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REVELATION IN JUDAISM AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

1. INTRODUCTION

The word revelation comes from Latin language, revelo, revelation, it means to discover, to disclose a mystery, a secret or hidden plan. Being a conscious process, it involves the existence of one or more persons. Firstly, we can speak about a revelation realized on one individual level of human mind, a particular consciousness, as a result of the message interception. Secondly, we distinguish a revelation at the interpersonal level, it means it implicates more participants to the act of revelation, but it is also a different implementation and purpose of the revelation at macro level - social, cultural religious and so forth. The revelation, sometimes used with capitals, especially in Christianity, is being considered as the word, will and plans of God. At the beginning it concerned the Jews and then it included also the Christians and gentiles. On the one hand, there is the natural revelation, which represents the will, the message of God, realized by the natural way (humans’ contemplation or selective meditation toward God’s creation, laws of creation and thus making the connections to or reflection of God Creator). On the other hand, we are speaking of the supernatural revelation, realized as one direct discover (sometimes personally) of God´s plans concerning the mankind, process realized by the wonders, prophecies and other forms of supernatural communication. In this paper, I intend to trace a few general directions of divine revelation, from Judaism to Christianity. The first refers to the God´s chosen people and second to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Revelation. I will point out the referential moments from the history of revelation, such as the covenant between Abraham and his descendants and God; the Law of Moses or Torah and afterwards the restoration of their calling by the institution of Prophecy. Being firmly convinced, as Frederick Murphy has pointed out, that the prophecy and apocalypticism agree in being convinced that their messages come through direct revelation1, I will attempt to see the historical, cultural and social context of the revelation, during the interaction of Jews with other peoples, especially in its interaction with the Early Christianity. The institution of prophecy might be an interesting view toward the rising of Jews against the foreign and votary dominations, either Egyptian, Assyro-Babylonian, Greek or Roman. Thus it could be interesting to mention the pedagogical dimension of prophethood, being expressed on the one hand as a fight for freedom, on the other hand as recognition of their decline from the quality as chosen people, having to support the consequences and to restore its status. Being aware of the human weakness, they claim one Messiah or Savior, according to the old prophecies, (such as the one from Genesis 3: 15 or Genesis 49:10, and others). I will try to trace a study case by the interpretation of Revelation in the book of Daniel and Revelation of John. As a completion of my approach I will also attempt to a certain degree to discus about the claim of Christianity that the Law and prophecies have been completed through Jesus Christ. Conventionally, I will use the word Revelation with capitals, strictly speaking of the divine revelation, and simple, as revelation, in general, speaking of the process and human implications of this. 1 Frederick J. Murphy, Early Judaism from the Exile to the time of Jesus, Hendrickson Publishers, 2002, p.134

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2. THE REVELATION IN JUDAISM The territory of the Holy Land has been certified since the 7000 BCE. In the third

