type of literature, usually called apocalypses, are still available for us to read today. Most were never placed in a canon of sacred literature. They were written in symbolic language to encourage people to endure persecution or hard times with the promise that God was coming to end the world or radically change history. The typical apocalypse was derived from the experiences of a seer, who, it was believed, was permitted by God to view future events leading up to the end of time either in visions or during a journey to heavenly realms. The visions included details of great persecution before the final arrival of God. Such a vision was written down by the seer and kept until the end of time, when the book would be made public. In actuality, the book was written by an author after most of the predicted events had come true, except for the end of the persecution and the Final Judgment of God. Prediction of events that have already come true is called prediction vaticinia ex eventu, or prediction “after the event.” This was not really deception, for most listeners understood this symbolic discourse, since it was so common. Even so, the book still gave them hope. Our modern definition of apocalyptic literature describes it as a narrative genre in which God or a celestial being reveals a future temporal reality in bizarre, frenetic, and coded symbolic pictorial images, designed to assure a believers of divine salvation.

The historical context for Revelation is the late first century CE in the eastern half of the Roman Empire. The empire was racked by famine and plague, which served to unhinge the stability of the economic and social order. Severe earthquakes in 60 CE, a major defeat of a Roman army by the Parthian Empire (Persia) in 62 CE, the huge fire in Rome in 64 CE, civil war and the violent deaths of four Roman emperors from 68 to 70 CE, the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, and famine in 92 CE weighed heavily on peoples’ minds. Overhanging the provinces of Asia Minor (Turkey) and Syria was the continued threat of invasion by the Parthians. Many Romans believed that the Roman emperor Nero, who had committed suicide in 68 CE, was not really dead but would lead the Parthians in his attempt to conquer Rome. In fact, individuals arose in the eastern part of the empire in 69, 79, and 88 CE claiming to be Nero and causing significant disturbances. Christians could recall Nero’s persecution of 64 CE, in which both the apostles Paul and Peter may have died, as well as the horrible war between Romans and Jews from 66 to 70 CE, which saw the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Revelation alludes to all these circumstances but often in general fashion with images like the Four Horsemen, who symbolize Parthian invasion, civil war, famine, and death.

The Roman Empire and regional provincial rulers encouraged the citizenry to worship the emperor as a god associated with the Greek deity Apollo. Moreover, the deity symbolizing the city of Rome, Dea Roma, was propagandized to be the goddess of fertility, thus absorbing all the regional fertility goddesses (Diana of Ephesus, Athena, Cybele, Isis, and others). The imposition of this new artificial Roman imperial faith was an attempt to bring together the various peoples in the eastern Mediterranean world under the religious and political unity of Rome. Of course, Christians would not revere these gods, and they faced scorn and possible punishment for treason. With social chaos and the threat of invasion, pressure was increased under the reign of Domitian for people to bow to Roman religious demands, especially emperor worship. Images connected to emperor worship are the most dramatic ones in the book of Revelation.

Domitian became emperor in 81 CE, and throughout his reign the Roman Empire faced increasing social and economic challenges; minorities, like Christians, felt pressures placed upon them to conform. Revelation is thought to have been written between 94 and 96 CE, when Christians most feared impending persecution by Domitian, though we know nothing about its actual creation. The manuscript was probably read aloud in Christian communities around Ephesus in order to strengthen their faith and courage as well as to unveil for them in symbolic language the evil nature of the Roman Empire. The symbols portrayed events that had happened in the previous generation. In subsequent generations the book probably revived in popularity during every fresh persecution. Beyond this we know little of the history of this work for the next two centuries, other than that it was more popular in the eastern Mediterranean world than in the west. Its inclusion in the formal New Testament canon, which was created around 400 CE by decision of several church councils, was highly debated, but its popularity in the eyes of many ensured its ultimate place.