Readers may have seen articles by Greg Uttinger in the Chalcedon Report. In this short book he gives an overview of the book of Revelation.

Publisher, Gerald Nordskog writes, I, too, was one who was in uenced three decades ago by the interpretation of Hal Lindseys theoretical theological views in Th e Late Great Planet Earth, a strange version of the futurist view-point of the end times. In Th e Gospel According to Revelation, Greg Uttinger sees much of the book of Revelation ful lled in Gods covenant acts in the rst century, but also recognizes that its prophesies hold out a glorious future for the kingdom of Christ before He re-turns in glory.

Jim West, Associate Professor, City Seminary, Sacramento, Ca., writes in the Forward, Mr. Uttingers book provides a framework by which we can read the

entirety of the Revelation with pro t.Th e book of Revelation is indeed a rev-elation, a revelation for all of Gods peo-ple. A Whole New World shows how this is true.

Uttinger discusses in brief com-pass 13 topics relating to the book of Revelation. A book so rich in imagery is not really taken literally by any school of interpretation. For an explanation of the imagery, we should look to the Bible itself (as in Old Testament Prophets) rather than the newspaper headlines.

Paying attention to the book it-self leads us to believe John was writ-ing about things that would shortly take place. Many of the most dramatic prophecies would come to pass in the lifetime of the original readers. Th e same indicators of the timing within this generation are given in the gos-pels. Uttinger identi es the Babylon

Greg Uttinger

A whole New World:Th e gospel according

To revelation

Reviewed by Dr. Don Crowe

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of Revelation as Jerusalem for the same reasons named by Dr. Ken Gentry. For example, who but Jerusalem would be considered guilty of adultery and har-lotry? No other city was ever consid-ered as Gods covenant bride. Babylon is distinct from the cities of the Gentiles in Rev. 16.19. Uttinger gives 15 reasons why he makes this identi cation.

Th e book of Revelation was written to the church. It is rich in symbolism. Th e temples seven branched lampstand will go out, but the seven churches now each had their lampstand. Th e Lord Jesus is the Shenikah glory incarnate, present among his churches.

Th e Opened Book with seven seals in Revelation 4 concerns the deed of in-heritance, who shall inherit the prom-ised kingdom. Th e false bride, apostate Israel, is disinherited and the true bride, those whom Christ has redeemed, are recognized. Th e 144 thousand are the

redeemed of the Lord, the rst-fruits of Gods New Covenant Israel. Follow-ing that, the judgments fall on apostate Israel. Th e last trumpet sounds the de-struction of Jerusalem and her temple. Th e triumph of Christ marks the King-doms of the world becoming the King-dom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Th e Radiant woman in Revela-tion 12 is the Old Testament church. Th e Woman brings forth the promised Messiah of Gen. 3:15, born to rule the world with a rod of iron, Psalm 2.

Th e Beast from the Sea is the Ro-man Empire; the land Beast is apostate Israel whose leadership encouraged Romes persecution of Christians. Ro-man Caesar Neros persecution lasts approximately 42 months.

Th e Mark of the Beast - 666- Ut-tinger writes, must be delivered from all the volumes of nonsense that has been written about it. Its signi cance must be found in the Bible, not in the news-papers. Uttinger associates the number 6 with several references in the Old and New Testaments, associating it particu-larly with Solomon (1 Kings 10:14) and Nero. Th at Solomon received 666 tal-

Titus Raiding the Temple

NeroNero

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ents of gold, may be interesting, but not conclusive, however. We cannot pro-nounce with certainty that this number of talents has anything to do with the same number in Revelation.

Th e sign or mark on the forehead has an OT history and signi cance that is carried on in Revelation. [Th ere is everything from the mark of Cain to the exhortation to let the Word of God be on your forehead, the high priests headbandholiness to the LORD. Th e woman Babylon appears as a nega-tive of the high priest, for on her fore-head is Mystery Babylon, mother of harlots.] If a speci c person be in-tended by 666 it would be a rst cen-tury persecutor of Christians, internal evidence points to NERO. We should therefore reject countless attempts to calculate the numerical value of notori-ous 20th or 21st century persons.