millennium a Semitic2 population came from Syria, but around 2200 BCE, a new wave of nomads had settled there. When Abraham came in Canaan, around 18th century BCE, Canaan’s people were living there, surrounded by the other Semitic people, organized in votary tribal-kingdoms. Abraham had previously settled to Haran and afterward to Canaan. In this context, the primordial revelation has come about. God supported this revelation previously as a covenant between God and Abraham´s people (berith), expressed by the Law or Torah in a monotheist religion. Broadly speaking, Moses Law and the whole Old Testament and all the legislative or moral prescriptions, they originated from God´s revelation, but in different ways. Thus, the laws registered by Moses in the Pentateuch bear the divine inspiration, some of them being directly delivered from God (The Decalogue), other deriving from the natural law and the traditions of neighbor nations (for instance those related by slavery, marriage and Sabbath) and others being inspired by the legislations of the nations who interacted with the Jews. Thus, the Law of Moses, is being divine in its essence, and human in its elaboration. The law came down from God (Deuteronomy 1:17) and this will influence the history of Jews by creating of one theocratic state, after their release from Egyptian bondage. In this situation, based on the primarily social patriarchal organization accomplished by the new legal prescriptions throughout the divine revelation, and sometimes being perceived as a direct assistance (realized through Moses), the organization of the Jews has been done. At the same time, the name of God´s chosen people claimed the building of the Tabernacle, a symbol of Jewish unity and the monotheism. It will prefigure the Temple from Jerusalem. During history, the chosen people has been recognized as one whimsical, rebel people (as they proceeded in the case of lacking food supplies during their straying in the desert, or when they have created themselves a god, namely the golden calf). Thus, the entire history of revelation of Jews is, on the one side, a succession of moments of recognition and fulfillment of the Law reviled by God, plans achieved by the Patriarchs, Judges or Kings, and on the other side, moments of slavery and foreign domination or even self-destruction, as a result of insubordination, obstinacy, and further of God´s punishments. These successions of failure and raising of the Jews will stamp the entire history of revelation. Perhaps, because this is the mankind existential condition. Returning to the revelation, after the Patriarchs, it was somehow necessary that other bridges were realized for a better communication between God and His people. These bridges have been achieved by the Judges and Kings. We will not momentarily attend to king David and his famous work, Psalms, which better express the divine revelation, in spite of the modern biblical criticism, and we will only mention the building of the Temple from king Solomon, the symbol of unity and the monotheistic religion of Israel. The Temple from Jerusalem, as the axis mundi and the city Jerusalem as the heavenly Jerusalem were sharply marked by the revelation. The decline of Israel, generated by the temptation of idolatry, (probably that is how we might explain why in the Old Testament, through a prophylactic approach, there are not many accounts of the angels or of anything which may lead to a portrait) demands that the revelation has to be

2 The term Semitic is provided by the Biblical tradition, according which Sem, the son of Abraham it would be the

ancestor of the Semitic peoples. The term has been firstly used in 1781 from the German historian August Ludwig

von Schlözer, who was inspired by the people´s genealogy accordingly of the Biblical tradition.

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nuanced and reformulated. This act could be realized by the prophetic institution. This institution has fought for keeping the national idea and God´s calling as two intrinsically realities alive. At the same time, we should agree that while we speak about Revelation, we should speak about the apocalyptic approach. Full of conflicts, foreign expansion and slavery, the people start to search for answers either in the underworld or in heaven, through dreams, visions or other supernatural experiences, obviously as part of the divine revelation. Perhaps that happened due to the immediate expectation that Messiah would save his people3.

Before analyzing the book of Daniel, we should mention that it is not possible to make abstraction of Daniel’s prophecy and his approach to the rest of Prophets and other prophetic works, such as the Epistle of Enoch, Ezekiel so forth.

Daniel’s book is organized in two parts. The first part covers chapters 1 to 6, and has an emphasized biographic character. We find out about the two special dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the vision of the king Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, and about Daniel in the den of lions. It is a passive depicting to some extent, speaking of the prophetical experience, even though, always under God’s assistance, Daniel could correctly interpret the dreams. In the second part, from chapter 7 to the end, the book of Daniel narrates the visions of Daniel and his prophecies about to the nations, Antichrist, and the end of the world. It is an eschatological approach and Daniel is the person-receptacle of Revelation here. Regarding the first part of Daniels book, namely the second chapter, as I mentioned above, there is a vision or prophetic dream of the king Nebuchadnezzar, the enormous statue with a body made of four elements or metals. Those metals express the endurance, the resistance of the statue. According to the scholars, the source of the account in Daniel 2 is to be found in Greek thought…and also among the Persians and is characteristic of the teaching of Zoroastrism4. More precisely, the schema of the four-kingdoms smashed by a rock is identified by Murphy: the first kingdom, represented by gold, is that of Nebuchadnezzar. The second kingdom (the Medes) is silver, the third (the Persian) is bronze, and the last (the Greek) is a mixture of iron and clay…The four-kingdom schema comes from Hellenistic political prophecy5. These remarks could lead us to the authenticity of the author of Daniel’s book, and to the fact that the book attributed to him would have been written later than The Babylonian domination6, namely between the second and first centuries BCE. For our approach it is not important to see if the

3 We find a pertinent explanation at Frederick Murphy, namely because apocalypticism is dissatisfied with the state

of the world and expects God to intervene soon to change things radically, earlier scholarship thought that it was

the worldview of fringe groups, groups persecuted by the broader society. Many scholars imagined small

“conventicles,” communities apart from, and opposed to, the world at large. More recent scholarship has

successfully challenged these assumptions, noting that apocalypticism is a scribal phenomenon, requiring, for

example, extensive knowledge of traditions and the ability to read and write, traits characteristic of the upper

classes, especially the scribal classes, of ancient society. We now realize that dissatisfaction with the world is

possible even among the ruling classes, in the face of foreign domination, for instance, where political reality

clashes with native traditions. Alternatively, upper-class factions might resent the greater power or authority of

other more powerful factions within their own society (Frederick J. Murphy, page 127). 4 Gerhard F. Hasel, The Four world Empires of Daniel 2 against its Near Eastern Environment, article in Journal for

the Study of the Old Testament, 1979, p.17 5 Frederick J. Murphy, p.154 6 The critic studies of Daniel´s Book are very numerous, beginning with Porphyry until the modern biblical criticism.

Even Frederick Murphy is sharing the same opinion, he sustains that the work of Daniel would be written later,

namely in the time of Greek domination. Otherwise, some scholars would agree the date 165 BCE, the book being

written to encourage Hasideans, under Maccabean dynasty, during their war against to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

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dream about the statue built from four elements would represent the kingdoms Assyria, Media, Persia, Macedonia and finally Rome, neither if this representation emphasizes the development of an Eastern pattern, influenced by the Greek or Persian cultures. We would rather focus on the national idea expressed by the revelation of prophets. The fight and the hope of the Jews concerning their rehabilitation as God´s chosen people may be inferred throughout this image of the destroyed statue. And the stone which destroyed the statue could be considered the Messiah, perceived by the Jews as a human or military leader and subsequently as Jesus Crist by the Christians (Ephes.2:20). Chapter 5 tells of Belshazzar’s feast, in which cryptic writing appears on the wall during a royal banquet and only Daniel is able to decipher it (hence the familiar phrase “to read the writing on the wall”)7, and also we can see the prophecy of the end of Assyrian kingdom, as a punishment for raising against God of Jews.

In the second part (chap. 7-12) of Daniel´s book, as I mentioned above, we are dealing with the direct experiencing of dreams or visions revealed by God to Daniel. Predominant is also number four, which is expressed by the four cardinal points, the world or the succession of four kingdoms enumerated above8. The series climaxes with the fourth beast, representing the Seleucid kingdom (7:7). History leads up to the time in which the author writes, and this time is the culmination of history. Things are at their worst because history has reached its culmination9. We can make this statement by carefully watching the history of the Seleucid domination (2 Maccabees) and its consequences, but the same is valid during the Roman domination (see Josephus, Orosius or Dios Cassius). The sea represents the chaos and disorder, and a divine force must set restoration of good10. This mythical motive is common in Ancient Orient. The patterns would explain why forces of good were not easily victorious, but they would also give assurance that good would ultimately prevail11. Hence the picture of thrones developed many debates among scholars, perhaps because of the similarities with the book of Revelation12. Furthermore, the discussion of Murphy´s has focused on the identity of the son of man who appeared on the sky after God punished the beasts and restored the harmony on the earth. It sounds like the millenarianism, a common train of thought with the Ancient and modern peoples as well. There are many opinions regarding the son of man. Some scholars argue that in Daniel´s text there is no account of Jesus Christ, but on the contrary, this figure can be a human being or even an angel. Despite of the sensitive representation in Old Testament, the angels have been

7 Frederick J. Murphy, p.154 8 By comparison, In John´s Revelation, there are four cherubim around the Throne of God, who according to Ezekiel

1:10, they have a zoomorphic representation, and they are in New Testament the authors of Gospels, Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John. 9 Ibidem, p.155 10 Frederick Murphy, p.155 and so forth. 11 Ibidem, p.155 12 First Enoch 14 has a throne scene that legitimates the revelations in that book. Daniel has also seen heaven and

God. He too can speak with authority. In Daniel’s throne scene, he sees God himself sitting on his heavenly throne.

He then sees “thrones” set up for members of God’s heavenly court. Books are opened containing the deeds of the

nations, who are judged on the basis of these books. Judgment in heaven immediately has its effect on earth.