Th e Blood and Wine in Revela-tion 13-14 concerns the war against the saints. Th ere is no rapture or miracu-lous escape; many Christians su ered

and many died. BUT the Lamb is in the midst of His people and Jerusalem the harlot is doomed. Victory is certain. In Revelation 18 heaven rejoices at Baby-lons fall. Th e true bride is vindicated. Revelation 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb, celebrates His victory, the deliverance of His people.

Th e millennial kingdom, Rev-elation 20, the rst resurrection, is the reign of the saints, a present reality, based on the victories of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all we read of the be-lievers victory over the world, the esh and the devil. For in Christs kingdom spiritual dominion must precede cul-tural dominion. Th e Church will see a gradual but progressive increase in do-minion through history before the end.

Revelation 21-22 is about A Whole New World. Gods covenant with His people is all embracing. Involving us in God directed restructuring of our own personal lives is only the beginning. We must think Christs thoughts about all things, about every issue, every endeav-or. Th ere is nothing outside the Lordship of Christ where neutrality can prevail.

What is Uttingers conclusion? Th e living Christ reigns and His church reigns with Him, ruling not by sword or politics, but by worship and the gospel. Political action and social reform are important as outworkings of our faith, but the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

The last items of the book include

1. An overview of Revelation consisting of a one sentence summary of each chapter.

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2. A blank verse pentameter poem Apocalypse by Brittney Todd.3. Recommended reading list.

Th e books recommend include authors Roderick Campbell, David Chilton, Ken Gentry, and James Jordan.

Th e author brings up various key topics and sets forth his understanding of the symbolism. Obviously one must be brief in a 65 page book, so those whose interest is stirred by a di erent (historic Reformed instead of pop-dispensational) way of looking at the book of Revelation can be directed to resources for further study.

In general Uttinger interprets the book of Revelation in much the same way as Ken Gentry as far as the date of Revelation and the identity of Babylon the harlot. Some of Chiltons inter-pretive maximalism enters into the discussion of 666, however. Does this mean that everywhere 6 or 60 or 666 are mentioned we are to see a symbolic meaning? Chiltons commentary on Revelation introduces several specula-tive ideas, many derived from Austin Farrer. For example: It is true of course that 6 x 6 is 36. It is also true that if you put down a line of 36 stars, then build a triangle-pyramid with one fewer star in each row until you reach the one star at the topyou would have a total of 666. Such things may be interesting (or not!) curiosities, but some of us fail to see how that is sound exegetical practice. What hidden meaning should we nd in the fact that Solomon received 666 talents of gold each year? 2 Chronicles 9:13, Th e weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold.

But surely we cannot draw some sinister conclusion every time the num-ber six occurs in the Bible (117 times). If we multiply the number of times six appears in the Bible by SIX, then sub-tract the SQUARE of 6, we get 666: (117 x 6) (6 x 6) = 666. Is it bad that the seraphim have SIX wings? Would seven be better? Should Solomon have insti-tuted an across the board tax increase in order to raise revenue to the 777 tal-ents of gold per year level?

Some suggested controls on imagery

thinking:

Insist on the historical reality of the account. Maybe the reason the bible re-ports 666 talents of gold is that it is ex-actly the amount he received each year.

For there to be an OBJECTIVE meaning for Scripture, we need to give rst place to the historical-grammat-ical interpretation. Th e theologico-imagino-guessico method gives about as many interpretations as there are interpreters.

Donald D. Crowe

Ph.D. American University of Biblical Studies M.Div. Pittsburgh

Th eological Seminary B.A. Asbury College

His book Creation without Compromise is due to be released this summer from Creation Ministries International, publishers of Creation magazine.

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