Without a transition, the scene shifts abruptly from heaven to earth: “The beast was put to death, and its body

destroyed and given over to be burned by fire” (7:11). Decisions taken in heaven determine what happens on earth,

and no intermediaries are necessary. God’s judgment results in instant defeat for God’s foes, both human and

supernatural. The very abruptness of the change from heaven to earth reinforces this point (Murphy, p. 157).

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actively involved in the process of Revelation. On the one side, their role is to lead and protect the people, on the other side they must help God in Revelations achievement. There are three directions proposed by the scholars, regarding the son of man presented in the book of Daniel. The first would be a messianic person, but the prerequisites do not support this view. The second might regard the Jews as a whole in front of Revelation, but it is also an insufficient motive. Finally, the third opinion perceives one angel, namely Michael, representing the Jews, and this opinion could be supported. But this idea could lead us to the paradigm of the Ancient Israel and non-Israel peoples, according to every nation could be drive to its journey by a supernatural leader, like angels, for example13. Furthermore, the explanation of the vision, with particular view of the king Antiochus IV is related, I would say, in the context of his work or Hellenization14.

Chapter 8 renews the prophecy of the fate of Jews and the Medean and Persian Empires, reflected by the vision of the ram and a goat. In verses 11 and 12, Daniel prophetically speaks about the Jews’ persecution under king Antiochus IV, with particular references to the destroying of the Temple, of Shabbat and the sacrifices. The episode of Hellenization during the domination of this king was uttermost.

Chapter 9 presents us Daniel´s prayer and the prophecy of the seventy “seven”. At the beginning of the chapter we find out the time when the prophecy occurred and one reiteration of the revelation to Jeremiah. This refers to Jeremiah’s prediction at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem that the devastation would last seventy years (Jer. 25:11–12; 29:10). It leads Daniel to utter a lengthy prayer. The prayer acknowledges that Israel’s suffering is due to its own lack of loyalty to the Mosaic covenant, reaffirms God’s fidelity to Israel, and petitions for the salvation of Jerusalem and its sanctuary15. Concerning the apocalyptic survey of history adapted by Christians, with special references to Daniel´s prophecy of seventy weeks, William Adler says that sweeping surveys of the past based on some older Jewish apocalyptic scheme found a home in other genres, in particular Christian apologetic and historiography16. As part of the view of history, the author´s conviction is that there is a fundamental difference between the apocalyptic view of history and the traditional Deuteronomic theology17. Nevertheless, the historical interpretation and the history as revealed wisdom from Adler`s work could be important to our approach. By comparison to other Prophets, as Josephus remarks, Daniel did not only prophesize the future, but he also predicted the time of their accomplishment. Based on this time, we can identify the personages of Daniel´s prophecy, of course, not as easy

13 Murphy, p.158-159. According to Murphy, this pattern, (people ruled by the archangel Michael) is also found in

Manuscripts from Qumran (p.159). 14 During this process of Hellenization, Antiochus forbade Jews to observe their ancestral law and customs. He tried

to impose Greek law and religious practices on the Jews. There were to be no more burnt offerings to the God of

Israel, no circumcision of male children, and no observance of the dietary laws. Because Jews believed that their

God should not be represented in art, there were no statues in his Temple. Antiochus placed statues of Greek gods

in the Jewish Temple and worshipped them with Greek religious rituals. This was probably the ”Abomination of

Desolation” condemned in Daniel 11:31 and 12:11. (According to Joseph H. Lynch, Early Christianity. A Brief History,

Oxford University Press 2009, p.14). 15 Murphy, p.160 16 James C. VanderKam and William Adler, The Jewish apocalyptic heritage in Early Christianity, Van Gorcum, Assen

Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1996, p. 201. For more details regarding the interpretation of Daniel´s prophecy of

seventy seven weeks, see this work. 17 Ibidem, p.203

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as we might expect18. From Early Christian perspective, the image of seventy seven weeks has an eschatological importance, previously manifested in the Gospels and Paul´s letter (2 Tess.2:3-4). Furthermore, in the 25th verse we find about the building of the second Temple and further there are debates towards the expressions “the anointed one” and “the prince who is to come”19. The context of prophecy is also important for its messianic message. I suppose that it is less important if the prophecy has been done before or after one certain period, the most important is the message concerning the Jews and their destiny on the history stage.

The chapter 10 is introducing us on the battlefield, through the fight between the Jews, helped and ruled by the angel Michael, against the Persians, Greeks and other nations, ruled by their own representative angels. There is an apocalyptic picture developed across the two planes, heaven and earth. Chapter 11 once again traces the course of history from the Persian Empire to the death of Antiochus20. The apocalyptic dimension here is drew from the punishment of the king Antiochus and of all those who forsake the holy covenant21. The situation created by the Hellenization process is estimated. It is similar with the situation generated by persecutions in Early Christianity, when some of Christians kept their faith, even though some of them have died or suffered injuries. Here we meet a new term, “wise”, which has the signification of understanding the secret plans of God22. The reference to a “little help” in Dan 11:34 may mean the Maccabees. The phrase is a bit insulting. Nowhere in Daniel are Jews urged to fight the Seleucids. Daniel wants them to remain faithful to Torah and to wait until God defeats Antiochus. Militant resistance to Seleucid rule and to Antiochus’s persecution is of little use, for matters are ultimately decided on another level. This contrasts with the view of the Animal Apocalypse, which values the efforts of the Maccabees much more highly23. The last chapter depicts the vision of the resurrection of dead and of Antichrist coming. The picture is pointing out the interpretation of the eschatology accordingly to Torah and Judaic tradition. The book is ending with the command to keep secrecy over the revealed visions, which are to be safely preserved until the end of the world, when they will come true.

3. REVELATION IN CHRISTIANITY. CONTINUITY OR CHANGE?

First of all, Christianity was previously seen as a movement within Judaism24. Regarding the social and cultural context, there is a difference between Judaism and Christianity. The Judaism emerged and developed inside of clearly delimitated territories, and subsequently it spread abroad. On the contrary, Christianity emerged firstly as a part of Judaism at the same time with its spreading out. But it developed inside of Judaic consciousness. Even later, when the Jewish Christians separated by Judaism, they did not consider that they were situated far away from the Torah or Law. Otherwise, one main point of Jesus movement, as Lynch defined the Early Christianity, has been the immediate expectation of the return of Jesus. This expectation would be the main reason of

18 William Adler, p.204 19 See details in Frederick J. Murphy, p.161 20 Murphy, p.161 21 Ibidem, p.161 22 Ibidem, p.162 23 Murphy, p.162 24 Lynch, p.38

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the apocalyptical consciousness, materialized by renouncing to their estates, gathering together of their incomes and putting their goods to the feet of the Apostles.

Christian revelation in a previous stage has been unorganized, being expressed through visions, dreams, preaching, writing and the creation of communities of believers25. But as the Jews were under Roman domination, we can fairly say that Christianity emerged in the heart of Ancient traditions. The Christianity came over the Ancient traditions, peoples and cultures, being influenced by those. That is why Christianity does not claim to be exclusivist. The Revelation has changed the message. Before Jesus, the Jews were waiting for a Messiah, even military speaking, to restore the peace with God and harmony among them and Revelation had to help them in their journey. Now, Jesus set the New Covenant and the fulfillment of Law and prophecies, the salvation could be achieved by paying attention to the Old Covenant (Testament) as foreshadowing and the New Testament as fulfillment of Revelation. Actually the methodology of revelation conserved its forms and tools, only the actors have been changed. Apostle Peter, who was the most confident exponent of Judaism inside of the Apostles past many stages, took three times hesitation to admit that he has been together with Jesus in Garden of Gethsemane, to visions (like the one related to Acts 10:11-16), miracles (Acts 3 and 12), speaking in tongues (glossolalia)26 (in the second chapter, when circa three thousand Jews have been converted and they are considered the first Christians as institutional Church, instead of Temple), sometimes hesitated to eat together with the Christians uncircumcised and for this behavior being reproved by Paul. Of course, beside Peter, we can mention James, as the leader of Jewish Christianity at Jerusalem27, John, Andrew, Symeon, the son of Clopas and many others who continued Judaic tradition. Except the New Testament, which is perceived as being all that is connected to Jesus Christ in canonical form and his fulfillment of Revelation, as I underlined above, the creation of communities of believers is one different stage of Christian Revelation. The most important protagonist of this creation is Paul, previously recognized as Saul and subsequently as Apostle Paul. Together with Peter, Barnabas and other apostles he has preached, elected the bishops and priest to set up the Christian communities and he has kept a tight correspondence with them, even visited them again. Paul is the most prominent figure of Early Christianity. Paul, who was a missionary, opened a small window on other missionaries when he referred in his letters to his supporters and fellow missionaries, including Barnabas, Titus, Timothy, Aquila, Epaphras, Epaphroditus, Luke, Mark, Onesimus, Onesiphorus, Silas, Silvanus, Stephanas, and Tychicus and some women, including Prisca, Junia, Chloe and Phoebe28.

25 Ibidem, p.37 26 Peter´s sermon, which Luke thought contained the early Jewish Christian message, can be summarized thusly:

The final age has begun, ushered in by Jesus´ ministry, death, and resurrection, of which the Jewish-Christian

preacher Peter gave a brief account, accompanied by references to the Jewish scriptures to show that all happened

through the “foreknowledge of God”. Peter presented Jesus as God´s instrument. God worked wonders through

him; God raised him from the dead; and God made him both Lord and Messiah. Peter said that Jesus would return

soon to end the present age in a judgment. In the period of waiting, the Jewish Christians interpreted their

prophecies, visions, and speaking in tongues as signs that Jesus´ Holy Spirit was active among them. Peter called on

his fellow Jews to repent while there was still time and be baptized in the name of Jesus so that they also would

receive the Spirit`s gifts (Lynch, p.39). 27 Lynch, p.40 28 Ibidem, p.37

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We will not place here too much emphasize on Paul´s missionary work29, which abounds in wonders30, healings, even resurrections dead, visions, dreams and all the ways of transmission of God´s Revelation. The New Testament31 and Christian tradition also represent part of the great wealth of Paul and Early Christianity representatives’ activity. If Peter was the exponent of Jewish Christianity, Paul, in spite of the fact that he has been a Pharisee educated in the Law of Moses and he himself is identifying with his conational people and brothers in faith, actually makes the transition from the Old Law to the New, centered on Jesus Christ. At the same time he represents the exponent of Gentile Christianity, not criticizing the rules of the Roman Empire, being adaptive in a Christian manner to the Greek philosophy and more than that, emphasizing the universalism of Jesus’ message, which he insisted was not just for Jews but rather for all mankind. In some Jewish circles, there was an expectation that when Israel was restored in the last days, gentiles would come to Mount Zion with gifts to worship the God of Israel (Isaiah 60:10-14; Micah 4). Paul might have interpreted his success among gentiles as a fulfillment of that expectation about the last days. He argued that the Jews had been invited first to believe in Jesus, but he faced the reality that the majority did not respond favorably. He kept hope that his fellow Jews would accept Jesus before the end came32. Before I start to debate on John´s Revelation, I would like to shortly remind, in the context of the development of Early Christianity, about the doctrine of apostolic succession33. This doctrine would be one of the most influential Christian doctrine, since the origins to our days. This apostolic succession in foundation for the Ecclesia, the Church as the institution and modality of transmission of Revelation. Outside of the Church, understood as the assembly or gathering of believers and at the same time, as communion of grace, as a result of divine Revelation. Although the Revelation of God has ended after the canon of the Bible was set, some of Christians (especially Catholicism and Orthodoxy) claim one dynamic dimension of the Revelation, expressed throughout the Tradition. The development of Christianity could not be dammed, in spite of the voices who claimed the monopoly of true wisdom (Gnostics), the monopoly of the genuine visions or revelations (the schismatics such as Montanus and others), or the persecutions. The response of Christianity, in the front of the Roman civilization, for example, embraced many forms of Revelation, as I said above. I will try to observe these references in the apocalyptic book Revelation of Saint John. Concerning the time and prerequisite of writing Revelation, the majority of scholars agree with the year 96 in the context of interaction between Roman culture, religion and society and Christianity34. The book of Revelation reflects the relationship between the Roman imperial

29 Paul´s career as a missionary took place in the favorable context of the Roman Empire. The empire provided

about two centuries of peace and order that helped the work of Paul, other Christian missionaries, and also the

missionaries of other gods. (Lynch, p.47). 30 According to Christian tradition, Paul, previously named Saul, participated to the martyrdom of Stephan, being in

charge to take care of the clothes of the Jew who have been executed to Stephan, Saul being agree to this murder.

Subsequently, on the way to Damascus Paul had the most influential vision in the history of Christianity. Luke

described in three times (Acts 9:1-19; Acts 22:4-16; Acts 26:12-18) (According to Murphy, p.46). 31 New Testament scholars debate the authenticity of some of the thirteen letters attributed to Paul. See details on

Murphy, p.44. 32 Ibidem, p.50 33 Murphy, p.67 34 Earlier scholarship thought that, unlike most of his predecessors, Domitian insisted on emperor worship and that

persecution was threatened against those who refused, especially Christians. More recent scholarship has

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authority and the Christianity. Interpreters have often assumed that Revelation was written under the specter of rising imperial persecution of the church. This is based in part on Irenaeus' comment that Revelation was written near the end of the reign of the emperor Domitian, who was assassinated in 96 CE. (Against Heresies 5.30.3). The final years of Domitian's reign were marked by violent action against those he suspected of disloyalty. After his death, he was condemned by the senate and his name was removed from inscriptions and public monuments. When vilifying Domitian, Roman writers charged that he had made excessive claims about his own divinity, arrogantly demanding that people call him "lord and god" and summoning his wife to join him on his "divine couch" (Suetonius, Domitian 13). In Christian tradition, Domitian was remembered as one of the persecuting emperors, second only to Nero in his brutality against the church (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.17)35. As structure, we identify as the major divisions of the book: (1) the inaugural vision of Christ, including the seven messages to the churches (1:9-3:22); (2) the inaugural vision of heaven (4-5) leading to the sequences of judgment (6-16); (3) Babylon the harlot (17:1-19:10); (4) the transition from Babylon to the New Jerusalem (19:11-21:8); (5) the New Jerusalem the Bride (21:9-22:9).36 In chapters 2 and 3 we distinguish the combination between the corresponding approaches (characteristic for Early Christianity when one bishop could keep the relationship with one community by sending the letters - to see in Revelation book the identification of the bishops of the Seven Churches from Asia as being the angels of those Churches) and the apocalyptic approach, with emphasizing of the start of Roman hostilities against Christians. There are seven messages, from the glorified Christ to seven churches in western Asia Minor. Christ is distressed at developments within the churches. They were, for the most part, located in important cities in the Roman province of Asia, and their culture was Roman Hellenism. The author feels that some Christians are too much at home in the local culture, and he writes to convince them that with it. God’s sovereignty is irreconcilable with that of Caesar. The author praises those who share his views, and he threatens with judgment those who do not37. There have been local people who denounced Christians to the Roman authorities, especially in Smyrna and Philadelphia, when this approach has been done by the Jews. Christians were viewed with suspicion by some because their distinctive profession of faith in Jesus as "Lord" and "Son of God" did not fit accepted social and religious patterns. They did not revere the Greco-Roman deities that were honored by most people in Asian cities, yet they were increasingly distinct from the local Jewish communities, whose beliefs could be tolerated since they were part of their ancestral traditions38. Furthermore, we can infer that the Christian communities had to face the Ancient Greco-Roman religions and traditions in the social and religious context, and that there was some complacency arising from wealth.

challenged this picture (see Thompson). In fact, there was little persecution of Christians in the first century C.E.

There was a persecution under Nero, but Christians were not killed for the mere fact of being Christians but because

Nero blamed them for a devastating fire in Rome in 64 C.E., possibly to divert suspicion from himself. Revelation

itself offers little evidence of widespread persecution, but its author does think that a general persecution is

impending (e.g., Rev 3:10). The book sees the coming persecution as a showdown between God and Satan

(according Murphy p.426-427). 35 Craig R. Koester, Revelation´s visionary challenge to ordinary Empire, article in ATLAS SERIAL, January 2009, p.6. 36 This structure is done based on the work of Richard Bauckham, The climax of Prophesy, Studies on the book of

Revelation, T&T Clark Edinburgh, 1993, p.6 37 Frederick J. Murphy, p.427 38 Craig R. Koester, p.7

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At the beginning of chapter 4 we are in front of the apocalyptic landscape. Revelation 4–5 is a heavenly throne scene that serves as the basis for the rest of the eschatological revelations in the book. In chapter 4, God sits on the throne, surrounded by worshiping angels. At the beginning of chapter 5, the seer notices a scroll in God’s hand, sealed with seven seals. When he learns that no one in the universe is worthy to open the scroll, he weeps because he realizes that the scroll contains the end time events, which cannot happen if the scroll is not opened. We have encountered the idea of heavenly books in the apocalypses we studied. Heavenly books can be of various types. That in Rev 5 contains future events. (Close parallels are found in Dan.10:21; Ps 139:16; and 1 En. 81.1–3; 93.1–3; 103.2; 106.19; 107.1; 108.7)39. In Jesus´s portrayal, we notice the emphasizing of his image as the king of earth, the thought that should counteract the worship of the emperor in Roman religion. The depiction of Jesus bears many similarities with the depiction made by Daniel (Daniel 7:9 and Daniel 10:5-6)40. In the same manner as in Daniel´s book, the people being under the foreign domination, both from the religious point of view and from the social and cultural point of view moved their expectations from earth to heaven. If initially they should fight against the idolatry of the Ancient empires, now they have to fight against an actual Satan, the Roman idolatry. From this perspective we can identify one similarity between the fate of Jews faced with their history and Christianity, during its history. Revelation 12 draws on a different tradition concerning the departure of rebellious angels from heaven, a tradition that attributes their departure to a war with God’s loyal angels. The rest of Rev. 12 hails Satan’s defeat as a victory for God and for those faithful to God. Thrown down to earth from heaven, the dragon tries to pursue the woman, who is now also on earth. He sends after her a torrent of water, but the earth opens up and swallows it, saving the woman. There are echoes of the exodus here, given the elements of the desert, a threat from water, and being saved from water. The book of Revelation contains many allusions to the exodus41. Furthermore, the sea motive, as in Daniel 7, symbolized the fight between God and supernatural forces. In chapter 13 we face the beast with ten horns and seven heads. Also here we can make a comparison with Daniel book, to see the reason of identifying the Roman Empire with Satan. I would only like to shortly point out an aspect from the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22-27). New Jerusalem is making transition from the Temple from the Jerusalem as symbol of ethnical and religious unity of Israel to the synagogue as symbol of diaspora. Otherwise the New Jerusalem means that the claim of being God´s chosen people is no longer applicable to them alone, but broadly to all who recognize Jesus, either Jews or Gentiles. I would also like to mention a difference between Daniel´s book and John´s Revelation. Namely, in the first case, God commands to silence and to keeping secret the vision until its fulfillment, but in the second case, God command that the vision must be shared to the world. It might be a particularity to express the relationship between the Old Testament and the New.

Finally, the book is ending with the victory of Jesus against the dragon, and the establishing of a kingdom of the righteous and the new advent of Jesus. The restoration of the whole nature and universe is a common motive also in Old Testament prophecies. The new advent or coming of Jesus Christ expresses the spiritual state of the Early Christianity. It was a state of hope and faith that the persecutions will end and the Jesus will return to save his people.

39 Murphy, p.430 40 See more to Murphy, p.432 41 Murphy, p.429

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOK EDITIONS:

1) Holy Bible, New International Version, International Bible Society, New York, 1987

2) Bauckham, Richard, The climax of Prophecy; Studies on the book of Revelation, T&T

Clark, Edinburgh, 1993

3) Lynch, Joseph H., Early Christianity. A brief history, Oxford University Press, 2009

4) VanderKam, James C. and Adler, William, The Jewish apocalyptic heritage in Early

Christianity, Van Gorcum, Assen Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1996

ARTICLES:

1) Hasel, Gerhard F., The four world Empires of Daniel 2 against its Near Eastern

environment, Journal for the study of the Old Testament, 1979

2) Koester, Craig R., Revelation´s visionary challenge to ordinary Empire, ATLAS Serial,

January 2009

Reverend Bighiu Gica,

Student in Master Program Religious Roots of Europe

Scandinavia,

01.02.2013